I think that Kerry Livgren is an ultimate rocker, and he is quite a committed Christian, but there is one caveat in this whole thing. If they are good rockers, and their music is good, and they are Christians…they aren’t on Christian radio!
There are two Christian (music) FM stations here; one uses to slogan “Safe For The Little Ears” (I didn’t know Christians had small ears!); the other uses the slogan “Positive Hit Music”, which sounds like they’re trying to fool people into thinking they’re mainstream for a minute or two to bump the Armitron ratings.
To pay money for anybody’s album, one needs an incentive. To pay money for a Christian album, one needs a Christian incentive. If one wants an album about partying and ‘worldly’ stuff, that’s what Metallica is for.
As for the recognition without hearing any music, I would submit that Christian station DJs and interviewees have distinct tones, whether they’re holier-than-thou, or a trace of sickly-sweet-come-join-the-fold, that is immediately apparent to me as well.
Nitpick: Metallica does not perform any songs about partying, AFAIK.
I think the same could be said about sports talk or right wing talk radio. I can tune down the AM dial in any city and identify which station is the local sports talk station. The testosterone just seems to leap right off the radio. Same thing with the right wing talk stations. The hyped up anger is palatable from listening just a few seconds. The vast majority of mainstream Christian stations have a very processed type feel. I think it is because a lot of their listening is done as office background music or minivan driving music. The sports station is more likely to scream, “COME DOWN TO BIG AL’s FORD, WE’VE GOT TRUCKS TRUCKS TRUCKS!!!” at you while the Christian station will sound the same going from announcer to the ad for a faith based home mortgage.
So Christians like shitty music?
Or Jesus is a shitty muse, I guess. Either way, their reward is in heaven, etc.
I think I’ve just figured it all out - worship music is the aural equivalent of a hair shirt.
I think dalej42 has touched on an important point. I wouldn’t be surprised if “Christian” radio has a recognizable sound; but it’s hardly alone in that. When I’m on the road and need radio I listen almost entirely to NPR; there at least I get some variety, and every now and then something I like hearing. I really enjoy listening to bluegrass, jazz, Celtic music, country Gospel, baroque … outside a major media market, there’s almost no chance I’ll find a station playing anything I enjoy.
So: I’m scanning the channels. I’m guessing it takes me about three seconds to decide “that’s rock … that’s country … that’s Golden Oldies …” And there’s not much else. Travelling cross-country, what I mostly hear is clones. Even if “Christian” radio didn’t have a distinctive sound, I could almost recognize it by a process of elimination.
Regarding quality: well, like (I suspect) all other styles of music, “Christian” music follows Sturgeon’s Rule – “Nine tenths of everything is crud.” There’s a lot of jazz I don’t care for; but I’ll wait through the play list because I’m reasonably confident they’ll hit something I like. “Country” mostly leaves me feeling like my brain is turning to mush – now and then a friend will point me to a Country song which I really like (some of them have real depth), but mostly I don’t like enough of the style to listen to a station. So I don’t hear the songs that are good.
But there’s a very thoughtful discussion of the question, and why “Christian” musicians don’t turn up elsewhere, in Mark Allan Powell’s introduction to his book Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. On page 11 he writes “Music industry personnel and station programmers confirm (always off the record) that some radio stations had (and sometimes still have) unofficial policies against playing music by “any artist known to be a Christian.” I asked one such programmer the rationale for such a policy. The reply: “Christianity is not cool. If people hear a Christian singer on our station, they will think we’re not cool. It’s as simple as that.””
U2 beat that curse: but as Powell says on page 980, “All of their albums had been released on a general market label. Bono did not grant interviews to CCM or other Christian music magazines. The group did not normally perform at Christian music festivals…”
Is U2 a Christian band? They’ve always made a point of avoiding the label, as you note, and while lots of their music is political, I can’t think of anything they did that I’d consider “Christian music”. Pride (In the Name of Love), maybe, but IIRC that was about MLK rather than Christianity in general.
I drive to Florida every year…and from Virgina on south, the AM band is full of these "raving lunatic’ stations-they usually feature a preacher who can’t speak at lower than a shout.
Funny (for about 5 minutes), but then extremely annoying…especially when they start asking for money.
Powell has a rather good six page entry on U2, which begins “One of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed rock bands of all time, U2 is not typically identified as a Christian band, although their fascination and flirtation with Christianity is apparent to even the most superficial fan. … In fact, U2 references Jesus by name more often on Pop than did Michael W. Smith or Sixpence None the Richer on their 1997 release.” According to Powell, at least in their early years the group had Bible studies together on tour, and one of them considered entering the ministry. “The Christian music press [reviewed] All That You Can’t Leave Behind as one of the most spiritually profound and devout albums ever made.” Bono’s been quite unambiguous about his Christian faith.
One the other hand, the group often offended “Christian” music stations, and avoided that ghetto. Are they a Christian band? I’d say the evidence would be enough to convict them. Does their music express themes important to Christians? Yes. Are they imbedded in the “Christian music” subculture? No. So take your pick of definitions.
That wouldn’t do you any good in San Diego. 88.3 is a jazz station, 89.5 is NPR, 90.3 is rap and R&B, 91.1 is rock, 92.5 is 70s and 80s music, 93.3 is rap and R&B, 94.1 is some forgettable secular thing, and 94.9 is rock.
Of course, San Diego doesn’t seem to have a lot of Christian stations anyway.
Switchfoot. Both Switchfoot and POD scored a decent number of hits in the early part of the decade, as I recall.
I think we win some kind of milky toast.
(Granted, they broadcast from Mexico…)
Oh, and here’s another one. I think that one actually broadcasts from this side of the border.
This must be a regional thing. I couldn’t say that here, even after accounting for Spanish-language stations.
Didn’t they release a song for the Tomb Raider movie that was all about being lifted up or something? I think it was called “Elevation”.
I don’t think Christian artists usually refer to Jesus’ swinging hips:
Hey, why not? He’s probably a pretty good dancer. I heard he once turned water into funk.
I wonder if he can raise disco from the dead.
shudder
I hope not.
The low end of the FM dial is reserved for noncommercial broadcasters, which are mostly public radio stations (including noncommercial jazz and classical music stations) and religious stations.
Family Guy Reference for the Win! 
Back to the OP, I’ve noticed that the Christian Radio Stations here are getting a lot sneakier at not advertising the fact they’re a CRS.
As in, playing “Normal” Top 40/Dance music for probably 75% of their playlist before sneaking in a couple of songs that heavily mention “Faith” or “Divinity” or “The Light In My Life” and then suddenly it’s BAM! DJs talking about Jesus & Pals and little infobreaks encouraging kids to cut their parents some slack because they don’t understand Teh Intarwebs and things like that, or mentions that Rev. so-and-so will be leading the sermon and this particular church on God’s role in the Information Age etc.
I don’t mind CRSs existing, but what I do mind is the “Sneaky” aspect of it; trying to pretend they’re a “Normal” radio station and then suddenly busting out the Jesus-Loves-You-And-God-Is-Great stuff on unsuspecting listeners. Sure, someone will try and say that Christians like the same music as most other people, and this is true, but how about calling the station something vaguely religious instead of just a frequency or callsign or something to at least tip people off that it’s not just a Commercial/Easy Listening station?
I’ve been travelling around Queensland a bit for work lately and I noticed this elsewhere, too- sure, there were your typical Australian “Jesus FM” type affairs which were exclusively about how great God is and what a top bloke Jesus is, along with forgettable Praise Music (hey, it serves a market, good for them)- but there were also a few “Undercover” Christian stations as well, which always left me feeling slightly conned after tuning into them for any length of time; kind of a Faith Radio version of that game from Waiting… where you have to get someone to inadvertently look at your privates and then you get to kick them in the ass for falling for it.
Also, I have to wonder: Are there people on a Christian Messageboard somewhere (The Straight Faith: Fighting Unbelief since 33 AD- It’s Taking Longer Than We Thought) asking “How can I identify these new Christian Radio Stations so I don’t inadvertently listen to one of those “Commercial” Radio Stations? :p”
If so, there’s bound to be a forum called Cafaith Society full of people debating whether U2 is “one of theirs” or not.