TMS Spotlight: Christian Adjacent Hit Songs

(Di Novi Pictures / Warner Bros)

Before the advent of personal playlists and specially themed digital XM channels, you could not only hear popular songs from various genres on top 40 stations, but even a single with a Christian theme if it was catchy enough. Christian pop and rock aren’t complete novelties. For every Lifehouse, Flyleaf and Relient K, there’s a Sixpence None the Richer, Amy Grant and Stacie Orrico. But it’s not often a song rooted in Christianity makes its mark on pop culture the same way a standard tune does. Occasionally, it might happen though. Take a classic example, ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ by the Byrds. Their first single, a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr. Tambourine Man’ from April 1965, is in the music history books as their most iconic moment on record. But over the years, the folk-rock group’s rendition of Pete Seeger’s ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!’ has eclipsed the former song in exposure and airplay, a big part because of its memorable usage in Robert Zemeckis’ classic epic Forrest Gump (1994). Christians of all denominations will recognize the words to the song are deliberately from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; meaning that when the Byrds’ cover was released in December 1965, it made the record as the biggest chart-topping hit with the oldest lyrics. Ironically, the band members were actually secular during the recording of ‘Turn! Turn! Turn!,’ though frontman-guitarist Roger McGuinn and bassist Chris Hillman converted to Christianity in the late 1970s. And since the very last line of the track—“A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late”—was added by Seeger himself, the folk artist got to receive publishing for his arrangement.

Another famous example of a Christian hit single is Norman Greenbaum’s ‘Spirit in the Sky’ four years later in December 1969. Joked often for being a rock song composed by a ‘Jew for Jesus,’ Greenbaum later confirmed he’s never been a practicing member of a Christian religion. At the time, he just happened to come across an Evangelical program on TV that featured country star Porter Wagoner singing a gospel tune and it motivated him to see if he could write his own gospel-based song as a challenge. With one of the ear-wormiest guitar riffs in rock history, it’s probably easy to miss how the lyrics to ‘Spirit in the Sky’ are clearly written by a non-Christian; specifically, “I’ve never been a sinner, I’ve never sinned, I got a friend in Jesus.” Christians generally believe no person is capable of living without sin, hence constantly praying for forgiveness. Greenbaum admitted not long after its release he was unaware of this when he wrote the song. But because of the hip groove of the instrumentals and the basic message of Jesus being cool, ‘Spirit in the Sky’ remains a staple in classic rock, just as the Doobie Brothers’ 1972 cover of Art Reynolds’ ‘Jesus is Just Alright’ and George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ (1970) do.

Probably the most traditionally sounding Christian song to hit the top of the charts is Debby Boone’s ‘You Light Up My Life’ from 1977. A sweeping orchestrally arranged pop ballad composed by Joseph Brooks for his own written-directed film drama of the same name also from 1977, the movie is not very remembered today, and it feels like even the theme song itself doesn’t get much fanfare these days either. It might be hard to believe to young music fans, but Boone’s hit version of ‘You Light Up My Life’ was the biggest single of the whole 1970s, beating out acts like the Bee Gees, the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac for the credit. How does such a huge success barely have any attention contemporarily? Well, I have a few theories. One is that the production of the song is just really sappy and didn’t age very well out of the ‘70s. Another is how the songwriter’s legacy was completely tarnished in 2009 when he was arrested and found guilty of being a serial rapist and child abuser. And the third reason is…I don’t think Brooks was actually thinking of God or religion while composing ‘YLUML.’ I haven’t seen the original movie, but from the Wiki summary, it sounds like a general melodrama with the song being used as a romantic moment between the two leads. So this could be a case where a song was embraced by a group of people who connected to it for personal reasons [in this case, a lot of music departments of local churches found the song appropriate for Sunday services, similar to how Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ got some traction at church services in the 1970s].

Even though Christian rock became more mainstream throughout the 1980s and 1990s, a lot of successful band members who practiced Christianity also didn’t want the label, feeling it would pigeonhole them too much. This is why a lot of people didn’t even notice Creed were a part of this crew, even though ‘Higher’ (1999) does actually sound lyrically spiritual when you think about it. One of the most popular from this era was Switchfoot, who had a big hit with their 2000 track ‘Dare You to Move.’ Two years later, the song appeared in Adam Shankman’s popular teen drama A Walk to Remember (2002), as did three other songs by Switchfoot, including the ballad ‘Only Hope.’ Though not released as a single, the song is a favorite to fans of the group, the movie, and popstar Mandy Moore. Sung by Moore during a sequence where she and co-lead Shane West star in a high school musical production, ‘Only Hope’ is similar to ‘You Light Up My Life,’ wherein the lyrics are vague enough to come across as either romantic or religious. In the context of A Walk to Remember, it’s the moment West’s character realizes he’s in love with Moore’s character. Switchfoot’s own recording makes an appearance near the end too. But because of the direct references to praying, as well as Moore’s character, original AWtR author Nichols Sparks and Switchfoot all identifying as Christians, ‘Only Hope’ naturally works as a Christian pop ballad. The song later appeared on Moore’s 2004 greatest hits comp ‘Best of Mandy Moore’ and is actually one of my favorite songs of hers as well.

Although the Christian rock/pop movement has weaned a bit as a major music genre in recent years, we’ll probably always get exposure to Christian based songs through Christmas season, which is the only time of year songs with religious lyrics are normally played in the wild. What’s more interesting to me is when someone fits the definition, but has never been labeled a Christian artist, such as singer-songwriter Jewel; who has always openly referred to herself as spiritual, and two of her biggest songs, ‘Hands’ and ‘Life Uncommon’ from her second album ‘Spirit’ (1998), are faith themed. Will we get another Jewel commercially? Or a mainstream popstar like Mandy who is openly associated with Christian art? Are the Byrds and Norman Greenbaum rock anomalies? Only time can tell.