Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music

Mark Allan Powell

Hendrickson Publishers

www.hendrickson.com

"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." -George Washington Carver

Of course, we're getting used to it now. You know:

TobyMac and T-Bone's "Slam" in the Transporter 2 trailer
Blindside is touring with Trapt.
Hawk Nelson is appearing in the Yours, Mine and Ours movie.
Amy Grant is "granting" (haha) her "Three Wishes" on the Peacock network.

Is this becoming old hat? Christian artists rolling in the mainstream and getting minimal or no flak for it? Some of us remember this wasn't always the way. What's the quote? "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it" or something like that. I forget.

There is also a rising number of artists that grew up listening to Christian music, like the 77's, Russ Taff, Hoi Polloi, The Choir, Soldiers For Christ, Steve Taylor, Andrae Crouch, Stryper, etc., many of whom are still making noise.

The Afters and MercyMe are huge fans of those bands and credit them for inspiration. Heck, Circleslide even named themselves after a classic Choir record. Many early artists were the figurative martyrs that took the beatings so that current bands are able to display their art in the public square. It hasn't come easy.

History - this is what Mark Allan Powell has documented in the 1188 pages of his Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. Never before has there been such an extensive documentation of the origins of bands and artists, and I would love to know what the research process was. Some of the most minute details are included, like the story behind Mylon Lefevre's "Look Up" Project to an extensive history of Leslie's transformation to Sam Phillips. It's so good to know where we have come from.

Why read it?

A) You grew up going to concerts and festivals like Cornerstone and Creation. You drove 3 hours to see King's X. Plus it's cheaper than buying the 30 years of back catalogue CCM Magazine.

B) You're into the scene now. Fans of P.O.D. should find out exactly how Stryper was able to kick open the doors of the mainstream and scream "To Hell With The Devil". Relient K fans would benefit from hearing about Undercover and the Altar Boys and all the resistance they got about the way they dresses. And everybody should read about J.C. and the Boyz, arguably the worst rap band ever (wait, The Rap'sures) that managed to spawn the brilliant SFC, Dynamic Twins and Freedom Of Soul.

This is a great resource to have and is an excellent companion to two other great books, Raised By Wolves by John J. Thompson and The Rock and Roll Rebellion by Mark Joseph. This book is like having "Behind The Music" with DVD commentary. I guarantee that if you're in group A, you couldn't read this book without taking a nostalgia trip and pulling out some old CDs (maybe even some vinyl).

I dare ya not to.

- Silas Tomkyn

Link to sample chapter