Opening a can of Whoop-Butt on Christian Music

I published this on our forum, but here it is in all its furious glory:

I can't listen to Air One Christian music radio anymore. It drives me nuts listening to the same insipid, predictable lyrics with the same four chords (max) put together in the same formulaic way.

Sorry that this probably does offend someone, but someone has to say the emperor has no clothes. Just putting Jesus' name in a song and/or praising His name through it doesn't make it good music. And instead of demanding more from these "creative" talent we've just settled in and accepted it like everyting else we do in American Christianity.

There are some good Christian bands out there, to be sure, but they seem to be falling off by the wayside. Look at the Top Ten of any Christian music list. Were any of these people here two years ago? Probably not. And they won't be two years from now, that's a safe bet.

Wake up Chrisitan music scene! Snap out of it! Be courageous, be daring, be leaders, be innovative. Don't settle for what sells the most CDs or what will appeal to the masses! Don't think that just making some gushy emotional song that happens to include the name of the Lord in it makes it good! It doesn't! Let the secular community produce boatloads of disposable music as we produce music with integrity!

Oh for the return of bands like Chasing Furies with their non-conformist music and SmallTown Poets with their heavy and insightful lyrics!

Sigh. Will someone - anyone - step forward? Until someone does I'll stay with those "compromisers" like U2 and Bruce Cockburn and Creed (may they rest in peace) and POD - groups that aren't walled up in the Ghetto of Mediocrity we call American Christianity.

Christian Mediocrity Part 1

Here is an ironic situation. Christians claim to be closest to absolute Truth. (That I believe.) That implies that Christians should be closest to God in understanding Him and His ways. They should be most like Him of all people. He is the Creator; they should be, in His image, little creators. (Not that we can create in the physical realm ex nihilo; there is no claim here to godhood. Put down the pitchforks.)

If Christians are a reflection of the living Creator God, why on God's pretty green earth are we SO often the singular most noncreative and mediocre group on the planet???

I'll continue this rant later but suffice it to say now that it seems that in America that if something is popular in the secular community, there will be some Christian(s) who will seize that concept (music, dress, language, artform, etc., etc.) and Christianize it.

Thus we become a subculture of derivation. We are like human xerox machines or cameras. We see and we copy. God help us to be more creative, more willing to take risks to do so! Let's be creative and innovative as Our Father in heaven. WE ARE NOT MACHINES, WE ARE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE LIVING GOD!

Whew, I feel a little better for the moment. Just don't get me started on the current state of vacuous, formulaic worship music...