| CCM
Briefly Defined 
 |
The
mid-1960s saw the beginnings of a dramatic shift in the musical and lyrical character of
current, popular Christian songwriting. Even though "Southern
Gospel"--especially as performed by male quartets--had developed a large,
enthusiastic fan base nationally by being several boisterous steps away from high-church
music, it eventually proved no match for the immense popularity of rock-and-roll,
rhythm-and-blues, and protest-style folk-rock. Drawn especially to the potentials in aggressive, idiosyncratic guitar-playing, preferably amplified, many young Christian musicians began to write and perform songs reflecting those influences. Forming bands, other ensembles, or solo "folk" acts, they produced material emulating that of popular phenoms such as Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, the Beatles, the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, the New Christy Minstrels, First Edition, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, and the Eagles. When, in the late sixties, the Jesus People fringe of the hippie culture began to emerge, and when Christian record companies began to notice the commercial potential in pop-style "Jesus" music, a thin but distinctly new stream of recorded music began to flow toward the Christian audiences for concerts, records, and radio broadcasting. Larry Norman, Love Song, Chuck Girard, Second Chapter of Acts, Phil Keaggy, Paul Clark, Randy Stonehill, the Talbot Brothers, Richie Furay, Ron Salsbury with JC Power Outlet--the new names, many from the West Coast and from associations, former or current, with the hippie culture, began to swell into a deepening, widening river of "CCM"--contemporary Christian music. Its immediate and long-persistent damming/damning by traditionalists has, if anything, helped to encourage its broadening (and, thus, its survival) by adaptation of elements from many musical genres--including various classical ones. Now, as a result, we have such wide acceptance of Christian popular music across the faith-culture that many believers find the dissident voices of the traditionalists almost inaudible and their complaints almost incomprehensible. |