post 74. on the topic of christian artists.

first off, i'm not terribly religious. but after working at a record store for five years, i thought i would try and tackle the problem of "alternative" christian artists. i think the reason contemporary christian artists can't get any street cred (in the way that u2 does) is this: sunglasses and bowling shirts do not make you look hip. neither does dredlocks. and try a little subtext, at least for a little while: there isn't a title in u2's canon that -- to the uninitiated or casual listener -- would have turned away those who like to keep their rock here and their church there until they were far enough into the popular culture that it didn't really matter.