So tonight, I'm gonna take a quick look at Contemporary Christian Music. Only a quick look, because much more than that and I get sick to my stomach.
Most CCM has fallen into the sameness trap: it all sounds the same. It tries to be "fresh" and "pure" and "holy", when all it comes across as is sweet and ineffectual.
QUICK DISCLAIMER -- THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO ALL CCM. NOT ALL CCM GROUPS ARE SYRUPY SWEET SUBSTITUTES FOR "SECULAR" MUSIC. THERE ARE A FEW - VERY FEW - DECENT GROUPS OUT THERE.
When I look around for decent music, I look for a group that knows its sound and works it to the best of their abilities. U2 has anthem rock down pat and they play around with it in creative ways. Delirious has a similar sound, but they put it to use not to rock stadiums, but to challenge believers. Queen's songs changed the way that it meant to rock the world; Third Day has done something similar to the CCM world, without the extra makeup or the leotards. Although, I think Mac Powell would look lovely in the harlquinn...never mind. No I don't.
When I look at both the CCM and the "secular" world of music, all I hear and see is static. The local alternative station plays some decent stuff, but all of it sounds like the 80's or earlier. With a couple notable exceptions (Mumford & Sons and Cake), all the new, fresh, alternative sounds all are played out and tired, too.
Which means it's time for a new sound to come out of somewhere. I just hope that we recognize it when it happens.
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