What follows is me approaching my most negative, but
- i believe it to be justified
- i am attempting to do this in a self-aware manner
and
- i will look to follow it with something on more of an upward swing.
Here are some reasons why i believe lots of worship music to be (at least) second rate:
One of the biggest factors is that Christian music (without getting into a discussion on how one defines it) is just that - Christian. What i mean is that where other music, and art in general for that matter, is about exploring and expressing this human condition of ours, Christian music does that but from a fixed point and within fixed parameters. That is to say, it's doctrinally bound; if a writer sits down to compose something there's enormous pressure for it to be 'right'. Sometimes however (in my experience, more often than we think), what is deemed to be 'right' is at odds with what is honest.
Another problem this person writing may have is, if one lyric appears to be too open to a wrong interpretation, there needs to be a qualification of what was meant in the next line (a problem of not such great importance in music that isn't doctrinally bound, since half the purpose is allowing it to be interpreted differently). What this means is that from the off, lots of Christian music is artistically compromised.
Why does so much of it seem so cliche: 'I just wanna love you Lord' - and so lacking in nuance, while cheap analogy abounds?
Obviously i'm not speaking of hymns here, but rather what are referred to as 'modern worship songs' - so we turn to hymns. What we find here in most cases however, are incredibly militaristic depictions of Christianity and God - victory, banner, army, weapon, marching, enemy, defeat, trample, slain, powers and triumph. Whilst we could argue the toss over the rights and wrongs of militaristic content and spiritual metaphor, there's no escaping the rampant patriarchy dripping from hymn books and still running amok in modern worship songs. I know that they (hymns) are a reflection of their day and therefore the patriarchy is of that era, but a.) it has carried over to today's worship and b.) congregation members more aware of the desperate importance of inclusive language wincing every second line, is not conducive to worship services.
The rhymes, seriously! There should be a prohibition on rhyming 'lost' with 'cost', 'king' with 'sing', 'face' with 'grace', and 'love' with 'above'. If Christian publishing houses had any integrity they'd have made this move a while back now.
Two final digs, combining as a knock-out blow:
Stuff that's written today is written (rightly so, to a point) to be easily imitable in local churches. The idea is that even untalented musicians should be able to play and lead it, and unmusical congregations should find it easy to sing along. What transpires is more artistically compromised music.
Also, so much of it seems quite theologically weak. This is a real problem when so many Christians seem to get their theology not from biblical reflection in discussion with their worshipping community, but rather from worship songs.
Right, i'm done, suffice to say that all of this combined adds up to one dimensional and shamefully diluted musical experiences and expression... and in the name of God? Is that appropriate? It's no wonder "the devil has the best music".
1 comment:
I meant to respond with the following to your last post on this, but didn't finish writing it and had to go do something else. It echoes almost exactly what you've said here:
"Why is that Morcheeba and Gorillaz lead me more into the presence of God than Matt Redman"
Because they're more authentic? Because they're not trying to limit themselves to "spiritual" matters or themes that will "work" in church services when they write music and they're just expressing themselves honestly? Because the niche market "Christian artists" cater for cares more about whether their music is "correct" than whether it's good music?
There is plenty of great music written by Christians that I rank alongside the best music ever composed. Just about everything that Handel wrote, for example. Early and late period Johnny Cash. Dave Mustaine is a Christian now, so Megadeth's last couple of albums count, too! But that music is all written by people who happen to be Christians, rather than people marketed as Christian artists. Because they're Christians, sometimes that comes out in their music because they express themselves honestly and clearly and their faith is a big part of who they are. But they're not so insecure that they think their music only glorifies God when it mentions His name fifty-six times, rhymes at the end of each line and takes a bible verse hideously out of context.
*******
then I got distracted and didn't finish what I was writing.
Actually I was going to go and then mention how people SAY the devil has the best music, but actually he doesn't! Yes, Black Sabbath are fantastic, but they're hardly satanist. Yes, satan gets a few namechecks here and there, but where he does, the music is more a confused yet honest exploration of spirituality. It has an integrity and a scope that Christian music doesn't. HOWEVER, exactly the same criticisms of Christian music can be levelled at satanist music too. Bands like Rotting Christ or Carpathian Forest are, frankly, not very good. They too limit themselves thematically and in their attempt to live up to an idyll they sacrifice creativity and integrity. And those bands that have used (or attempted to use) satanism except in a fantasist sense combined with paganism and a thematic exploration of ancient myths (eg Morbid Angel, who were great musicians) tend to have found that the tragedy and chaos in the personal lives has overshadowed what creativity they had (cf Dissection or Mayhem, some of whose members were involved in homophobic murder). (I also think Emperor and Celtic Frost are vastly overrated, though I have to accept there are times when Emperor's music is pretty inspired.)
So basically what I'm trying to say is, the devil might lay false claim to Sabbath or Maiden but the music he really owns is pretty gash.
Post a Comment