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A review by drbobcornwall
Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?: Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock by Gregory Alan Thornbury
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.