Rock Music Grows Up
Posted by: Jared
I remember the first house my parents owned. We moved into it when I was five. It's where we got our first (and only) dog and where I jabbed my finger with a fishing lure attached to a string that turned on a light in the basement . . .it's a long story.
Anyway, other than those illustrious reasons, I remember that house because one wall of the basement was covered with a collage of pictures of the rock band KISS. No, we didn't put them there-they were there when we moved in (I just remembered . . .that was the room where I got "hooked"! Hmmm . . .)
I think that was my first introduction to "rock music". Of course, I was only five, so I never really listened to KISS, or Guns n' Roses, or Def Leppard, or any of the giant 80s heavy metal bands, though I do recognize most of their names. My five-year-old impression of KISS was, "OK, that's weird." I also remember thinking that the Motley Crue drummer Nicky Sixx looked remarkably like a sheep dog.
But something has happened to the music scene in the last 20 years, a shift that is documented in the July '07 edition of Paste magazine. For those of you who've never heard of Paste, think of it as a classier (for the most part) version of Rolling Stone, with a more artistic, indie vibe. It is not a "Christian" endeavor, though I first ran across them in an issue of Relevant.
The whole issue revolves around the question: "Can rock save the world?" For contributing editor Steve Turner, the watershed moment when socially-rebellious rock became socially-activist rock was Live Aid 1985. Of course, this activism has come to the forefront recently with the Live Earth concerts. This magazine, Paste's 5th anniversary issue, attempts to catalog the last 20 or so years of "rock activism". And, yes, our favorite Irishman Bono is front and center, with nods to Jars of Clay's work to provide clean water for Africa and even Willie Nelson's crusade to save the American family farmer.
I'm still not sure how to think about this development, particularly as a Christian. I waver between feelings of excitement and indictment. I mean, it's about time somebody started using their star-power to do some good! However, when I realize that Willie Nelson cares more about my neighbor than I do (I grew up in Nebraska, a farming state), I'm not nearly as euphoric. I suppose the larger question is, "How do we as the Church support efforts like these, affirming their concerns, without falling into the trap of condoning lifestyles and solutions that contradict basic Christian teachings?" Kind of the whole "in" the world but not "of" the world thing all over again.
