Even Jesus Would Say 'Quit Your Bickering!'

Since I began my walk with the Lord last June, I acquired a liking for CCM music of several variations, worship music, and especially Christian rock, which I already had been listening to a little bit of, buying albums by P.O.D. and then Pillar. I have an increasingly healthy collection of it, right next to my stash of heavy metal, emo, and country . In addition to Metal Edge, which is a magazine I have been reading for a few years now, I now subscribe to and eagerly await the new issue of CCM (it stands for Contemporary Christian Music) Magazine every month.

It seems that more than any other kind of magazine, music magazines, even more than political ones, generate drama, big and small, some time within their history. Source Magazine had some problems with one of their editors. XXL used to only cover artists on Eminem's imprint, or played favorites with those under the Interscope Records umbrella. And it seems like all of the alternative magazines are deluged every month with crabby inquiries of why the new Jay-Z album got a five star review, whereas the new Dashboard Confessional album only picked up three. Not to mention, all of these "alternative" magazines seem to latch onto one or two bands, and proceed to kiss their hind ends for all eternity.

However, of all of the drama and controversies generated...either by readers, the artists featured therein, or with the staff, one that started last year in CCM, by far, has to take the cake. Now, I didn't catch all of this controversy, and had to read the back story...however, it was bad enough that certain staff writers and editors of the publication wrote an open response letter to the generators of this tiff. In a nutshell, this is what the controversy basically entailed...though, as far as I know, it's all over.

A few months back, an album review was printed in CCM of a group by the name of Carman, which wasn't exactly favorable. Thus, the artist raised a ruckus, citing that they basically were making Christian music, and how dare anyone discount or dog what they are trying to do, or the presentation of such a sacred and positive message. This opened up old scabs from the late 80's, when a number of CCM artists, including Michael W. Smith and Sandi Patty, amongst several others, penned, signed, and sent an open letter to CCM, going on quite the diatribe about something very similar, except they implied that the entire act of reviewing Christian music all together is destructive, and should never be something music critics practice when listening to something "Godly."

The writer of the article that inspired me to pen this piece, John Styll, President of the Gospel Music Association, offered a rebuttal: "Regarding album reviews, we said that since artists charge for their 'offerings,' we have the right, on behalf of the consumer, to evaluate these albums according to generally accepted critical standards." Frankly, I couldn't agree more with Styll. After all, the music business is just that, a business. It doesn't matter if you are making positive, Godly, worship music or if you're making the next big gangsta rap record to appeal to bloods and crips alike, or if you're making big, loud, satanic speed metal...whatever you play, you are out to sell tickets, tee shirts, and, in this case, CDs, to make a living and make a mark within the genre. After all, music is still a quite pricey proposition; 15 bucks still is a lot to pay, and not something that people will plunk down compulsively, without investigating something they are thinking of buying. Therefore, if they sample it, and think an album will be good, somebody will buy it. However, if most reputable, balanced sources say something is boring, trite, overdone, stock, or just plain crappy, people will save their money. Heck, I used to compulsively buy music back in the day, and I wasted a lot of money on CDs that either are just sitting on my shelf, or I have consigned in exchange for books and new, better CDs.

Another reason I am taking the side of the magazine editors, who offered their rebuttal to that of the angry artists, is because I have never read a single review of Christian music in any magazine, Amazon.com review, or on any mainstream source which has EVER bashed or questioned the message within any CCM album. Every Christian artist goes out with one goal in mind; to compose fulfilling music, to serve God, and to glorify God with their voices and instruments. While the message is always there, if someone either can't play their instrument, or the sound isn't original, if the songs are trite, or if the record really is of sub-par quality, a reviewer has every right in the world to denote that. The message isn't questioned; just the method of presentation.

This phenomena is as if a famous Chef wrote a letter to a food critic, complaining that they gave a poor review of their food, which prevented the patron from leaving the restaurant hungry. Mind you, I have never read one of these where someone pointed out or questioned whether or not their meal was filling. However, if the food is of poor quality, the presentation is bad, or something is over or undercooked, the food critic has every right to put that down. After all, they are only denoting the content, not the base intent of the food.

Bottom line, the artists should just suck it up and realize that not everything they make is going to be of the best quality. Their intent to praise Jesus never has and never will come in question. But in the technical aspects, if they can't stand the heat, they need to step out of the kitchen.