Thoughts on Music for the Media-Gorged

At the Resurgence blog, Matt Johnson has started a series of posts called, Thoughts on Music for the Media-Gorged. Here is part one:

All Music is Worship Music

All music is, in a sense, "worship music" in that it points to something or someone that the singer (or the narrator of the song) deems worship worthy. An object of worship could be any of the following: sex, romance, power, prestige, money, resentment, nihilism or even disaffected pseudo intellectualism.

Band T-Shirts: The Personal Billboard of Pre-Packaged Identity

At the risk of totally stereotyping the average music appreciator, band T-shirts can say a lot about a person. Wearers of the following band T-shirts tend to represent these things about themselves:

* Grateful Dead = Recreational drug use, a taste for granola, and fear of soap.
* Coldplay = Some college education, solid day job, and a non-fat double tall latte dude who's not afraid to say when he likes a "chick flick."
* Sharp, indecipherable, and jumbled font band name printed on a black shirt = Favorite pastime is watching horror movies and thinks Nietzsche was a genius.

Obviously, I'm just having a little fun. But whether you bristled or laughed at my descriptors proves the point that music culture goes much deeper than the sound of a given genre. Genres are a sort of tribal language that embody the shared values of whole people groups. And shared hopes and values will always be an indicator of what is seen as of ultimate worth (i.e. worship).

The "Near" and "Far" Idols of Music

Idolatry isn't just one sin among many. Idolatry is the root of all sin that gives ultimate significance to anything or anyone other than God in Jesus Christ. Idols have a near and far aspect (No God But God), meaning there is an underlying motivational drive (i.e. power or need for approval) which makes the near idol visible (i.e. successful career or relational spinelessness). Take for instance a self-congratulatory hip-hop song:

* Far idol = The need for success, fame, and to be respected among peers.
* Near idol = Flashy clothes, jewelry, or a car with hydraulics and spinner rims.

Or consider a witty, acerbic, self-deprecating come-here-go-away indie rock song:

* Far idol = The need to be the center of attention and to control others.
* Near idol = A tumultuous on-again-off-again, love / hate relationship.

In the next article, I'll discuss the importance of engaging "secular" content.