Jesus Freak

Back in 1995, Christian rap/hip hop group dc Talk released their fourth album Jesus Freak.  The album took the Christian world by storm and did not go unnoticed by the secular music industry.  I would characterize the release and reception of this album as a major turning point in Christian entertainment culture.

Let's remember the times.  Grunge became popular in the early 90s due to the success of bands like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and the ever famous Nirvana.  Lead singer of Nirvana, Kurt Cobain, committed suicide about a year and a half before the release of Jesus Freak.  Also by this time in the nineties, hip hop artists were beginning to get regular radio and mainstream success.  Later on in 1999, with Columbine and the supposed martyrdom of Cassie Bernall and Rachel Scott in the Columbine Massacre the song would become relevant again.  And again, after everyone was reminded that America is a "Christian nation" in the wake of 9/11.  Within American Christianity in the '90s, the church growth movement was beginning to wane and the church health movement was picking up.  This meant American churches were going from focusing on being attractive and members inviting people to becoming more community oriented with emphasis on discipleship.

dc Talk combined the two styles with hard hitting lyrics, conviction and a message of love based in a relationship with Jesus.  These elements, and particularly the last one, were not then associated with Christianity because of the right wing politics that had backed two terms for Reagan and one for Bush, Sr., six murders and multiple incidents of assault, threats and arson related to anti-abortion activism, and a whole litany of Christian boycotts.  This context made for a ripe environment in which Christians who were tired of the bad image could gather around a more positive one.  The song "Jesus Freak" in embracing a kind of persecution and martyr mentality also managed to simultaneously reach out to the kinds of Christians involved in the political sideshow.

The effect of the album was the same no matter what kind of Christian you were.  This album was a liberation to be Christian.  It managed to fight a common stereotype and provide an anthem for a generation of young Christians that perceived it was not cool to be a Christian at school.  The album exhibited a musical creativity not often associated with Christian entertainment that got it notice and wide respect even from secular reviewers.

All of these things considered, Jesus Freak had the right combination at the right time to forever change the place Christian entertainment has in society.  dc Talk opened the door for the many Christian pop bands since then to make the in roads they have.  A generation of Christians have grown up with this music, the context it came from, and the industry it spawned and wondered when dc Talk would get back together and go back on tour.  This is the reason for this out of nowhere post.

Apparently, in June this year, Kevin Max twittered that dc Talk was working on putting a tour together for 2011.  Also, earlier this year TobyMac and Michael Tait sang Jesus Freak together with Newsboys at a concert in Nashville.

Considering what I've written and what we've just seen, I can't help but wonder if it's now too late for dc Talk to be as relevant as they once were.  The way they dress and moved around on stage just seems silly and out of place today.  I think Christian youth culture has passed them by and I'm not sure they're going to do anything but appeal to Gen Xers that are as out of the loop as they are.  I've been looking forward for them to retake the world by storm again, but if this is any preview it can only be as embarassing as Favre's career post-Packers.