Spirit in the Hit Parade

  
          Christian and other spiritual themes have appeared frequently throughout the history of popular music.  This is not a surprise since many musical artists got their starts by singing and playing in church.  Even a few hundred years ago the music biggies were writing much of their work for the church.  In the United States of the 19th century, much of the popular music of the masses came from Negro spirituals or music influenced by the genre.  The music of the slave culture carried on to the popular music of the 20th century.

       In the first half of the 20th century it was not unusual to hear traditional Negro spirituals performed by popular artists.  Songs such as "Dem Dry Bones" and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" were standards in the repertoires of many artists.   Rock and roll incorporated even more of the black traditional music and it was a standard practice for artists like Elvis Presley or Tennessee Ernie Ford to release entire albums of hymns and gospel songs.

         The fifties saw big hits like "I Believe" by Frankie Laine and "He" by the Maguire Sisters.  As the radical movements of the 1960s and 70s began to influence music, the radical nature of Jesus began to become popularized.  God themed songs by Norman Greenbaum, Johnny Rivers, and Ocean were hitting the charts.  Actual gospel groups like the Staples Singers charted with traditional Christian songs.  Many of the artists performing these songs were not Christian, but the Jesus songs caught on with record buyers.

         Some songs like "Get Together" became anthems of the hippie culture of change.  "Get Together" was written by Chester Powers, who under the name Dino Valenti recorded with the Quicksilver Messenger Service and other groups.   The song "Get Together" was recorded by numerous artists and made the charts a few times.

          In the 70s the phenomena of Christian rock artists began emerging onto the scene.  Into the 80s some mainstream artists were still recording Jesus songs but often with less benign intent.  On the other hand there were acts such as U2 and Van Morrison who were recording music with spiritual content.   To the present day, Christian influenced music continues to appear on the music charts.  Now there are so many more genres and categories than there were a few decades ago that artists may sometimes cross over to reach multiple audiences.  In music, God is still as significant as love, vice, and cars.
 
 
 
 

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