Post 8 D.C. Talk & Jesus Freak

Jesus Freak! The term was coined in the 1960’s with the Jesus Movement. It was part of a subculture or counterculture of Bible carrying believers. D.C. Talk named their 4^th, out of 5, studio album after this rag-tag hippie group. “Jesus Freak was released in 1995, and it achieved the highest first-week sales of any Christian release in history,[6] reaching No. 16 on the Billboard 200.[11] The album, which was ultimately certified double platinum,[8] was certified gold within thirty days of its release.[12] This album was a fusion of the musical stylings, with a more pop-rock oriented sound combined with hip hop.”*1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DC_Talk#Awards  It is slightly mislabeled by Wikipedia, as it should say alternative-grunge-rock oriented sound. This was at that time the Christian response to the alternative music explosion started by the Nevermind album of Nirvana.

Traditionally, Christian concerts were nice events, sitting and watching a band perform a “churchy,” hymn-like song. They increased their boldness by standing and clapping. When the Jesus Freak tour began, it was an all-out mosh pitting frenzy. Christian music had been hanging on to the 80s stylistically. Toby, Mike, and Kevin had struck a chord in the hearts of the youth. They could be devoted followers of Jesus Christ and be cool. The two usually didn’t coexist (like 99% of the time). This made it easy to advance the cause of doing what was right in high schools and college campuses across the country.

Other bands soon followed suit making harder and harder music. After Jesus Freak the band Payable On Death (P.O.D.) would be the next big hard hit to go mainstream with their Funky Reggae Rap-core. D.C. Talk had also gained an opening act with one of Christian Pop’s biggest performers Michael W. Smith (my personal favorite). Shortly thereafter they would also tour the Billy Graham Crusades. The screamo scene would eventually be shared by Christian and non-Christian bands alike. D.C. Talk, almost single-handedly, changed the face of Christian Music completely.