Song: “Live
Again”
Artist: Stryper
Album: Reborn
(2001)
Track: 6
With “Live Again,” we’re reached the midpoint of the Reborn album, a midpoint that also
represents the musical low-point of the disc.
On the one hand, we should really appreciate that Stryper didn’t load
this one with filler, which we get a lot of in Christian music. Of all the tracks on this album, this is
really the only one that I don’t like musically.
But this one is definitely filler. And since there’s not a lot in the lyrics to
object to or really even sink our teeth into, I’d like to use this occasion to
explore the Christian musician’s obligation to produce good music and to what
degree filler is acceptable.
But first…
Before we do that, we can take a quick look at the message
of the song. What we’re dealing with is
a plea for greater grace in the sanctification process. What I like about that message is that the
singer is asking for that grace. We
normally think of sanctification as something we do. And that’s true, but only half true. When Paul urges us to “work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling,” he immediately reminds us that “it is God
who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians
2:12-13).
Beyond that, the lyrics are pretty generic, and nothing
really jumps out at me as worthy of special attention (either for good or for
bad), especially because I think we have an interesting topic before us.
Filler
So I’m going to pick on this song for the very reason that
there are ten good tracks on this disc and only one bad one. There are a lot of just bad bands in
Christian music (and all music) that have a lot of bad music on each disc. Incompetence is a problem, but it’s a
different problem that what we are talking about, and Stryper is not plagued by
that problem.
As a note, if you are incompetent in any job, you should not
be doing that job, or you should be working very hard to become competent. An incompetent musician (and we’ve all been
there) should not have that process in public.
Please don’t release music until you are good at it. End rant.
Back to Stryper.
It’s also totally possible that they thought this was a
pretty decent song so decided to keep it.
I don’t want to make my opinion of the tune to be the standard by which
bands decide what songs to record. This
one is at least listenable, so I’m going to turn my comments to be more general
in nature, on the occasion of this song, but not necessarily about this song.
Filler, when it comes to an album, is a song that is much
weaker than the others, and is really put there to make the album of an
acceptable length, but isn’t going to be on anyone’s “favorite songs” list. You know going in that it’s going to be the
track that is skipped most of the time.
An album said to have lot of filler is one that has many of these songs,
and it feels like the whole album was just an excuse to get a single song or
two out on the radio.
The question I want to ask is this – as Christians, should
we have a higher standard for the work of our hands?
And I’m not just talking about in Christian music, but music
done as Christians. The doctrine of
vocation states that God has put us in our current jobs in order to serve our
neighbors by what we do. It doesn’t
matter if that job is directly in ministry or not. Insurance adjusters serve their neighbors by
providing the money to repair vehicles and houses. Dentists serve their neighbors by repairing
their teeth and keeping them clean.
Attorneys can serve their neighbors by standing for justice and
righteousness on behalf of others. UPS
drivers serve their neighbors by connecting the customer to the business who is
offering their wares. These are
important things we are doing for one another, and they don’t have to be in a
“Christian” field. In reality, all
fields are “Christian” unless they are unlawful (like prostitution, drug
dealer, etc.).
Musicians should have this in mind when crafting their
music. They are serving their neighbor
with that music. Now, certainly, not
every song will be as good as the last. Not
even the Beatles could manage to make every single song a masterpiece. But as musicians, we should set a standard
for ourselves on how good we must be before we reach our neighbors with that
music. My level is not going to be the
same as a Beatles album. I know it;
everyone knows it. But at the same time,
there have been a lot of times where I recorded a song and it was clear that I
am normally better than that. It’s not a
good song. In those cases, I should, in
deference to my neighbor and to bring honor to Christ, discard of the song or
improve it enough that it is good.
Can we take this too far?
Certainly. If I waited until I
had 12 perfect-five-star tunes before releasing an album, they would be few and
far between. Same with my books. I could edit them for the rest of my
life. There is a moment when I have to
say, I have a good product, people will enjoy this, I am proud of it, and we
need to move on. This is a wisdom and
honesty issue.
And all of those statement should be examined in wisdom and
honesty. I’ve seen a lot of Christian
film or listened to a lot of Christian music where someone said, “It’s good
enough,” but it really wasn’t.
Christians should not be known for making sub-par art. And if that’s what you’re going for, a mere
moral alternative to someone who is actually good, then you may need to find
another field.
Conclusion
That’s actually one reason I like Stryper. As a band, they do good music. Not good music compared to other Christian
bands, but compared to music in general.
They are a good band, and I very much like listening to them. Having one mediocre track on this album isn’t
going to change that.
But I wish I was seeing more albums coming from Christians
that are really good except for merely one track.
