Where Is the Rock-and-Roll in Christian Music?

In February of 1964, the air of America was stirred by the music of The Beatles as they appeared in the flesh on American soil. American pop-culture was never the same. The most influential band in Anglo-American culture, these ambassadors of rock and roll continue to hold records for producing chart-topping music*. In many ways the Beatles defined the 1960's, particularly the trajectory for the American popular music industry.

However, 45 years after the Beatles toured America for the first time, what has become of rock and roll? It has been turned into the envelope that delivers commercialism, the battlefield of ideologies, and the forgotten echo of a bygone era. Pseudo-Electronica threatens to undo it. Pop wheedles its way in to replace it. The organic, passionate cry of the singer/songwriter is lost in the whirling advance of industry.

And all of this seeps into our churches through the music that is a vehicle for worship.

I have often heard that, musically speaking, the church is behind. Usually, people say this to mean that the musical trends of the church are several years behind the trends heard in commercial music. They are generally correct. The Christian music industry has a tendency to ape the mainstream movements of its parent companies (most Christian labels are subsidiaries of major production companies).

I'm proposing an alternative position, however. Worship leaders, singer/songwriters, even pastors, are caught in the tidal pool of industry and are further behind than "a couple of years." Musically and culturally speaking, most of us are about 45 years behind. We never embraced rock and roll. We never joined the Beatles or any other rock group from the 60's in the defiant departure from popular mainstream music. We never joined the revolution.

Now, I know that you're probably thinking, "But the Beatles became mainstream." Sure, now they are, but not when they were being denounced from pulpits across America as the ambassadors of evil. Their music had as many opponents as adoring fans. Their counter-cultural message was not appreciated - particularly as it related to the music industry.

And that message - that counter-cultural, defiant criticism of the music industry is what I want to advocate and encourage. There are some wonderful exceptions to the rule but, in the main, we are filling our churches, iPods, and heads with mechanistic, industrial glop. The scandalous, beautiful, difficult, powerful message of the gospel of Jesus the Messiah is lost in the profit margins, contracts, endorsements, radio ads, and irresponsible, churchless noise that is amplified by radio towers and empowered by the iTunes store.

It's time to stop. It's time to think. And here's what I'd like us to think about:

1. Is this music good? I mean REALLY good - not tolerable, GOOD. Is it complicated enough or simple enough to be consistent with the message it presents? Is it innovative? Does it have soul? Does it accomplish its created purpose?
   
2. Who is providing this music? The question is NOT, "who is singing the music?" The question is, "who is providing the music?" Who wrote it? Why did he write it? What is this person's character? What is his theology? What is this person's motivation? How is it being produced and promoted?
   
3. To whom is the musician responsible? (In other words, "What church supports this musician?") There is an anti-church, anti-establishmentarian, underground, sub-culture that flourishes in the Christian music industry. These artists and producers spread an anti-church message of "free worship" and "free Christianity." They are the unaccountable and should not be supported.

How will we answer these questions? Responsible journalism. I would love to see more churches interviewing bands and free-lance worship leaders, discerning their motivations, and publishing these findings for other churches. Christian magazines tend to ask promotional questions, endorsing new talent, new products, and more consumption. They tend to shy away from the difficult questions. (This is not a typical interview: "So, Lance, how is your relationship with your pastor(s)? Oh, gee, Sally, I don't really have a pastor. Lance, do you mean to tell me that you aren't in a covenant relationship with a local church? Well, Sally, if you put it that way...no.")

Where are the interviewers who will ask these questions and the bands who, like Casting Crowns (to name one), can answer these questions with responses like this: "We love our pastor and love our church. We find a greatest measure of joy in bringing new music to the church, finding constructive criticism there, and taking that creative fellowship into the recording studio." Where is the producer who finds joy in being held accountable - not by his recording label but by his church? Where are the artists and managers who are that counter-cultural, who defy the system?

Where is the Christian, rock and roll?