christian music and the 90/10 rule
I listened to two new albums today, each in its entirety. As a result, I made two discoveries: first, that Thom Yorke’s forthcoming solo release The Eraser will indeed live up to the hype and will probably make my year-end top ten list even though I’m not much of a Radiohead-head, unlike 90% of the people everywhere.
The other discovery is that Sufjan Stevens seems to be such a prolific font of creativity that he can, one year after the release of Illinois, put out an album-length collection of outtakes from it and have it be as coherent and engaging as its predecessor, with depth of lyric and instrumentation.
Sufjan Stevens is a true anomaly. Not only because he’s in the top 10 per cent (you know, that old adage about 90% of everything being crap?) but because he’s a Christian musician whose music does not suck. There are other Christian musicians who do not suck, but they are few and far between and in some cases, such as in the case of Sufjan’s gloriously cacophonous friends Danielson, not nearly as accessible as he.
I’ve come a long way from my days surreptitiously making tapes of the local hit radio station, cowering in fear that my doing so would meet with my parents’ disapproval. The edict was more of an implied one rather than one explicit — I wasn’t supposed to listen to non-Christian music. Secular music. As I said, my parents were never so vulgar as to utter the phrase “devil’s music,” but Focus on the Family publications came awfully close, and with those I certainly was inundated — Brio magazine and then Plugged In. In the case of the former, the magazine was devoted to drilling its moral messages into our heads, issue after issue. The primary message was, of course, do not have sex or even think about sex until you’re married. The second was a concentrated dose of heteronormativity training, distilling already strict gender roles into even more confining, debilitating ones (I’ll note that the boys’ counterpart to Brio did the same thing).
Before I completely go off the rails here into a rant about Crazy Jim Dobson, I’ll digress. Now I edit an indie music magazine and that means I am a full-fledged music snob. Music snobbery is a point of much contention; I contend that there are different versions of music snobbery. One form is genre snobbery, the belief that one type of music is inherently superior to all others. I do not suffer from this affliction, and indeed I can say that I truly appreciate all genres that exist. I cannot say I enjoy all genres, though (I can really only handle one track worth of metal, and even then it has to be Sepultura). I’m just the kind of music snob who believes that most of what you hear on the local commercial radio station is crap. These days my tastes run towards experimental electronica, new weird folk, and some indie pop. Also hip hop, funk, and soul.
I fear I have failed to make anything resembling an argument towards my thesis statement. If I ever had one in the first place. Oh, right — it was Christian music sucks. Looking back at my listening habits in the ’90s there are only a few discs on which I look back with any critical approval — Jars of Clay’s self-titled debut was good (too bad very little they’ve done since has been), and dcTalk hammered out some inventive stuff as far as the Christian rap/rock genre went.
I think what it comes down to is the fact that Christian music, while only a segment of the mainstream music market, is a part of the mainstream music market. Meaning it exists to make money. And as we know, very little music in the mainstream is good; we can apply the 90/10 rule again, here. When you apply the 90/10 rule to the Christian market, which is but a smaller proportion of the mainstream market, the number of aesthetically acceptable acts dwindles to a pitiful number.
Which brings us back to Sufjan Stevens — a Christian musician who invokes the name of God and other Christian tropes in his work, and one who is also critically acclaimed (and not just by me).
In my experience, Christian music tends to spend too much time in the nebulous God-talk and not enough time in the narrative, experiential aspect that draws me to the music I love. This is where Sufjan Stevens succeeds, of course. Take, for instance, this lyric from my favourite song of last year, “Casimir Pulaski Day:”
Tuesday night at the Bible study
We lift our hands and pray over your body
But nothing ever happens
When I first heard that lyric, my heart nearly jumped up my throat and out of my body. Who, of we who have experienced the Tuesday night Bible study, hasn’t been there? Right there, in the moment of that lyric?
Maybe if Christian music talked more about the times when we call out to God and nothing happens, I’d take it more seriously.
Well, that and if there were more handclaps.
July 5th, 2006 at 6:14 am
I hate talking about Christian music, mostly because I hate even using the term. I don’t want to feed into the heresy of splitting the world into things that are secular and sacred. That said, I have a love-hate relationship with the stuff. For a period of a year or two it was all I listened to, having gotten rid of all my “secular” music, which, of course, I ended up buying right back later on.
The irony is the Sufjan factor. It’s a pretty big irony, because there are a lot of musicians who are Christians that I listen to. Besides Sufjan and Danielson, who you mentioned, there’s David Bazan/Pedro the Lion/Headphones, Over the Rhine, Half-Handed Cloud, U2, Mars Ill, L.A. Symphony, Chevelle, Ester Drang, Johnny Cash, Starflyer 59, John Davis, Derek Webb, T-Bone Burnett, etc. The funny thing is that the majority of those acts have absolutely nothing to do with the “Christian” music industry. Over the centuries Christianity has had a huge influence on the arts, usually for the better. It almost seems that once artists who are Christians figure out that music isn’t meant to be used as propaganda, that they often end up making some of the best music around.
Incidentally, you should read Andrew Beaujon’s Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock.
July 5th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Looking back at my listening habits in the ’90s there are only a few discs on which I look back with any critical approval — Jars of Clay’s self-titled debut was good (too bad very little they’ve done since has been), and dcTalk hammered out some inventive stuff as far as the Christian rap/rock genre went.
IMO, Jars’ first two CDs were good (though I do prefer their debut over Much Afraid), but their third one was terrible. I haven’t heard their more recent stuff. Supposedly it’s a lot better than If I Left the Zoo; but I’m skeptical.
dc Talk, on the other hand, I loved all through the 1990s. In fact, Jesus Freak (IMO, the best Christian rock album of the 1990s, if not all time) was my first CD purchase. Now the members are all doing their own thing; only Kevin Max’s stuff is palatable to me these days. (Of course, I’m probably a little biased because he was my favourite of the three to being with.)
Anyway. For most of my Christian life, about 99% of the stuff I listened to was Christian music. Then, around 1995, I started listening to commercial radio. Five years after that, I virtually swore that off and discovered indie rock. I hardly listen to any strictly Christian music anymore, mainly because I think a lot of it sucks.
In my experience, Christian music tends to spend too much time in the nebulous God-talk and not enough time in the narrative, experiential aspect that draws me to the music I love.
God-talk, and virtually every song is like a love song; but instead of singing it to a person, it’s being sung to God or Jesus. Sometimes the Holy Spirit. I find it bleh. IMO, one definitely doesn’t need to talk about God in every song they do; and it seems like the Christian artists that I do like (a few who are part of the Christian music scene and several who have nothing to do with it) are way more prolific, more talented, and–for lack of a better phrase–suck me in more. Heck, some definitely non-Christian music out there has spoken to me more than the Christian stuff.
Sigh.
July 7th, 2006 at 3:32 pm
I very much enjoyed this entry. I’ve had the same sentiment about Christian music for quite some time also. The funny thing for me is that I’m in a “Christian” band. We independant, so we don’t really have any ties to the Christian music market except that we play in what could be considered the Christian music scene in Denver. Just as there is a 90/10 rule for mainstream music and Christian music is part of that mainstream, there is a 90/10 rule for the Denver music scene and the Christian music scene is part of the Denver scene. Most of the band in Denver, and especially most Christan ones, are horrible.
I hope that my band never gets lumped in the ‘horrible’ category. We don’t, however, just sing about God and how awesome He is, and how much we love to praise Him. Most of our songs are about our lives and experiences. For example, I wrote a song called “The Greater Sadness” about my brother’s drug addiction, and how it nearly tore my family apart. It feels more real to me than just trying to tell people that Jesus loves them.
July 25th, 2006 at 5:22 pm
I think Christian music is a lot more uplifting than other music, even if a lot of our Christian music isn’t always the best lyrically, or musically. I don’t think it’s fair to lump all Christian artists together and overgeneralize their faults. For instance, the David Crowder Band is so unique from other Christian artists if you take the time to listen to them. They show so much maturity as a band in their liyrics and their artistry because they are well-rounded and very experimental.
It’s easy to go on a rampage about how much Christian music sucks, but in reality, who is forcing you to listen to it (and in addition to that, what gives you the right to judge them so harshly)? If you don’t like it then listen to something else, but give grace to bands even if you don’t like their style. Especially when it comes to worship, it’s about God, not about your music preference.
I guess the underlying thing is, we need to trust that God is using these people to communicate His message to us and the culture, whether or not we think it is effective. He is bigger than the faults of our music industry and the faults of our church, both of which seem to be conforming to the culture an uncomfortable amount.
I don’t mean to sound critical of your ideas, because I’ve found it easy to take a negative view on this subject as well, but if I have to choose Hawk Nelson over Blink 182 I’ll do it any day. Why? Because Hawk Nelson is a Christian band and as a Christian I want to help support their effort. Blink 182 is a band that does not support my ideals, and even though their music is so playable, their music is filled with a rebellious, irresponsible spirit of immature youth. It’s not just the music, it’s the spirit behind it that matters the most. Give some grace to Christian music and look for the outstanding Christian artists who are on target.
July 25th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
OMG, Chris, I think you might be my favourite commenter ever. Your blog and email are called “jesusrocks,” you’re an 18-year-old white male, and you’re defending Christian music as a genre to me using blatantly gendered God-language AND the worst case of logorritic Christianese I’ve read in a while. (Well, OK, in the last few days. But still.)
Acknowledging there’s a good chance you’re a sockpuppet, I’m still going to bite.
It’s easy to go on a rampage about how much Christian music sucks, but in reality, who is forcing you to listen to it
I don’t listen to it. That was kind of the point of this post.
(and in addition to that, what gives you the right to judge them so harshly)?
I got my B.A. in Judging last year.
Actually, I’m a professional music critic. As in I get paid to do it. Not that that gives me any more “right” than anyone else to “judge.” All consumers of art are allowed to judge and criticize. But since you asked for credentials…
Especially when it comes to worship, it’s about God, not about your music preference.
Personally, I’m not much into worshipping God these days, but if I were, I would sincerely wish that “worship” wasn’t a blanket excuse for really shitty music.
And dude, on what planet is Blink 182 held up as a paragon of musical excellence? I mean, their last album actually wasn’t that bad, but if Blink 182 is the extent of your experience with secular music, then no wonder you’re satisfied with CCM drivel.