Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

The '60s! A time when popular music grew its hair, became rowdier and rebelled against the values of the church, right? And the church didn't like the music! Well, that's the popular notion anyway but Wright's argument is that there were significant pockets of the church who embraced beat music and then rock music and used these emerging music forms in worship and evangelism and our '60s brothers and sisters weren't nearly as stuffy as everyone thinks. Effectively this is Wright's Masters thesis and so obviously there is plenty of research and original source material accessed including interviews with bands from the era and published materials from the time. A fascinating read it is as well, if you're interested in music or church history. Discover a hidden world of Christian coffee bars, forgotten beat groups and folk music incorporated into church liturgy. There are some absorbing reports of a church trying to come to terms with the hysteria surrounding the Beatles and Wright captures the flavour of the church of the time. Beyond the '60s, Wright points out that the church did not continue to embrace new cultural musical expressions but settled on a MOR pop expression for its contemporary worship in the late '70s and '80s. It seems that those charismatics have got a lot to answer for and it's hard to disagree with Wright's argument! It's fascinating stuff though the academic style and the fact that it is a Masters thesis rather than a book does hamper things a little and at times I felt I was reliving my previous career as a college lecturer reading an essay. Still, it's definitely worth an A grade!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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