So Help Me God |
dc TALK Jesus Freak (1996) EMI Records [57:50] by Gerald Tan dc Talk's JESUS FREAK should carry warning stickers telling people that if they buy the album, they should be prepared to be exposed to some seriously infectious CHRISTIAN MUSIC. Uh huh... CHRISTIAN MUSIC. In these days of irreverent and often meaningless symbol-pilfering, an album titled JESUS FREAK doesn't naturally suggest God-friendly music, and despite being a Grammy Award winning act (they've just won another for Best Gospel Rock Album) who apparently sell even more records than Amy Grant or Michael W Smith, I'd never even heard of them. I mean, not everybody reads Billboard magazine... do they? And afterall, only an idiot would think that the Jesus Lizard and Jesus Jones are religious bands, or that the Reverend Horton Heat is a real reverend. JESUS FREAK could have been a put-down... couldn't it? My aversion towards christian music springs from having once heard a taped symposium given about the supposed evils of rock music, where as a rousing finale of some kind, a christian record was played backwards and a warped, demonic voice was distinctly heard to sing "the laaaaaamb, the laaaaaaaamb," and the audience started cheering hysterically. I have been freaked by God music ever since. I sure as hell wouldn't have gotten this damned dc Talk album if I had been forewarned of its religious, potentially brain-washing content. "Between You and Me," the minor hit I heard on radio, was deceptively innocuous, melodic and pleasant enough to make me get the album, only to later discover that it's actually PACKED with smart, catchy hooks and the sort of singalong lyrics that stick to the inside of your brain like little yellow Post-It notepapers. Trust these devious christians to end up subverting pop music for their own twisted purposes. Re-released late last year, JESUS FREAK is going platinum already. The core of the group are three young vocalists who were just prior to the release JESUS FREAK, dc Talk's fourth album, exponents of a much-feared brand of rap called christian rap. For this album, they've opted to go mainstream with what begs to be called 70s-style christian retro-rock. Bar the odd Lenny Kravitz-inspired pastiche piece like "Day by Day," the music in here is a helluvalot more convincing than earlier christian forays into rock music... remember the balding Toto soundalikes Petra, or the embarrassing yellow and black spandex-suited 'heavy metal' band Stryper? JESUS FREAK is part Red Hot Chilli Peppers and part Mr Big (and that ain't a bad thing), a blend of pop-gospel, hard rock riffs and a funk groove abetted by immaculately tasteful harmonies. Even the lyrics are free of off-putting, evangelistic zeal and instead, what's sung for the most part conveys an expression of personal faith ("I don't really care if they label me a Jesus Freak" in "Jesus Freak") that nevertheless does not come without self-humbling doubts ("What I stumble, what if I fall?/What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all?" in "What If I Stumble?"). Sure they take the occasional pot-shot at angst-ridden musicians obtaining lucre from useless society-bashing postures (as on "Like It Love It Need It" where they sing "he who complains the loudest wears the fattest crown/We're anti-everybody, call it paranoia" and proclaim that "the selfish way you're living is for nothing") but at the same time, they're even-minded enough to include before "What If I Stumble?", a song on which they question their role as christian musicians, a spoken introduction which declares that "the greatest single cause of atheism today is Christians". Maybe it's just the sincerity of an introspective tone, but JESUS FREAK comes across as righteously powerful instead of wheedlingly preachy. Or maybe it's just great melodies and great music. All I know is that now, in spite of myself and the many honest years of indoctrination by evil rock music, I now like a christian band, I'm singing along to lyrics like "my best friend was born in a manger" and I can't bloody well help it. Argh.
Gerald Tan has recurring nightmares about being chased by christian vampires,
and crosses don't work on them.
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