Pioneers of CCM: Larry Norman

Bootleg (1970) by Larry Norman
Now and then I'm hoping to feature some of the pioneers of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and some of the seminal tracks they recorded. CCM has a short history, arguably starting around the Jesus Movement period of the late 60s and early 70s. In 1971, Chuck Smith, pastor of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, launched a Christian record label called Maranatha! Music. It was a vehicle to popularise music by several of Calvary Chapel's in-house bands including Sweet Comfort Band, Love Song, Mustard Seed Faith and Daniel Amos. Several solo artists were also signed to the new label, and a number of vinyl albums were released during the 1970s.

Even before Maranatha! Music launched, a singer/songwriter from Texas by the name of Larry David Norman established his own Christian label called One Way records in 1970. The first two albums released on One Way were a double album by Norman himself, called Bootleg, and another by a new, up and coming young artist called Randy Stonehill, entitled Born Twice (of which more in a future post on this blog). I won't try to reinvent the wheel and write a lengthy essay on the work of Larry Norman, because others have already done this much better than I could every hope to achieve. See for example this profile of Norman on the superb CCM blog by Scott Bachmann.

I once met Larry Norman, and I saw him live in concert at least four times, and what struck you about him first was his appearance. He invariably wore black, topped off with a black leather biker jacket or similar, but most striking was his shoulder length, platinum blond hair. He spoke quietly, and was generally a little shy when you met him, but once on stage, he came alive, with electrifying performances that were as dynamic and captivating as any of the top rock musicians you might name. His music was ground breaking for its time - many musicians attempted to emulate him, and many more were influenced in some way by his writing and performances.

During his career Larry Norman released more than 100 albums, and although he may have had personality flaws and perhaps at times, even his own worst enemy, he never failed to proclaim the good news through his music. Some might also argue he was a poet/prophet.

Perhaps his most iconic song was ironically, a very quiet acoustic track that spoke of the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. I Wish We'd All Been Ready (which made its first appearance on his 1969 album Upon This Rock) has graced the opening titles of at least two movies, the most recent being Left Behind (2014), starring Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage.  He passed away in 2008 at the age of 60 years. Larry Norman has for good reason, been dubbed the 'father of Christian rock music.'

Creative Commons License
Pioneers of CCM: Larry Norman by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Location: Plymouth England

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