Jesus music
Encyclopedia
- For the Lecrae song, see Jesus MuzikJesus Muzik"Jesus Muzik" is the second single off Lecrae's second studio album, After the Music Stops. It is critically acclaimed and was nominated for two GMA Dove Awards. The song also features fellow Christian Hip Hop artist Trip Lee...
.
Jesus music, known as gospel beat music in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, is a style of Christian music
Christian music
Christian music is music that has been written to express either personal or a communal belief regarding Christian life and faith. Common themes of Christian music include praise, worship, penitence, and lament, and its forms vary widely across the world....
which originated on the West Coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This musical genre developed in parallel to the Jesus movement
Jesus movement
The Jesus movement was a movement in Christianity beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily through North America and Europe, before dying out by the early 1980s. It was the major Christian element within the hippie counterculture,...
. It outlasted the movement that spawned it and the Christian music industry
Christian music industry
The Christian music industry is a small part of the larger music industry, that focuses on traditional Gospel music, Southern Gospel music, Contemporary Christian music, and alternative Christian music. It is sometimes called the gospel music industry, although this designation is not a limitation...
began to eclipse it and absorb its musicians around 1975.
History
Jesus music primarily began in population centers of the United States where the Jesus movement was gaining momentum—Southern CaliforniaSouthern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
(especially Costa Mesa
Costa Mesa, California
Costa Mesa is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 109,960 at the 2010 census. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to a primarily suburban and "edge" city with an economy based on retail, commerce, and light...
and Hollywood), San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago—around 1969–70. Large numbers of hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
s and street musicians began converting to born-again Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. A number of these conversions, especially in southern California, was due largely to the outreach of Lonnie Frisbee
Lonnie Frisbee
Lonnie Frisbee was an American Pentecostal evangelist and self-described "seeing prophet" and mystic in the late 1960s and 1970s...
and Pastor Chuck Smith
Chuck Smith (pastor)
Charles Ward “Chuck” Smith, , is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and the founder of the Calvary Chapel movement...
of Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel is an evangelical association of Christian churches with over one thousand congregations worldwide. Calvary Chapel also maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs. It presents itself as a "fellowship of...
in Costa Mesa. In the aftermath of such conversions, these musicians continued playing the same styles of music that they had been playing prior to their conversion, though they now infused their lyrics with a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
message. Most of these early bands gigged whenever asked, usually for whatever money could be collected at the passing of a hat or basket. This was known as a love offering. Few, if any, made a living from playing in the years 1970–73, nor did they expect to. Most viewed their music as a means of sharing their newfound faith and encouraging listeners to commit their lives to Jesus, no matter the sacrifice. Of the many bands and artists that came out of this time-period, some became leaders within the Jesus movement. Most notably among them Larry Norman
Larry Norman
Larry David Norman was an American Christian musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer, who worked with Christian rock music...
, Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire is an American singer-songwriter best known for the hit song "Eve of Destruction", and later as a pioneering singer and songwriter of Contemporary Christian Music.-Early life:...
, Love Song
Love Song (band)
Love Song was one of the main Jesus music bands, one of the first Christian rock bands. It was founded in 1970 by Chuck Girard, Tommy Coomes, Jay Truax, and Fred Field. Additionally, the earliest members included David Ingram on keyboards, Ernie Earnshaw on drums and Jack Schaeffer on bass. It was...
, Second Chapter of Acts
2nd Chapter of Acts
The 2nd Chapter of Acts was a Jesus Music and early Contemporary Christian Music group composed of sisters Annie Herring and Nelly Greisen and brother Matthew Ward. They began performing in 1973 and enjoyed their period of greatest success during the 1970s...
, Randy Stonehill
Randy Stonehill
Randall Evan "Randy" Stonehill is an American singer-songwriter from Stockton, California, best known as one of the so-called "fathers of contemporary Christian music". His music is primarily folk rock in the style of James Taylor, but he has assayed other styles, with various albums focused on...
, Randy Matthews
Randy Matthews
Randy Matthews is a Christian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pioneer of Jesus music. He was born into a family with at least five ordained ministers, including his father, Monty, a founding member of the Jordanaires. When Randy was in high school in Lamar, Mo., he sang in a quartet called The...
, and during the mid-1970s, Keith Green
Keith Green
Keith Gordon Green was an American gospel singer, songwriter, musician, and Contemporary Christian Music artist originally from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. Beyond his music, Green is best known for his strong devotion to Christian evangelism and challenging others to the same...
.
was a blend of
folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and folk rock
Folk rock
Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of folk music and rock music. In its earliest and narrowest sense, the term referred to a genre that arose in the United States and the UK around the mid-1960s...
(Children of the Day
Children of the Day
Children of the Day was a Contemporary Christian music group that recorded and toured from 1971 to 1979. It is considered by many to be the world's first contemporary Christian music group.-Beginnings:...
, Paul Clark
Paul Clark (Christian musician)
Paul Clark is a musician who specializes in Christian praise and worship oriented music. He was born in Kansas City and recorded his first album in 1971, Songs from the Saviour Vol 1. Its songs became one of the first signs of the growing "Jesus Movement" of the early 70's.He went on to record a...
, John Fischer
John Fischer (Christian musician)
John Fischer is a Christian author, singer, songwriter, and speaker. He is one of the credited founders of Jesus music and was a Senior Writer with PurposeDrivenLife.com.-Personal:...
, Nancy Honeytree
Nancy Honeytree
Nancy "Honeytree" Henigbaum is an American Christian musician and one of the leaders in what was known as Jesus music.- Personal background :...
, Mark Heard
Mark Heard
John Mark Heard was a record producer, folk-rock singer, and songwriter originally from Macon, Georgia, USA....
, Noel Paul Stookey),
soft rock
Soft rock
Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...
(Chuck Girard
Chuck Girard
Chuck Girard is a pioneer of Contemporary Christian music. He was born August 27, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, and moved to Santa Rosa, California in his young teens...
, Tom Howard
Tom Howard (musician)
Tom Howard was an American pianist, musical arranger and orchestral conductor.In 1983, Howard helped the rock band Daniel Amos form the Alarma! Records label....
, Phil Keaggy
Phil Keaggy
Phil Keaggy is an American acoustic and electric guitarist and vocalist who has released more than 50 albums and contributed to many more recordings in both the contemporary Christian music and mainstream markets...
, Mustard Seed Faith, Salvation Air Force, Pat Terry),
R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
(Andraé Crouch (and the Disciples)
Andrae Crouch
Andraé Crouch is a seven-time Grammy Award-winning American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, recording artist, record producer, and pastor.-Early years:Born Andraé Edward Crouch in San Francisco, California....
),
soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
/jazz fusion
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical fusion genre that developed from mixing funk and R&B rhythms and the amplification and electronic effects of rock, complex time signatures derived from non-Western music and extended, typically instrumental compositions with a jazz approach to lengthy group improvisations,...
(Sweet Comfort Band
Sweet Comfort Band
Sweet Comfort Band was a Christian rock band that first performed in 1973 in Riverside, California, and were active until 1984. The band was initially composed of keyboardist/lead vocalist, Bryan Duncan, and brothers Kevin and Rick Thomson. The band was the brainchild of the Thomson brothers...
),
country rock
Country rock
Country rock is sub-genre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock with country. The term is generally used to refer to the wave of rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with Bob Dylan and The Byrds; reaching its greatest...
(Bethlehem
Bethlehem (Jesus music)
Bethlehem was a Christian country rock band in the 1970s, during the Jesus Music era, before the rise of the CCM industry. The group released one self-titled album in 1978 under the Maranatha! label...
, Daniel Amos
Daniel Amos
Daniel Amos is a rock band formed in 1974 by Terry Scott Taylor on guitars and vocals, Marty Dieckmeyer on bass guitar, Steve Baxter on guitars and Jerry Chamberlain on lead guitars. Current members include bassist Tim Chandler, guitarist Greg Flesch and drummer Ed McTaggart...
, Gentle Faith
Gentle Faith
Gentle Faith was a Christian country rock band in the 1970s, during the Jesus Music era, before the rise of the CCM industry. The group formed in 1974 and released one self-titled album in 1976 under the Maranatha! label....
, The Talbot Brothers - John Michael
John Michael Talbot
John Michael Talbot is an American Roman Catholic singer-songwriter-guitarist who is founder of a monastic community, the Brothers and Sisters of Charity.-Biography:...
and Terry Talbot, The Way
The Way (band)
The Way was a Jesus music band who were active from 1971 to 1976. They released two albums on Maranatha! Records and contributed four non-LP tracks to their label's compilation series and one LP track was pulled for the first label retrospective.-History:...
),
and hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
(Agape, The All Saved Freak Band, Petra
Petra (band)
Petra is a music group regarded as a pioneer of the Christian rock and contemporary Christian music genres. Formed in 1972, the band took its name from the Greek word for "rock"...
, Resurrection Band
Resurrection Band
Resurrection Band, also known as Rez Band or REZ, was a Christian rock band formed in 1972. They were part of the Jesus People USA Christian community in Chicago and most of its members have continued in that community to this day. Known for their blend of blues-rock and hard rock, Resurrection...
, Servant
Servant (band)
Servant was a Christian rock group that grew out of the counter-culture Jesus Movement of the sixties and seventies. The band was founded in Victoria, British Columbia in 1976 by Jim Palosaari and performed to audiences throughout North America, Europe and Australia for over 12 years. Originally...
).
Bill Gothard
William W. Gothard is an American Christian minister, speaker and writer, and the founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles , notable for his ultraconservative teachings...
as taught in his Basic Youth Conflicts Seminars. These were some of the main factors that caused many U.S. churches to largely reject the movement and these artists at the time. This suited many artists as they wanted to bring Jesus to non-Christians, not only to church youth.
Larry Norman addressed this culture clash in his 1972 song, "Why Should The Devil Have All the Good Music?"http://www.christianguitar.org/csong2867/Larry-Norman-Why-Should-the-Devil-Have-All-the-Good-Music.
On the West Coast of the United States, Jesus music festivals began to emerge in the summer months of the early 1970s, featuring many of the artists listed above. While the music was often loud and the venue similar to the Monterey Pop Festival
Monterey Pop Festival
The Monterey International Pop Music Festival was a three-day concert event held June 16 to June 18, 1967 at the Monterey County Fairgrounds in Monterey, California...
and Woodstock, the atmosphere was decidedly different and attracted large crowds of camping families as well as teenagers and young adults.
By 1973, Jesus music was receiving enough attention inside the mainstream media that an industry began to emerge. By the mid 1970s, the phrase "contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music is a genre of modern popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith...
" (CCM) had been coined by Ron Moore and the first edition of CCM Magazine
CCM Magazine
CCM Magazine was a monthly magazine published by Salem Publishing, a division of Salem Communications. It was first published in July 1978, and it has always been a Christian music magazine. On January 16, 2008, Salem announced that the April 2008 issue would be the final printed issue of the...
was published in July 1977. CCM now was a combination of traditional gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, Southern gospel
Southern Gospel
Southern Gospel music—at one time also known as "quartet music"—is music whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...
music, Jesus music artists, and in some cases a style of big-band music with Christian lyrics. By 1976, it was apparent that a new generation of performers who had grown up in the church wanted to play non-secular pop and rock music for other Christians. By the end of the 1970s the term "Jesus music" fell out of use as the movement was replaced by the industry.
Outside California
Contemporaneous with the Jesus movement, from 1967 to 1970, on the East Coast of the United StatesEast Coast of the United States
The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
, the first documented Christian rock band, Mind Garage
Mind Garage
Mind Garage was an American psychedelic rock and roll band from Morgantown, West Virginia, and a progenitor of Christian rock music. Their "Electric Liturgy" performed in 1968 was the first documented Christian rock worship service, and their 1969 eponymous debut RCA album was one of the earliest...
, was taking rock music with Christian lyrics into church, although their music was not widely known to those following Jesus music. In the UK, Parchment, Roger and Jan, Judy McKenzie, Malcolm and Alwyn
Malcolm and Alwyn
Malcolm and Alwyn were a popular British gospel beat music group in the 1970s. They played Beatles-influenced rock music with lyrics reflecting their conversion to Christianity. The duo was composed of Malcolm Wild and Alwyn Wall, who had been performing together in a band called The Zodiacs prior...
, Garth Hewitt, Graham Kendrick, Dave and Dana, Len McGee, Adrian Snell, etc. were some of the most notable agents of the gospel beat.
Jesus People USA
Jesus People USA
Jesus People USA is a Christian intentional community in Uptown, on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1972, coming out of Jesus People Milwaukee in the Jesus Movement, and is the largest of the few remaining communes from that movement...
is an intentional community
Intentional community
An intentional community is a planned residential community designed to have a much higher degree of teamwork than other communities. The members of an intentional community typically hold a common social, political, religious, or spiritual vision and often follow an alternative lifestyle. They...
and ministry, currently located on the North Side of Chicago. Two of the first influences of JPUSA were Cornerstone magazine
Cornerstone (magazine)
Cornerstone was a newspaper and later a magazine published by Jesus People USA, focusing on topics of evangelical Christian faith and engagement with politics and culture....
and Resurrection Band
Resurrection Band
Resurrection Band, also known as Rez Band or REZ, was a Christian rock band formed in 1972. They were part of the Jesus People USA Christian community in Chicago and most of its members have continued in that community to this day. Known for their blend of blues-rock and hard rock, Resurrection...
.
Jim Palosaari
Jim Palosaari
James "Jim" Michael Palosaari was an evangelist and performer, one of the leaders in the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and 1970s.-Early life:...
was one of Britain's influential Jesus people and one of the founders of the group that became JPUSA, Servant
Servant (band)
Servant was a Christian rock group that grew out of the counter-culture Jesus Movement of the sixties and seventies. The band was founded in Victoria, British Columbia in 1976 by Jim Palosaari and performed to audiences throughout North America, Europe and Australia for over 12 years. Originally...
's Highway Ministries, and Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt festival
Greenbelt Festival is a festival of arts, faith and justice held annually in England since 1974. Greenbelt has grown from a Christian music festival with an audience of 1,500 young Christians to its current more secular festival attended by around 20,000 - Christians and non-Christians.The festival...
in England, the largest Christian rock festival in the world.
On the fringes of Jesus music such UK artists as Bryn Haworth
Bryn Haworth
Bryn Haworth is a British Christian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pioneer of Jesus music in mainstream rock. Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, UK, he has released some twenty-two albums and several singles since the 1970s as well as guesting as guitarist on many other albums by rock and folk...
have found commercial success by combining blues and mainstream rock music with Christian themes.