Sunday, 08 November 2009
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Delirious?: History Makers Bid Fans Farewell
I became a Christian during the heyday of Christian rock music: the summer of 1999. Ironically, I got saved at a Third Day altar call. Relient K had just been signed, Five Iron Frenzy were proving that the youth were revolting, and Sonicflood had just broken into the worship scene with their self-titled album. It was a good time to be a youth group kid, and no band rocked worship music like Delirious?. The band started out as the worship band for a series of church-sponsored youth outreach events which, over time, began drawing huge attendance. After lead singer Martin Smith and his wife were in a car accident, he decided he would leave his job and promote the band full time.
It's been 12 years and 14 albums since Smith made that decision, and in that time, he and his bandmates have solidified their place as some of the greats in Christian contemporary and worship music.
This week, Delirious? released their final album, a collection entitled History Makers: Greatest Hits, and later this month, the band will pack out a London venue for their final sold out show.
Many of the biggest names in Christian music are voicing their love for Delirious? this week, including Kevin “TobyMac” McKeehan, who, in a recent press release, described them as “one of those rare bands whose music appeals to nearly all generations.”
When Smith and the rest of Delirious? pack up their instruments for the last time, they will leave behind a legacy of influential Christian music. I, for one, will miss them.
What are some of your other favorite Christian bands from ten years ago? Are they still around, or have they, like Delirious?, gone their separate ways?
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- From: modernmelody
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Comments (16)
Crowder has been doing this for 10 years... and they're still doing it strong... but Delirious? are the forerunners for CCM... especially in the worship deal...
I don't really remember who my favorite Christian bands were ten years ago. I know the Kry has been going since 1991 and I think they're still going. I've been listening to them off and on since 1994.
10 years ago huh? I did love me some Deliriou5? - Deeper is still one of my all time faves. Had to be some Audio A and DC Talk. Supernatural baby!
Let's see... back then there was Jars of Clay (who are still kickin'), POD (not quite what they used to be), and of course Skillet and the Newsboys. Some of the greatest christian music artists of all time, right there. Good times!
I've always supported Delirious, their music is legit. What I never got is why they would play covers of them on the radio and never the real thing.
Copeland just announced they were breaking up. I think that's the biggest tragedy in music history. But that's my personal opinion.
Other bands... Petra, DC Talk, Newsboys, Audio A, RSJ, Micheal W. The names I can immediately think of. My sister had some Jaci Velasquez.
My favorite band from 10 years ago is Audio Adrenaline. They've been gone for 2 years now
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I was a HUGE O.C. Supertones fan.
Ten years ago, my favorite Christian band was most definitely Five Iron Frenzy. I was also a big fan of DC Talk's Supernatural album, and does anyone remember the Seltzer compilation albums? I think I have all of them!
Audio Adrenaline. Alas, they are no more. (*hugs @Audiofreak18@xanga - )
PFR, Johnny Q. Public, Bleach, Seven Day Jesus, Sixpence None the Richer... All gone. Though Sixpence is trying to relaunch. They did a Christmas album last year. Not sure if that counts as a comeback.
@foxes_have_holes@xanga - Agreed...i'm going to miss Copeland...=(
All that matter is that Jennifer Knapp is back from her hiatus...that is the best music news i have heard in so so so long.
you probably got saved around the millennium. I got saved in a wave of revival before the pop culture took over the stages. In my days it was all about praise and worship. Hillsongs was not famous yet.
Kent Henry, Alvin Slaughter, Ron Kenoly, Danny Chambers, and Carman where amongst the many artists that colored my youth.
Many of them are still around! But most of them drew attention for a while until they faded in the background.
I did research on the generation before me, which grew up with Keith Green, and other bands from those days.
Also these times have passed.
All I can say is see the newer generation rise very soon, they will get saved in another way than you. They may get drawn by other tools than music or preaching.
The only thing you'll notice is that most likely you'll find it hard to connect to them, because they do things so differently.
And when you'll look at this newer generation, they just simply don't seem to get it the way we did...
That's what the bible calls the new wine and the old wine in the new wineskins.
It is a part of a natural cycle of times coming and going.
Unfortunately the Delirious being a group that spoke to 'all' kinds of people was not true for me, neither for nearly all generations before me.
It may be from your view that anyone likes them, but I always found they missed true worship, from the heart, which they gained on a lot in the second half of their career.
For about 7 years now I haven't purchased a single christian CD, because I found so very little worth buying. So many of them where to me not technically astonishing, neither where spiritually uplifting enough for me to invest money into them.
It's funny how a generation repeats itself so fast!
@llamalima@xanga - I'm going to miss Copeland, too. I've seen them a good six or seven times in concert, but the last time they just seemed tired. I guess it's about time, but even so, it's not easy to see them go.
@gabrielpeter@xanga - Oh man I hadn't even thought about Johnny Q. Public and Bleach. The first Christian concert I ever went to was Bleach in a really small church in the middle of nowhere Ohio. Best concert ever!
@modernmelody - They were really, really great guys. We took them out to eat a few times.
Delirious? is stepping down? Oh no... If Jars of Clay quits this year, Christian music will be in trouble.
My favorites in 1999 include:
Jars of Clay (still around, still my favorite)
dc Talk (on permanent hiatus, apparently; I enjoyed some of their solo careers but now all of them are a bit stale)
Iona (still around, but releasing albums much less frequently)
Chasing Furies (so short lived they only put out one album)
Delirious? (which you just discussed)
Sixpence None the Richer (broke up, then got back together, but haven't done a whole lot since reuniting)
Burlap to Cashmere (also defunct after one album, though I keep hearing rumblings of a reunion)
Caedmon's Call (still around, slightly reconfigured)
SonicFlood (exists in name only these days)
Rebecca St. James (not that big of a fan any more, but she's still around)
Newsboys (on the verge of still existing in name only)
That's all the major ones. I still listen to a lot of artists who are Christians, but who don't necessarily market their stuff as Christian music. Much more intriguing without the "Christian music industry" boundaries imposed upon them.
Christian rock for me began with the Jesus movement. Second Chapter of Acts, Keith Green, Andre Crouch, Larry Norman--these were the ground breaking musicians who took Christian music to a whole new level. Music reached out to the unsaved beyond the church walls, and has never been the same since. This took place during my youth, the 1970s. I give homage to these visionaries whose work laid the foundation upon which many of the aforementioned bands were able to build. There are many contemporary Christian artists today who have the ability to touch souls for Jesus Christ, but for me, there will never be another era like the Jesus movement.