Sooner
or later, something had to give. Rock music was entering a new age, where
the sounds became recycled; a hook here, a melody there, a riff plucked
from a classic record (Led Zep, Sabbath, The Beatles, Rolling Stones etc.).
In the 80s the symptoms were there, rock had done it all… well,
sure there was experimentation, but that’s another article. By the
time the 90s were upon us, the biggest bands were stealing wholesale from
someone. Nirvana had Husker Du. Oasis had The Beatles. Aerosmith had Bon
Jovi (huh?). What the heck was going on?
Naturally, Jesus Rock wasn’t immune. As a matter of fact, she was
guilty from practically her inception with bands like Mustard Seed Faith
and Larry Norman tweaking the popular sounds of the Hippie Counterculture
and spinning it with lyrics about Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Still,
there was a bit of originality as rock was still “young.”
This was purposeful and unapologetic because it was “ministry.”
Such a tricky word, when we are talking about the arts. I’m getting
ahead of myself, discerning hard music listeners.
The 80s found Christian rock rife with copycats; sacred versions of the
secular. Reading back issues of this very magazine, you can find the Christian
AC/DC, the Christian Iron Maiden, the Christian Guns N Roses, the Christian
Ratt, the Christian Metallica. It wasn’t just the metalheads, Contemporary
Christian Rock suits were always manufacturing Christian versions of secular
acts. Remember Russ Taff attempting to rip off U2 and The Call. “S-T-O-P!”
May I please offer one more? Thanks. The Christian British Pop! Yes! A
whole genre! The band? Mad At The World. Roger and Randy Rose began as
the Christian Depeche Mode (self-titled debut, 1986). They quickly morphed
into the Christian Smiths and the Christian Cult (on one album even! 1988’s
Flowers In The Rain). Ever changing, MATW went mental and poof!, the Christian
Mission UK (1990’s Seasons Of Love). For these three records, these
brothers were geeked on doing their best sound alike of said secular acts.
And they did it well; the songs were solid and sounded just like these
great bands.
Fast forward. Randy Rose eventually left MATW to work on his solo career
where he, yep you guessed it, formed a band that would emulate a secular
sound. This time Randy Rose (recording under the moniker Rose) took on
Glenn Danzig (coincidentally, recording under the moniker Danzig) with
a touch of Trouble. This dude released three derivative slabs of this
dark-Elvis-doom-metal with a side step into Lenny Kravitz’ retro-ized
Beatles-meets-the-70s sound with the record Crazy Little World.
It’s 2003, Rose is Mothership and he is still doing what he does
best: emulating his favorite Rock sounds. Out with Danzig, Trouble and
Kravitz; in with The Vines, Weezer, and The Hives. His new record, released
in late 2002, Rockstar is a platter of Jesus rock tunes (with a deep personal
touch) that reflect Rose’s Band-Of-The-Month). But you know, Randy
isn’t just making copycat records for fun, no discerning music listener;
he does it as a “ministry.”
I really cannot argue with that; not without getting into the age-old
discussion of Christian Art and how the Christian Artist is called to
excellence, originality, and transcending the trends. That’s, yet,
another article. Randy sees his music as an “alternative”
to reach a group of people the Church sees as “lost.” And
good for him. But let’s call this record what it is: copy cat God
rock. If you are looking for a Christian alternative to the hot sounds
of late-2002, then Rockstar is for you. Still, why does he do this? It
was an Undercover concert Randy attended as youngster, he says: “After
they would play a song like “God Rules”, they would stop and
whip out the Bible and start ministering to people. And that’s what
blew me away, that’s what I wanted to do.” |