Why Christian Music

I’ve been to alot of show over the years..  My very first show was Rush Moving Pictures tour way back in 1985.. man that band rocked! and from that show on I was hooked.

Greateful Dead, Ozzy, Nugent, Van Halen, Jeff Beck, Eric Johnson, Crosby Stills & Nash and on and on..From Rock to Jazz.. To this day I haven’t given up my Cd collection, I still love rockin out to Rush, but …

Over the years my life has definitely changed, I think for the better and with that has been the way I view music. I believe that music has this amazing power to change and effect your soul.. yep, here comes the deep stuff.. It’s not that I believe that music can make you do this that or the other.

Anyone remember when they took guys like Ozzy to court because someone committed suicide blaming a song he recorded? (it was Suicide Solution in case you didn’t know)

I don’t believe that music has that much power..

I believe that people are responsible for their own actions. Humanity has amazing qualities like a brain and a will.. for the most part we can choose for ourselves what we will and will not do.. and I digress..

Music influences us as a society

But have you ever thought about the way music has influenced us as a society.. Look at what we call the metal heads..or the gangstas ( man I wish they would pull their pants up).. or the punker’s.. there are whole subgroups of society that allow themselves to be defined by the music they listen to in the way they act, dress, & portray themselves..

And not that that is a bad thing.. I could’ve been defined as a metal head..I had my black leather jacket, motorcycle boots.. and of course the mullet, before the term was even coined

But since I’ve become a follow of Jesus I have been looking at music (and life) very differently.. no I wasn’t always a follower..

I’ve found myself looking for music that says something a little deeper.. and in the past couple of years I found some bands (who happen to be in the Christian market) who do just that. It wasn’t always that way though. Back in the 80′s – early 90′s Christian music really sucked!

.. it really hasn’t been till the past 10 years or so that Christian music has really come into its own.. these days there are some awesome musician’s and bands out there..Lyric’s as a whole have gone so much deeper, songs about life, & struggles, who the church should be  (just like many of the mainstream bands).

What I like the most though, is that there is this theme of hope that seems to permeate everything they do whereas in other mainstream music there doesn’t seem to be that same sense.. often the listener is left with the idea of despair and no way out & the only way to survive is to be the biggest, the badest, & the meanest.. having been on both sides, I do know a little of what I talk about.

Speaking to the heart of the matter

A year ago I had the incredible opportunity to interview one of my most favorite artists Lincoln Brewster (think of Eddie Van Halen, Jeff Beck & Eric Johnson all rolled into one). He was on the road at age 19 with Steve Perry (from Journey) on Perry’s solo tour, and now he’s on his own as a Christian musician and tearing it up.. one thing he said really struck me

“I think the thing is, for everything authentic that’s God, there is a counterfeit.  And a mainstream concert … I wouldn’t make this as a firm blanket statement … but in a lot of ways it’s like a counterfeit worship service.  It looks the same, the band on stage, the lighting, someone is leading it, lots of people with their hands in the air, they’re singing all the songs.  It kind of looks like church to me, but I think the intention of both parties is what’s different.  We were there for us, they were there for them.  I don’t think we had any lasting impact on anybody.  It was maybe a band-aid for a night, but what we do now, I whole-heartedly believe it has eternal consequences” [Lincoln Brewster interview 2009]

That statement wraps it up for me..

I want to be involved in something bigger then myself, something that “could” have eternal value. I don’t know if my photography will have the same type of lasting value as music does, but photography is the talent I have and I have every intention of making use of it to tell stories of hope.