The first record my parents every bought me was DC Talk's self-titled venture into the then fledgling world of Christian hip hop.
It blew my mind.
It was 1991 and I was only 11, but I had already decided that Christian music was definitely not cool. With that cassette tape though, I was forced to accept the reality that Christian music actually, possibly, maybe ... could be cool.
I wore it out, memorizing beats and lyrics and imagining that those words (which were often pretty terrible: "Your life story is like my brakes' sound.") were written specifically based on my life and whatever universe-encompassing struggle I happened to be going through at the time.
Now, it's not like I fully got lost in the world of Christian Rock, or CCM (Christian Contemporary Music as it's known in the biz) from that point on. A year or two later my dad bought me Dark Side of The Moon, and my allegiance quickly transferred to Pink Floyd, where it remained faithfully for a long, long time.
But over the years I've never been too far away from the CCM world, and have often checked out new bands when I've come across them.
In recent years though, some of my favourite bands, such as Pedro the Lion, have been increasingly more difficult to define, mysteriously straddling the line between Christian Rock and the mainstream -- hesitant to reveal too much about where their loyalties lie.
In his new book, Body Piercing Saved My Life, Andrew Beaujon expertly explores the phenomenon of CR, mapping a journey that begins with pioneers like Keith Green and Larry Norman, through to DC Talk and Newsboys and hair metal bands like Stryper, White Cross and Petra, through the massive worship scene and right up to the less easy to classify bands such as Pedro and Sufjan Stevens, Switchfoot, MXPX and a host of others.
Beaujon, perhaps better than anyone else, is well equipped for this task, having covered the subject for years for Spin magazine and the Washington Post. He is in the rare position of being an expert on a subject that few people outside of the Christian community understand or know anything about.
With no religious affilitation of his own, Beaujon is well poised to provide an objective window into a world that is often firmly shuttered to the outside. He accomplishes this, providing a valuable history lesson on the origin and journey of CCM up to this point.
But the book also provides what I hope will be considered a valuable service within the Christian community. BPSML gives Christians the opportunity to see this huge part of Christian culture through someone else's lens. And Beaujon's lens is sharply focused, objective, and even sympathetic to the subject matter -- a rare vantage point for the largely ghettoized industry.
But beyond all that, the reason this book was impossible to put down was because intertwined through its 271 pages of history, bios, interviews and personal anecdotes, is Beaujon's relentless exploration and investigation of why so many Christian-comprised bands flee from being lumped in with the genre, and are even skeptical of having the label applied to themselves as human beings.
Pedro the Lion's David Bazan is sort of a legend for holding tightly onto such a position, despite a huge Christian following and a career that began on Tooth and Nail, the iconic Christian rock label.
Now, I'm a huge Pedro fan, so it was fascinating to read about Beaujon's encounters with Bazan and his friend and sometimes bandmate Tim Walsh, during the year or so he spent researching the book. I get the impression they became friends through the many conversations and discussions they had in various corners of the U.S.
Few of his fans can definitively peg Bazan down. Despite conventionally 'un-Christian' lyrics that include regular use of the 'F-word', and his fondness for booze, Bazan regularly plays Cornerstone, a massive Christian music festival, where he is the blackest of black sheep. But Bazan draws some of the festival's largest crowds with his poignant, sincere songs that explore taboo subjects and question accepted truths.
His now expected Q and A sessions between sets have added to the confusion with statements like "I believe in God and the Bible and everything, but I ain't no fucking Christian."
But then Bazan quotes scriptural concepts to Beaujon about servanthood and following Jesus' example, and passes the apparent contradiction off as misunderstanding.
"There's sort of a qualifier," he says, when Beaujon asks him why he always says no when asked at shows if he's a Christian. "I'm not equating myself with Martin Luther by any stretch, but him and people that were part of his movement stopped calling themselves 'Catholics.' I'd rather there just be a misunderstanding -- 'The guy's flipped out and totally abandoned his faith' -- because it's not necessary for strangers to know exactly how I feel."
I think Beaujon may have come as close as anyone has to actually figuring out the Bazan paradox. And perhaps, by extrapolation, the mysterious, complicated relationship so many 'Christian' bands seem to have with the rest of the world.
Beaujon writes: "Whether it's Bazan's empathy for those who came up the same way he did, or the thrill of hearing a marginally sanctioned heretic ... who's somehow still allowed inside the Christian cloister, Bazan's become a leading figure in alternative Christian culture because he's a reflection of those who can't square their desire to believe with their contempt for the system in which they find fellowship."
Bold words and incredible insight for a self-proclaimed non-believer who really took the time to explore the set of core beliefs that often drive this entire industry.
I'm not sure who Beaujon intends as his readership. No Doubt the book will sell well among Christian emo, hardcore and pop-punk fans hungry for insider knowledge about the bands they follow. But I hope the book also finds an audience both inside the wider religious circle and among those who like Beaujon, have little spiritual attachment to Christian religion.
His perspective can offer Christians the chance to view their own, often exclusive community or 'cloister', through a new set of eyes. The world at large, meanwhile, can gain a new understanding and maybe even an appreciation for the struggles, frustrations, beauty and integrity that is all tangled up in the world of CR, and is brilliantly captured in BPSML.
