Preserving Yesterday Because It Matters Today

The interviews for the book have begun.  I’m still reluctant to “name names” until the process is further along; suffice it to say if you have so much as a passing familiarity with Christian music from the ’80s through early ’90s you’ll immediately recognize those involved.  I’ve also been fortunate enough to arrange some face-to-face interviews for next weekend and a following one, plus another artist has agreed to be part of the project.  Woo-hoo!

One of the many threads I’m picking up on that will be woven throughout the book is how artists often have little if any idea of the lasting impact they, and their music, have had on people throughout the years.  There’s a natural tendency to look on listening to or preserving past pop music as little more than a nostalgic exercise in the ‘remember when’ game; quaint reveling in aural bookmarks of days gone by.  Natural, but with music that matters this rule doesn’t apply.  Sure, there is a touch of nostalgia in dusting off tunes from days of youthful wonder.  However, this is anything but all there is to the matter.

The song the Lord spoke through to you when you were caught in an unguarded moment (thank you Mike Roe and the 77s), one of deep lasting impact on your everyday every day.  The tune played before the altar call when you went forward to first accept or recommit.  These songs are not the stuff of mere reminiscing about a time when we were the young lions.  They are part of our souls; something worth preserving both for ourselves and those who follow as we teach where we came from so others will better understand where they’re going.  Musical styles come and go.  The Spirit remains steady.  And what of the music itself?  As more than a few have noted, if it was good then it’s good now.

If you’re waiting for the Christian music industry to start recognizing and respecting its own heritage, you’re best advised not to hold your breath during the process as asphyxiation is a terrible way to go.  There are a few slivers of respect here and there, but for the most part it’s “oh — did we release that?” city.  While the need to have every everything in stock everywhere is way over the top, it wouldn’t cost that much for labels to open custom shops where orders could be produced on an individual basis whenever someone wanted a CD or DVD of their life’s soundtrack.  Certainly better than scouring eBay for something that might not even exist, as anyone who’s looked for a CD of Incandescent by Crumbächer can testify, and there’s the factor of artists receiving exactly nothing for their work whenever recorded music is re-sold.  However, expecting the industry to show proper respect for those without whom it would not exist, not to mention exhibiting business acumen via taking currently zero revenue-producing items in its catalog and through intelligent marketing plus low genuine expenditure create a revenue-producing product line… I’ll get back to you on that right after Twinkles the happy pixie stops by for tea and scones.

Since the number of Christian artists who were on the edge of creativity currently living in glorious material splendor with a money tree in the back yard is exactly zero, it’s not likely they’ll be able to rescue their own creation and return it to availability anytime soon.  Record labels are prone to a “we don’t want it but you can’t have it either” mentality when their back catalog is mentioned.  You also have the factor of how most artists, frankly, have no ability to discern the quality and/or importance of their own work, usually erring on the side of severely undervaluing their creation.  “Why would anyone want a new copy of that old thing?” is heard far more often than you’d think.  Um… because it matters?

While there is no ready solution for this, hopefully by bringing the artists and music back into the spotlight a few clues will be stirred up among the powers that be and we’ll start seeing active respect for this music.  In the meanwhile, we’ll keep on doing what we can.