NO FUN is a monthly show I curate for Frozen Section Radio. It plays “live” each first Monday at 7pm Eastern Time, and then lives on Mixcloud.
The early ’80s was an important time in my life, and also a time when my musical taste (and the rest of my life) took a strange detour. In 1982, at the age of 16, I was “born again” and entered the very unique subculture of evangelical Christianity. The world in general was experiencing a period of conservative politics, with Reagan and Thatcher in power (and Brian Mulroney up here in Canada being elected in 1984). The fear of nuclear war was a big part of my teenage years, and perhaps a part of my conversion was a desire for security, for things to make sense. Despite that, I was always a black sheep and remained a big fan of punk and “new wave” music.
The ’80s were also a time of great change in the evangelical culture. Something called “Contemporary Christian Music” (or CCM) was emerging to compete with traditional gospel music, and evangelical teens who had always been discouraged from listening to “secular” music were finding new music that was hewing a bit closer to the general trends and styles of the larger culture.
Personally, I was still listening to my Sex Pistols and Talking Heads records, but I was curious about this new stuff, despite much of it feeling like a pale imitation. It was very important to evangelicals that the “message” of the music was positive. I remember hearing a lot of Christian music for the first time at weekly roller skating socials at the Scarborough Roller Palace. By the early ’80s, roller skating had pretty much passed out of the general culture, and I found it funny to be returning to a pastime that my parents had enjoyed a full decade earlier.
The music of a Christian roller skating social in 1982 was a mix of older Gospel acts trying to stay current (The Imperials, Sandy Patti), classic gospel stars (often Black, like Andrae Crouch and Leon Patillo), emerging gospel stars with a bit of stylistic range (Amy Grant), and newer CCM acts who played everything from straight ahead rock (Petra, Resurrection Band) to New Wave experimentation (Steve Taylor, Daniel Amos). We even had a newly born-again Bob Dylan! I had the added bonus of working at a Christian bookstore which was also the only place to buy this new Christian music.
One weekend my friend Brad and I were assigned the task of clearing out the inventory of an independent store that our company had just bought out. We were allowed to take home any of the “demo” records that the store had available for listening, and we both significantly expanded our collections that day.
In those days, before the Internet, finding out about new acts was difficult. So we listened to as many “demo” records as we could, and read about other acts in a couple of magazines (the leading one was helpfully called CCM). I remember articles which actually said things like “If you like (insert secular band name here), you will like (Christian band name).” Let’s just say that it wasn’t always accurate.
This particular playlist, whittled down to an hour, was originally assembled in 2020 and was a bit longer than two hours; this shorter version includes music that I was actually listening to in those years (as opposed to stuff I might have discovered later doing research). Three names deserve more explanation.
Modern Innocence is my friend Grant Cermak’s band. I’m proud to say that Grant is still a friend, 40 years later, and I’m also very happy that he’s digitized the cassette that I played to death back in the ’80s. Look for it on Bandcamp here: https://moderninnocence.bandcamp.com
Daniel Amos was a band, despite sounding like an individual artist, and they’d been around since 1974. Starting off with a country sound, they evolved into a more straight ahead rock band by the end of the decade, and when the ’80s arrived, they continued to evolve, embracing the new wave sound. They used humour in their lyrics, but also confronted bigger themes than many of their contemporaries. Band leader Terry Scott Taylor produced records for other artists and remains a prolific musician. I think a lot of their music stands the test of time, and while many other artists’ lyrics now make me cringe, Daniel Amos’ songs are still pretty dear to me.
Michael W. Smith, on the other hand, became a Christian pop juggernaut as the decade continued. His first album though, The Michael W. Smith Project, released in 1983, maintains a very personal place in my heart despite its sentimentality and overproduction. “The Race is On” remains an extremely catchy tune worthy of inclusion on its own merits, but I’ve also included two sappier numbers. “Be Strong and Courageous” always makes me laugh because in my youth group I would always sing the chorus as “Be Wrong and Outrageous.” You can see what I meant about being a black sheep. And “Friends” is there despite its sentimentality because it came out just around the time that the most popular girl in our youth group was killed by a distracted driver while crossing the street. That song carried us through a lot of the grief that followed.
Revisiting this time in my life will always be bittersweet. Alongside the absolutely cringeworthy, there were lots of moments of genuine love and idealism. Though I wouldn’t describe myself as an evangelical anymore (or even a Christian), I hope I’m still essentially that person today, still hopeful and trying my best to love the world, just with a bit more wisdom and a lot more wear and tear. Try to listen with an open mind, or at least an open heart.
Playlist:
The Lifesavors – Christian Twisters (2:13)
Modern Innocence – Alive Alive (2:51)
The 77s – Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba (4:15)
Daniel Amos – (It’s the Eighties, So Where’s Our) Rocket Packs (3:38)
Steve Taylor – I Want to Be a Clone (2:32)
After The Fire – Laser Love (3:27)
Ishmael United – Crowd Trouble (2:55)
Malcolm and the Mirrors – Paint Your Windows White (2:34)
Daniel Amos – Youth With a Machine (2:45)
Resurrection Band – Autograph (4:02)
Daniel Amos – Central Theme (3:17)
Michael W. Smith – The Race is On (3:43)
Daniel Amos – Faces to the Window (2:30)
Daniel Amos – Through the Speakers (2:41)
Michael W. Smith – Be Strong and Courageous (3:44)
Daniel Amos – Home Permanent (3:13)
Ishmael United – Song of the Last Generation (2:31)
Ishmael United – Schizo (2:46)
Michael W. Smith – Friends (4:22)