The
Jesus Movement in America in the 1960s and 1970s was an extraordinary time of mass revival, renewal, and reconciliation. This counter-cultural movement of Christians also found its own expression in the UK, reshaping the lives of individuals along with the life and mission of the new and existing churches across the nation.
The Jesus Movement included: the emergent Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scene; links between the Jesus People and the burgeoning charismatic movement; the establishment of new influential churches like Chuck Smith’s Calvary Chapel and John Wimber’s Vineyard Fellowship; and ministries that reached out to drug users, bikers, hippies, that came out of, or were parallel to, the Jesus People.
In terms of
music, a good description of what went on can be found in the introduction to a 3CD box set called
All God’s Children: Songs From The British Jesus Rock Revolution 1967-1974 which provides an overview of the UK element of the late 60s/early 70s “Jesus movement”:
‘During the late 60s and early 70s, the restless, questing nature of the Woodstock generation and the horrors of Vietnam saw the pop scene add a new spiritual element. Many young people embraced Christianity, viewing Jesus as the prototypal long-haired hippie, persecuted by the establishment of the day while dispensing peace and love to a troubled, cynical world.
The American branch of the Jesus movement effectively started in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, but there was also a parallel development in the UK that slowly evolved from beat groups performing in church coffee-bars. By 1971, leading British Xian rock band Out Of Darkness were appearing at notorious countercultural gathering Phun City, while Glastonbury introduced a “Jesus tent” that offered Christian revellers mass and holy communion twice a day.’
‘All God’s Children assembles the best of the British Christian acts, including such respected names as Out Of Darkness … , Parchment, Whispers Of Truth and Judy MacKenzie. It also features the secular alongside the sacred, including the likes of Strawbs, Moody Blues, Amazing Blondel, John Kongos and Medicine Head – bands who, though theologically shyer than their more overtly Christian contemporaries, all wrote songs with a strong spiritual message.’
There had always been a spiritual element to Rock ‘n’ Roll. When it emerged, Rock ‘n’ Roll merged Blues (with its spiritual strand) and Country music (tapping its white gospel) while Soul music adapted much of its sound and content from Black Gospel. For both, their gestures and movements were adopted from Pentecostalism. Some, such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Sam Cooke, felt guilt at secularising Gospel while others, like Johnny Cash, arrived at a hard-earned integration of faith and music. The Church, at the time, generally opposed the secularisation of its music and, as a result, there appeared to be a gulf between the music of the Church and that of popular culture.
The Hippie movement expanded the spirituality already inherent in rock music through the visionary aspect of drug culture and a wider engagement with religion which included significant connections with Eastern religions but also, in part through the Jesus Movement, was with Christianity. In fact, it seems probable that the Jesus Movement led to a growth in songs by secular artists which were about Jesus. This was also the period in which songs such as 'Presence of the Lord' by Blind Faith, 'My Sweet Lord' by George Harrison, 'Fire and Rain' by James Taylor, 'Sweet Cherry Wine' and 'Crystal Blue Persuasion' by Tommy James and the Shondells, 'Let it Be' by The Beatles, 'That's the Way God Planned It' by Billy Preston, 'Hymn' by Barclay James Harvest, 'Jesus is A Soul Man' by Laurence Reynolds, 'Are You Ready?' by Pacific Gas & Electric, 'Spirit in the Sky' by Norman Greenbaum, 'Put Your Hand in the Hand' by Ocean, and 'Jesus Is Just Alright' by the Doobie Brothers, as well as albums like Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace, Al Green's Belle Album and The Staple Singers' Be What You Are became popular. This was also the period of musicals such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell and, from the Jesus Movement itself, Lonesome Stone and Yesterday, Today, Forever.
Gram Parsons, both as a solo artist and with the Flying Burrito Brothers, drew on the Gospel music tradition in Country Music, also taking The Bryds in the same direction. Christian of the World by Tommy James was a mixture of serious religious themes encased in James' well known pop style and featuring many of the studio players and singers he had used successfully on earlier recordings. David Axelrod wrote Mass in F Minor and Release of an Oath for the Electric Prunes, albums which combined religious and classical elements with psychedelic rock in a rock-opera concept. The songs of Judee Sill 'dealt with Christian spirituality, metaphysics, rapture and redemption, and were laden with classical music overtones': 'Her spiritual quest informed much of her writing. Heavenly and temporal love were constant themes. She had been through many relationships, and lust, rapture, and redemption intermingled ... Her interest in Christianity was far more than intellectual curiosity – she was baptized by Pat Boone in his swimming pool, and once described Christ as an elusive lover – “My vision of my animus.”'
Turning back to the Jesus Movement, Electric Liturgy by Mind Garage pre-dated the Mass in F Minor and gave a basis for later rock versions of the Mass/Eucharist such as the Rock Communion by Fresh Claim and U2charists. In Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music, Rob Young includes a brief survey of '70's Jesus Music noting that "there were a few groups - After the Fire, Caedmon, Canaan, Cloud, Bryn Haworth, Meet Jesus Music, Narnia, Nutshell, Parchment, Presence, Reynard, Trinity Folk, Water into Wine Band and 11:59 - which managed to make a music that has lasting value, a kind of Eucharistic-progressive sound that sits comfortably with the better acid folk of the period."
So, it seems probable that the Jesus Movement did have a significant influence on mainstream music in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s. That influence is one that is still being felt in a variety of ways and this period remains interesting because it laid the foundation for later developments both within mainstream popular music and Contemporary Christian Music. However, it is interesting primarily because of the quality of the music and the insights found therein in regard to Jesus and that’s what we’re going to focus on in this Quiet Day.
As part of the Quiet Day we listened to music from Amazing Blondel, Anawim, Barclay James Harvest, Sydney Carter, 11:59, The Moody Blues, Nirvana, Larry Norman, Strawbs and Clifford T. Ward. Our songs divided into songs about Jesus and prayers to Jesus.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
