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Re: Christian music

On Fri, 26 Jul 2002, Sarah Herr wrote:
> How much of what you guys listen to is "Christian" music and how much is
> "secular"?

Defining the distinction between those two words could become a massive
flamewar in and of itself, but for the sake of argument, let's just say I
treat them as nothing more than marketing labels.  "Christian" music
simply means music released on a label that caters to a Christian market
niche, and "secular" music simply means music which is produced outside of
that niche and which stores within that niche usually don't sell.

There are always exceptions, of course.  Sixpence None the Richer started
on a couple of "Christian" labels and had great success in the "secular"
market with 'Kiss Me'.  And the "secular" musical _Godspell_ has been
re-issued on the Gotee label and is sold in "Christian" stores.  And then
you get stranger cases like Chagall Guevara, which was a "secular" band
whose one album was re-issued on a "Christian" label, because all the guys
in the band happened to be former "Christian" industry stalwarts.  And
hey, what was Stryper ("secular" label, but very "Christian" in content)?

Over the Rhine is a rarer bird, I think, since most of their releases have
been "independent" and have not been tied to "secular" or "Christian"
labels; some of their formerly-independent albums have been re-issued on
"secular" labels, but depending on how strongly you wanted to emphasize
their Christian connections, you *could* say that they were originally a
"Christian" band which then crossed over to the "secular" market.

But enough of that haggling.  I probably listen to movie soundtracks more
than anything else, and this largely sidesteps the "Christian"/"secular"
debate.  There's no "Christian" movie industry yet, thank God.  :)

Hmmm, come to think of it, there was a recent thread on the Daniel Amos
list where people posted what they had been listening to lately, based on
the stacks of discs next to their players.  My list goes like so:

   Various Artists - Cinema Classics (two-disc set released by EMI in
      1995, mainly for the Schubert, Mozart, Purcell, Corelli and
      Rachmaninov tracks)
   Various Artists - Woody Allen Classics (Bach, Prokofiev, etc.)
   John Williams - Raiders of the Lost Ark
   U2 - Zooropa
   The Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense
   Stillwater - Stillwater (bonus CD with Almost Famous DVD)
   Terry Scott Taylor - Avocado Club Exclusive: Volume 1
   Daniel Amos - When Everyone Wore Hats
   Daniel Amos - Darn Floor Big Bite
   Sam Phillips - Fan Dance
   Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
   Clint Mansell and Kronos Quartet - Requiem for a Dream
   Various Artists - Run Lola Run
   Pieter Bourke and Lisa Gerrard, etc. - The Insider
   James Newton Howard - Snow Falling on Cedars
   INXS - Greatest Hits
   Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits
   Sarah McLachlan - Remixed
   Michael Jackson - HIStory (just the first disc, thankyouverymuch)
   Various Artists - O Brother, Where Art Thou?
   Bryan Adams and Hans Zimmer - Spirit (just a review copy, I swear)

   Plus I've been getting a kick out of Disney's _Make Mine Music_ DVD,
   and especially the Benny Goodman tunes therein.

And this doesn't count the mp3s by Over the Rhine, the Electric Company
and others.  (Note that the U2 and Sam Phillips and _O Brother_ albums are
on "secular" labels, yet may be "Christian", in some sense.)

> I've had personal issues with this for several years now - one of the
> reasons I lost touch w/ OTR. I went to a church that was really heavy
> handed on listening to Christian music and nothing else. . .so when I
> was a teenager I listened to ALL Christian music and a few odd secular
> bands here and there.

Which ones?  Just wondering what slipped in under the radar.  :)

> One question I've always had about Christian music is: what is the goal?

Evangelism and reaching out to the unchurched, supposedly.  That's why
most of their concerts take place in churches and the tickets and albums
are mainly sold at Christian bookstores, I guess.  :)

The sad thing is when a "Christian" band like Jars of Clay has a hit like
'Flood' and gets lots of "secular" airplay, and then gets a concert booked
at a "secular" venue, and Christians gobble up all the tickets -- that
kinda defeats the whole point of "crossing over", doesn't it?  I saw Jars
at a pub in Vancouver several years ago, and the place was packed with
church people, raising their hands like it was a worship service.  (The
woman at the bar complained that sales were a lot lower than usual.)

> I think OTR is a band that can stand on its own feet for its music and
> creativity. Whether they're called "Christian" or not is not important
> to me.

What they are *called* isn't important to me, either.  But the Christian
element in their songs *is* one of the reasons I'm a fan -- and yes, it
*does* matter to me that I think their spiritual sensibility is closer to
my own than the sensibility of Ben Harper, Mike Scott, and others whose
music I greatly enjoy and have benefitted from.  FWIW.

--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
 "I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
      Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom

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