dc Talk's Jesus Freak, by Will Stockton and D. Gilson

Will Stockton and D. Gilson may be overstating the impact of dc Talk by saying that to "evangelicals in the 1990s . . . dc Talk was nothing less than the Beatles of Christian music."  dc Talk was popular, and they remain an important piece of contemporary Christian music (CCM), but the Beatles?  I'm not so sure.  In dc Talk's Jesus Freak, a book in the 33 1/3 series of music criticism and cultural reflection, Stockton and Gilson write about their own love for dc Talk and their eventual disillusionment with all that musical trio represented. 

Stockton and Gilson, now both university English professors, grew up as active members of their evangelical youth groups.  But, they write, "today, neither of us is an evangelical Christian.  We have traded those identities: we are atheists and gay men."  While they, at times, speak about their love of dc Talk and their involvement in evangelical youth ministry with fondness and nostalgia, their tone toward the band and the church is mostly dismissive and arrogant.  "Trying to sound hip, dc Talk sounds derivative and cheesy."  The racial unity message of dc Talk's song "Colored People" is "some neoliberal bullshit."  Layering on an interpretation of some of the love language in songs directed toward God, Stockton and Gilson speculate, "Do [dc Talk band members] McKeehan, Tait, and Max want to have sex with each other?  Maybe, but probably not."  In blanket condemnation they call 1990s CCM an "easily scorned, even shameful, phenomenon."

Stockton and Gilson make some effort to place dc Talk in the larger cultural and musical trends, examining their impact on and reactions to both Christian and secular music.  It's helpful to see that they embraced culture and music in a similar way that, a couple decades before, the Jesus movement embraced folk and rock music to reach a new generation of Christians.  dc Talk's embrace of rap and grunge music places them in a continuing tradition. 

Stockton and Gilson seem to be more driven by their own rejection of Christianity than by any serious desire to examine Christian music and youth culture.  In a way, their examination of music and culture is only incidental to their own stories.  I get that they need to justify their chosen lifestyle, but it seems that such justification can be done in way that respects and does not demean the culture from which they sprang. 


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!