1970s/1980s CCM
ChastMastr
Shipmate
in Heaven
When I was grading the other night, I decided I would listen to some of the old Christian contemporary music that I got into when I was a relatively young Christian and mostly in college (1980s), and for the most part I really liked it. It inspired positive feelings in me that I haven’t really had in a long time. Just wanted to find out what groups people liked back in the day and whether they feel that they’ve stood up to growing older and such. And also what music groups you might like now.
Comments
Martyn Joseph is probably the only artist I'd seek out but I'm not entirely sure he'd class himself as CCM, and he has a significant secular following.
Gosh, I was never into CCM but I actually heard Nutshell in a young people's after-church rally!
Used to like Michael Card’s stuff, particularly ‘The Life’ trilogy which I saw a local church do in concert once.
Good stuff.
I still listen to Card, but haven't bought a new album in 20 years. I particularly like his albums that are focused on particular books or sections of the Bible. Soul Anchor and Unveiled Hope have some really great songs.
I knew of Steve Taylor late in high school and liked that he was questioning evangelical culture. Consistently. "i want to be a clone." And I liked his style of music that seemed edgy from a Christian singer.
I believe the CCM and American christians were not exactly kind to Steve. I think he has been doing some sort of work with nontraditional churches in Australia for some time. Maybe someone else knows for sure.
Christian radio in the US drove a wedge between the ccm and me. It was the only place to hear the commercially successful music without buying it, (which was/is often schlock, in my opinion) and at the cost of listening to the talking head clones and "messages" from Focus on the Family.
My sister tries to keep me up to date on some music, but I am fairly hopeless on that score. My most recent ccm (?) purchase was Derrek Webb's "Mockingbird" (I might be able to sing most of it start to finish). That kind of thing just doesn't help me fit in either. But he asks all sorts of good questions. And that is important to me.
Funny thing, though, is that just a couple of weeks ago I exchanged a bunch of texts with my brother and sister about the music our folks wanted us to listen to back then. My brother was really too young to have been affected, and the whole thing blew in and blew out before he was really all that interested. My sister still has a soft spot for Amy Grant. As for myself, there are just two albums I occasionally return to for nostalgic reasons only. They are: Kenny Marks’ “Right Where You Are,” and Petra’s “More Power To Ya.” Both of those albums make me smile broadly, and cringe deeply. 😆
I really wasn't into CCM in the 70s and 80s, which for me were basically my teens and twenties. In fact, I pretty much avoided it. But I was a big John Michael Talbot fan; I still enjoy listening to him.
We've still got my husband's cassette of More Power To Ya. I always appreciated "Looking Through Rose Colored Stain Glass Windows."
Mike Warnke. What an absolute, complete sham. Evil, evil, damaging man.
All in Jesus' name, of course.
Listening to it now.
ETA: the lead singer for Petra had some legit chops and an impressive range among hair band front men back then.
Just for the lulz, I read an old copy of The Satan Seller back in the 90s(I think). How anyone could believe that he had done all the things he claimed to have done in a matter of months is beyond me.
I never bought into the CCM thing even in my ardent evangelical charismatic days.
I've seen Martyn Joseph a few times live. He's a good live act.
I remember spooking Bryn Haworth out by sitting unmoved during one of his concerts.
'There are some pretty cool cynics here,' he observed at one point.
I had a good friend who got into CCM big time and eked out a living as a Christian DJ - harder in the UK than the US. He knew his stuff but it never really did a lot for me.
I used to like Keith Green. And Joni Eareckson (better known as a writer and artist).
I also loved Fat and Frantic, the track "Africa" still moves me to tears
He was awful at Greenbelt (I think it was 1982). I was one of hundreds who walked out during his "headlining" performance. Just bored at his incessant rambling.
From what we know now about him, he shouldn't have been such a Christian "icon".
I saw ATF many times. Always a great live band.
I remember a very awkward gig by Parchment, when it was clear that the two front people weren't talking to each other (actually, they didn't even acknowledge each other's presence).
My husband, having been a big metal guy before Getting Saved, became a huge Petra fan, and lots of their songs still bring back good memories of our early years together (when we played in a church worship band that did lots of Petra covers ... not that we've entirely outgrown that).
My own favourite, then and now, was and is Rich Mullins. I would love to have seen how he would have developed both as an artist and a person, if not for his untimely death. I think he was a truly great songwriter, without any caveats such as "for a CCM songwriter." He just wrote great songs.
I was probably a bit too old to get much exposure to that music style, which is probably obvious when I say that I came across him because Cliff Richard had recorded one if his songs. Can't remember which one - it's been a good few years since I played the CDs of either of them.
I'm told he wasn't great as far as marital fidelity was concerned but I think Larry is right up there with the best in CCM.
My critique of CCM music in general, especially back then, was that the engineering and post-production quality had a hole in it -- I could hear that. Sure, a lot of the lyrics were trite, but that only made it similar to secular pop music. The bigger issue was the tinny, thinner, hollow sound of it compared to the headline artists and bands of the day. There was simply no CCM "Quincy Jones" at the helm of any of the CCM acts we remember. 70s-80's CCM sound engineering was chintzy.
This is true to an extent, but plenty of Nashville releases had commercial level engineers. The real problem was that a lot of the 70s/80s pop sound veered tinny (partly because they were mastered with then car radios and walkmans in mind).
Which is hardly a massive recommendation given that it's relatively easy to be a big fish in a small pond.
Sounds a bit sour considering this is Heaven...
Depends on what you listen to; e.g Michael Omartian's production work on both CCM and non-CCM is remarkably consistent (like everything of that era it has less bass/low mid than was the norm from the 90s onwards).
In my 30's I remember enjoying Graham Kendrick's music, particularly The Servant King and just to be clear not SJS. Being in Oz, I also enjoyed Geoff Bullock and Colin Buchanan's music for kids. Most memory verses I know come from his songs. I always find the line between CCM and worship music to be a bit blurred.
Part of the problem was he consistently chose the wrong songs to highlight these people. M&A's "I Love" was a trite ditty when they had actually produced a pretty good set of songs on the album Wildwall. I also think he could have chosen a better Stonehill song than "I've got news for you", which tends to plod a little. "Welcome to Paradise" was an amazing album and there were plenty of better songs to cover.
Ironically, the best song on the album by a country mile is not a cover but one written by his guitarist, Terry Britten. "Yes, He Lives" It was released as a single in the UK but didn't chart, sadly. For it's time, I thought it was a great song.
Perhaps, but for my sins I've tended to gravitate towards Purgatory on these boards - or worse - than the sunny uplands of these Elysian Fields.
With all due respect to Norman and other CCM artists, few would have 'made it' in the mainstream. I suspect some would. Norman may well have done, but I doubt he'd have made as many ripples as he did in the Christian pond.
Corinne Bailey-Rae is a case in point. She started out singing in a Baptist church in Leeds. She could have stayed on the Christian circuit but went into the mainstream with considerable commercial success and has recently made a 'come-back'.
I'm not saying that mainstream commercial success is the yardstick or necessarily desirable.
What I am saying is that bands or artists operating within a particular niche or groove are inevitably going to appear 'bigger' or more important within that constituency than they are elsewhere.
The same applies to some bands that went down the 'Red Wedge' political route back in the '80s - and as one wag put it, helped Labour lose elections 😉.
There were some bands which were already well known who went down that route and fair enough. There were others who were less visible who latched on to all that and found they only appealed to left-wing activists, which is fine, if that was their intention and target audience.
Coming back to CCM, I think there was a lot of talent that was overlooked as the whole thing became more 'beige'. My late pal could tell you a lot about that and how his own 'creative freedom' was constrained as a DJ on a particular Christian radio station I won't name. Not that there are many to chose from here unlike in the US.
The CCM scene has its own pressures and constraints just like the mainstream popular music scene.
It wasn't a scene that attracted my attention particularly, although I had lots of friends who were into it or involved in some way.
I'd agree that were some stand-out songs and stand-out artists but we are fishing in a very small pond on this thread, at least on this side of the Pond.
I notice we've not mentioned Gospel music here. We've largely been talking about 'white' evangelical CCM.
Nobody has mentioned 'Mighty Clouds of Joy' or big Gospel artists. The Christian Country & Western scene is big too and probably more varied than it might appear from the outside.
I didn't mean to sound mean or Purgatorial/Hellish about Norman.
But I was trying to put things in context.
I'm sure, but I heard enough when I was 15 & 16 to be decidedly turned off. Ah, the foibles of youth.
What, no one? They’re very…different…
Not heard anything else really.
Love Randy Stonehill's 'Wonderama' album though. Some thought-provoking stuff on there. In recent times 'Queen of the Barbie Nation' has been going through my mind a lot.
I vaguely remember a friend playing a Swirling Eddies tape for me in 1990 (?), but as I only heard it once, it didn't leave a big impression.
Interestingly, Terry Scott Taylor from Daniel Amos worked with Randy Stonehill on Wonderama.
“A Sigh for You” is very good and one of the least peculiar songs by Daniel Amos. (Their weird stuff is also very good, don’t get me wrong.)
You may like Steve Taylor’s later stuff, like Chagall Guevara and Squint and such, if you haven’t heard it. He got really, really sick of the CCM industry.
I know the artists you are referring to and although I never got into their stuff, I can certainly relate to your assessment.
I suspect most people in the thread are not into CCM as CCM specifically.
True dat. I listen to Martyn Joseph and that's the nearest I get to CCM.
I imagine it still is, but doubt many Shippies will be into it.