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Mark Heard's take on the CCM industry
..here are some thoughts for y'all to chew on. reading
this latest CCM thread, i realized this gives some
great insight into what we're all talking about. the
following is an excerpt from the late great Mark
Heard's personal diary, published a while back in
"Image" magazine. for those of you who aren't familiar
with Heard, he was one of those rare musicians within
the CCM industry who transcended the cookie-cutter
norm with his beautifully honest lyrics.
I found this story particularly fitting for the
thread:
"Today I had an interview with an executive from a
Christian record company who was interested who was
interested in signing me to a recording contract. We
met for lunch in North Hollywood in one of those
trendy Italian vegetarian places where there are six
or seven types of mineral water on the menu."
Allowances were made for each party to give his life
story in five minutes of less, between bites of garlic
bread and shallots[...]"
I had my own hopes as the conversation began, as the
executive was inelligent and well-read. He was
flattering in his remarks about my music and actually
quoted my lyrics. He was sure he was going to sign
me."
He had a few questions first, however. I don't
remember how he worded the questions, or their order,
but they concerned, in a pointed and shocking way, my
spiritual well-being, and had little or nothing to do
with my music."
He said, 'These songs sound like they were written by
a person who is ... faithful to his wife!' Then he
stared straight into my eyes as if to detect some
guilty dilation of my pupils."
I asked him what he meant by that."
He said, 'Well, these songs seem like they come from
the heart of someone who is ... intimately involved
with his local church, and is probably an elder!'"
I started to figure out he was prompting me or coaxing
me into a ritual confession. I dissapointed him, I'm
afraid, with the way i shrugged off the question. Why
was he asking?"
'I'd just like to here you say, 'God has called me
into the ministry of music.''"
I told him that that would probably not be my choice
of words, and I would feel presumptuous saying
something that implies I'm on a first name basis with
the Almighty. I told him that I'm not sure what
ministry really is, and that whatever it is, God seems
to be kind enough to wrap it into our efforts and
sometimes wise enough to bestow it in spite of them."
All he wanted was to hear me use the lingo, recite the
mantras of evangelical musicians, kids who have been
made to feel guilty using their musical abilities, and
who, as a result, must justify their talents with
post-Jesus movement creeds -- formula statements that
are actually as culturally nebulous and stale as the
Victorian ones against which that movement originally
cried out."
He tried several more times to just get me to say the
words."
I said that I would make it a point to not say those
particular words, if for no other reason than to get
him to think about what they meant."
Being a smart person, he knows i would have to do
interviews to sell records form him [...] I would be
expected to toe the party line and echo the same
litanies -- make the 'comforting noise' as McLuhan put
it."
I told him I just want to write some more songs and
put them on tape. I figure the content of my songs
and how i choose to answer for myself is my business."
He says he is sorry, even cut to the heart, but he
cannot and will not sign me, as, alas, I cannot say
the things he wanted to hear."
I say I'm sorry he cannot hear the things I'm trying
to say."
For anyone interested, the entire article can
(probably) still be found at:
www.imagejournal.org/heard.html
And incidentally, "Image: a Journal of the Arts and
Religion" is a great resource for the types of things
we frequently explore on this list.
--Jay
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