Refiner’s Fire: Rock Music—Love Ad Infinitum, Ad Absurdum

Music’s my life, and everyday I live it, and it’s a good life too. Everything I want to say through the music it gets through ya.”

The words of this Billy Preston song reflect the attitude of many young people today. Music carries social norms and values and is the source of emotional and spiritual inspiration. In times of stress or depression during the troubled adolescent years, the radio often carries the message of hope for another day. It tells a teen-ager he’s not alone. It helps him escape into a trouble-free world of fantasy. Music gives identity to those who fear they have none. Perhaps this accounts for the multi-billion-dollar music industry, whose success depends on how well it serves the trends and thoughts of the youth market. And trendy it is; the only thing greater than the speed with which the trends change is the pressure to embrace each one.

The music of today differs from that of 1970. The reflective concerts of the late sixties and early seventies are nearly gone. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Lennon, and others who sang about the sins of the military-industrialist complex have been replaced by large bands of look-alike, choreographed singers whose lyrics are of a night at the disco.

In 1972 Bob Dylan commented on the contemporary music scene: “The frenzied masses of screaming teen-agers are following the frenzied masses of screaming guitar players.” But even that would be considered outmoded in some circles today. Dylan has shown the truth of the question asked by the Tower of Power in the song “What Is Hip?”: “You’re in a hip trip, maybe hipper than hip,/But what is hip? What’s hip today may become passé.”

The songs of the early seventies were songs about meaning and values. They considered questions of self-worth and social awareness. The change away from this is mentioned in a review of “Radio Ethiopia,” an album by up-and-coming rock vocalist Patti Smith, in Gig magazine:

“ ‘Radio Ethiopia’ is a strong album, an attempt to resurrect the half-dead corpse of rock and roll. But it’s also demanding, and although I admire it enormously, I know I won’t listen to it much. It should have been released the same year as ‘Disraeli Gears’ and ‘Between the Buttons’ [late sixties]. But Patti wasn’t playing music then, and now her album’s intensity makes it an isolated product, looking for kindred spirits among the dead.

“To make music as powerful as ‘Radio Ethiopia’ when the whole force of society is trying to push performers back into a mold, is a triumph of energy and will-power. Can she who speaks the truth tear down the tower of Babel?” (January, 1977, p. 60).

In the same issue Gig interviewed Ray Davies, songwriter and lead singer of the Kinks:

“Values. Maybe that’s what Ray Davies is all about, what sets him apart from the few good lyricists in rock. He has consistently stood up for an ethic, a standard of quality and a morality which is gradually falling by the wayside in an over mechanized world: ‘I’m a twentieth-century man but I don’t want to be here’ ” (p. 56). The Kinks hit their peak in the mid-to late-sixties and have recently tried to make a comeback, but with little success.

What is the most popular music today? As a young girl on American Bandstand’s Rate-A-Record said, “the smooth disco sound is what everybody is listening to now.” The disco sound has its roots in rhythm and blues. Simple, repeated rhythm patterns and strong bass lines are complemented by easy guitar and/or keyboard riffs. The aim of this basically black-oriented sound is to create a mood and rhythm for dancing. Some white bands, such as Wild Cherry, have adapted themselves to it. They call their music “electrified funk.” Other performers have been revitalized through disco music. The Bee Gees from England enjoyed a measure of popularity in the sixties but have made good use of the present trends:

“After half a decade in the phantom zone of worn-out pop groups, the Bee Gees have rebounded mightily in the last two years with a stunning string of five hit singles and two platinum albums strong on disco flavoring. And now 1977 promises to be the hottest year in their entire 20 year career” (Circus, January 31, 1977, p. 19).

Another comeback performer is Leo Sayer. His latest album was produced by Richard Perry, who claims he abhors the disco sound: “It is one monotonous driving beat. It’s as if the human race is a bunch of cattle that’s got to be given a beat to move to.” An accurate description. Just as accurate, however, is the Rolling Stone review of that album. It contains a classic statement of today’s Top 40 music: “The hit, ‘You Make Me Feel Like Dancing,’ one of five Sayer collaborations, typifies the album’s spirit of goofy disco-pop which has as its goal fun, not edification.”

The “fun, not edification” theme is repeated in a review of a recent song by the Sylvers, a black disco group. “For instance [in] ‘I took my baby to the pizza parlor,’ a whole song turns around those eight words. No bass riff, no vocal harmonies, just the astonishing unlikelihood of the unabashedly commonplace. The instant you heard those words, you laughed—and the song was a hit.”

In addition to the disco sound there are the new hard rockers who have inherited the tradition of the still present Rolling Stones, The Who, and other such British rock groups. The primary examples are Kiss, Aerosmith, Peter Frampton, Queen (the most popular band in England, just having taken that spot from Led Zeppelin), and the new American group, Boston. Although the musical style is different, the theme is the same. It is indeed for “fun, not edification.” Its strength lies not in socially redeeming commentary but in hard, driving rhythm. Love is the subject of music today—love won, lost, dreamed of, actual, right, wrong, ad infinitum, ad absurdum.

The music of the contemporary secular market has failed or perhaps refused to say anything substantial about real life. Christian music now has an opportunity that it has not had before. Christians have the message that can change lives, but to reach today’s young people it must be presented in a way that will catch their attention.

Eric Schabacker owned a prosperous recording studio in the secular market before becoming a Christian. He now produces “Artists Alive,” a Christian concert recorded for radio broadcast. Schabacker understands the influence and the potential of music:

“ ‘Artists Alive’ presents the gospel of Christ Jesus through contemporary music at the same time giving Jesus Music exposure in markets where it is little known. The best way, as fishers of men, is to use the right bait. The bait or vehicle, is contemporary music. What we’re trying to do is present contemporary Christian music to both Christian and secular markets” (Harmony, November-December, 1976, p. 8).

Music can be a powerful force for evangelism. Look at Maranatha! Music of Costa Mesa, California, Word in Waco, Texas, NewPax records owned by Gary Paxton, and numerous other smaller organizations. The best-known Christian artist is Andrae Crouch. In 1976, 70 per cent of his albums were sold through secular outlets. The trend toward greater exposure is extremely advantageous for Christian music. The leading chronicle of the music industry, Billboard, said, “Exhibiting more diversity, promise, and commercial acumen than ever before, religious music is on the verge of making dramatic inroads into secular music and revolutionary changes within the framework of gospel music.”

More than ever before, Christian musicians, producers, studio owners, distributors, and promoters are marshaling all their talent and knowledge to bring the Gospel to young people. Through this music young rockers will be reached and changed by the reality of the Rock of Ages, or as Larry Norman put it in a song, “the rock that doesn’t roll.”

James M. Pennington is a divinity student at Melodyland School of Theology, Anaheim, California.

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