Music... Christian music

We've come a long way in Christian music... I mean a long way! Yesterday a friend of mine and I were watching (REALLY) old Christian music videos from "back in the day"... Unfortunately not all of the videos let alone the songs have held up over time (If you wanna see some ummm... classic DC Talk go to youtube and look up the song "Heaven Bound" haha!). But anyway...

When I was a kid I always felt like Christian music, especially Christian rock, was always one step behind. You'd pop in some White Cross or Petra and be like, "Yeah! Rock on!" and then you'd hear of this band called Metallica (no I'm NOT a fan) and their sound would BLOW any Christian metal band out of the arena!
Plus at one time the best Christian rap song was "Who's in the House" by Carman. Come on you know the song!

I don't think it was all the artists fault either. The music industry in general wasn't very accepting of Christian music... You never saw ANY christian bands on the top of MTV's music charts or anyone else's charts. Now obviously no one could touch our worship music but then again only Christians would want to.
There was a time that if you were admitted that you were a Christian band, you were pretty much only going to popular in Christian circles, not that there's anything wrong with that. Maybe you've heard of the band Evanescence. This story I'm going to share with you is straight from Amy Lee's mouth so don't doubt me (and no I don't think you'll find it online).

Amy told a friend of mine, who was her tour bus driver and a good man of God, that when they signed with Wind-up records that their new record company told them that if they were to admit that they were Christians and that in fact some of their songs were about God, that it would be career suicide and Evanescence would NEVER "make it". So they hid this fact... and the rest is history.

But we've come from that, a record company telling a band to hide their faith, to a time where just a few years ago an openly Christian band called Switchfoot had the #1 song and music video in both Christian AND secular circles! And then there's bands like P.O.D. and so many more that are breaking the message of Jesus Christ into peoples daily lives... and they're NOT shy about it! Praise God!

I'm not trying to criticize ANY Christian music artists. What many artists, like Carman and White Cross and Petra, did for the Christian music industry is amazing! Thank God for them! I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm so glad that people in ALL circles of life are hearing the amazing music that comes out of a love for God and not selfish pride... and so many more people are hearing the Gospel and that is truly a work of God!

Soli Deo Gloria