Contemporary Christian Music: Where Rock Meets Religion

Jay R. Howard, Butler University

Abstract

The article discusses the love/hate relationship between rock music and religion. In the midst of this controversial relationship between rock music and religious messages, and as a response to a feeling of being "locked out" of the secular music industry, there has been a burgeoning Christian recording industry using rock music, known as contemporary Christian Music (CCM). CCM involves the pairing of a Gospel message or Christian worldview with popular forms of rock music. It is a phenomenon that first received attention during the late 1960s. In 1967, a band called People recorded an album that was to be titled, "We Need a Whole Lot More of Jesus and a Lot Less Rock and Roll." But Capitol Records, over the band's objections, changed the title to "I Love You." CCM is representative of a large Christian subculture. The members of this subculture reject, to some degree, the values, morality and woridview of the larger society. Through the creation of their own institutions, such as a Christian music industry, members of the Christian subculture are challenging the dominant ideology of modern society.

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