- Electric guitar lead line with heavy chorus effect? CHECK!
- Cheesy synth-keyboard in the background? CHECK!
- Rippin' guitar solo thrown in the middle of the song with heart felt vocal "mmm's" and "ooh's" thrown on top? Wait...I think we still have this in modern worship songs, never mind!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Nostalgia for worship songs of my youth...
As I was winding down the other evening after the close of our church small group, I got to thinking about the early worship and CCM (that's Christian Contemporary Music for those unfamiliar with the church lingo) songs I had sung and fallen in love with when I first came to faith in the mid-90's. I'd like to bring you on a little journey of what seems like ancient history:
First up is Brian Doerkson's hit Light the Fire Again. I must have listened to this song 100 times or more between my worship mixtape in the car and various youth worship nights. Now what about this song exactly oozes worship songs of yesteryear? Keep in mind, since back in the day, pop music trends would always permeate Christian music a decade later, so some of these items technically belong to the 80's:
After "Light the Fire Again", a cascade of audio memories came flooding back to me. Who can forget dc Talk's In the Light, a song you MUST have come across either as "special music", an inspirational skit, or even what we used to call "body worship" (Don't worry, all this translated to was choreography to accompany the song, with elements of sign language, dramatic gestures, and possibly costumes.)
Lastly, I have for you Jars of Clay's Love Song For a Savior. Man, I played their self-titled debut album non-stop, even into college. This clip is from their "Eleventh Hour" tour, which actually came through Boston and I attended. It was their fourth album already, but on that tour they still played a good deal of the fan favorites from the first album. I've really got to dig up that CD and add it to my iPhone...
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In the Light is the best. Whenever that came on after Large Group while hanging out/breaking down the worship equipment the happiness level in the room would seem to skyrocket. It was nostalgic for many of us.
ReplyDeleteI heard "Hear our Praises" the other day, which I had completely forgotten about, and wondered if I'd ever hear it in worship ever again. I still really miss CCFC's rousing version of "Arise my soul arise" from back in the day but I'm guessing there's very little chance anyone will ever bring that back.
And now I think I will pull out my Jesus Freak cd (I have it here at work) and listen to the whole thing. :-)
Hey Grace: "Hear Our Praises" actually does pop up in our sets from time to time, but as for "Arise My Soul Arise", I believe that one was specific to some of our past worship leaders. I kind of caught the tail end of the popularity of that song, but I always enjoyed singing it when it came up.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy that Jesus Freak album!!
I remember "Arise My Soul Arise" too!!
ReplyDeleteAnything Brian Doerkson brings back crazy memories for me too... I think that "Light the Fire Again" might've been one of the first songs I ever played when I first joined praise team!
I do miss those very simple songs of the past. And now we have songs with like two choruses and three bridges? Key changes? I do LOVE Hillsong, but there's a special place in my heart for some of Vineyard's old stuff. :)
Ina: It's interesting to see how certain worship songs age, especially a decade or more later. Era-specific instrumentation aside, solid lyrics and basic melodic sense will always lend itself to different musical interpretations of future generations.
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