The pop songs of praise - ABIGAL WILD May 06 2004
Natasha Bedingfield might not make church this Sunday. It is highly likely that she will be too busy celebrating her new single entering the upper regions of the pop charts. Like her brother, Daniel, who first managed the same with Gotta Get Thru This, she started out singing in church. Bedingfield, the daughter of New Zealand missionaries, is a committed Christian and proud of it.
She's well aware that many artists have got this far and then dropped their devotion to indulge in a more racy pop-star lifestyle. When asked how she balances being a Christian and being involved in a notoriously naughty industry, she said: "You just be; I think people are generally quite spiritual. I am confident to believe whatever I believe and feel people are quite happy to accept that."
There's been many a transition from the church band to the charts of late. Before Gareth Gates appeared on Pop Idol, it wouldn't have been unusual to have seen a relatively hair gel-free Gareth broadcast on The God Channel leading worship at his church in Bradford, backed by a contemporary worship band.
Athlete, the Mercury-nominated lo-fi four-piece, are also committed Christians. Two of them first appeared on a worship tape, Chosen and Called, for the Christian charity Youth With A Mission. They trawled the Christian rock circuit in the late nineties, before deciding they wanted to aim higher musically, and holed themselves up in a rehearsal room until they had come up with something that they thought was worthy of the mainstream, as well as the Lord. Something that didn't sound like a poor man's Green Day.
Out of all those in pop's nu-God squad, Athlete have enjoyed critical acclaim and much commercial success in the UK, either because they they worked hard or because they didn't mention God. Not overtly, anyway. Only someone who was looking for signs of their faith would suspect the lyric on Westside is a reference to the New Testament parable, in which the man who builds his house on solid foundations stays safe in a storm ("House on the rock/surely it would last forever").
That the tradition of black artists getting their first taste of performance in church is being mirrored in white rock and pop is a result of the development of the worship group in white middle-class evangelical congregations.
Such groups are nothing new. The Christian satirist, Adrian Plass, was already making fun of them along with farcical prayer groups, cranky preachers and obsessions with quiche and coffee mornings in 1987, in his Sacred Diaries of Adrian Plass. The point is, even fanatical born-again Christians were prepared to laugh at the clanging church band, which usually consisted of a tone-deaf middle-aged man, possibly his reluctant son and some poor soul with a flute and no sheet music.
In the nineties, the operation got more sophisticated. Once it was realised that more contemporary music might attract more young people into church, involving them in worship was encouraged from the pulpit. Everyone was a winner. If young people were going to have to ditch the usual explorations of sins of the flesh and go to youth group, they might as well salvage all the cred they could and be in a band. Meanwhile, the adults got a break from Shine Jesus Shine.
What is more, attitudes changed towards what was a fitting job for a Christian. In desiring to welcome people from all walks of life into church, evangelical congregations decided that the mission field could be anywhere. Thus professions previously thought to be worldly became accepted potential career avenues. So long as you were doing what you were doing for the glory of God, you could even aim to be a pop star.
Arguably the biggest impact on Christian worship over the past 10 years was made by Delirious. The group, formerly known as Cutting Edge, began as a worship team in Littlehampton and set up their own label, Furious Records. With a lead singer who sang like Bono, a cute bassist and a wealth of cod-Radiohead ballads and U2-style anthems, they were the very obvious heroes of young Christians needing a reason to stick with church.
Keith Angus, a church-goer and Delirious fan from Aberdeen, sees a little bit of Delirious in whichever evangelical church he sets foot in. "They're very important to young people. Youthful Christians wanted a way to worship in their own style, and Delirious made that possible. What they did was so right for the culture, time and environment. You even see Delirious-style worship, or at least hear their songs, in the Church of Scotland," he says.
It was when the group attempted, in their words, to "impact the culture" through the charts that they faced harsh criticism. In the late nineties, they entered the charts with Deeper, a jangly pop song that could as easily been addressed to God as it could a lover. Fans were disappointed that the more the group longed for mainstream success, the more coy they were seemed to be about their beliefs.
After failing to secure the right airplay, the band were never embraced by many outside their huge Christian fanbase. They found their niche in America, where fundamentalist evangelical Christians who are banned from listening to any secular music at all, need a constant supply of even vaguely cool God-fearing artists.
Another criticism brought against Delirious, even by Christians, is that, although their lyrics meant a great deal to their fans, the music was nothing new. Paul Northup, who runs Greenbelt festival (a sort of Christian Glastonbury, held at Cheltenham Racecourse), is happy to agree that many Christian bands aren't up to scratch. Thankfully, for his festival, artists with a spiritual bent or who support their Fair Trade campaigns are invited to take part. Last year Billy Bragg and the Polyphonic Spree played, as well as many overtly evangelical groups.
"What Christian bands tend to do is copy what other bands are doing. But, more importantly, young people are in this very encouraging environment where there are opportunities to try many things, and people will pat you on the back for having a go. Which is great, but if people are not as critical as they should be, the result will be a poorer standard of music," he says.
"In the wider world, musicians are judged on their merits, and that properly separates the wheat from the chaff. If bands are brave enough to try to make it on the normal gig circuit, they have to be better that at what they do. Young Christians will also buy into something if the message is right. The music might be awful, but the words are more important. Having said that, I honestly think that this is slowly changing, and people just want to make good music."
Steve Clark used to play at Greenbelt festival with The Dum Dums. Some of its members were Christian, others were not. His criticism of Christian groups were that they tended to paint a happy picture of the way things are, "and that's not the kind of reality we live in", he says. "I'm a real believer in honesty and I think lyrics should connect with people and tell the truth. Church bands are often quite cringeworthy."
Not all Christian artists are as polite as Natasha Bedingfield. Killswitch Engage have produced some of the scariest thrash metal you're ever likely to hear. Although singer Adam Dutkiewicz has been shy about his faith of late, it was previously stated that his brutal racket was the result of him infusing his anger at the sorry state of the world into his work.
Killswitch Engage's highly acclaimed album, Alive or Just Breathing, is far too extreme for popular tastes. Dutkiewicz may be the first Christian artist who is too dedicated to his music to find his way into the charts.
The Lord is their shepherd... and they shall not want for chart success
* Cliff (Richard)
He started out hip-swivelling like Elvis, but went on to confess that Jesus was the rock that rolled his blues away. "Why should the devil have all the good music?" he sang. Cos you let him, Cliff. Still one of the most successful entertainers the UK has produced.
* Evanescence
The teen-goth group, fronted by Amy Lee, were pulled up by fans and detractors alike for their statements about the state of their souls. They wanted to be a band that just happened to be Christian, rather than a Christian band. It was all academic. Even fans of metallers Korn in "668, Neighbour of the Beast" T-shirts all bought Bring Me to Life, and they had a number-one hit last summer.
* Eden Burning
Started out as Waterboys-influenced folk-rock, ended up in an indie-pop vein. The band attempted to make it on the mainstream folk circuit, but it was tough and tensions frayed so they did the Christian thing and split before they were tempted into bickering.
* Delirious
Their first name Cutting Edge might not have been an accurate reflection of their abilities to innovate, but it was a good statement of intentions. Delirious went from being a worship band, to chart hopefuls, but have now settled on being a worship group again after chart failure. Having once filled venues the size of the Barrowland, they recently played a gig at a church in Dunfermline. They now dominate the ever-buoyant Christian market in the US.
* Daniel Bedingfield
Got away with his unfashionable beliefs by releasing an excellent pop single. His debut album, however, was littered with openly God-directed lyrics. Honest Questions is a prayer: "Oh look down and see the tears I've cried/The lives I've lived/The deaths I've died/You died them too/And all for me."
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