>Nickelback was reliably churning out records and shows that—while far from critically beloved or history-making—reliably connected with the sort of listeners who were just-unsavvy-enough to not know how Napster worked (and therefore still bought a lot of CDs).
A light bulb went off, but I feel dumb for not piecing this together until now.
"Nickelback is so bad. How is this popular?" asked I and my high school friends, as we all drove to school with CD-Rs with album titles written in Sharpie in our CD players.
Incidentally, I knew a girl who worked for a relatively successful Christian label circa 2006-2007 with a job that sounded good, and she majored in "Music Business" and it had been a lifelong dream of hers to work in the music business, but at some point she casually mentioned her salary and it was less money on an hourly basis than I had made a few years before as a part-time dishwasher in college. Tough industry.
I’ve found that whenever you’re wondering “Why in the world does [thing happen]???” It’s a solid bet that the answer is money.
Why does Adam Sandler still get to make movies? Um, because his movies consistently make money. He knows how to turn stuff in on time and under budget, and he knows exactly what his fans want. So. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sure, I'm an economics major who has worked his entire career in finance and investing, so it's doubly humbling that I never applied this frame to Nickelback. Obviously knew they were selling CDs, but didn't think about the fact that a lot of us self-styled sophisticates had exited right out of the record-buying market!
Another factor that may be at play: to make great music you have to immerse in great music, and most great rock music is secular. You won't have a great Christian prog rock band until you can find five kids who all love Jesus, but also Tool. There's no way to be competent in 2025 at Christian industrial rock without devouring the NIN canon first. And so on. But too often we raise Christian kids as though our master said "What enters a man's ears defiles a man."
There really were some awesome things happening in Christian music during the '90s and even early '00s, especially in indie/alternative circles, thanks to labels like Alarma, Blonde Vinyl, Flying Tart, Frontline, Gray Dot, Intense, R.E.X., and even Tooth & Nail (which was way more fun and eclectic back then).
I do not remember any decent Christian music from the mid-to-late 90s, though I absolutely believe good Christian bands existed then given how flush with cash the music industry was.
Wait, I take that back. Jars of Clay was pretty great.
Unpopular opinion: I think about 20% of the megachurch worship songs produced in the last decade are some of the best worship songs I've ever heard, and I grew up around hymns.
Popular opinion: those megachurch worship bands have also produced 80% similar sounding dreck, but then again, a lot of popular secular music is in the same boat so... 🤷
Something I think about a lot is Sturgeon’s law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law )—the observation from sci-fi author Theodore Sturgeon that “Ninety percent of everything is crap.” Regardless of what art form, genre, product category, etc. you’re looking at, there’s always gonna be great stuff and awful stuff—with the latter far outnumbering the former.
Speaking of good modern worship songs, have you ever heard this one? Great write-up that I discovered shortly after first encountering it at church. I think the lyricism is just masterful, the way it weaves together verses from throughout Scripture while also acknowledging Auld Lang Syne itself. The very opposite of "Jesus is my boyfriend."
Some people might find that a hymn to the tune of Auld Lang Syne is cheesy, but I really like Auld Lang Syne and think we've soiled it by making it primarily a drunken party song, so re-elevating it is overdue.
Back in the 1700s, theologian Jonathan Edwards reportedly relaxed by playing Auld Lang Syne on his violin, by himself.
I know King’s Kaleidoscope a bit (mainly because their song “Sticks and Stones” got used as the theme for that Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast) but I hadn’t heard this song. Really great stuff.
I have a suspicion things are going to change again now. The whole music industry is in a bit of a flux. Did you know that CCM Magazine also just got a new owner? Something is changing.
I very, very much appreciate understanding why most my childhood bands died — this isn’t below your talents at all! (Though now I am interested in Tobit…)
I will, though, stick up for early Amy Grant. I know her work is usually brought up as an example of vacuousness and treacle, but man, have you LISTENED to her 1982 first-CCM-album-to-go-gold-and-then-it-also-went-platinum “Age to Age”? Some of the songs on there are spooky good (“El Shaddai” still gives me shivers, and I’m not even a theist) and some are just gloriously WEIRD and experimental (“Fat Baby” is, to my knowledge, the only commercially popular song to ever mention the King James Bible).
So in the 90’s there was a show on a Rockford Christian Music station (100.9 WQFL I think) called “Power Play.” That’s where I discovered some great Christian bands: Ghoti Hook, MxPx, Switchfoot (Legend of Chin is still my favorite album of their’s); Shaded Red; O.C. Supertones (can’t forget Ska’s hold on the mid-90’s); Plankeye; Johnny Q. Public; Skillet (pre-mascara); and of course DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline (their first album was very Chili Pepper-esque) and The Newsboys (Take Me to Your Leader’s “Lost the Plot” is still on point and of course there was their movie—Down Under the Big Top— directed by none other than Steven Taylor (another great Christian music artist)). I used to record the whole 2 hour show, 10pm to midnight, to be able to hear new music that resonated with my teenage brain. 🤘🎸 Last note, I went to the Ultimate Punk/Ska show at Judson College in ‘97 instead of my senior homecoming dance. One of the best decisions I ever made made
>Nickelback was reliably churning out records and shows that—while far from critically beloved or history-making—reliably connected with the sort of listeners who were just-unsavvy-enough to not know how Napster worked (and therefore still bought a lot of CDs).
A light bulb went off, but I feel dumb for not piecing this together until now.
"Nickelback is so bad. How is this popular?" asked I and my high school friends, as we all drove to school with CD-Rs with album titles written in Sharpie in our CD players.
Incidentally, I knew a girl who worked for a relatively successful Christian label circa 2006-2007 with a job that sounded good, and she majored in "Music Business" and it had been a lifelong dream of hers to work in the music business, but at some point she casually mentioned her salary and it was less money on an hourly basis than I had made a few years before as a part-time dishwasher in college. Tough industry.
I’ve found that whenever you’re wondering “Why in the world does [thing happen]???” It’s a solid bet that the answer is money.
Why does Adam Sandler still get to make movies? Um, because his movies consistently make money. He knows how to turn stuff in on time and under budget, and he knows exactly what his fans want. So. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Sure, I'm an economics major who has worked his entire career in finance and investing, so it's doubly humbling that I never applied this frame to Nickelback. Obviously knew they were selling CDs, but didn't think about the fact that a lot of us self-styled sophisticates had exited right out of the record-buying market!
I’m pretty sure I enjoyed this article much more than I have ever enjoyed a Christian rock song.
That’s because you ain’t never heard this dope-ass Chasing Furies song, boyyyyyyy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUUkDW-AcTs
Another factor that may be at play: to make great music you have to immerse in great music, and most great rock music is secular. You won't have a great Christian prog rock band until you can find five kids who all love Jesus, but also Tool. There's no way to be competent in 2025 at Christian industrial rock without devouring the NIN canon first. And so on. But too often we raise Christian kids as though our master said "What enters a man's ears defiles a man."
If you like good Prog, check out PJ Bostic. Not 5 kids - one dude doing it all :)
Sweet, headed to YouTube now... :)
There's still plenty of good stuff happening, I just wouldn't turn to K Love for it (Josh Garrels, for instance).
There really were some awesome things happening in Christian music during the '90s and even early '00s, especially in indie/alternative circles, thanks to labels like Alarma, Blonde Vinyl, Flying Tart, Frontline, Gray Dot, Intense, R.E.X., and even Tooth & Nail (which was way more fun and eclectic back then).
I do not remember any decent Christian music from the mid-to-late 90s, though I absolutely believe good Christian bands existed then given how flush with cash the music industry was.
Wait, I take that back. Jars of Clay was pretty great.
Unpopular opinion: I think about 20% of the megachurch worship songs produced in the last decade are some of the best worship songs I've ever heard, and I grew up around hymns.
Popular opinion: those megachurch worship bands have also produced 80% similar sounding dreck, but then again, a lot of popular secular music is in the same boat so... 🤷
Something I think about a lot is Sturgeon’s law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law )—the observation from sci-fi author Theodore Sturgeon that “Ninety percent of everything is crap.” Regardless of what art form, genre, product category, etc. you’re looking at, there’s always gonna be great stuff and awful stuff—with the latter far outnumbering the former.
Speaking of good modern worship songs, have you ever heard this one? Great write-up that I discovered shortly after first encountering it at church. I think the lyricism is just masterful, the way it weaves together verses from throughout Scripture while also acknowledging Auld Lang Syne itself. The very opposite of "Jesus is my boyfriend."
https://anglicancompass.com/behind-the-hymn-all-glory-be-to-christ/
Some people might find that a hymn to the tune of Auld Lang Syne is cheesy, but I really like Auld Lang Syne and think we've soiled it by making it primarily a drunken party song, so re-elevating it is overdue.
Back in the 1700s, theologian Jonathan Edwards reportedly relaxed by playing Auld Lang Syne on his violin, by himself.
I know King’s Kaleidoscope a bit (mainly because their song “Sticks and Stones” got used as the theme for that Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast) but I hadn’t heard this song. Really great stuff.
Wrote about the same thing a week ago :) Interestingly enough!
"The Day When the (Christian) Music Died: What Happened to the CCM Revolution?"
https://ryanpeter.substack.com/p/the-day-when-the-christian-music
I have a suspicion things are going to change again now. The whole music industry is in a bit of a flux. Did you know that CCM Magazine also just got a new owner? Something is changing.
I very, very much appreciate understanding why most my childhood bands died — this isn’t below your talents at all! (Though now I am interested in Tobit…)
I will, though, stick up for early Amy Grant. I know her work is usually brought up as an example of vacuousness and treacle, but man, have you LISTENED to her 1982 first-CCM-album-to-go-gold-and-then-it-also-went-platinum “Age to Age”? Some of the songs on there are spooky good (“El Shaddai” still gives me shivers, and I’m not even a theist) and some are just gloriously WEIRD and experimental (“Fat Baby” is, to my knowledge, the only commercially popular song to ever mention the King James Bible).
So in the 90’s there was a show on a Rockford Christian Music station (100.9 WQFL I think) called “Power Play.” That’s where I discovered some great Christian bands: Ghoti Hook, MxPx, Switchfoot (Legend of Chin is still my favorite album of their’s); Shaded Red; O.C. Supertones (can’t forget Ska’s hold on the mid-90’s); Plankeye; Johnny Q. Public; Skillet (pre-mascara); and of course DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline (their first album was very Chili Pepper-esque) and The Newsboys (Take Me to Your Leader’s “Lost the Plot” is still on point and of course there was their movie—Down Under the Big Top— directed by none other than Steven Taylor (another great Christian music artist)). I used to record the whole 2 hour show, 10pm to midnight, to be able to hear new music that resonated with my teenage brain. 🤘🎸 Last note, I went to the Ultimate Punk/Ska show at Judson College in ‘97 instead of my senior homecoming dance. One of the best decisions I ever made made
Steve Taylor is undefeated.