Bathroom Reading Down the Toilet

Salem Communications recently announced that they will be flushing the 30 year tradition of CCM Magazine after their April 2008 issue. As a long-time fan of Christian music and subscriber to this publication, I was extremely disappointed when I heard the news...but I wasn't really all that surprised.

You see, this revelation wasn't the first time I was disappointed by this magazine. In my opinion, they've slowly but surely been turning into poop over the past several months. Here's my little rant about why I think readers smelled the stench...

Name Change Shenanigans
When it first began 30 years ago, the acronym for CCM Magazine stood for "Contemporary Christian Music," specifically covering Christian music. In May 2007, with little respect for it's heritage, the magazine attempted to reinvent itself when editor Jay Swartzendruber announced in that month's issue that CCM no longer stood for "Contemporary Christian Music" but for "Christ. Community. Music." saying that they would shift away from covering Christian music by its label or distribution in an effort "to raise the profile of independent and general market artists of faith."

Translation: We have lost our identity in an effort to create a broader market appeal.

Amateur Authorship
Along with the name-change came the emergence of reader-generated content lifted from a MySpace/Facebook ripoff website called MyCCM.org. There was a time when CCM Magazine was a leading print publication due to well-written feature articles, album reviews, chart data, and the publication of concert schedules for all leading artists. Over the years, the content became more and more watered down and started looking like faith-tilted US Weekly communicating less-than-compelling messages like "Christian Celebrities are Just Like Us".

Readers are interested in art inspired by the Creator, not faux celebrities that aren't quite as famous or intriguing as their secular counterparts.

The "Jump the Shark" Moment
In January of 2008, CCM Magazine readers chose a band called Family Force 5 to win seven of their annual Readers Choice Awards including Best Artist, Best Band, and Most Underrated Artist. In case you didn't know, the band somehow managed to become an entity even more shallow and watered down than the magazine they were featured in. Consider the following:

• Inane Names. They lift their group's name from a line in the film Pulp Fiction. The title of their debut album, Business Up Front/Party in the Back, is a worn out synonym for the not-funny-anymore (unless you're Billy Ray Cyrus) haircut called the "mullet". The band members go by misspelled aliases. Soul Glow Activatur, Crouton, Phatty, Nadaddy, and Chap Stique.
• Copy-Cat "Originality". Band members think they created their own style and call it "crunk rock". What they don't know is that, to anyone whose heard music before, they come across as a very poor man's Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Kid Rock, or Beastie Boys. Their "originality" is completely lost on anyone who is over 14 years old.
• Dumb lyrics. I know "dumb" is kind of a rude word so I'll offer some alternative descriptions: nonsensical, embarrassing, silly, confusing, uneducated, empty, humorless, and meaningless. There's a fine line between attempting funny and actually being funny. From the vocal inflections and the misspelled song titles to the pop culture references and choreographed moves, their constant reaching for comedy comes across as desperate and sad.
• Blurred spirituality. Family Force 5 isn't shy about their insatiable desire to stay up all night and party themselves silly. I know as well as anyone that faith and fun don't have to be mutually exclusive but one would be hard-pressed to find anything more than a glimmer of redemptive qualities in their music. Disco balls, confetti, dance routines, and Durty South heritage simply can't add up to spiritual substance.

Soooo...This is the band that CCM Magazine let on their ballot. In my book, the recognition garnered by the eye-liner wearing FF5 boys was the defining moment signifying that the magazine had lost a sane readership and sealed its own fate.

Contemporary Christian Music Magazine, I will miss you. I will always remember fondly the time when, every month, you would bring me something of flavor and substance that was always worth digesting.