THis is maybe a dumb question because I know nothing about that world, and I don't know much of this band's history, but was Mae ever considered CCM? I only ask because a friend of mine back in high school that I learned over time getting to know him better back then was in like Christian youth group stuff and all that, and Mae was his favorite band (I found this out because we both took "band lab" our junior years which was basically just "sit around and play guitar lab" and etc), and iirc a lot of other music he liked was religious stuff or bands I hadn't heard of.
Those names and so many more were my entire world as a child. I wasn’t allowed to listen to anything else. I can’t hear much of it in the same way anymore, but I do have some genuinely sweet, wonderful memories associated with a lot of it amidst all the darker stuff. What other names can I remember offhand here, let’s see: Mark Lowry Steve & Annie Chapman The Gaithers David Meece Wes King Geoff Moore & The Distance Jars of Clay Third Day Jaci Valesquez Rebecca St James Sandi Patty Twila Paris Steve Green Kirk Franklin Cece Winans Petra Audio Adrenaline Five Iron Frenzy Poor Old Lu Burlap to Cashmere Can’t forget the GOAT Rich Mullins There were a lot more early 2000s artists that came along and defined my teen years, but that early 2000s era also already feels a little different than the 90s did. The early 2000s were when they really “perfected” their whole “if you like this artist then you’ll LOVE this artist” shtick and so many of those bands/singers started to feel like they were being cooked up in a lab specifically for that purpose. A lot of them would tell you now “yes, that’s correct.”
Only tangentially because of the Tooth & Nail label. They were one of those late “Christians IN a band, but not necessarily a “Christian” band per se” era of CCM adjacent bands. I tend to view Tooth & Nail in that period of time as its own amorphous entity in the CCM world that feels sort of nebulous and only occasionally fully fits into the CCM mold.
Funny how new horrifying allegations get us reminiscing about Christian music in general. Which probably should go in the Christian music thread instead of fully overtaking this one?
Yeah it was the weird combination of super friendy/clean/do-gooder attitude mixed with the elitist spiritual presence that definitely was a thinly veiled attempt at homophobia and ultra-conservative thinking that drove me nuts.
Despite not being Christian I definitely listened to the first Hawk Nelson album when it came out and was a long time before I realised the title tracks included a negative reference to same-sex marriage and I couldn't listen from that point.
One of my longest and closest friends has been a hired touring musician with a few different worship CCM bands for years now and the stories he has are pretty crazy. Mostly that majority of the tours he's been on, all of the other musicians love partying and drugs and not religious in the slightest.. a lot of debauchery happens on the band bus. He / the other musicians have limited contact with the main artist / group and have historically been very stand-off, just look at the hired guns the way the CEO of Walmart looks at shelf stockers. However, they pay well so..
I am not well versed enough on this and find myself going in circles when googling it, and don't want folks to think I'm rushing into a thread to ruin their good time, but wasn't Zach Bryan accused of DV and other shit, as well as paying off exes with an NDA? Was everything just inconclusive or are people overlooking that because they like the music enough?
I mentioned it back on January 3rd that I thought it was odd that this web-site continues to post news about him since they generally shun anyone with allegations against them.
i don't know specifics but at minimum he seems like an asshole dealing with addiction (obviously not an excuse) and a truly insane rise to wealth & fame in a very short amount of time everyone can draw their own line at what they want to listen to i guess
Dang. I don't really listen to him, despite many attempts from friends to try and get me to do so, but from what little I know of him, I thought he was - at the very least - on the right side of the conversation, being otuspoken against ICE and being a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ communities. Definitely did not know about this other stuff, that's disappointing to say the least. Humans are such a drag.
There's just such a range of problematic behavior and levels of documentation/speculation, it's tough (and also not advisable imo) to police what people want to listen to or talk about too strictly on this site. I don't post the news here, and we don't have a Magic 8 Ball to tell us who is redeemable and who isn't, but I tend to just be thankful that this site doesn't have a bunch of Jesse Lacey or R. Kelly defenders instead of getting mad that that folks are talking about Zach Bryan. I know those things aren't mutually exclusive, but that's just my two cents
people say getting cancelled doesn't do anything, but I just learned Arcade Fire released a new album last year and I can't imagine anyone even knows
Unfortunately it's most likely because the people that did know did not like the album, if they had another Suburbs-esque acclaimed album it probably would have gotten a much bigger push