The Bible and Music

I found the title of this upcoming class discussion interesting: Comparing Musical Cultures. With every type of music is a culture that comes with it. You will find a different demographic of people attending a Screamo Rock concert versus an Opera performance. Those who are die-hard Beatles fans may not be the same people who love Kanye West. Of course there are cross-overs. The beautiful thing about music is that you do not ever have to confine yourself to one category, you are free to like as much or as little music as possible. One particular category has always been less popular in the public sphere, and that is contemporary Christian music. I am a religious person, and I am not a big fan. I find that it is common that most of my Christian peers know Kings of Leon, Fall Out Boy, and Jay-Z, but do not know any big names in the gospel artists category. Why is this? I recently found an article that tries to dissect why modern Christian music is failing:

Why is “Christian” Music so Awful?

The author says there are a few reasons why the industry is not so popular. One is that “the musicians and their audience mistake a worthy message for talent.” Even though singing about God is a great inspiring message, their vocal range might not be as divine as they think. Another reason is what the author calls “market forces.” “Market forces often have a surprisingly sharp and salutary critical effect. Market forces weed out the junk, but in the Christian market they’re doing it for love, not money, so no one is telling them to get off the stage ’cause it won’t sell.” However, the biggest problem according to our author, is that “most ‘Christian’ music is that it is secular music with Christian words. In any decent art style and substance are supposed to match up. The meaning and the media are supposed to harmonize.” The author believes that the Christian Rock bands will never fully integrate into the music world because they are two separate entities that do not mesh well.

The rest of the article is a great read for anyone who is interested. The answer to all of this is laid out in the end, which is to place your appreciation into the traditional, sacred classics instead of trying contemporary Christian rock. I wonder what the future holds for contemporary Christian music and if it will continue to have a following in the secular public sphere.