Carl Thomas dot net

1994 Comes Back To Haunt Me

There is a whole brand of worship music that is popular today that I find absolutely miserable.  I blame it on the years surrounding 1994.   Let me tell you why.

Most Christian music comes out of Nashville.  Now, folks may argue with me about that except for the fact that most Christian music sounds like Country music without the fiddle and whiskey.  I have never been a fan of Country music so it stands to reason that I listen to very little Christian radio.  That leaves me to two forms of music, Gospel and live worship.

Earlier in my Christianity I listened to a ton of gospel.  I mostly liked live choir Gospel (the kind that is not recorded in a studio).  After I  got the anointing I could no longer listen to music that was not anointed.  I did not want to listen to secular music because I wanted to sing to Jesus.  But most non-worship music sounded like it was done by folks who were not good enough to sing secular and not anointed enough to preach.  Not saying I was right, I’m just sayin.

For me, 1994 was about the apex of my musical experience.  I know this was around the time many of the folks at The Mission were losing their diapers but I can’t help it if you were born after the apex of music.

In 1994 I was living in San Diego.  I was in the Coast Guard and living like an idiot.

I remember being in a gangsta club in Tijuana filled with nothing but bloods throwin signs on the dance floor as they bobbed to a loop of the intro to the Chronic shouting out “Eeeeeast Siiiiiide”.  That year Mary J Blige released My Life, B.I.G released Ready to Die,  Jodeci’s Diary of a Mad Band dropped.  I had the trunk of my Thunderbird filled with JL Audio subs and life was good.

At work however, I was surrounded by lovers of country and people that liked a type of music I truly could not understand: alternative.

These dudes dressed like they were . . . well, let me just say they did not dress very masculine.  Their music seemed to have no melodic properties and it sounded depressing.  Really depressing.  Almost all the music sounded like someone just realized that they were going to get beat up after school every day for the rest of their lives.  I personally think that the standard bearer of this music was The Cure.

(By the way, I think they got their name because they cured happiness.  Just sayin) They had this song that made me cringe every time I heard it.  The song made me want to slit my wrists (or at least hurt someone).

I thought I escaped this music.  I got saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, and life has been pretty good ever since.  But I have since realized that there were a considerable number of folks that listened to this awful music in 1994 and have since gotten saved, filled with the Holy Ghost and now lead worship teams.  Why their terrible music tastes did not die in the waters of baptism I do not know.

Today there are countless worship teams that have this moaning, complaining singing style and they call it prophetic worship.  It is really just pathetic worship.  Do they think God is really excited about folks sounding like they are complaining?  Do they think we will not notice that they can’t sing by just moaning lyrics?  Dude!  Come on!  Write a hook.  Make it sound good.”  There is a reason that there are song writers and then there are singers.

Selah

There is a church that I really admire and puts out some unbelievable worship music.  Yet they have as a lead singer on many of their songs someone who moans like this and it makes me want to slap someone and say “Cheer up!  Quit the complaining!  At least ACT like you are happy Jesus died on the cross for you!”

Couple years ago I began to prophesy a new sound of worship.  I began to prophesy that a generation would be raised up that would look, act, and worship different than what is out there.  I had no idea I would be in the middle of it.  But I am pretty sure what the music won’t sound like…the bad side of 1994.  And it is filling a gap that is not being reached.