The Florida State University

College of Arts and Sciences

ROMANTIC ALLEGORY IN CHRISTIAN ROCK MUSIC

By

MICHAEL BLAISE DENTON

A Thesis submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with Honors in the Major

Degree Awarded Spring 2016

Romantic and Physical Metaphor in Jesus Movement Music

Introduction/Overview

Jesus Music is filled with romantic and physical metaphors. The genre is

marked by the combination of Christian Evangelical themes, romantic images

and allusions, and an engagement with secular music (intentionally or

accidentally). This tension between sacred and profane, religious and secular

can actually be considered central to the identity of this type of religious song

(Flinker, 1). The bands associated with the genre use romantic imagery for a

number of reasons which mostly fall into three categories: (1) because of its

complicated relationship with secular rock music, (2) because lyrically many

bands hope to allude to the romantic imagery found in the Bible, and finally (3)

because romantic language adds sentimental strength to a song’s narrative. This

essay will look at the way bands within Jesus Music tradition talk about God in

romantic and physical terms, and show why and how it works as a rhetorical

device.

History and Context

Across cultures and religions we see romantic and physical metaphor

used to describe the worshipers relationship with the divine. From the Gita

Govinda (Jayadeva) to Sufi Ghazals (Lewisohn) to Ancient Jewish religious

writings (Flinker, P.2), to the modern popular Christian music I will be writing

about, we see the sacred packaged in profane and physical terms. The romantic

language of Christian rock music is then not some strange outlier, but instead a

modern, easily accessible case study in the way religious worshippers

understand their emotional relationship with God and how they use romantic

allegory to express that relationship.

Christian rock music is an amalgamation of earlier Christian worship styles

and rock and roll music, itself an amalgamation of earlier, typically religious,

styles. Starting with the Jesus People Movement, Christians, primarily but not

exclusively Evangelical Christians, began a concerted effort to engage youth

culture through music. At the same time, converts to Christianity were bringing in

secular rock music and an emotional, existential sort of Christianity. Rockers who

had sung about love and peace and drugs now sang about Love of God, eternal

peace, and tripping on Jesus (Eskridge, 30). The Jesus Movement was a

counter-culture to a counter-culture which taught radical Christian values coupled

with an anti-establishment, apocalyptic vibe. The movement started in the late

1960s and the first Christian rock bands started recording their music around

1968. Christian rock music challenged not only the hippie culture, directly

confronted in songs like “Peace, Love, and Rock n’ Roll” by the All Saved Freak

Band, but also more traditional Christians who were offended by the “devil music”

rock and roll style and the off-beat personalities and beliefs of many of the early

Christian rockers. The Jesus Movement focused in a more intense way on the

apocolypes and a “personal Jesus” than many of the older denominations, and

many of its members lived in communes much like the hippies. The Movement

also spawned some new religious movements, a handful of cults, and some less

than orthodox Christian rockers (Eskridge, 179-180).

Many mainstream Christians had some misgivings about this Rock and

Roll. The music was often seen as overly sexual or as promoting uncouth

behavior. The strong connections between rock music, and even Christian rock

music (Eskridge, 14), and drug culture strengthened this animosity. The

irreligious or anti-religious nature of many secular rock bands, along with the

revolutionary tenor of much of the rock music scene, was at odds with the more

conservative American Christianity. In 1966 John Lennon had said that the

Beatles were “bigger than Jesus,” which led to mass Christian protests

(Thompson, 26).

The Jesus Movement was formed by open minded Evangelicals and ex-

hippies (Eskridge, 28). Perhaps because of the cultural and sexual upheaval of

the 60s, or because of the “debauchery” of the hippie movement, the Jesus

Movement took on a distinctly apocalyptic tint. Many songs directly or indirectly

address the sexual climate of the times. Books like The Late, Great Planet Earth,

published in 1970 at the beginning of the Jesus Movement, sold well, and

brought up a new interest in The Revelation of Saint John, the last book of the

Christian Bible which many Evangelicals read as a literal account of the end of

the world (Eskridge, 87). This new interest was of course mostly focused on the

book’s more apocalyptic elements, but many people also noticed the romantic

allegory seen throughout the book.

Members of the Jesus Movement, labeled “Jesus Freaks” (Eskridge, 3)

funcitoned outside this Christian mainstream. Often, these freaks did not hold to

the most orthodox beliefs and practices, as seen in the lyrics of bands like Azitis

or seminal freaks like Lonnie Frisbee (Eskridge, 33). Azitis embraced a more

universalist, Unitarian Christianity, while Lonnie Frisbee along with many other

freaks found Jesus amidst the drugs and free love of the Hippie movement, while

tripping on LSD and raving about Jesus on street corners. All Saved Freak Band

founder Markko said: “While people in the street seemed to appreciate what we

were doing, the Churches didn’t care for us, at all. Which was OK with us since

we didn’t feel like our music was intended for ‘church’ people” (Markko). Early

Christian rockers dressed and look almost exactly like their secular counterparts,

with the long beards and dirty clothing. Michael Card, an early Christian rock

musician whose lyrics, mostly retelling Bible stories to folkish rock music, are

calm and Biblically centered, remembers the early days of Christian rock saying:

"I couldn't play in my own church (Christianity Today)." Even today, many far

right Christians are wary of Christian rock. Several online blogs and forums

discuss the relationship between rock music, no matter the lyrical content, and

the devil. The Jesus-Is-Savior website, a far right, fundamentalist Christian

website says that all rock and roll, including Christian rock, is inherently Satanic

(Stewart), while David Noebel’s book, Rhythm, Riots and Revolution argues that

rock was intentionally designed by the Soviets to lead America’s youth astray

(Noebel). The early Jesus Music rockers were both chastened by the mainstream

church and ignored by the music industry which did not, at first, see a market for

their music (Thompson, 38).

Even as Christian rock, which would expand into the wider genre

Contemporary Christian Music, became more popular, there was resistance to

the music in churches. For decades, the debate between those who preferred the

older hymns and those who liked the more modern worship music raged on.

While the debate has lost a lot of its fierceness, many churches still exclude one

or the other type of music. Often this debate rides along age lines, with the older

members of the congregation preferring older hymns and the younger members

liking the simpler and more emotionally charged worship music (Galli). After the

Jesus Movement its progeny, Christian Rock and Christian Contemporary Music,

became big business. Records that fall under the CCM umbrella sold seventeen

million records in 2014 (Huckabee), almost 7% of all records sold in the US

(Statista) (Though all record sales are down, CCM has kept its market share

around 7-10% of the market for years).

The Jesus Music rides an odd divide between earlier, primarily live

musical experiences and later, primarily recorded and mass media music.

Because of the high cost and low quality of most of the recording equipment

small independant artists had to work with in the late 1960s many Jesus

Musicians did not record their music, or the recordings we have are fairly poor.

Thus Jesus Music was primarily a live phenomenon. The recordings that we

have are mostly the most popular of the Jesus Music bands, or bands that lasted

past the Jesus Movement and recorded their songs later (Thompson, 41). As we

look at the Jesus music songs we have to realize that for every song we have a

recording of, there are many that never made it out of the coffee shops, parks,

garages and nightclubs these acts called home. Jesus Music bands split how

and what they play: bands like Love Song play an intentionally physical and

communal, worship/folk style music because, for the most part, they were playing

at churches and coffee houses where the audience was expected to in some

ways participate (Eskridge, 218). Other bands like Agape or Resurrection Band

mostly played in clubs and for recordings, and their music, and the romantic

allegories they use, reflect that.

Jesus Music owes much of its style to rock and roll (Thompson, 17-39).

This similarity in style extends beyond the four piece bands and the crazy

hairdos, to the lyrics and themes Christian rockers sing about. Often, only half in

jest, Christian rockers have been accused of taking secular rock music and

replacing “Baby,” or “lover,” with “Jesus.” South Park, a popular, satirical cartoon

show, mocked this element of Christian rock in their episode “Christian Rock

Hard (Parker).” And when listening to Christian rock secular phrases will be

coupled with religious reference. But Christians have always phrased the

relationship between the worshipper and the divine in this erotic language. The

Song of Songs, by far the most obviously sexual book in the Bible, stands at the

center of Medieval Christian mysticism. It is one of the most translated books,

and is one of the most influential books on later western poetry, both romantic

and religious (Flinker).

The romantic language of the Jesus movement was shaped by the

sentimental of contemporary Christianity. That is, they wrote their music to

intentionally stir up strong emotions and sentiments. Some of this more

emotional music was a carryover from the hippie movement. Many of the earliest

Jesus musicians were recent converts who had been a part of secular bands.

Often whole bands would convert. This type of music, which I feel typifies the

whole of the Jesus Movement, is best summed up in the quote by Fred Caban of

Agape:

We were basically a secular rock band that became Christians. When we got on stage we played it as hard as we did before. But where we had previously been selfish and desiring fortune and fame, we now sang about our faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing on the outside changed. We had been transformed from within.-Fred Caban, Agape (All Saved Freak Band Website)

Methodology

This essay will document and interpret the way a few important Jesus

Movement bands use physical and romantic allegory to talk about the

worshippers’ relationship with God. I will do this by taking songs by some of the

most popular Christian bands from the era that display romantic or physical

metaphors and pick apart why they are written like that. There are three main

influences on Jesus Music’s use of Romantic allegory:

Biblical Allusion: The Bible is full of physical and romantic metaphors.

Song of Songs, a poem about a couple in love which is also seen as a

metaphor for man’s relationship with God, is the longest related section in

the Bible, but Ephesians 5, which compares the relationship between a

husband and wife to the relationship of Christ and the church is also used.

Perhaps the source most of the early Christian rockers pull from is The

Revelation of Saint John, because of the Jesus Movement’s focus on the

apocalypse. Revelations has a large section about the metaphorical

romantic relationship between Christ and the Church.

Secular Influence: Many Christian musicians were converts who brought

rock and roll style to Christian subject matter. Converts also brought in

popular music’s focus on love and relationships, now often turned towards

God or Christ.

Sentimentality: Nothing stirs the blood like physical allusion. Often

Christian artists use physical or romantic metaphors to evoke strong

emotions we normally associate with love songs.

Most songs will mix all three of these elements. With each band and each song I

will attempt to show the way they have used romantic allegory and why/how it

works within the song.

While this essay does refer to history, and attempts to discuss change in

the way romantic allusion has been used in Christian rock over time, this is

hardly a history of Christian rock, or even a conclusive history of romantic

allusion within the genre. I have chosen to look at bands and songs within a fairly

specific time period, The Jesus Movement, to see how they use romantic

allusion. I have then attempted to connect the songs and bands to each other,

showing similarity and difference within and between different bands.

This essay was also influenced by The Song of Songs in Renaissance

Literature, the Kisses of Their Mouths (Flinker). Using Noam Flinker’s model of

the balance between dialectic opposites, I will discuss how the imagery present

in these songs is produced by and influences these dialectic pairs. I have chosen

a slightly different set of pairs from Flinker: performed and recorded music,

religious and secular origins, and physical and spiritual. These pairs work

together to produce the sound of the Jesus Music.

Love Song

Love Song is one of the most iconic bands of the Jesus Movement. The

band members have a story typical of the Jesus Movement. They started as a

bunch of hippies, living off the land and using LSD. They took to touring around,

preaching peace, love, and drugs as the way to God. They began to hear the

early rumblings of the Jesus movement: “rumors of hippies getting saved…

rumors of a hippie preacher at Calvary Chapel (Frisbee), about the Blue Top

Christian commune, and of hitchhikers inviting people to church (From the Band

Bio).” They started discussing the Bible, and slowly each of the members

converted. They joined Calvary Chapel, a center for the early Jesus bands, and

started playing church functions and, ironically, anti-drug rallies. They went on to

become one of the most popular and iconic Jesus Movement bands (Eskridge,

217).

While Love Song toured and recorded music it mainly functioned as a

“worship band” (a designation that would gain popularity in the coming years) for

Calvary Chapel. Worship music became one of the main sub genres within

Christian Music. The songs I’ve chosen are worship songs that demonstrate the

way physical metaphors are used in this musical style (Eskridge, 218).

I am going to quote a few songs here in their entirety, and then go into

why and how they use romantic/physical language. I will do this for a number of

bands, and attempt to compare and contrast as I go.

--------------------

Two Hands

We’ve gathered here

Because we all believeIf there's a doubter in the crowdWe ask you not to leaveGive a listen to His storyHear the message that we bringFeel the faith swell up inside youLift your voice with us and sing

Chorus:Accept Him with your whole heartAnd use your own two handsWith one reach out to JesusAnd with the other, bring a friend

Many know Him well, others just by nameIf you don't know for what He stands,You've really much to gainWith faith you can move mountainsThese are common words but trueWe aren't quite a mountainBut He's moved us here to you

-From Love Song’s album Love Song

The title of “Two Hands” along with the chorus use a physical metaphor for

conversion. The physicality here has a number of uses. Firstly it helps give a

sentimental nature to the worshipers relationship with Jesus. The worshipper is in

a sacred space, church, but there instead of invoking a dry, more theological

stance of an older hymn the song uses physicality to connect more the emotions

of the worshipper than the mental faculties. While Jesus cannot actually be

touched by invoking touch the singer imagines a more personal relationship with

Jesus. The way the song links personal relationship/conversion with the singers

relationship with those around him strengthen the churches bonds with each

other. It encourages the worshippers to reach out to those around them. This

also gives a real physical outlet for the worshippers emotional relationship with

God, i.e. the worshipper is taught, through the song, that his contact with those

around him is a stand in/part of his relationship with Christ.

While the song is expressly religious, holy, or sacred, it shares both

musical and lyrical styles with secular music. As an example I will use “If I Had a

Hammer” from 1962 by Peter, Paul and Mary. With lyrics like “I'd hammer out

love between, My brothers and my sisters, All over this land,” (Stookey) the

songs use simple lyrics and physical metaphors to talk about emotional and

spiritual issues in the same way “Two Hands” does. Both songs use physical

metaphor to talk about the desire for community. They speak about love and

sadness. They are lyrical and musically fairly simple and driven primarily by vocal

harmonies. The main difference is that Love Song talks about Jesus, while

secular bands preached a gospel of free love.

And the Wind Was Low

And the wind was lowAnd He brought me to the waterI felt His hand and joy beganAnd there was meaning

And the sky was blueAnd He gave me His assuranceI then began to understandThe blessed meaningOh Creator, your perfect wisdom

And the wind grew stillAnd he touched me with the powerThen came the fire, the strong desireTo really serve Him

And the tears were joyAnd He listened as I sang to HimI bowed my head, He gently saidI was forgiven

Oh Creator, your perfect promise

-From Love Song’s album Love Song

“And the Wind Was Low” is another song that uses uses physical touch to

align the metaphorical touch of Jesus with the physical touch of other believers.

This is done through the ambiguity of the word “he.” Throughout much of the

song it seems to be talking about Jesus, but in the first verse it seems to be

telling a personal story about the songwriter’s baptism. Here we see the physical

being used to “link” spiritual concepts to concrete experiences. It attempts to

make theological ideals, “Assurance,” “Fire,” “meaning,” and “Joy” feel more real

by aligning them with physical, observable actions: Baptism, touch, and prayer.

This song has more biblical allusions than “Two Hands.” It talks about the

baptism that evokes Jesus’s baptism, and the silence/fire of Pentecost.

Alternatively the author could be attempting to invoke the ocean baptism of

Calvary Chapel, where hundreds of young converts would be baptized at a time

(Eskridge, 76) and the emotionally charged Jesus Movement worship services

(Eskridge, 200).

Love Song’s metaphors are more physical than sexual. They are primarily

used to connect the physical experience of the worshipper with his or her more

subjective experience of God. They are meant to reinforce the continuity between

the sacred and the profane, the physical and the spiritual. Baptism and worship,

love and physical touch are linked explicitly with abstractions.

All Saved Freak Band

Even as many ex-hippies were returning to Christianity bringing their

counter-cultural experience, older converts with a counter-culture bend also

started to write and sell music. One of the earliest Jesus Music bands was the All

Saved Freak Band.

The All Saved Freak Band emerged early to the Christian rock stage in

1968. In numerous interviews, members have said that at the time they did not

know anyone else was making Rock Music with Christian themes. Two former

drug users, Joe Markko and Larry Hill (Larry Hill had become a pastor and had

been clean for several years), formed the band with 10 other members, a large

band by late 1960s rock standards (All Saved Freak Band Website).

Larry Hill and The All Saved Freak Band were, even by Jesus Music

standards, odd. Larry Hill was a former drug user who had become a

Pentecostal Assembly of God, rock-and-roll-hating pastor. He then claimed to

have had a vision of the end of the world and went out to start his own church.

Alongside this new church he started All Saved Freak Band. He was joined by

Joe Markko, and Glenn Schwartz, both talented musicians fresh off of recent

conversions. To add to this motley group, Glenn Schwartz was fresh out of an

insane asylum where his family had committed him after his conversion . Other

church members swelled the band’s ranks, so that on tour and while recording,

they had a large ensemble of back up musicians and singers. The band was also

notable because it formed in Ohio, far from the more popular Jesus Music

centers in California and Chicago (Thompson, 44).

Because Larry Hill was a pastor and had spent more time studying the

Bible then most of the newer freaks, All Saved Freak Band songs tend to be

more theologically and biblically conscious than many of the contemporary

freaks. The Revelation of Saint John features heavily throughout Jesus

Movement Culture, but is even more pronounced in All Saved Freak Band’s

music. While often the more apocalyptic passages are referenced, as in “See the

Flesh Fly,” the romantic imagery found in Revelation is also present in Jesus

Freak Music. The All Saved Freak Band uses of romantic imagery, describing the

Church as the “Bride of Christ (All Saved Freak Band, Brainwashed).”

Larry Hill’s church preached to those who would become the staple of the

Jesus Movement, “made up of social outcasts, former dopers, hustlers,

revolutionaries, outlaws, etc.” All Saved Freak Band’s music addresses real

human issues, but with a distinctly Christian and theological spin.

Towards the end of the 1970s Larry Hill became progressively more and

more isolationist and authoritative. His teachings became more and more about

the coming end of the world. He moved his church to a rural commune and

starting stockpiling survival gear. There were allegations of abuse, and Larry Hill

fled to avoid prosecution. The rest of the band attempted to keep playing music,

but were hindered by shame and regret and by the fact that Hill still owned the

rights to a large part of their music (Thompson, 44).

Thankfully, the rest of the band was able to retrieve their music rights from

Hill and the band has played a few reunion shows without Hill. I would like to

thank the remaining members of All Saved Freak Band because, aside from their

musical contributions, I am personally grateful to the band for compiling a fairly

comprehensive histories complete with lyrics of the Jesus Movement on their

website.

You Haunt My MindEvery girl wants to meet a boy, every boy wants to meet a girlAnd sometimes they fall in loveThis is the way it should be and since I met you, you haunt my mind They say that marriage is meant to be true and since I met youI'm no longer content to be aloneI want a home 

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

They say that marriage is meant to be true and since I met youI'm no longer content to be aloneI want a home

-From All Saved Freak Band’s album For Christians, Elves and Lovers

In “You Haunt My Mind,” a love song off their sophomore album: For Christians,

Elves and Lovers, (the title mentions elves because, like many Jesus Movement

bands, the band had a penchant for J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings) this song

shows surprising theological depth, as it intentionally links the profane and the

sacred through Revelation and Ephesians (Revelations 21, Ephesians 5:22-32).

The language used is very similar to the Biblical source material. The song

seems to intentional reference sacramental views of marriage which describes

marriage as a representation or spiritual symbol of the worshippers relationship

to Christ. The worshipper’s relationship with their spouse is seen as a microcosm

of the way Christians as a body relate to Christ.

It also address the problems that had driven many hippies from their

conservative homes in the first place, and then back to the church in the Jesus

movement: a need for a home. The call of the hippie movement was “Free Love,”

and a dissatisfaction with how this actually played out is what had swelled the

ranks of churches like Calvary Chapel (Eskridge, 2). It also intentionally rejects

the Free Love ideals of the Hippie Movement. “You Haunt My Mind” then shows

a near balance of the three uses of romantic allegory in Christian music: secular

roots, especially musically, theological and biblical source material, and a

sentimental appeal to the emotional needs of the intended listener.

By the Fire

Hand in hand by the fire shadows danced on the wallYellow flames leaping higher, did you call?Quiet, still - how peaceful was the look on your faceIn my heart I'll keep the memory of that placeGod sometimes in simplicity His mysteries unfoldThis precious love now calls to me You're the smile of my soul

-From All Saved Freak Band’s album For Christians, Elves and Lovers

“By the Fire” is a short and beautiful song. It leaves a good deal to the

imagination, and for us to piece together. “Did you call?” seems to be a reference

to the calling of Samuel (1 Samuel 3). The song seems to be referencing the

author’s conversion, or a night of camping. Possibly both. He seems to be

dancing with someone, hand in hand. Is this God, “His Mysteries unfold”ing, or a

romantic partner? The author leaves this intentionally vague. This is similar to the

previous song: the author is linking romantic moments with spiritual ones, “this is

a great mystery ( King James Bible, Ephesians 5).” By keeping the song

intentionally vague the author is able to speak about both physical and spiritual

love simultaneously. Flinker describes this as the “synchronous pattern which

recurs again and again in the history of western literature (Flinker, 15),” the

mythic, spiritual reading of the song exists parallel to the profane, romantic

reading. Without an in depth understanding of the authors frame of mind both

readings are valid, and the song can only be understood as a combination of

both (Flinker, 15-16). This song is especially interesting, and disquieting, in the

light of Hill’s dual sacred duty as pastor and profane/romantic/predatory actions

towards his congregation.

Both of these songs use explicitly romantic imagery, not just physical

imagery like Love Song. This difference seems closely linked to Freak Band’s

audience: rather than writing for worship, large church settings, the band is

mostly writing for themselves, small communalist congregations, and for people

listening to their albums. The songs are still calls to the Christian or non-Christian

towards God, but are not experienced in the large Calvary Chapel services of

Love Song. The Songs are less about the sacramental nature of baptism,

conversion, and worship but the way that romantic relationships are a symbol for

God’s relationship with the worshipper. Most of All Saved Freak Band’s songs

are dark. They focus on the apocalypse and the nearness of the end of times.

But in their songs with romantic metaphors they attempt to bring God into the

romantic lives of their congregants.

Agape

Agape’s name is a transliteration of the Greek word used in the Bible to

mean divine love. After Fred Caban, the band leader, converted at a Christian

coffee house run by Jesus freaks in 1968, the band became one of the earliest

Jesus Music bands. The band’s style was similar to several popular, secular

bands such as Grand Funk Railroad, Jimi Hendrix, and Cream. They began

performing at local Christian coffee shops in Hollywood and Huntington Beach

California. Along with Resurrection Band, who I will talk about next, they were

one of the first Christian acts to move away from the folk music popularized by

Love Song and All Saved Freak Band towards a harder rock sound.

(Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, 2).

Agape kept playing the same clubs they had played as a secular band.

Agape played hard rock in hard rock clubs and started winning converts before

they realized that there was a whole Jesus Movement of converted hard rockers

and hippies all over California and across the country. When the Christian Music

Industry started to gain traction in the mid to late 70s and “Christian Rock”

became its own genre with its own clubs and its own labels they disbanded

because they were less able to play in secular clubs (Thompson, 43). The band

only released three albums, Victims of Tradition, Agape, and Gospel Hard Rock,

all of which are rare, collectible albums.

Blind

I’m in love with somebody I can’t even see,He loves me so much, he died on calvaryJohn the baptist was waiting,For the precious dayWhen he would see Jesus Christ standing their face to face.And I ask you why,Why did they kill my lord.Why did they crucifyHe didn’t do anything wrongAll he did was die for your and my sins

I should have sorried my heartHe taking me my Lord apartBut I am singing and rejoicingCause sitting on the throne is my king, yeah. (x2)

-By Agape, from the album Gospel Hard Rock

Agape mostly played in secular clubs, and their music reflects that.The

song Blind starts with the line “I’m in love with somebody I can’t even see” which

suggests a love story/song, but then it subverts expectations by singing about the

life of Christ. The song uses the romantic allusion to rope a secular audience in,

and then shifts it to a religious or sacred position. Again, Agape is intended for a

completely different audience than Love Song. Instead of people sharing a

communal worship experience, Agape is intended for a more passive listening

experience, either at a concert hall or through a recording.

Agape’s music is closer to blues than folk, unlike their contemporary Jesus

rockers, which makes sense because Fred Caban originally formed it as a

secular band. There are long guitar riffs at the beginning and middle of the song.

Fred Caban was an incredibly talented musician, and he attracted non-Christian

rockers to his concerts with this intense musicality (Thompson, 43). So the

secular, non-religious guitar music is actually how the band performed outreach.

Resurrection Band

Resurrection Band originally formed as Charity and quickly became involved with

the Jesus People USA, a Christian community in Chicago (Thompson, 35).

Resurrection Band formed in the early 1970s, and released their first album in

1974. But they would gain wider recognition in 1978 when they released

Awaiting Your Reply, and Rainbow’s End in 1979. Both albums were of

dramatically higher quality recordings, musically intense on the level of

contemporary hard rockers, and had impressive cover art, often considered on

par with contemporary, mainstream bands like Blue Oyster Cult or Aerosmith.

They were also incredibly controversial. Because of their musical intensity,

secular inspirations and cover art, they found it hard to distribute their records.

Many Christian record and book stores refused to carry it. Other would sell the

album, but keep it covered up behind the counter so as not to offend more

conservative shoppers (Thompson, 69). Resurrection Band played songs on

everything: they protested apartheid in South Africa, wrote songs against drug

culture, they wrote on subjects ranging from the stratifying culture they saw

around them to the love of Jesus.

Broken Promises

Broken promises,We lost the joy that we once knew.Where do we go from here,From something old to something new?Past dreams done gone from me,I'm losing daylight, losing view.Son of God, where are You now?Do You feel my need?I'm lost within this forest,Barricaded by the trees.Will You hear my cry for help,Would You forgive me?I'm so far away,I've run so far away.Broken promises,Broken by me and not by You.Jesus, break me.Lord, snap my stubborn heart in two.Lonely hours, so many wasted talentsThat I've sown.

But now I'm ready to follow You, Jesus.My dear Lord I'm coming home.Lord, I want you to change me,Rearrange me.Lord, I want You to mold me.I just want You to hold me.Sweet Savior, just love me.Your thoughts are so high above me.I confess that I need You.I really know that I need You.I need You.Lord, help me to follow You.Jesus, I'm gonna follow You.I give my whole life to You.Jesus, I'm gonna follow You.My dear Lord, I'm coming home!

-From Ressurection Band’s album, Awaiting Your Reply

Resurrection Band (often just called Rez Band or Rez) started out as a

performative, concert band, but by the time they released their album they had a

polished sound that recorded well. They also tended to play concert and arena

shows, unlike the church crowds of Love Song, the communes of All Saved

Freak Bands or the smaller clubs of Agape.

Here they are using a marital or familial metaphor to talk about sin. The

singer admits to having run away from home, either like the unfaithful wife of

Hosea (where God commands Hosea to take an unfaithful wife as a piece of

performance prophecy to show the way Israel has been unfaithful) (King James

Bible, Hosea) or in reference to the Prodigal Son, one of Jesus’s parables. The

song sets up a paradox between “Jesus break me”, a fairly hard and painful

metaphor, with “I want you to hold me” a physical metaphor that suggests

romantic or familial intimacy. The author seems to be attempting to talk about

both the painful and the joyful aspects of the worshippers relationship with God

through the metaphor of divorce or running away from home that so many of the

hippies would have had personal experience with. Thus a communal experience

shared by many of the Jesus People, family trauma, is used to evoke a spiritual

connection with God.

Concert For A Queen LyricsI come into your palace, rich in tapestries,Of love and warmth, and glory you've yielded all for me,And as we melt together within the melody, I offer thee aconcert for a queen.

In our castle the peace of Jesus reigns,Simply resting, we receive the joyous strains of themusic that the Holy Ghost creates,And our harmony is a concert for the king,And our harmony is a concert for the king.

For we are his royal children, and he provides the lovewe exchange when I feel the touch of your hand upon myface,When I feel the touch of your hand upon my face I rejoicein the union he has made.

I come into your palace, rich in tapestries,Of love and warmth, and glory you've yielded all for me,And as we melt together within the melody, I offer thee aconcert for a queen,Oh, I offer thee a concert for a queen,I offer thee a concert for a queen.

-By Resurrection Band, from their album Rainbow’s End

This is one of the most overtly romantic songs I came across while writing

this paper. It talks fairly straightforwardly about a romantic relationship, and about

the spiritual/romantic nature of: the Holy Ghost, the music making experience,

and sexual union. The author sees no separation between the spiritual actions of

the Holy Ghost and physical action of union. The distance between secular and

religious, physical and spiritual are “flattened” to produce a metaphor which

imbues the physical actions of sex with spiritual significance and the spiritual

workings of the Holy Ghost with a physical symbol. This is a song that is meant

to be performed or listened to, but not participated in. It is personal to the

extreme.

Rez Band was accused of being overly influenced by secular bands, but the

song seems more in line with biblical descriptions from the Song of Songs “Let

the king bring me into his chambers” than with the band’s secular counterparts.

Rez Band seems musically a direct descendant of contemporary secular bands

like Blue Oyster Cult, but lyrically it ranges from Gospel, to Led Zeppelin, to the

Bible.

Stryper

Stryper is the last band I will talk about. By the mid 1980s the Jesus

Movement would sputter and die. Stryper is one of the seminal bands that

produces this new era, with roots in the Jesus Movement but also in the new

world of Contemporary Christian music. While musically similar to previous

bands like Resurrection Band, the lyrical content, mainstream appeal, and the

changes within Christian music that brought an end to Jesus Music are reflected

in Stryper.

When people think glam rock or heavy metal they usually do not think

Christian music. But Stryper, formed in 1983 and still touring today, is a Def

Leppard style metal band that sings about Jesus. The band members were

known for tossing out Bibles at the concerts, concerts which attracted not just

Christians but mainstream metal heads. They released a platinum certified

album; “To Hell with the Devil,” as well as a gold certified album: “In God We

Trust,” reaching the top 40 on the popular music charts. They continue to tour

with three of the original members, with Michael Sweet, the original front man

who left for a solo career, making appearances on some of their newer albums

(Stryper Website).

All of Me All my life searching for the one to shareThe space within my heartTo stand right by my side Then you came to meShining as the morning sunYou gave your love to meAnd I knew you were the one The one to share my lifeTo make all the wrong so rightWe will live as one for all eternityYou and I I'm giving you all of meCause you gave me all of youI'll love you foreverFor you my love's so strongI'm giving you all of meCause you gave me all of youWe'll stand togetherAnd our love will always carry on

-By Stryper, from their album To Hell with the Devil

The song “All of Me” makes allusions to religious or spirituality “Shining

like the morning sun” and “We will live as one for all eternity,” but these highlights

are easily missed by a secular listener. The song reads more as a traditional love

story and it is only if you know that Stryper is a religious band do you start to

notice the religious language. Stryper is intentionally vague so as to cut the line

between secular and religious music.

Calling on You Inside of me there is a lonely placeSometimes I just don't know it's thereBut when I'm all aloneThat's when I have to faceThe part of me that needs someoneTo be by my side that's when I call onYou, you make my life completeYou give me all I needYou help me through and throughI'm calling on youI can't explain just what you do to meMy love grows stronger everydayYou give me love, you give me companyAnd when I have to face the rainYou bring sunshine into my lifeYou, you make my life completeYou give me all I needYou help me through and throughI'm calling on youYou, you make my life completeYou give me all I needYou help me through and throughYou, you make my life completeYou give me all I needCalling on youCalling on youCalling on youCalling on you(Calling on you, now)

(Calling on you, calling on you)Calling on you, calling on you, nowCalling on you

-By Stryper, from their album To Hell with the Devil Stryper songs are distinctly not worship songs unlike Love Song, and also not

terribly theological unlike All Saved Freak Band. In fact, they show a marked

resemblance to other Glam/rock bands of the period. for context look at Bon

Jovi’s “King of the Mountain” off their 1985 album “7800 Degrees Fahrenheit”:

Listen, people, can't you hear the voices that are crying outThere's a hunger burning in the heart of their soulsMaybe now that I got you let me tell you what I'm talking 'boutStand up and shout tonight we'll lose control I been down and mistreatedNow we're standing undefeated

(Jovi) Or Def Leppard’s “Rock of Ages” off their 1983 album “Pyromania”: All rightI got something to sayYeah, it's better to burn outYeah, than fade awayAll rightOw Gonna start a fireC'mon!Rise up! gather roundRock this place to the groundBurn it up let's go for brokeWatch the night go up in smoke They share a similar style, an upbeat and emotional sensibility, and of

course a similar musical style. Stryper songs are for the most part more upbeat

but musically or thematically they are fairly hard to tell apart from their secular

counterparts. All three songs speak to an emotional or spiritual malaise, and

solve it through shouting and calling. In some ways the other bands draw from a

common religious background, where call and response is common. It’s difficult

to tell if all three bands are drawing from a common, Gospel heritage, or as I

think is more likely, Stryper is drawing the call and response “second hand”

through contemporary music.

Stryper seems to primarily be using the language of love and applying it to

a Christian subject matter. Stryper formation as a secular band, Roxx Regime,

supports this reading. They stand as a harbinger of the next wave of Christian

rock music and the rise of Christian radio. Their songs are use physical and

romantic allegory less as a metaphor and more because that seems to be what

they know as formerly secular band. Their songs have few references to Jesus

but a lot of references that could be to Jesus; “Calling on you” or “you make my

life complete.” The writer seems to be attempting to blur the lines between

romantic and spiritual love not to link the two or allow them to stand in symbolic

or metaphorical relationship to each other, but to allow the song to apply in either

situation, as a love song or as a religious song. This song can then be seen as

attempting to piggyback off the growing popularity of Christian music, while also

appealing to more secular audiences. The recording technology has also gotten

dramatically better. These songs are best experienced in a stadium or via a

record, they are not meant to be in any way devotional or communal like many of

the songs above.

Stryper used their concerts as venues to preach and to distribute Christian

literature (Stryper Website). Their music was more an appeal, an attempt to

make connection with potential converts, and less an attempt to impart

theological or sentimental spirituality.

Conclusion

Jesus Music bands overwhelming use romantic or physical language for

various rhetorical purposes. There was not a Jesus Movement band whose lyrics

I was looked at that did not have one or more songs with strong physical or

romantic metaphor or allusion. This is just the latest in a long history of religious

songs and proverbs that use romantic language to express the relationship

between God and the worshipper. Christian rock draws from these sources while

mixing in other religious and secular influences. Jesus Music romantic language

is an excellent introduction to romantic imagery as a metaphor for spiritual

relationship. Most of the songs are short and catchy, and in English, so they are

far more accessible than thematically similar pieces like the Dumuzi-Inanna love

poem from ancient Sumeria (Flinker, 13) or the Gita Govinda from Medieval India

(Jayadeva). In a similar, if perhaps less formal or complex way, the

religious/romantic songs of the Jesus Movement connect the sacred and

profane.

The romantic allegory rides several divergent and parallel focuses which

shaped the way the music portrayed physicality and were shaped by popular

contemporary ways of expressing romance and physicality. The way music is

performed in a time where recording technologies are just beginning to com into

their own is very place and venue dependant. It also changes our view of the

movement because we can only discuss the music that is accessible: that tiny

percentage that managed to be recorded. These artists all started as secular

musicians, and incorporated secular elements into their music. Most of them

continued to play in secular venues as well as churches and Christian coffee

shops. This interaction with secularism and birth out of secularism affected the

musical style of the musicians, but also how the wrote and processed their

songs. Lastly they, especially Love Song, used physical imagery to connect the

actual experience of the singers/worshippers with their spiritual relationship with

God.

The bands highlighted in this paper primarily illustrated how this physical

language is used to connect spiritual concepts to physical stimuli, and to provoke

a sentimental response on the part of the worshipper. The bands lyrics were

surprisingly theological, especially given the lack of theological depth of later

Christian rock (Livengood and Book, Page 1). For the most part, these bands

either took lyrics or concepts directly from scripture, or alluded to theological

concepts.

Overall the project shows that popular religious music uses romantic

allegory as a powerful rhetorical and spiritual device. Because of the complex

nature of its use and the wide number of situations it can be used in, future

Christian rockers will certainly continue to use romantic and physical metaphor.

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