Just got back from a followup visit to the doctor to have some blood work done… Checking my blood sugar level and all that. Fortunately it’s fine. I did have to fast for 12 hours before the visit, though–that’s never fun, although I’m thankful my appointment was early in the morning rather than in the afternoon. I’d have had more difficulty bearing that.
There’s apparently a “Christian DJ” now extending the reach of Christian-themed music into the genre of dance/techno. It’s not like it hasn’t been attempted before, but I believe this is the most concerted effort yet. His website is here. It’s a great site, and while I applaud his ambition and the spirit behind it, the music…is pretty derivative and formulaic. Think mid-’90s Prodigy and Meat Beat Manifesto, only…watered down. Yeah.
I’ve always wondered about a concern brought up recently by the discovery of that artist–why it was that Christian-themed music never seemed to push the artistic envelope, or even stay at the forefront of musical trends, but just seemed to tag along. My theory (and this has been corroborated by people privy to information in the industry) is that it’s mainly due to the distribution network of most Christian music, and the fact that it’s dominated by just a handful of record companies clustered in the Nashville area. The prevailing mindset among these companies seems to be one that stifles creativity in favor of the watered-down, homogenous canned goods they provide. So if an up-and-coming artist/band wants to have their record heard, they have to make their musical creations and image jump through the record company hoops just to secure reasonably widespread distribution. Every once in a while a reasonably creative and distinctive artist/band will slip through (Jars of Clay, Plumb, Switchfoot, etc), but for the most part…yeah. Holy cow. And it’s not even that the music and lyrics are that bad most of the time, it’s just… Where’s the poeticism in the lyrics? If you call yourself a rock band, you need to have songs that really rock. Hard. Why all the cliché? But I suppose in the end it’s just another flavor of the perennial catch-22 of preserving artistic integrity vs. finding an audience.
Okay. End rant. Must work.
OH I THINK YOU FORGOT AMY GRANT
hahaha
Hi Em. Perhapsibly. Amy Grant… Pioneering, yes, good, yes, creative and distinctive…not so much. I think she did more for the genre of Christian music than for the macrocosm of popular music. Which of course doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy her music :o)