Blast! Another brilliant idea stolen!

I have long said that if I ever get around to writing a book, I would love to do something on the Christian rock scene. In my time at The P-C, I have covered Christian bands and visited festivals such as Lifest and Power of One. I also went to a ton of Christian rock shows as a kid. (Anybody else remember Degarmo and Key?) I find the scene absolutely fascinating for a number of reasons. One, it's a genuine youth subculture with its own stars and mores. A band like Audio Adrenaline can fill an arena and yet draw blank stares from non-Christians. Two, it is built on a pile of contradictions, the central one being that it's an industry for people who claim (and really do believe they have) no interest in stardom or money. Plus, nobody outside the Christian community has written about it, so it is fertile ground.

Was fertile ground.

Two weeks ago I was in a Barnes and Noble and came across "Body Piercing Saved My Life," a book about (you guessed it) the Christian music scene by former Spin writer Andrew Beaujon. I haven't read the book yet, but it sounds like Beaujon takes a very empathetic look at the artists and fans. I'm relieved by this, and surprised. Rock journalists probably dismiss Christian music more uniformly than any other genre, a practice that shows obvious bias and clear stupidity. Sure, a lot of it is dorky, but a lot of it is also really good, and there's a case to be made for the overwhelming influence of religon on secular music, from Elvis Presley to Al Green to Prince to U2 to Beck. Besides, even if you hate the music, it's still a culture worth looking at.

Here's a good interview with Beaujon from Fluxblog. Look for Beaujon's comments about the difficulty of getting the book published.

I haven't completely ditched my Christian rock-related writing. I'm currently working on a story about the connections between local bands in the Fox Valley and local churches. I already have some really good stuff from Cory Chisel of the Wandering Sons and Greg Sampson of San Damiano, a church group that meets at Appleton music club Tom's Garage. Look for it later this month.