I bet you like at least one of the GREATEST ALBUMS IN CHRISTIAN MUSIC!

King's X for me, followed closely by "Heart in Motion."

Does Joshua Tree really go here?

"For youthful Christians living in the exile of post-modern America, U2 was a chord that rang true to their experience."
I'm not sure what that means, except YES THEY DO.

I hereby begin my campaign for Steve Taylor - Meltdown .

needs more christian psych

add NEW CREATION and DAVE BIXBY (among many fantastic others) and that's where my vote would be heading

http://www.lysergia.com/AcidArchives/DaveBixby_frBk.jpg

best christian album ever

DC Talk: Jesus Freak

"spirit thing" was my shit in 4th grade

Man, the Christian music I like is just not on that list.

No "Satan Is Real", no credibility.

No Staples Singers, no credibility.

No Bach, no credibility.

No Monteverdi, no credibility.

Etc.

Twila Paris FTW

are Zao any good

never got into them

tried

didn't happen

i loved the shit out of the insyderz though, so what the fuck did i know.

Drew, to be fair, Amy Grant's "Sing Your Praise to the Lord" contains an interpolation of a Bach C Minor (I think) Fugue.
So go up top and click on Age to Age.

voted winans - return, if the last kirk franklin was up there i would've voted for that, "looking for you" is soooooo great. if 'shot of love' was up there i might've voted for that (not sure how much it counts anyway).

I couldn't give a flying fuck about the lyrics, but "The Joshua Tree" was in there, so I voted for that one.

Why isn't Sufjan Stevens in the list?

No Mahalia Jackson on the list?! Isn't she just about the most acclaimed gospel singer there is?

http://www.rushhour.nl/pictures/41/41056.jpg

http://www.rushhour.nl/pictures/41/41056.jpg

Is there any gospel on the list, though? Where are Aretha and Al Green?

And, WHAT!!! NO SLAYER??!!

One time, I saw lots of Boo Radleys mp3s labelled as "Christian Music" category.

I dunno, One "Lazarus", a couple "Last night I dreamed of God" and you get TAKEN!

I think the gospel on the list seems to be the newer stuff, not much classics like Soul Stirrers etc.

No The Hold Steady, no credibility.

this corny indie fuck does not give a hang for the list, but would like to see talk talk and spiritualized in it.

No Johnny Cash?

None of the records on this list?
http://www.bsnpubs.com/veejay/veejaygospel.html
(tbh I haven't checked but I'm pretty sure what Tuomas says holds true)

The more I look at the list the more I think this is a list of the worst albums, wherefore the Mighty Clouds of Joy!

No Danielson, Sufjan, 16 Horsepower, Woven Hand?

I find it kind of weird that U2 are present, considering the rest of the albums seem to represent rather conservative Christianity, leaving little room for rebels with a more "searching" form of religious faith.

A write-in vote for the Louvin Brothers Satan is Real

I was certainly expecting to see Ocean's "Put Your Hand In The Hand." Pretty overt and a huge hit.

amy grant - "baby baby"/heart in motion

where david meece
where sandi patti
where 4 him
where petra
?!!!

haha carman "the champion." if anyone here hasn't checked this thing out, you must. maybe the the video's around somewhere. it's grebt. i once played the role of satan in 9th grade when our church's youth group did like a large-scale karaoke "performance" of this thing at some event. wish i still had the video we shot.

carman!

satan bite the dust!
a witch's invitation

Sandi Patty and 4Him each have one album on the list, and Petra have two. I agree with you about David Meece, though, he's got at least two great albums. If Candle in the Rain was on the list, it'd be my #3.

To address the lack of scroungy hipsters like Sufjan and Danielson, the list came out in 1998, so those guys were just starting to make waves. But you could vote for Larry Norman or Bob Bennett--they were the scroungy hipster Christians of their day.

The lack of any Al Green is pretty waht

If ANYBODY's gonna overrate his '80s work, you think it'd be these folks

where sandi patti
where 4 him
where petra
?!!!
-- andrew m., Friday, October 19, 2007 9:12 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

vvv uhhh...are you blind? vvv

4Him: The Basics of Life
Petra: Beyond Belief
Sandi Patty: Mornings Like This
Petra: More Power To Ya

This may be the first *and* last time that U2 wins an ILM poll

And there's a surprising wealth of gospel on the list, especially surprising if you've read Body Piercing Saved My Life, which paints the scene as much more whitebread. There's just not a lot of "classic" gospel, but I think everything on the list was released since the early 70s, when CCM became its own market force.

vvv uhhh...are you blind? vvv
apparently! i even looked twice.

'How the West was one' sounds creepy.

If U2 can be on there a couple of times, then certainly Black Sabbath's "Master of Reality" can. And I've been skewered on ILM for saying that before, but I stand by it.

Drew Daniel totally OTM way upthread. I like lots of Christian-based music but this list is fuckign crap through and through

(I'm curious if there's a single black person on this list? I dunno a lot of these folks. DC Talk were white, right...?)

'How the West was one' sounds creepy.

"The friendly, familial atmosphere surrounding How the West Was One camouflaged an epic, gutsy commercial and artistic move for Christian music." Yadda yadda, live album with 2nd Chapter of Acts, Phil Keaggy and "A Band Called David." In short, you may be right, but I haven't heard it. It does have 2nd Chapter rocking out on "Easter Song," which is a great tune.

I love the title GREATEST ALBUMS IN CHRISTIAN MUSIC. I felt the holy spirit. I haven't heard any of those albums other than U2 and Amy Grant, the latter when my family still was religious, and I've probably heard the others but only in the car when I'm back in good old West Virginia scanning the terrible local radio.

xp
Yes yes, there are black people. Anyone named Winans, Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, 1/3 of DC Talk, 1/3 of King's X, Take 6, and Trin-I-Tee 5:7 are all certifiably black. Plus, the Gotee Brothers album is a concept album about racism. CCM appreciates your concern, Shakey.

ah Kirk Franklin yeah I've heard that guy

Bruce Cockburn's cool, and makes U2's theology look pre-Vatican I.

Amy Grant's Lead Me On is a masterpiece - "1974," the song that opens the album, is one of the best attempts I've heard to convey the feeling of awakened religios feeling, of that quality of feeling "spiritual." Her cover of Jimmy Webb's "If These Walls Could Speak" is great there too, though her pianist could stand a milder hand. I don't know that Andrae Crouch record but it'd be hard to overstate his impact on CCM - he was crossing a bridge between trad black gospel & CCM every time he did a talk show appearance, which he did all the time in the eighties. That there's no Shirley Caesar on the list is pretty suspicious because she's a giant. The other big player there is Michael W. Smith, who I think wrote "El Shaddai," one of the big moments in 80s CCM - I think he has half a dozen other key CCM notches on his belt.

I went with with Lead Me On but if there were some of my favorite Mass Choir albums up there they could have given it a run for its money

no Showdown no credibility

Hope "Slayer" upthread supposed to read "Stryper", and may I say WAU.

"spirit thing" was my shit in 4th grade

Bros!

this list is basically what got played in my house until i was old enough to get an allowance, so everyone's confusion over it is kind of funny to me.

also, STEVE TAYLOR ppl.

NO AUDIO ADRENALINE NO CREDIBILITY

It would be between Petra's More Power To Ya or Steve Taylor's Meltdown for me - though it's been a while since I've heard either. I'm also curious about Resurrection Band's Awaiting Your Reply - since I used to like some of their later albums.

(I also like Slow Train Coming, but I'm excluding that on the grounds that it's too mainstream.)

I'll go with Keaggy. I saw him in concert once and he smoked.

LOL CARMAN
forgot about him

haha carman "the champion." if anyone here hasn't checked this thing out, you must. maybe the the video's around somewhere. it's grebt. i once played the role of satan in 9th grade when our church's youth group did like a large-scale karaoke "performance" of this thing at some event. wish i still had the video we shot.

-- andrew m., Friday, 19 October 2007 14:12

i have also done this.

i was demon #2.

what? no 'blind leading the naked' by violent femmes? (or any other violent femmes, for that matter?)

stephen curtis chapman - "got 2 b tru"

download it, kid

We also performed Carman's weird western-themed thing. I was the drunk.

Destroy it all.

I have both the Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill albums from back in the day. A friend of mine had the late night "Christian Rock" show on a totally Christian station and he is to blame. I would go hang out with him and he showed me how to run everything so he could have a nap.

i like this daniel amos album:

http://www.phileasphogg.net/images/da_doppelganger.jpg

phil keaggy is one of my fave rock guitarists EVER, but his christian albums never did much for me.

heart in motion shouldn't really be on there. doesn't amy seperate her secular and xian stuff?

No A Love Supreme, no credibility.

If U2 can be on there a couple of times, then certainly Black Sabbath's "Master of Reality" can. And I've been skewered on ILM for saying that before, but I stand by it.

-- Bill Magill

...and rightfully so!
Me, I'm voting for Leslie Philips, just 'cause she changed her name to "Sam" and created a masterpiece. Dylan and King's X have done better LPs. 93% of the rest, I've never heard and almost certainly don't want to.

rebecca st-james?

lol u guys dont get it

heart in motion shouldn't really be on there. doesn't amy seperate her secular and xian stuff?

Not as much as her hardcore Christian fans did, and anyway it ends with a Jesus song. I mean, she was clearly swinging for the fences, but that album's probably more justifiable than the Joshua Tree.

No A Love Supreme, no credibility.

Agreed, and in the back of the book the individual writers list their faves that didn't make the list and someone named Dwight Ozard named that one.

Chris Willman also contributed--in fact, wrote up Leslie/Sam Phillips. Doesn't he post around here?

Dylan and King's X have done better LPs.

Faith Hope Love is definitely my favorite King's X, but I'm curious what you prefer. It's always nice to hear someone with an opinion on them.

i have also done this.

i was demon #2.

-- BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, October 19, 2007 3:57 PM

hoos this was your best post all week

I dated a gal once whose family lived in Tulsa and worked at ORU, and we visited them for Easter and watched Carman videos, especially the concert that has the western duel and then ends with "J.C. Is In The House".

But I'm voting Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws.

i used to be way into steve taylor, but most of his records freak me out now. except i predict 1990, which i still love. this was a dead heat btwn daniel amos and the 77s, but if LSU shaded pain was on here, the choice would be clear.

since it's possible people reading this thread will care, i uploaded some lsu live vids here -

here
and here

how about some Pigeon John on this list.. his first Featuring album is very christian-like

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

My best friend in secondary school moved back to America and became a minister in this weird-ish Christian group he was brought up in (the Menn0n1tes). He's now a Contemporary Christian Songwriter too, but unfortunately his album isn't on that list otherwise I'd have voted for it, even though it seems to be really bad going by the sound clips on his website. I went for Stryper instead.

OMFG, Where is the love for Kathy Troccoli?

Amy Grant: A Christmas Album

Christmas albums should probably be exempt, since they have an unfair advantage.

I'm glad The Choir's Chase the Kangaroo made it into the running. I re-bought it used last year and still liked it, which was kind of a surprise.

http://www.bizarrerecords.com/galleries/coordinated/MinistersTouch.jpg

ROBBED!

Faith Hope Love is definitely my favorite King's X, but I'm curious what you prefer. It's always nice to hear someone with an opinion on them.

-- dr. phil,

The debut's my favourite. And I recall liking parts of Gretchen Goes to Nebraska, tho not enough to dissuade me from selling it after a year or so. And you better believe that I didn't read that fairy-tale within. ('89 was the year I began to hate everything and largely gave up on rock for many months.)

stevn crutis chapman

Thanks to this thread I now have "to hell with the devil" by Stryper stuck in my head.

I didn't even know I *remembered* the damn thing. But sadly I have heard all of the Stryper AND the Petra album *cries*.

No Popol Vuh no credibility

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

what a disgusting sandwich