Pop! Goes the Church
Back in the 60s, in an attempt to attract a new generation of the faithful back into the fold, American Catholics pioneered “folk worship” services: Sunday mass in which an acoustic guitar led young congregants in praise and worship songs. It represented a brush with ecumenicism, as well as a flirtation with popular youth culture: the folkie strains of Peter, Paul & Mary, the Byrds, the Weavers, even the early Bob Dylan, brought a fairly secularlized version of the gospel message into the churches. After all, what precisely is the theology, Catholic or otherwise, of “Kumbaya”?
“Kumbaya” is actually a great starting point. As most of us learned somewhere along the way—in public-school music education, or at Girl Scout, Boy Scout, or Y.M.C.A. camp, or indeed in a Catholic folk mass—the Gullah title means “Come by here,” and the song itself is an African American spiritual of the 1930s that gained a new popularity, and vast new audience, during the folk music revival of the 1960s. The best known of the many recordings might be the Sandpipers’ from 1963, though Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, the Seekers, and many others, all put it out there.
The lyrics comprise a perfectly banal, non-committal kind of paean to “God-as-you-understand-Him”: “Someone’s laughing/crying/praying/singing, Lord: Come by here.” Can I get an amen?!
Such a low-octane call to discipleship was ultimately a bit too loosey-goosey even for a church in crisis, so that later the look and sound of Seeger, Baez & Co. were appropriated by songwriters producing songs with a more direct gospel message. This has gradually morphed—through a process I can’t pretend to document with any real accuracy—into the ecumenical praise songs so prevalent in both Protestant and Catholic worship services today. And I know, and barely remember, a little about this: back in 1972 my church’s youth choir recorded an album, Step into the Sunshine (yes, that’s right), that garnered a 4-star review in Billboard. In the turmoil of my voice changing (I was 13), I was able to hit both the highs & the lows: a versatile utility singer for the Sunshine Choir. And that’s Kevin’s handy history of contemporary Christian worship: corrections and criticisms very welcome.
What I wanted to write about in particular, though, is an outgrowth of this more general phenomenon of pop music being smuggled into the cathedral. Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@kdettmar) or Facebook might remember a one-liner from about a week ago, to the effect that the greatest evidence for the influence of U2′s guitarist The Edge among contemporary players is to be found precisely in contemporary Christian worship services, where his trademark sound is everywhere. The Edge has been a huge influence on any number of players, of course, so in some ways this should come as no surprise; his influence can be heard throughout guitar-oriented alternative rock.
And three of the members of U2, including The Edge, have long identified as Christians, albeit of a rather undogmatic variety; bass player Adam Clayton is the sole holdout. Christian-tinged tunes pepper their albums from nearly the beginning, from “Gloria” and “Rejoice” on October (1981) and “40″ on War (1983) right up through “Magnificent” on their most recent, No Line on the Horizon (2009). (And this listing is by no means exhausting; even a song like “Sunday Bloody Sunday” [from War], while entirely this-worldly in its focus, concludes by comparing the Bloody Sunday massacre in Northern Ireland to the “bloody” Sunday [really, bloody Friday, or Good Friday] on which Jesus won “the victory.”)
But it was The Joshua Tree (1987), U2′s landmark album, that provided their bridge into the contemporary Christian market—even though there’s nary a “Christian” song on the album. If I hear The Edge channeled through Al’s guitar at my contemporary Christian worship service on Sunday mornings, it’s because of The Joshua Tree: let me try to back up that contention as I finish this thread tomorrow.
Good observation, Professor. I had always thought of it as a general post-rock influence, but that is probably the closest analogue to (or derivative of) the Edge’s playing that I hear regularly. The praise band at my friend’s youth church has three lead guitarists, all of whom play single-note lines drenched in delay. There is probably no more epic or inspiring of a guitar style, so I’d say it was a sound choice.
I’d love your review of my book, “Pop Goes the Church” that delves into this very subject. I’ll send you a copy if you’d agree to review it (pro or con).
Tim Stevens
Tim, I’m embarrassed to have stolen your title unaware! I’d love to see your book and will do my best to review it: but school’s back in session in three weeks, so I’m wary of promising. If you’d care to send it anyway, do so at Department of English, Pomona College, 140 W. 6th St., Claremont, CA 91711. Cheers!