Musical Unity: A response to Michael Gungor
When I first started listening to Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) the only people around were Amy Grant and Michael W Smith. Maybe Kathy Tricolli and Sandi Patty...Any maybe Carmen, but why mention Carmen? Shortly before I started listening to CCM there was no such thing as CCM. The 80s were just about a barren wasteland for Christian entertainment. We had a handle on good old Gospel and regular people started writing worship music. My life wouldn't be the same without Keith Green.
But then came the 90s. WHAT an AMAZING time!! Right? DC talk, Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, OC Supertones...Holy Music COW!
If you were a young Christian, you could turn your radio up proudly and still feel cool. It was EPIC.
From 15-21 I didn't listen to much other than CCM. Only the cool CCM of course. The stuff that the local Christian radio station only played on Friday Nights.
Then I hit 21 and was, practically overnight, too cool for CCM. I bought a soapbox on top of which I declared "it was cheesy," "It was trite," "it was so fake!" "I wont even step foot in a Christian book store anymore...peddling Jesus is so disgusting."
I don't know what happened at 21, but I'm thinking, Mr. Gungor, that whatever happened to me, has also just recently happened to you.
It used to be that "Christian Artists" didn't exist. Even earlier, the only GOOD artists were Christians. They would only sculpt beautiful portrayals of Christ and Mary and God and angels. All the greatest artists were just great artists inspired by the Great Artist.
Christians used to be the best.
But they aren't anymore are they, Gungor? In your most recent rant, you ripped most of CCM a new one. Except yourself, of course. You are transcendent. (Don't go there, Jiggs, don't be nasty.)
The irony is, if I had read this very same article at 21, I would have reposted it, and emailed it to all of my friends and felt so vindicated because he says most of what I have felt at one time or another.
I thought Christian music sucked. I thought Christian Radio was a joke. I found most of what was being broadcast in the early 2000s to be embarrassing. I refused to make it a preset. But I didn't hate music made by Christians. In fact, the only stuff I listened to was Christian Music. POD, Bebo Norman, Jennifer Knapp, Kendall Payne, Waterdeep, 100 Portraits, Enter the Worship Circle...they ALL claimed love for Jesus and pushed me to love Him better.
Sadly, Gungor, It was only recently that I discovered this. If a non-Christian picked up my ipod they wouldnt know many of the artists on it. But the music IS GOOD!! I wouldn't listen to anything that wasn't good. Even still, it was only recently that I noticed when I listened to "Cheesy Christian Radio" that I really did feel better. Non-christian music made me feel yucky and lost and lonely and hopeless. Especially anything by Adele. Yeah, I'll give it to you, some of our music is EXCESSIVELY trite. But MY GOODness...have you LISTENED to Miley Cyrus? ALL stations play trite and terrible music. It's just what sells.
Maybe that's the problem, Gungor...Maybe you're sad. Sad that I don't hear Gungor music on my local radio stations. I used to hear Beautiful Things all the time...that was an aMAZing song!! They played it once at a church I attended during a Baptism ceremony and I nearly died of dehydration from crying. It was a perfectly crafted worship song. So perfect that I know lots of people who immediately bought tickets to your upcoming shows in anticipation of a night completely devoted to worshiping with that type of song atmosphere. And they were GROSSLY disappointed. They said that your new album was really self-indulgent. That your concert was boring and unemotional. That you didn't even engage the audience. You barely acknowledged them. And you said trite hipster things like "this song speaks for itself." I almost wasted money on that!! Thank goodness I didn't.
There's a flip-side to my disgust though...because a friend and I went to the Hillsong United concert and I experienced a lot of the same feelings you addressed. There were some disgusting moments. Like when the little rich girls passed their phones back and forth to capture instagrams of them worshiping...gross dude..I get it.
But I think back to my teenage years, to the DC talk concerts that were way over the top and REALLY Cheesy, and I really enjoyed those times. I really liked Jesus Freak and I can still sing all the words. I can also still sing all the words to the Fresh Prince of Belair themesong...equally cheesy.
Thats the thing, Gungor..."Contemporary Christian Music" is insufficient. Its like if the world called everything Pop music. Do the same people who listen to Miley Cyrus listen to Gotye? Do the same people who think Taylor Swift is a genius also love Metallica? No.
Are you and Kari Jobe the same? No. Do the people who listen to Hillsong United also listen to you? Not all of them. Should you and Mandisa go on tour together? Absolutely not. CCM claims all of you...and Christian Radio doesn't play all of you at the same frequency. Is that Nashville's fault? Maybe. Should you bite the hand that feeds you? No.
All of my personal story anecdotes are from 2005 and earlier. You weren't really around yet. So here's where I land today. Most of the artists I listen to now aren't mainstream CCM. They're bands like you (like you were on Beautiful things, really I dont like the new album..auto-tune? really?) Waterdeep (still), Derek Webb, Hillsong acoustic stuff, Josh Garrels...and people who play what I like to listen to. It's my musical fingerprint. And it's different from yours. It isn't meaningless because sometimes I dance around in my car to a Mandisa song. And your stuff is no better just because you're a hipster who hates everything. Its actually a little worse.
Anyway. All this to say, grow up, Gungor. Everyone's job sucks sometimes. Everyone has coworkers they want to punch. This is Earth. People suck. You're only making it worse by complaining so loud about something that you're a part of. Love what you do. Make your music what you want. And engage your audiences so that they keep buying it and keep you working. Just make music and hope you fit into someone's idea of good so that you can keep doing it.
But then came the 90s. WHAT an AMAZING time!! Right? DC talk, Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, OC Supertones...Holy Music COW!
If you were a young Christian, you could turn your radio up proudly and still feel cool. It was EPIC.
From 15-21 I didn't listen to much other than CCM. Only the cool CCM of course. The stuff that the local Christian radio station only played on Friday Nights.
Then I hit 21 and was, practically overnight, too cool for CCM. I bought a soapbox on top of which I declared "it was cheesy," "It was trite," "it was so fake!" "I wont even step foot in a Christian book store anymore...peddling Jesus is so disgusting."
I don't know what happened at 21, but I'm thinking, Mr. Gungor, that whatever happened to me, has also just recently happened to you.
It used to be that "Christian Artists" didn't exist. Even earlier, the only GOOD artists were Christians. They would only sculpt beautiful portrayals of Christ and Mary and God and angels. All the greatest artists were just great artists inspired by the Great Artist.
Christians used to be the best.
But they aren't anymore are they, Gungor? In your most recent rant, you ripped most of CCM a new one. Except yourself, of course. You are transcendent. (Don't go there, Jiggs, don't be nasty.)
The irony is, if I had read this very same article at 21, I would have reposted it, and emailed it to all of my friends and felt so vindicated because he says most of what I have felt at one time or another.
I thought Christian music sucked. I thought Christian Radio was a joke. I found most of what was being broadcast in the early 2000s to be embarrassing. I refused to make it a preset. But I didn't hate music made by Christians. In fact, the only stuff I listened to was Christian Music. POD, Bebo Norman, Jennifer Knapp, Kendall Payne, Waterdeep, 100 Portraits, Enter the Worship Circle...they ALL claimed love for Jesus and pushed me to love Him better.
Sadly, Gungor, It was only recently that I discovered this. If a non-Christian picked up my ipod they wouldnt know many of the artists on it. But the music IS GOOD!! I wouldn't listen to anything that wasn't good. Even still, it was only recently that I noticed when I listened to "Cheesy Christian Radio" that I really did feel better. Non-christian music made me feel yucky and lost and lonely and hopeless. Especially anything by Adele. Yeah, I'll give it to you, some of our music is EXCESSIVELY trite. But MY GOODness...have you LISTENED to Miley Cyrus? ALL stations play trite and terrible music. It's just what sells.
Maybe that's the problem, Gungor...Maybe you're sad. Sad that I don't hear Gungor music on my local radio stations. I used to hear Beautiful Things all the time...that was an aMAZing song!! They played it once at a church I attended during a Baptism ceremony and I nearly died of dehydration from crying. It was a perfectly crafted worship song. So perfect that I know lots of people who immediately bought tickets to your upcoming shows in anticipation of a night completely devoted to worshiping with that type of song atmosphere. And they were GROSSLY disappointed. They said that your new album was really self-indulgent. That your concert was boring and unemotional. That you didn't even engage the audience. You barely acknowledged them. And you said trite hipster things like "this song speaks for itself." I almost wasted money on that!! Thank goodness I didn't.
There's a flip-side to my disgust though...because a friend and I went to the Hillsong United concert and I experienced a lot of the same feelings you addressed. There were some disgusting moments. Like when the little rich girls passed their phones back and forth to capture instagrams of them worshiping...gross dude..I get it.
But I think back to my teenage years, to the DC talk concerts that were way over the top and REALLY Cheesy, and I really enjoyed those times. I really liked Jesus Freak and I can still sing all the words. I can also still sing all the words to the Fresh Prince of Belair themesong...equally cheesy.
Thats the thing, Gungor..."Contemporary Christian Music" is insufficient. Its like if the world called everything Pop music. Do the same people who listen to Miley Cyrus listen to Gotye? Do the same people who think Taylor Swift is a genius also love Metallica? No.
Are you and Kari Jobe the same? No. Do the people who listen to Hillsong United also listen to you? Not all of them. Should you and Mandisa go on tour together? Absolutely not. CCM claims all of you...and Christian Radio doesn't play all of you at the same frequency. Is that Nashville's fault? Maybe. Should you bite the hand that feeds you? No.
All of my personal story anecdotes are from 2005 and earlier. You weren't really around yet. So here's where I land today. Most of the artists I listen to now aren't mainstream CCM. They're bands like you (like you were on Beautiful things, really I dont like the new album..auto-tune? really?) Waterdeep (still), Derek Webb, Hillsong acoustic stuff, Josh Garrels...and people who play what I like to listen to. It's my musical fingerprint. And it's different from yours. It isn't meaningless because sometimes I dance around in my car to a Mandisa song. And your stuff is no better just because you're a hipster who hates everything. Its actually a little worse.
Anyway. All this to say, grow up, Gungor. Everyone's job sucks sometimes. Everyone has coworkers they want to punch. This is Earth. People suck. You're only making it worse by complaining so loud about something that you're a part of. Love what you do. Make your music what you want. And engage your audiences so that they keep buying it and keep you working. Just make music and hope you fit into someone's idea of good so that you can keep doing it.
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