Charlie Peacock was always one of my favorite Christian artists. His CD "Love Life" was one of the first CD's that ever bought when I was probably in 7th grade and I still like it today. I can't say that for many other Christian CD's I bought back then (or mainstream, maybe except for Prince and U2). Charlie was asked by CCM magazine to write a column on what he sees as the future of Christian music. I think he is wholly correct with his assessment. Read the whole article here. The most telling paragraph for me was here:
Christian music as a genre has always been a music you move on from. Young Christian baby-boomers and Gen-X once in love with the music abandoned it in adulthood and have not returned. As a result, legacy artist catalogs (ranging from Larry Norman to Amy Grant to dcTalk and beyond) do not and will not have the staying power of their mainstream counterparts such as The Beatles, The Eagles, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Celine Dion, James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and U2. All these artists, and a hundred others, remain popular and economically viable today. Sadly, the pattern does not hold true for what was contemporary Christian music.I wrote a similar column to this quote, months back when I was working in the industry. You can read it here if you so desire. It's called, Timeless Music And CCM.
3 comments:
I think it's interesting to note, if you did not know, that this article of Peacocks was published in the last "in print/hard copy" edition of CCM magazine, which I guess is ceasing the in print edition because of "demand for faster Christian music news" (I find that an interesting reason) and will now only publish an online edition.
- J
I agree with much of what Charlie is saying here. The Christian music industry has largely focused on youth-oriented "knock-offs" of mainstream bands. Quality and creativity have been sacrificed in the process.
With that said, the above statements are not always the case with Christian music, and it's interesting to me that the very commentator here, Charlie Peacock, is a case in point. There are other examples-- Larry Norman's early music, Keith Green, Jars of Clay (starting, I think, especially with "If I Left The Zoo," and on to their current music), the Violet Burning's last several recordings, Starflyer 59, and many others who are unknown to most people. Have these bands had much commercial success in the CCM industry, other than Keith Green and Jars of Clay? No, and therein lies possibly just as big of a problem as mediocre CCM-- the fact that when a Christian band puts out high-quality music with creative, challenging lyrics, it is rarely "pushed" by the industry. More often, it is released on a small label and is out-of-print within ten to fifteen years. Sadly, this has been the case with much of Charlie Peacock's music. In my opinion, this ignoring of quality CCM, even in Christian circles, harms CCM as much as mediocre music itself.
I was thinking about this as a scientist would today. Statistically, if you look at the whole of music, the likelihood of a great album is much greater than if you look at a subset of music. In other words, the potential *chances* for a great album are much smaller. Further, Christian music is plagued by a smaller audience, which is only a part of the point.
I think there are some great Christian albums that will be listened to 25 years from now. I think that the original Jars of Clay recording may be one of them and some of their later recordings as well. Keith Green and Rich Mullins certainly have some albums worthy of inclusion. I must also say that I may be listening to the 24/7 Bands "Beautiful Feet" in 25 years if I can still find a copy.
I think part of the problem is that in an attempt to draw people to this music, we pigeonhole the artists. I have the new album by NeedToBreathe, which has been compared to U2 and Creed. I don't get that at all when I listen to them. To me, that does a disservice to them as musicians, though it may pull people to listening to them.
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