In the first part of a personal history, LARRY NORMAN, Christian music pioneer, charts the rise of Christian music from its roots and, based on his experiences, gives his own perspective on the collision between creativity and commerce.

"So if you start a Christian Billboard magazine you are going to help destroy the purity of what Christian music is right now. You are going to create arbitrary standards - and then young people will begin attending the concerts of the artists you write about and local singers will begin emulating the type of music that is being promoted and retailed. Then they will no longer be following Jesus. They will be following popular trends. They won't solely take their inspiration from the Bible or from their life experiences. They'll take it from other artists who are getting interviews and photos in your magazine. So, no, I don't think you should start this kind of Christian Cashbox. Because it will begin to destroy the beauty of what is happening right now and place rational expectations on what could be made to happen next."

Did I really say all that? Yes, and a little bit more, but I said it so much better that night because I was inspired by the flash of anger which burned through me at that moment. Although I had no effect upon his enthusiasm and I doubt if he even remembers the occasion - having probably spoken with many people about his plans during that time - this fledgling publisher blinked at my volley and left me feeling that he was possibly sincere but so wrong-headed - with no real idea of the repercussions which might follow such an enterprise. The publisher and I become "friends" of a sort over the years, though he attacked me at every opportunity and his volunteer staff of unskilled journalists shredded every album I recorded, and held me up to ridicule. After all I was the "Main Target" and a young pretend journalist might make his mark by helping to bring me down. They mistook me for that Larry Norman fellow when I had moved on like Dylan after his motorcycle accident. I dismantled my Solid Rock record company, left America and moved to England for a few years, living at a £7.00 pound a night bed and breakfast in the countryside. It was glorious. And my tours with Alwyn Wall and Norman Barrett led to hundreds of conversions, while in America, young people came to party, not to repent. I found myself watching with interest as the "Christian Cashbox" publisher wrestled with his Colossus and all the contradictions and setbacks which beset his "mission", until he was bought out for pennies on the dollar by a more savvy cutthroat.

As an artist, I was disturbed as I watched the handshake of the gospel industry become a clutching, enclosing fist. As the owner of my own subsidiary logo back in 1974, I had sat in on a meeting when the vice president of my parent company addressed its national sales staff, outlining plans to destroy sub-distributors, "rack jobbers" and "one stops". They outlined plans to open up their own Bible book and music stores, in major markets under random names, so that they could enjoy the first sales of each new release while other local stores waited restlessly for their shipment of the same product to arrive several weeks later. They did, indeed, destroy the sub-distribution system but they never managed to install their own retail outlets or corner the entire "market". But this kind of zeitgeist thinking and mercenary planning seemed just the beginning of secularity. Corp-speak soon became standardised as even artists began to refer to their albums as "product", the body of Christ as a "target demographic" and shelf space in Bible bookstores as "real estate".

If the question is "What is wrong with gospel music today?" - there is possibly a lot wrong. But it's also possible that there is a lot that is right.

And might not this whole enterprise become a lot MORE right if companies would start making accurate royalty payments and artists would stop chasing the secular world? Christian music is gorged with sound-alike, look-alike bands. The visual images and chord progressions are familiar and the message is not that markedly challenging.

We are warned by Scripture, "Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:2) But the response of many young bands seems to be, "Stand back and watch me work. How ya like me now?" They have mastered mirroring worldliness. After 30 seconds groove time of the songs on many Christian CDs, repertoires can often be categorised and dismissed as clones of Linkin Park; Good Charlotte; Hoobastank.

Some musical artisans swagger like urban ghetto gangstas and speak ebonically. Though they come from nice, upwardly mobile, middle-class families, some affect a pedigree that is from "the streets". They use rap-speak and eventually the obvious begins to happen; a limited vocabulary soon creates a limitation of thought. I propose that learning to witness on the streets is a lot more of a cultural accomplishment than re-learning to enunciate with a metal stud through one's tongue. And I believe that if you can't carry an effective Gospel out into the highways and byways, then you really don't have a right to get up on stage and try to simulate one.

And if you refuse to feed the poor (Matthew 25:31-46) you don't have a right to entertain the moneyed and need to seriously question the status of your conversion. And if you are addicted to tobacco and alcohol then you yourself need ministering to, MY BRUTHA - even though in these last days your number is many. Just because cigarettes and tattoos and piercings are widespread doesn't prove they have attained spiritual orthodoxy. The sheep know their Shepherd's voice, and the Shepherd is definitely not recommending sybaritic hedonism.

I pray that my words to you are both HARSHLY TRUE and REVERENTLY BALANCED. I do not speak them to offend you, but to encourage you to be liberated by whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just and whatever is pure and lovely. (Philippians 4:8)

Walk uprightly among all men, blessing them with your continuous witness - dying daily unto self and living unto God.

"Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2)

Coming Soon - Part Two: Praise And Worship Music: Faithful or Fraudulent? Public Awards For Ministry And The Hollow Calories Of The Songs On The Wall

(Note: Do you run a record label? Are you an artist or in a band? Are you a music promoter? What are your thoughts on Larry's comments? Please add them to the readers' comments below.)