Contemporary Christian Music (1969-2009)
Contemporary Christian Music was found unresponsive this morning and died, the result of a rather lengthy illness. Once birthed out of the Jesus movement of the late 60's, Contemporary Christian Music (known as 'CCM') broke new ground in 1969 and gradually launched itself into the forefront of 'Christianity' in the years to follow.
The rise of popularity and fame was later paralleled by artists who took themselves to seriously (Carmen) and those who saw the writing on the wall (Leslie/Sam Phillips, MuteMath, Switchfoot). This led to a (not-so-subtle) downward spiral that started when Peter Furler's (Newsboys) drumset turned upside down. This was the beginning of a slow, painful imminent death.
A long bout with complacency would soon follow and thus led to atrophy which shriveled away the wee-bit of creativity that was still flowing through its veins.
Despite attempts to regenerate itself through intravenous doses of dated sounds, uninspired lyrics, and cheesy band names (often with days, numbers or colors in the title) CCM's demise was inevitable.
The satirical lyrics of Steve Taylor (penned in 1993) were, perhaps, prophetic words for CCM: "the news of my impending death came at a really bad time for me."
CCM is survived by distant cousins, The Bill Gaither Trio and the Christian t-shirt.
