God Rock, Inc.: The Business of Niche Music by Andrew Mall (review)

Abstract

In the summer of 1983, the rock band Petra was riding high, selling out larger venues than ever on the concert tour supporting their blockbuster LP, More Power to Ya. With its catchy guitar licks, soaring vocals, and slick concert performances, Petra—the Greek word for “rock”—fit comfortably within the musical milieu pioneered by such contemporary giants as Kansas and Foreigner. However, unlike those better-known bands, that summer Petra also released the first issue of a newsletter with the headline, “Arming Ourselves for Spiritual Battle,” printed below an illustration of a teen boy in a futuristic space suit, holding a sword and shield as he blocked a laser blast. As the masthead proclaimed, the publisher was Petra Ministries. The very phrase “Petra Ministries” reads like a non sequitur outside the world of Christian Contemporary Music (CCM), but within it, the marriage of music and ministry is assumed, even if the appropriate balance between the two is contested. Although most rock bands will never publish a Bible study on spiritual warfare, musicologist Andrew Mall argues in God Rock, Inc.: The Business of Niche Music that the underlying tension between subcultural ethics and musical aesthetics among CCM artists can serve as a useful case study for niche markets generally. Markets, according to Mall, are those “spaces in which the interactions of musicians, listeners, and cultural intermediaries . . . are grounded in the production and consumption of music” (3). While scholars in religious studies, cultural studies, and music history increasingly have found CCM a worthy area of research, none thus far has focused so strongly on the market itself and its influence on the artists who seek to conquer or transcend it. God Rock, Inc. pursues this argument in two main parts: The first four chapters focus on the CCM industry and its history, and the final three chapters analyze the tension between ministry and industry. The book also includes illustrations and four appendices that provide crucial contextual detail, as well as—in a fun twist—Spotify playlists of the songs and albums Mall discusses. God Rock, Inc. begins its story with the 1960s Jesus People movement that eventually birthed CCM. As Mall shows, artists almost immediately struggled to balance sacrificial ministry with seeking the profits that would allow their ministry’s expansion, sometimes adjusting lyrical content to reach audiences outside of the Christian market, adjusting musical styles to enhance radio airplay opportunities, or both. This “double marginalization,” in Mall’s words— too Christian for the mainstream, too mainstream for the Christians (16)—was unique to the formative decades of CCM. A prime example of attempting to overcome this dynamic, which Mall analyzes in Chapter 4, “Find a Way,” is Amy Grant’s infamous crossover into the general pop market from 1985–91. Grant, who for a decade had been touted as the Christian alternative to mainstream pop artists such as Madonna, surprised the CCM industry with 1991’s Heart in Motion, a pop album focused more on generic sentiments of love and life than explicit references to Jesus; it sold more than 5 million copies, even as many of her older fans accused her of selling out her ministry in pursuit of profits. “Niche market boundaries,” Mall