The Beginning of CCM
Larry Norman
from www.christianrockbands.org
Christian contemporary music, or CCM, is a confusing concept, sometimes defined as a genre, while other times it is more of an idea. Though started as a way to worship and evangelize, the CCM industry has caused had its ups and downs, causing some artists to be criticized while others become exalted.
In the late 1960s into the 1970s the “hippies” where converting over to Christianity, and with them their style of music. Having a want to praise God they began sing songs and play music in the only style they knew how to play, rock and roll. The Jesus People, as they were called, began movements mainly in the west that allowed them to sing these new songs but also to proselytize to young people. This was the concept that such people as Larry Norman had in mind when he send his first record to stories under the general Christian Rock (Nichols 2008, 128). This initiated the age of the piety revealed in music. The 1970s had many bands come out that talked about their faith, and belief in God. This era was centered on the songwriter’s proclamation of faith, or the general belief in God (“Contemporary Christian Music” 2004, 131).
The topic of the songs changed in the 1980s, when bands such as Petra came on the scene. Taken their name from Matthew 16:18, Petra was one of the front runners in the militant style of CCM. During this decade, the tone of music shifted from the piety message of the previous decade to a message of conquest and strife. Three bands, including Petra, even had a song named “Armed and Dangerous” taking its cue from Ephesians 6 (“Jesus Climbs” 2002, 22). Petra’s version of the song is a message of God’s people rising up and scattering God’s enemies as a “rag tag army.” This language came under criticism though as well as the CCM industry as a whole. Critics were calling the artists too generic or secular, because they did not use “Jesus” or “God” in enough of their songs. This, along with scandals (which will be discussed below) moved many people away from the genre because they saw the groups as loosing the initial idea of the praise of God or the evangelizing mission (Romanowski 2005, 117).
These ideas carried over into the 1990s, when bands began singing with an open heart, expressing their insecurities in song and spoken forms. Two bands that were big in the 90s were Jars of Clay and DC Talk. The first’s name shows the basic shift between the two decades, Jars of Clay is a reference to 2 Corinthians 4:7, and is alluding to their own frailty. This is what exemplified the genre in the 90s, the sincerity of the music and the artists (“Jesus Climbs” 2002, 22). In one of Jars of Clay’s hits, “Flood”, there are lyrics reflecting the need for help from God. DC Talk had many songs with similar messages, but none sing truer then “What If I Stumble” where vocalist Toby McKeehan sings those lines as well as “What if I go and make fools of us all?” Again this expression of sincerity is what separated the 1990s from previous decades and such concerns apparently connected with their audience as one of the most iconic songs from DC Talk, and CCM of the 90s, is “Jesus Freak” (“Contemporary Christian Music” 2004, 132). This song has the connecting factor of asking what happens once someone is identified as a follower of Jesus, or a “Jesus Freak”, and the strange social status that that can cause.
This awkwardness and sincerity helped lead into the 2000s and the beginning of the “Parallel Universe” of Christian music. A term used by Rolling Stones to explain the fact that CCM was no longer just Christian Rock. Though Petra, and Jars of Clay may be considered Christian Rock, DC Talk is considered Christian Rap or Hip Hop. This movement for Christian music into different genres only began with DC Talk, as Christian Metal, Christian Country, Christian Goth and even Christian Rapcore came into being. This idea of a Christian version of every genre is the “Parallel Universe” of Christian music (“Contemporary Christian Music” 2004, 131). Christian Rapcore, is one of my personal favorites, and one of its pioneers was the band P.O.D. or Payable on Death. Rapcore is the blending of rap and hardcore music. Taking the lyrical styles of the rap and putting to hardcore beats. It is a style that is unapologetic in its delivery of criticism of the church and the CCM industry (“Jesus Climbs” 2002, 21). Regardless, CCM has evolved over the years from a way of proselytize and praising God to the conquest and prevalence of God’s people and now sincerity and assimilation of all music styles.
One of the styles that CCM has assimilated is acoustic style rock that most artist call Praise and Worship. This style of CCM is directly focused on the concept of praising God and is used in contemporary worship services in place of traditional hymns. In a 2009 paper, Gesa Hartje examined the similarities that were shared between traditional hymns and the new Praise and Worship style. The similarities were interesting to note because of how they expressed the rise of songs coming from an oral style of tradition that moved to a cultural understanding (Gesa 2009, 365). The cultural understanding was lost on Hartje when she first encountered it in a Lutheran Church in California, as her German Lutheran background had no such music. This implies that CCM is still primarily an American style (Gesa 2009, 366).
Scandal: Mainstream vs. CCM
Amy Grant "Unguarded"
from www.amazon.com
The movement between the decades has not been an easy one though as scandal and intrigue has followed the CCM industry as it follows any other industry. One of the strangest is actually within the industry itself. Before Christian Rock was conceived in the 70s, Gospel, specifically Black Gospel, was an established genre onto itself by this time. So when Norman released his first record under the new genre stories everywhere did not know what to do with it, but small mom and pop Christian stores, which had a small music section, began to carry the music with the Gospel style as well. Interesting enough, as the CCM grew, so did these book stores music section to the point where some where considered book and record shops. This caused a slight problem to the new artist because their hopeful audience was the youth of the day, but as long as these Christian book stores almost exclusively sold their stuff albums this dream was lost. So the artist set out to establish record deals with the outlet stores of the day to reach a broader audience. These actions caused outcry from the Christian stores that would lose tremendous business over the contracts (Romanowski 2005, 112). This outcry seems counterproductive for the concept of evangelizing through music because of want to hold Christian music to a Christian audience. Another such scandal came from the lead singer of Petra. After they had made it to the top of their producer was arrested in 1992 after helping in a drive by shooting at a Synagogue. He later admitted to being a member of the Aryan Nation and the Ku Klux Klan (“Contemporary” 2004, 132). This caused great strife for the fans of the band as owning the albums became a taboo.
Yet another source for scandal was from the sales of Amy Grant. Amy Grant was originally and still considered by some, to be a Christian artist but over the years she was ostracized by some. Grant was first praised for her abilities in the Christian industry, but as time when on she started gaining more popularity in the secular market as well. Amy Grand did not intend to cause such a stir in the community as things when on she was called non-Christian and was challenged to repent of her ways because they were un-Godly (Romanowski 2005, 116). It was also seen that Amy Grant and another CCM artist of the time, Sani Patty, were rivals in the industry and caused problems for each other in the way of infighting (Stiles 2005).
This kind of criticism was not uncommon. In 1999 the CCM band Sixpence None the Richer also suffered the same kind of criticism for their songs as they were refused their Dove Award (the Gospel Music Association’s annual music award) nomination because their song “Kiss Me” did not have a clear enough message. This forced the question of what is CCM? The GMA later gave a definition that relied on the lyrics, not the meaning of the writer/performer. So as long as the lyrics were seen as praising God, showing Christianity or “obviously prompted or informed by a Christian worldview” the song would be considered CCM (“Contemporary” 2004, 132). With this definition in hand, many thought that some songs outside of the CCM labels (by this point entire record labels and companies exclusive to CCM had arisen) could fit this definition while other songs in the industry did not. This was answered with the idea that that secular artist did not target a Christian audience (“Contemporary” 2004, 133). Because of this, many artists now just write the songs they want to play, regardless of its lyrics or intent and let the audience decide on the meaning.
A final issue to discuss is the use of the term secular for the mainstream artists. This term is almost exclusive in the Christina community to mean “ungodly” or profane, but it really means something that does not express Christian messages (Chaung and Lim 2009, 395). It is unfortunate though to thinking that CCM can be taken as secular depending on which tradition is listening to it. In a 1987 article, a Lutheran pastor attacks CCM because of the Baptist theology he sees in it. To him, the idea of the music furthering the Baptist doctrine was worse than the idea of the secular artist of the time, such as Judas Priest, being “satanic”(Preus 1987, 16).
Yet another source for scandal was from the sales of Amy Grant. Amy Grant was originally and still considered by some, to be a Christian artist but over the years she was ostracized by some. Grant was first praised for her abilities in the Christian industry, but as time when on she started gaining more popularity in the secular market as well. Amy Grand did not intend to cause such a stir in the community as things when on she was called non-Christian and was challenged to repent of her ways because they were un-Godly (Romanowski 2005, 116). It was also seen that Amy Grant and another CCM artist of the time, Sani Patty, were rivals in the industry and caused problems for each other in the way of infighting (Stiles 2005).
This kind of criticism was not uncommon. In 1999 the CCM band Sixpence None the Richer also suffered the same kind of criticism for their songs as they were refused their Dove Award (the Gospel Music Association’s annual music award) nomination because their song “Kiss Me” did not have a clear enough message. This forced the question of what is CCM? The GMA later gave a definition that relied on the lyrics, not the meaning of the writer/performer. So as long as the lyrics were seen as praising God, showing Christianity or “obviously prompted or informed by a Christian worldview” the song would be considered CCM (“Contemporary” 2004, 132). With this definition in hand, many thought that some songs outside of the CCM labels (by this point entire record labels and companies exclusive to CCM had arisen) could fit this definition while other songs in the industry did not. This was answered with the idea that that secular artist did not target a Christian audience (“Contemporary” 2004, 133). Because of this, many artists now just write the songs they want to play, regardless of its lyrics or intent and let the audience decide on the meaning.
A final issue to discuss is the use of the term secular for the mainstream artists. This term is almost exclusive in the Christina community to mean “ungodly” or profane, but it really means something that does not express Christian messages (Chaung and Lim 2009, 395). It is unfortunate though to thinking that CCM can be taken as secular depending on which tradition is listening to it. In a 1987 article, a Lutheran pastor attacks CCM because of the Baptist theology he sees in it. To him, the idea of the music furthering the Baptist doctrine was worse than the idea of the secular artist of the time, such as Judas Priest, being “satanic”(Preus 1987, 16).
Project 86: a Band's Tale
To conclude I would like to go back to the idea of Christian Rapcore. One of my favorite bands is under this heading and it is Project 86. Project 86 has worked in the past on songs with P.O.D. and use the unapologetic style of rapcore to criticize the institutionalized church as well as complacent Christians. The band has just celebrated fifteen years of existence, being founded in 1996, but not much is published about it. In a 2003 book, Andrew Schwab, the lead singer, writes on some of the events that occurred on a recent tour to the band and even this book does not show too much action of how Project 86 keeps its Christian tone. There is one case in which Schwab catches thieves stealing from their bus, and though he gets angry, he decides to not press charges and loves on his enemies, to place “burning coals” on them. This is a reference to Proverbs 25 (Schwab 2003, 127). This is the kind of Christian work I see Project 86 doing, from Schwab preaching at a church in Denver, Colorado, to them passing up seeing woman sensually wash cars because “IT’S WRONG” (Schwab 2003, 127). It would seem that the band attempts to live a Christian life more than worry about their songs being taken wrong, and let the audience decide what they are.
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Far Left: Project 86 "Spy Hunter"
Off Songs to Burn Your Bridges By Near Left: Jars of Clay "Flood" Off their self titled album |
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Far Left: Amy Grant "Better Than A Hallelujah"
Single Near Left: Larry Norman "Why Should the Devil have all the Good Music" Live at Creation 1999 |
Anointed Bibliography
Chang, Paul Y., Dale J. Lim. “Renegotiating the Sacred-Secular Binary: IX Saves and Contemporary Christian Music.” Review of Religious Research 50, no 4 (2009). ATLA Religious Database (accessed April 20, 2012).
In this advanced study, Chang and Lim, investigate the binary relationship between the sacred and the secular. Their goal is to define the difference between sacred and secular and examine if CCM can fit into such a system. In general, they concluded that the sacred does not mean holy, but merely something placed with holy importance and that the secular is still its opposite but not profane. With this in mind, CCM, though maybe not using the most “holy” of platforms for performance, can be sacred, even if the industry as a whole may be worldly.
Hartje, Gesa F. “Keeping in Tune with the Times: Praise & Worship Music as Today’s Evangelical Hymnody in North America.” Dialog 48, no 4 (Winter 2009). ATLA Religious Database (accessed April 20, 2012).
This study was relatively easy to read and the idea approached was the parallels between CCM’s Praise and Worship subgenre and traditional hymns. Exposing the growth of both used as worship tools this system makes links to the cultural understanding of how to worship as well as the materials used to worship. Because of their growth from oral traditions and sincere worship to culturally understood songs, praise and worship seems to be the new hymn format.
Nichols, Stephen J. “Jesus on Vinyl.” In Jesus Made in America, 122-145. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008.
Nichols writes an intermediate level history of the CCM genre as well as the movements it came out off. It is a good way to examine the history of the genre as well as early criticisms. His main area of discussion is the seeming divergence from the original intent of the Jesus Music being used for evangelizing and its move into the capitalistic markets.
Powell, Mark A. “Contemporary Christian Music: A New Research Area in American Religious Studies.” American Theological Library Association Summary of Proceedings 58, 2004. ATLA Religious Database (accessed April 20, 2012).
Powell brings to light the idea of using CCM for preaching and studying because of its impact on the culture. It is a mid-level read that focuses more on the theology expressed in the music then the need to use it to talk to the younger people. Powell also critics the industry for its strange way of defining Christian music and how some artist who are secular seem to be more Christian artist while some Christian artist seem to be more secular.
Powell, Mark Allen “Jesus Climbs the Charts: The Business of Contemporary Christian Music.” Christian Century 119, no 126 (2002). ATLA Religion Database (accessed May 3, 2012).
This article by Powell, is an earlier work that is roughly the same level of difficulty. More focused on the actually rise of CCM and its evolution, Powell seems to put emphasis on the industry, styles and bands that call themselves Christian or not. More focus is placed on the relation between the media, audience and artist in this paper to show the differences that arise between these parties, including the culture shifts that happen he a Christian band does something non-Christian and when a non-Christian band does something Christian like.
Preus, Klemet I. “Contemporary Christian Music: An Evaluation.” Concordia Theological Quarterly 51, no 1 (January 1987). ATLA Religious Database (accessed May 3, 2012).
Preus wrote this article as a way to examine CCM for a Lutheran audience. His work was primarily to see what theology was being brought through in the lyrics. Because of this most of his information is lyrical assessment to see what doctrine is being portrayed. Though he finishes with the idea that, yes Christian artist are better to have in one’s house then some of the alternatives, this binary is not the only issue with the music. In his mind, the Lutheran audience needs to be more on the lookout for the Baptist theology in the Christian stuff, which destroys the Bible in his mind.
Romanowski, William D. “Evangelicals and Popular Music.” In Religion and Popular Culture in America, edited by Bruce D. Forbes and Jeffrey H. Mahan, 103-122. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005.
Romanowski’s work is a good examination of the history of CCM again, but also of the problems faced with the idea of Crossover, or going from the CCM market into the secular market. His work focuses on Amy Grants troubles with this shift and the apparent counter-intuitive nature of the concept of ridiculing a crossover artist. His main argument is that such a move brings problems to light of the CCM industry losing its heritage in evangelical works.
Schwab, Andrew. “It’s All Downhill From Here: On the Road with Project 86.” Lake Mary: Relevant Books, 2004.
Andrew Schwab is the lead vocalist and songwriter for the Christian Rapcore band Project 86. This book is an account of stories and personal opinion of events that took place on tour in 2003. It is a simple read that brings insight from a band in the field and not just studies of the field. Interesting enough, Schwab never addresses the idea of being a Christian band, though the band’s Christian beliefs are visible throughout.
Stiles, John. “Contemporary Christian Music [Electronic Resource]: Public Relations amid Scandal.” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 11, (Fall 2005). ATLA Religiong Database (accessed May 3, 2012).
This study is a intermediate level read that examines the scandals and parallel life that the Christian music industry shares with the mainstream industry. Though the CCM industry may want to present itself as spotless, it has just as many scandals as the other music industries as well as the same kind of scandals. The article exposes these events as well as the idea that this pure industry is as tainted as any other.