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murfmonkey's review against another edition
4.0
While I wasn’t a huge music fan, I did grow up in the era of Larry Norman and I did love his album “In Another Land,” so I picked up Gregory Thornbury’s short biography of Larry Norman with anticipation.
The book was good, the author didn’t get too involved in mindless detail, and yet had enough detail to make it interesting, but when I finished it, I was left a little unsatisfied. Was Larry Norman the faithful Christian who challenged the church to shake off its lethargy and follow Jesus? Or was Larry Norman the Christian star who went through two divorces and then allegedly fathered a child out of wedlock? The author sort of sidesteps that question. He does talk about both sides of Mr. Norman, but never really attempts to get at the truth, or even really discuss it. It’s as if he’s happy just to present the two sides of him.
Mr. Norman appears to have been the “standard” Christian rock star who isn’t really accountable in his private life to other Christians and has his own view of exactly what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus. A cursory examination of the history of CCM is a field littered with moral failures, of which it appears that Larry Norman was one (he appears to have had a son after getting an Australian woman pregnant and sort of acknowledges him (signs emails “Dad”) but never really does, and leaves him out of his will). It’s all very weird, and the author of this biography sort of passes over it quickly without really investigating or asking the question, “how does this incident reflect on Larry’s faith?”
Randy Stonehill does not come off very well in this book either, much like Larry Norman, he seems to have profited off the Christian world, but never had any close connection to it, or been in submission to someone(s) who would hold him accountable for his life and following Jesus.
Bizarrely, the author writes at one point: “For many believers, Christianity contains two essential elements: certain doctrines about who God is and how he acted in the world through Jesus, and a series of rules as to when, and with whom, a person may have sex.” This is outright laughable. After being in and around the Christian community for 58 years I can honestly say that I have never heard, read, or talked to, even one Christian who would summarize the Christian faith in such a manner. Indeed, not one person in Christian history besides the author himself has summed up the Christian faith like this. If the author is this ignorant about the basics of the faith, then he probably simply cannot do a good job of putting Larry Norman in his Christian context. Like I said, truly bizarre.
One thing this book does, is point out the perils of being in the Christian music industry, and yet not really be accountable for one’s life and faith to anyone else. I don’t think this was the author’s purpose at all, but he does accomplish it anyway.
The book was good, the author didn’t get too involved in mindless detail, and yet had enough detail to make it interesting, but when I finished it, I was left a little unsatisfied. Was Larry Norman the faithful Christian who challenged the church to shake off its lethargy and follow Jesus? Or was Larry Norman the Christian star who went through two divorces and then allegedly fathered a child out of wedlock? The author sort of sidesteps that question. He does talk about both sides of Mr. Norman, but never really attempts to get at the truth, or even really discuss it. It’s as if he’s happy just to present the two sides of him.
Mr. Norman appears to have been the “standard” Christian rock star who isn’t really accountable in his private life to other Christians and has his own view of exactly what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus. A cursory examination of the history of CCM is a field littered with moral failures, of which it appears that Larry Norman was one (he appears to have had a son after getting an Australian woman pregnant and sort of acknowledges him (signs emails “Dad”) but never really does, and leaves him out of his will). It’s all very weird, and the author of this biography sort of passes over it quickly without really investigating or asking the question, “how does this incident reflect on Larry’s faith?”
Randy Stonehill does not come off very well in this book either, much like Larry Norman, he seems to have profited off the Christian world, but never had any close connection to it, or been in submission to someone(s) who would hold him accountable for his life and following Jesus.
Bizarrely, the author writes at one point: “For many believers, Christianity contains two essential elements: certain doctrines about who God is and how he acted in the world through Jesus, and a series of rules as to when, and with whom, a person may have sex.” This is outright laughable. After being in and around the Christian community for 58 years I can honestly say that I have never heard, read, or talked to, even one Christian who would summarize the Christian faith in such a manner. Indeed, not one person in Christian history besides the author himself has summed up the Christian faith like this. If the author is this ignorant about the basics of the faith, then he probably simply cannot do a good job of putting Larry Norman in his Christian context. Like I said, truly bizarre.
One thing this book does, is point out the perils of being in the Christian music industry, and yet not really be accountable for one’s life and faith to anyone else. I don’t think this was the author’s purpose at all, but he does accomplish it anyway.
teagueamania's review against another edition
4.0
Someone named Allison Moorer included the phrase "equal parts savior and narcissist" in a back-cover blurb for this book. That seems too harsh; for the latter, Larry Norman certainly dished out pain, but bore more than a little from those he loved. To the former, Larry showed any confusion about who has savior was, and devoted essentially his entire life to telling the whole world about Him. The photo of Gregory Alan Thornbury on the jacket gives him the look of someone who would have scorned Norman back in the day, and quite likely the feeling would have been mutual. What's actually delivered is a thoroughly researched, carefully balanced biography that avoids both haigiography and muck raking to paint what seems a truthful portrait of a genuinely unique talent.
chrisbaker1981's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting stories from the beginnings of Christian Rock.
drbobcornwall's review against another edition
5.0
Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? That's a question that resonated as I traversed high school and college during the 1970s. Growing up on the Beatles, Moody Blues, and Three Dog Night, when I moved into a more evangelical context, the question before us concerned the music we listened to. We wanted the best of both worlds -- rock and Christian. By the time I came into this scene there was a burgeoning Christian music scene, ranging from Barry McGuire to Andrae Crouch. Keith Green sang at my church before he became a household name. Many of these groups came out of Calvary Chapel and traveled up and down the West Coast, visiting towns like mine, even coming to my church. Like many of my friends I went through this stage where I got rid of my secular records and replaced them with Christian ones. Yes, I wanted rock and religion both, and got my fill (though I later went back and added all that music back into the mix, along with new musicians). While we were told not to go to these events with a concert mentality, it was what it was! It was a concert, so we treated it as such.
Among those musicians who I embraced was Larry Norman, who has been acclaimed as the father of Christian rock and the most important forerunner of the Contemporary Christian Music scene. I had the fortune to hear him at least once in concert in Portland. It was probably 1977. The Grateful Dead were to perform in the same venue the next evening, and Dead Heads were already camping out. Norman made comments about their devotion. He also spoke about the fact that while the local Christian bookstores would see his albums, they wouldn't promote his concerts (not that he needed much promotion as the theater was full of fans). I remember his seeming deadpan humor, as he told stories that made you laugh, but he told them with a straight face. There was no one like him in all the Christian music scene.
Although I've moved out of the Christian music scene in the years since, Larry Norman has continued to resonate with me. Perhaps it was that concert that made the deepest impression - the same can be said for Andrae Crouch concerts (though they were very different from a Larry Norman concert). I knew that Norman was a pioneer and that he seemed to have a different relationship with the church than most other Christian musicians. His music had a harder edge, as did his commentary. What I didn't know was the full story of his life and the perils of the Christian music scene until I began reading Gregory Thornbury's biography of Norman. What unfolds in this biography is the story of a complex man, a man who struggled to bring his faith and his music together, and whose relationship with the Christian world was often tense and even destructive.
As I listen to his music today, after reading this biography, I can hear messages that I didn't hear in earlier years. What we discover is first of all a person with a prophetic vision, challenging the presence of racism present in the white church. Songs I heard as apocalyptic now reveal a strong social conscience that challenged the church's embrace of war and capitalism. At the same time, Norman was himself intent upon capitalizing on his fame.
As we read this book, we discover a man who had strong religious and ethical convictions. He was theologically conservative, took conservative moral positions, and yet spent a lot of time with secular folks -- perhaps to witness to them, but also enjoying their company. He married twice, and both marriages had problems, perhaps because he never really understood women and struggled with sex.
His marriages, his relationships with secular musicians, and his own often acerbic personality combined with mistakes in his business life, created difficulties with the church and fellow Christian musicians. One of Norman's problems stemmed from his vision of the music he sought to create. He wanted to express his faith in his music, but he didn't just want to reach the church-going public (the folks who lined up to see the Calvary Chapel groups). He was highly critical of many of the groups, believing that they were up to his standards -- he thought their music was often cheesy and shallow, while he sought to write more pointed and provocative pieces.
One of the aspects of the book that stands out is the somewhat seedy nature of the Christian music business. There is accounts here of jealousy, gossip, rumor mongering, unethical business practices, and more. In other words, things weren't all that different in the Christian music world than the secular one -- apparently there was sex and drugs involved there as well. And I was supposed to go and hear this groups without a concert mentality? Norman was both a participant and a victim of this world.
Thornbury closes the book with these words:
"Larry Norman believed in a world of objective truth and religious meaning and a strict code of ethics, but died of a heart attack before his sins could find him out. He lived in a world where Jesus loved him, and this he knew. But he loved himself too, which in the final analysis, turns out to be the hardest thing for the rest of us left here on planet Earth to do." (p. 254)
The heady days of Larry Norman's musical genius are long past. For many the name doesn't ring a bell. Many of my Mainline friends of my generation might not know him, at least not by name. They might remember hearing a song or two, but his name is unknown. But I have other friends, friends who were with me that night in Portland. They will remember Larry Norman, and they might find this book eye opening.
I highly recommend this book, both for its insight into Norman's life, but also the insight the author brings to the Christian subculture. Perhaps that is its greatest gift. Even if you don't know the name, you may find this revealing.
Among those musicians who I embraced was Larry Norman, who has been acclaimed as the father of Christian rock and the most important forerunner of the Contemporary Christian Music scene. I had the fortune to hear him at least once in concert in Portland. It was probably 1977. The Grateful Dead were to perform in the same venue the next evening, and Dead Heads were already camping out. Norman made comments about their devotion. He also spoke about the fact that while the local Christian bookstores would see his albums, they wouldn't promote his concerts (not that he needed much promotion as the theater was full of fans). I remember his seeming deadpan humor, as he told stories that made you laugh, but he told them with a straight face. There was no one like him in all the Christian music scene.
Although I've moved out of the Christian music scene in the years since, Larry Norman has continued to resonate with me. Perhaps it was that concert that made the deepest impression - the same can be said for Andrae Crouch concerts (though they were very different from a Larry Norman concert). I knew that Norman was a pioneer and that he seemed to have a different relationship with the church than most other Christian musicians. His music had a harder edge, as did his commentary. What I didn't know was the full story of his life and the perils of the Christian music scene until I began reading Gregory Thornbury's biography of Norman. What unfolds in this biography is the story of a complex man, a man who struggled to bring his faith and his music together, and whose relationship with the Christian world was often tense and even destructive.
As I listen to his music today, after reading this biography, I can hear messages that I didn't hear in earlier years. What we discover is first of all a person with a prophetic vision, challenging the presence of racism present in the white church. Songs I heard as apocalyptic now reveal a strong social conscience that challenged the church's embrace of war and capitalism. At the same time, Norman was himself intent upon capitalizing on his fame.
As we read this book, we discover a man who had strong religious and ethical convictions. He was theologically conservative, took conservative moral positions, and yet spent a lot of time with secular folks -- perhaps to witness to them, but also enjoying their company. He married twice, and both marriages had problems, perhaps because he never really understood women and struggled with sex.
His marriages, his relationships with secular musicians, and his own often acerbic personality combined with mistakes in his business life, created difficulties with the church and fellow Christian musicians. One of Norman's problems stemmed from his vision of the music he sought to create. He wanted to express his faith in his music, but he didn't just want to reach the church-going public (the folks who lined up to see the Calvary Chapel groups). He was highly critical of many of the groups, believing that they were up to his standards -- he thought their music was often cheesy and shallow, while he sought to write more pointed and provocative pieces.
One of the aspects of the book that stands out is the somewhat seedy nature of the Christian music business. There is accounts here of jealousy, gossip, rumor mongering, unethical business practices, and more. In other words, things weren't all that different in the Christian music world than the secular one -- apparently there was sex and drugs involved there as well. And I was supposed to go and hear this groups without a concert mentality? Norman was both a participant and a victim of this world.
Thornbury closes the book with these words:
"Larry Norman believed in a world of objective truth and religious meaning and a strict code of ethics, but died of a heart attack before his sins could find him out. He lived in a world where Jesus loved him, and this he knew. But he loved himself too, which in the final analysis, turns out to be the hardest thing for the rest of us left here on planet Earth to do." (p. 254)
The heady days of Larry Norman's musical genius are long past. For many the name doesn't ring a bell. Many of my Mainline friends of my generation might not know him, at least not by name. They might remember hearing a song or two, but his name is unknown. But I have other friends, friends who were with me that night in Portland. They will remember Larry Norman, and they might find this book eye opening.
I highly recommend this book, both for its insight into Norman's life, but also the insight the author brings to the Christian subculture. Perhaps that is its greatest gift. Even if you don't know the name, you may find this revealing.
dankeohane's review against another edition
5.0
I've been a fan of Larry Norman since the early eighties and this biography is exactly what I hoped it would be - a fair, relatively unbiased look at the man who effectively created modern contemporary Christian music, celebrated by the non-Christian music industry (and unknown among non-Christian music fans), and mostly reviled by Christians for his refusal to conform or accept what he saw as hypocritical living, especially among conservative Christianity. He was a major player in the Jesus movement of the late 60's and 70's, tried to support and build up young artists, and yet lived in his own bubble. Thornbury does a great job telling the facts, sorting through much of the mythology of Norman (some incidental over time but much of it deliberately sown by his enemies). He was a loner who needed people, an introvert who boldly stepped into the limelight to spread the gospel, had a problem with authority, and inspired many, many people - myself included, even now.
Many people today do not know who this man was, and if they read this and learn, they might shrug their shoulders. If they listen to his music, especially in context of its time, they'll be changed forever. Maybe a little dramatic, that last part, but it's my review. :P
Many people today do not know who this man was, and if they read this and learn, they might shrug their shoulders. If they listen to his music, especially in context of its time, they'll be changed forever. Maybe a little dramatic, that last part, but it's my review. :P
theartolater's review against another edition
3.0
This is a biography of Larry Norman, one of the forefathers of modern contemporary Christian music. A genre I have basically no knowledge of, I was hoping for a lot more from this book both in terms of insight into the genre’s creation itself and of Norman, presented here as an important cog in the CCM machine. We basically get neither – the book assumes a lot of knowledge about CCM that may be clear to fans of the genre, as you get basically no context for the genre itself or where it’s at along the same lines of Norman’s growth/changes as a musician, and Norman himself, to this reader, is portrayed as more of an eccentric crank than a musician of import. It would be fine if the book was trying to present that point of view from the start, but the narrative instead comes across more as a bait-and-switch.
I hesitate to criticize a book for not being what I want the book to be, but I instead criticize this one for not being what it was presented as. It’s a missed opportunity, and I am interested in seeing another book that might better explain Norman and the modern history of the genre.
I hesitate to criticize a book for not being what I want the book to be, but I instead criticize this one for not being what it was presented as. It’s a missed opportunity, and I am interested in seeing another book that might better explain Norman and the modern history of the genre.
lmshearer's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.5
In Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music, Gregory Alan Thornbury provides a deft biography of the late singer/songwriter Larry Norman. The book is an examination of Norman's career as it parallels the beginnings of what would become Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and the writing lends itself more to readers familiar with the genre as the author assumes a general knowledge of CCM and its broader culture.