Nostalgia is a powerful thing. There are moments that stick in your mind as you grow, and many of them have a very specific emotional aspect that helps the memory cling to you. These stay with you throughout your life, but from time to time, you lose track of them.
Then one day, as you're browsing on YouTube or Spotify, you run into something you once knew. An old song.
A couple years ago, I counted down my Top 100 CCM Albums of the 1990s, and decided to document the reasons why they meant so much to me. As the 1990s were my coming-of-age decade, and I was in the habit of collecting and borrowing albums, the seeds of my love for CCM were planted in the 1980s.
The decade of the 1980s proved to be one of the most colorful, unique, and schizophrenic decades when it came to pop culture. Music, film, television, and other forms of entertainment saw more styles come in and go out over the course of these ten fragile years, probably due to the heightened tension of the Cold War lurking over the shoulders of everyone. The possibility that nuclear war could decimate us at the whim of a few bureaucrats left the majority of the U.S. population on edge for much of the decade. Many of these frustrations were expressed within our music, specifically the styles in which our music was played.
Now, in the Christian music world, change happened much more slowly, but CCM did see some innovation and growth just the same. And throughout the 1980s, many standout artists created timeless music that, to this day, still holds up as quality craftsmanship as well as perfect examples of scripturally edifying reminders set to music. So in this blog series, I'm going to be running through the 21 most excellent, influential, and/or important CCM songs of the 1980s.
21. Mighty Rushing Wind - Terry Talbot
There aren't many people left that can tell you a single song that Terry Talbot performed, as he wasn't one of the top draws in the CCM world. In fact, when I first searched YouTube for the song, I thought it was performed by Scott Wesley Brown, and I couldn't find it. When I was a kid, I remember hearing the song "Mighty Rushing Wind" on the local Christian radio station, and I was hooked. It had a great driving beat, the vocals were strong and unique, and there was an aggression that stood out among the strings, power background vocals, and somewhat tamed instrumentation. On top of that, the lyrics spoke of the promise that Jesus gave the disciples as described in Acts 1:8 - "And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Songs that personify the power of the Holy Spirit tend to have a quality that cannot be described. I personally believe it's an anointing that allows followers of Christ to discern the truth in the lyrics and be encouraged by it. Even if the instrumentation and arrangement sounds dated and gives away the time in which it was recorded, there's no denying the strength of the scriptures coming through in this song.
I would love to hear this song covered by a current modern band . . . but with guitars. Because we're not hearing enough of them anymore.
One down, 20 to go.
There Is No Box.
Zach
Then one day, as you're browsing on YouTube or Spotify, you run into something you once knew. An old song.
A couple years ago, I counted down my Top 100 CCM Albums of the 1990s, and decided to document the reasons why they meant so much to me. As the 1990s were my coming-of-age decade, and I was in the habit of collecting and borrowing albums, the seeds of my love for CCM were planted in the 1980s.
The decade of the 1980s proved to be one of the most colorful, unique, and schizophrenic decades when it came to pop culture. Music, film, television, and other forms of entertainment saw more styles come in and go out over the course of these ten fragile years, probably due to the heightened tension of the Cold War lurking over the shoulders of everyone. The possibility that nuclear war could decimate us at the whim of a few bureaucrats left the majority of the U.S. population on edge for much of the decade. Many of these frustrations were expressed within our music, specifically the styles in which our music was played.
Now, in the Christian music world, change happened much more slowly, but CCM did see some innovation and growth just the same. And throughout the 1980s, many standout artists created timeless music that, to this day, still holds up as quality craftsmanship as well as perfect examples of scripturally edifying reminders set to music. So in this blog series, I'm going to be running through the 21 most excellent, influential, and/or important CCM songs of the 1980s.
21. Mighty Rushing Wind - Terry Talbot
There aren't many people left that can tell you a single song that Terry Talbot performed, as he wasn't one of the top draws in the CCM world. In fact, when I first searched YouTube for the song, I thought it was performed by Scott Wesley Brown, and I couldn't find it. When I was a kid, I remember hearing the song "Mighty Rushing Wind" on the local Christian radio station, and I was hooked. It had a great driving beat, the vocals were strong and unique, and there was an aggression that stood out among the strings, power background vocals, and somewhat tamed instrumentation. On top of that, the lyrics spoke of the promise that Jesus gave the disciples as described in Acts 1:8 - "And you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Songs that personify the power of the Holy Spirit tend to have a quality that cannot be described. I personally believe it's an anointing that allows followers of Christ to discern the truth in the lyrics and be encouraged by it. Even if the instrumentation and arrangement sounds dated and gives away the time in which it was recorded, there's no denying the strength of the scriptures coming through in this song.
I would love to hear this song covered by a current modern band . . . but with guitars. Because we're not hearing enough of them anymore.
One down, 20 to go.
There Is No Box.
Zach
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