A History of Todays Christian Songs
The Christian songs heard on the radio today are a far contrast from the ones played in decades past. The Jesus movement of the 60’s is usually credited with the origins of contemporary Christian music. Christian artist Larry Norman was a pioneer in the early days of Christian music. There was also a mainstream movement during the sixties that got the message out there. Some of these songs even charted on mainstream charts. One in particular was from the band Ocean.
That God song “Put Your Hand in the Hand” was embraced by a large number of people this popularity really served to deliver Gods message to a secular audience. Unfortunately the biggest obstacle was created by other Christians. They feared that these bands were not capable of delivering the message in a good way. Even with the resistance the movement could not be quashed. The movement really began to pick up steam.
The poser effect started to take hold in Christian music. Christian songs were being released by bands that were not talented enough for mainstream. The demand was high, unfortunately the supply of talented Christian artists was lacking. Because of the demand they released Christian music that was very lacking in quality. The motivation behind these bands choosing to perform Christian music is something I personally am not sure of. I leave that up to the good Lord to judge.
It was only a matter of time until true talent started to emerge in Christian music. Performers who formerly hid their beliefs began to deliver the message. The quality of Christian songs saw a great increase. In the early seventies a band called Petra was formed. Petra changed the face of Christian music, they were and still are an influence on many Christian artists. The eighties saw a great increase in popularity for Petra
Petra’s popularity continued into the 90’s. Christian music started to branch off into many more styles. There was a Christian counterpart for pretty much any style of music. Finally the genre had become fully fledged. It was overflowing with talented musicians.
The expansion of Christian music as genre was probably greatest in the nineties. These artists were able to adapt and grow with mainstream trends. Gangsta rap was also big at the time. Christian rappers like Tbone had an answer for that. Christian music has stood the test of time. The music was once years behind secular music. That is not the case anymore. There are some Christian musicians who are even setting the trends themselves.
It is not uncommon to see an album from a band like Jars of Clay debut on the mainstream charts. Feature films even feature Christian songs on the soundtracks nowadays. The detractors will always be there. Hopefully this will not discourage people from enjoying this fabulous music.
Christian music covers all styles. Find out more about Christian Songs at http://godsongsblog.com/.
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