American rock music has always had its spiritual side. But recently the genre has revived its embrace of spirituality and religion, as artists who are Christian-not just Christian music artists-express their faith in their songs.
By Aymar Jean
Both pious and theatrical, rapper Kanye West's new video is not typical of MTV.
A prison inmate, arms extended and back rigid, stands resolute on a barren field. His guard blindsides him with a gun. A Ku Klux Klansman drags a burning cross up a hill and is himself consumed by the flames. And, sitting in a back seat during a car chase, a drug mule utters with her crimson lips, “I want Jesus.”
All the scenes are set to an intoxicating, militant beat from West's hit single Jesus Walks.
West's success highlights the noticeable increase of religious or spiritual lyrics in mainstream music.
Many songs, artists and albums have embraced spirituality in recent years. Some advocate religion, often Christianity, while others couch their lyrics in more universal themes. Some artists are crossovers, and a few have made mainstream hits without ever crossing over.
What binds them together are their spiritual messages and their incredible success.
Today, alongside Jesus Walks, which has spent 16 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, are the Los Lonely Boys' hit single Heaven and Switchfoot's even bigger hit Meant to Live. Alter Bridge, composed of three former Creed members, has some spiritually oriented songs on One Day Remains, which debuted at fifth on the charts in August. Other notables include R. Kelly's U Saved Me, Lenny Kravitz's Baptism and the House of God-influenced Robert Randolph & the Family Band.
Creed split up in July. But both remnants of the band are continuing its reputation for veiled religiosity.
Mark Tremonti, Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall make up Alter Bridge along with Myles Kennedy, once of the Mayfield Four. Meanwhile, former lead singer Scott Stapp is pursuing a solo career. His first single, Relearn Love, is featured on The Passion of the Christ soundtrack.
In a telephone interview, Stapp said he wrote Relearn Love to express that he had become both emotionally and spiritually healthy.
“I basically had gotten to a point in my life where I was kind of dried up emotionally,” he said. “I was asking God in my relationship with him if I could have a heart.”
Alter Bridge's new album, a melodic throwback to 1970s rock, also has spiritual references. Lead singer Kennedy calls it “uplifting.”
“To truly see well, you must have faith. Oh, the righteous they can't wait. A saving grace that we all know. Let us pray. Let us hold on,” Kennedy sings on Watch Your Words.
“We definitely don't have any sort of agenda religiously. We're not trying to push that on anybody,” Kennedy said in a phone interview. Watch Your Words, he added, is somewhat sarcastic.
Switchfoot's Meant to Live does not mention the words “Jesus” or “Lord,” but it does contain Christian themes, said Russ Breimeier, an associate editor for Christianity Today's online section and director of the publication's music page. The band's recent album, Beautiful Letdown, which has been on the Billboard 200 for 73 weeks, reached No. 1 on the contemporary Christian charts.
Breimeier lists Switchfoot with Amy Grant, Stacie Orrico and Evanescence as artists who have crossed over from Christian music to the mainstream with faith intact.
“They've been very cerebral with their lyrics,” he said. “Now they've found a way to do it that's meant for a broader audience, to make people think.”
The distinction is subtle but significant. There are “Christian artists” and then there are “artists who are Christian.” The latter may or may not write religious songs while the former write worship or praise music for the contemporary Christian audience.
“Artists who are Christian,” Breimeier said, are more likely to produce“ uplifting” songs that embody Christian ideals.
These musicians have to balance the demands of the secular market with their Christianity. For example, Evanescence ran into some trouble last year when the members announced that they were not a “Christian band,” even though they had sold countless albums in Christian bookstores.
Singer R. Kelly presents other issues for the religious community. He recently released a double album and, according to many critics, a doublemessage. The record, titled Happy People/U Saved Me, is at once a sanguine party album and a penitent spiritual album. In one song called The Greatest Show on Earth, the singer reportedly has clothes dropping to the floor.
Kelly's lifestyle also has come into question. Child pornography charges against him were recently dropped in Florida after a judge ruled that allegedly illicit photographs were illegally seized by detectives. He still faces similar charges in Illinois.
There is a long history of religion making inroads into popular culture.
“Religion and American culture almost dance with each other,” said Philip Goff, director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University. Culturally, Americans are very comfortable having their pop culture served with a side of religion, Goff said. He noted that blues songs often contained prayers and that Elvis Presley's first Grammy was for gospel.
After Elvis, the country saw a string of its rock icons wax spiritual from time to time. Bob Dylan released a Christian album in the late 1970s, and Bruce Springsteen, of the Dylan tradition, has consistently heeded a higher call.
Bono, both in U2 and Bono and the Edge, has also developed a reputation for musical spirituality. In fact, Creed's Stapp counts Bono as his biggest influence. As a child, Stapp successfully convinced his parents that Bono and the Edge was a Christian band so that he could listen to them.
And although the Beatles sometimes had wanton tastes, George Harrison in the late 1980s covered an old Rudy Clark gospel number called Got My Mind Set on You.
Still, some in the Christian music industry theorize that this music is influenced in part by the rise of the contemporary Christian music industry.
According to the annual report of the Recording Industry Association of America, the industry doubled its market share from 1994 to 2002, even though that has since dropped slightly. Nielsen SoundScan reported that gospel album sales increased by 10 percent from 1998 to 2003, while overall album sales declined by 10 percent.
As the mainstream continues its dance with spirituality, artists like Kanye West will continue to push the proverbial envelope.
“They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus-that means guns, sex, lies, videotapes,” he raps in Jesus Walks. “But if I talk about God, my record won't get played, huh?”
Religion News Service
Aymar Jean writes for RNS.