Mike Rimmer reflects on the music of Chuck Girard, Larry Norman, Bryn Haworth, Seawind, After The Fire, Ishmael United, Cliff Richard, Writz and Bob Dylan.

With success like that it felt as though 1979 would be the year that music by Christian artists would finally break through to mainstream acceptance. Bryn Haworth was on a major label and headlined the Monday night at Greenbelt. There were plenty of songs from 'Keep The Ball Rolling' that could have been hit singles. His style was similar to chart success Gerry Rafferty and a song like "City Boy" could easily have made it. But it didn't! Saturday night was headlined by After the Fire who famously closed their show with a huge fireworks display to celebrate. Earlier in the weekend they'd been playing at The Reading Festival much further down the bill but at least they were out there building a following ahead of their album release. It was the first time I'd seen the band and with help from the Radio 1 recording, I at least knew some of the songs!

When it came to shoving Christian artists blinking into the limelight of mainstream attention, Cliff Richard had persuaded EMI to let him establish a Christian Music imprint, Patch Records, to develop new artists. His first signing was singer/songwriter Garth Hewitt whose mainstream debut album 'Did He Jump Or Was He Pushed' was launched at the festival. Hewitt in a white suit and white cowboy hat took to the stage without his guitar and harmonica and for the first time we saw him with a backing band!

And it seemed that for the first time the media were wondering about music made by Christians and where it might fit into the whole scheme of things. Radio 1 sent Richard Skinner to report from the festival and a one hour documentary was broadcast on the station on Monday evening. It featured interviews with Cliff, Garth Hewitt, the festival organisers, Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill as they played music from After The Fire, the yet to be released Cliff album 'Rock'n'Roll Juvenile' and others. They even wheeled on The Who's Pete Townsend for him to pontificate and add some credibility.

Visiting Greenbelt for the first time was an eye opener and an introduction to plenty of new music. The gospel group Kainos made a bit of a stir, proving to be part of a new wave of black groups marrying their gospel roots to soul and funk. The line up featured future LCGC frontman Basil Meade and current head of the Evangelical Alliance Joel Edwards on guitar!

There were some disappointing no shows at Greenbelt. I'd become a fan of the Alwyn Wall Band but they'd split up so didn't appear. One of the brilliant things about the festival was that between acts a DJ would spin the latest Christian music so you could hear new material. All over the weekend they played a single by Writz called "Night Nurse". In their previous incarnation as Fish Co, the band had played Greenbelt a number of times but this year, despite being named in advance publicity, they dropped out of the bill. One of the band's managers made a pompous statement on the Radio 1 documentary about the band being too arty to appear suggesting that a band like Roxy Music wouldn't fit onto the bill. Obviously they got over themselves because they headlined the following year!

Writz were another great hope in Year Zero; having signed to a small mainstream independent label and created a hugely entertaining live set, it seemed that they could very easily become the next big thing as critical acclaim followed the release of the single and an album followed in 1980. They were yet another band to get excited about in 1979.

Bob Dylan

But the biggest news of 1979 was just breaking as Greenbelt kicked off. Bob Dylan, the greatest musical prophet of his generation, had become a Christian. His album 'Slow Train Coming' was released on August 20th with the uncompromising blast of a lone voice in the wilderness crying out like an Old Testament seer. If Dylan could get saved and sing about Jesus, what did that mean for the myriad of other Christian artists singing about their faith?

It's impossible at this distance to appreciate the seismic effects of Dylan's conversion and new songs on the music scene. Sure, a lot of critics lashed out against the new recordings but there's no doubt that his new faith had fired him up and he hadn't sung with this much passion for years. 'Slow Train Coming' was probably the most important Christian album ever and it added to the feeling in 1979 that something was stirring and the possibilities were all there.

I bought the Dylan album the day I heard that I had passed my A Levels and that within weeks I would be on my way to Leeds University. I poured over the album and played it to a non-Christian Dylan fan friend of mine who was confused by the whole thing. The press coverage was intense as Dylan decided to only sing gospel material in his concerts and preached to his audience at shows.

Before I headed off to Uni, I bought one last album in Newcastle. After The Fire's 'Laser Love' was released on 21st September and I took a trip to Virgin especially to buy it. The album was on repeat play on my stereo as I packed my stuff to go to university. When I got there, it felt as though the whole of the Christian Union had a copy of the album! Freshers Week at Uni saw a performance from the Bill Mason Band, the only time I got to see the band though I loved their punk rock debut 'No Sham'. It was to York that I travelled at the end of October to see After The Fire play live at the College of Ripon & York St John. It seemed that the band were very close to breaking out as a huge act and surely 1980 would see them do that! Back in my hall of residence I was subjecting my room mate to more Christian music than he'd ever want to hear.

Meanwhile in America, a new generation of artists was beginning to emerge. In 1979 Amy Grant, like me, was in her first year at college but unlike me, she had just released her second album 'Father's Eyes'. Of course, she would become one of the most successful Christian artists ever. Petra's 'Washes Whiter Than' put the legendary rockers on the map with their first big selling album. The Resurrection Band had a UK release for the first time with 'Rainbow's End' finally bringing the loud, heavy rock music that I'd been craving into the Christian bookshops.

The '80s were about to begin when Christian artists like Amy Grant and Michael W Smith would cross over and a band like U2 could become the biggest in the world. Cliff Richard continued to have pop hits after "We Don't Talk Anymore" but so many artists that seemed full of possibility in Year Zero never lived up to their potential.

1979 was quite a year in terms of Christian music. For me, there hasn't been a year as significant since then. Was it a year particularly crammed with album classics? Or was it simply that as I continued to make momentous spiritual discoveries of a life following Jesus, I had also located music to soundtrack this thrilling new life?