approximately 2,000 people each Sunday
in Leawood, Kansas. “People need to realize that this is a huge change, worship-wise,
within the church. The last time church music
has changed this much was in the 16th
century, when Martin Luther moved church
music from Latin into the vernacular.” For an
institution that has sworn by the same musical forms for 400-500 years, such a radical
change in worship styles is remarkable.
It’s an intriguing evolution, considering the
church and rock n’ roll have not traditionally
had the coziest of relationships. From the
very beginning, as Elvis’ hips gyrated and
the Beatles sent adolescent girls into fits
of hysteria, religious traditionalists looked
on with raised eyebrows. The new “race”
music, full of fuzz-tinged electric guitars and
driving drum patterns, flirted with sexuality
and dissent. It was anti-establishment, and
the church was the original establishment,
resulting in a cultural war between zealous
clergy members and rock n’ roll’s biggest
icons – not to mention stacks upon stacks of
charred vinyl.
By 1966, with John Lennon’s famous declaration in an interview with The Evening
Standard that the Beatles were, “more
popular than Jesus now,” the battle lines
were clearly drawn – even if the quote was
taken out of context by American audiences. In Cleveland, the Reverend Thurman
H. Babbs threatened to excommunicate any
member of his congregation caught listening
to Beatles albums, while Bob Larson, one of
Christianity’s original converted rockers, put
the finishing touches on his first book, 1967’s
Rock and Roll: The Devil’s Diversion. In the
book, Larson claimed, “Rock and roll is a part
of this plan (Satan’s) to achieve a world-wide
moral decay,” spending countless pages
warning parents of the seductive powers of
The Beat.
And while Larson’s words may now seem
like pure scaremongering, rock n’ roll’s early
image as a tool of the devil succeeded in
keeping contemporary sounds out of the
church for decades. Only after years of uninspiring music did congregations begin clam-
JOYFUL
NOISE
oring for harder-edged sounds on Sunday
morning. According to Lance Winkler, “In
the beginning, the term rock n’ roll didn’t
really represent good things, but that stigma
is pretty much gone today. As a result, the
church feels like it can now bring in some of
that music.”
The Economics of Worship
Ironically, it may now be the church that will
save live music. As the numbers of paying
gigs continues to drop – eroded by lessened
community support and increased entertainment options for consumers – and the price
of everything from guitar strings to gasoline
continues to rise, professional musicians are
finding themselves in an increasing painful pinch. Meanwhile, as ticket prices for
concerts and festivals continue to skyrocket,
people are staying home, giving record companies less incentive to find pioneering acts.
Thomas F. Lee, President of the American
Federation of Musicians, recently testified
at a Senate Hearing on public performance
rights, “People don’t realize that 99 percent
of the people who make money from music
