Why I don’t want to be a History Maker
Most people, particularly those in Christian circles will no doubt have heard of the ‘Invade the Airwaves’ campaign, which aims to put a Christian band at number one this Easter Sunday, namely Delirious? with the song History Maker.
Anyway, let me tell you my 3 reasons why I don’t want this campaign to work…
- I’m thoroughly annoyed by all the spam, some has come through email, but mainly it comes through incessant Facebook fan requests, it’s almost as bad as that phase when I kept getting sheep chucked at me!
- I don’t believe that it is ‘right’ to manipulate the music charts in this way… in some ways it pleased me to see RATM beat the X-Factor entry to Christmas number one… but at the same time, it’s sad to see that the charts have been mocked in this way… I actually think there’s something slightly dishonest about this…
- Ok… so it’s looking likely that Delirious? will be in the top 10 this week (and out of the top 4o the next), and are therefore virtually guaranteed some airtime… so of all the songs you could pick and of all the bands… the band has just retired and the song is quite frankly awful… musically aside, it doesn’t even mention the name of Jesus and is very ‘I’ focused… what a waste of an airwaves invasion!
12 Comments
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April 1, 2010[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sam Lucas, Hugh Bourne. Hugh Bourne said: New Blog post: Why I don’t want to be a History Maker!: Most people, particularly those in Christian circles will … http://bit.ly/bnKag5 [...]
Anthony Smith
April 1, 2010Quite. And isn’t the song around 13 years old? Would be great to hear Message of the Cross in the top whatever though!
Matthew
April 1, 2010I was very tempted to write something similar. With regards to your first point, I wouldn’t mind if it was a campaign I was interested in. Number two, I have no real interest in the charts so don’t really mind in the slightest, but I take your point. As to number three, I quite agree! If they’d picked something like “Mess of Me” by Switchfoot (a band who are Christians, as opposed to a Christian band) I’d have been happier – it’s contemporary-ish (released in November 2009), musically excellent, lyrically thought-provoking, and above all understandable by the secular public. (Or to fit with the Easter theme, how about Jon Foreman’s “Resurrect Me”?) My main problem with the choice of song is, despite Delirious? claiming to want to compete in the secular sphere, it’s just typical “praise and worship” stuff and most of the UK don’t understand the appeal. Also, “Christian music” should be artistically first-rate (like Bach was in his day), whereas it’s generally artistically third-rate and behind the times. So to pick a song that’s more than a decade old compounds the problem!
Rant over…
Hugh
April 1, 2010Switchfoot was the first thing that came to my mind…
“band of Christians”, musically good, already putting out thoughtful Christian lyrics into the secular music scene
Everyone loves and needs a good rant now and again!
Phil
April 1, 2010You’re too young to be a grumpy old man!
David
April 1, 2010Hugh, you’re just a grumpy old man. Though I do entirely agree with your third point, in which case I must be a grumpy old man too (but slightly less grumpy than you). Poor song choice, waste of an opportunity. But it is refreshing to hear christian music on national radio.
Xander
April 1, 2010As I said to you last night HughBo, I agree that the song choice is terrible!
I did a post about it because it would be great to have a Christian band at number 1 and hopefully in interviews etc they can talk about Jesus.
However I think they have tried to pick a song that wont offend people which is selling out slightly, why not pick a song about the cross? If people are gonna be offended anyway why not make the song about Jesus and not ‘I’!
David
April 1, 20101. agreed the spam is annoying – but if you don’t ‘ignore’ the page invite then you can’t be invited again. You ned to know how to play facebook too
2. The charts have been manipulated for as long as I can remember in very many ways. From the Sex Pistols to reality TV shows – so I hardly see this as ‘mocking the charts’
3. Ok not the greatest song ever written and a band that have retired – however the profits are going to Compassion Art – and will be used to benefit many – which may not have happened with another track. And it is starting some interesting discussions with non-christians – anything that gives me a chance to share my faith with my non-christian friends because they have initiated the conversation is good in my book
Gary
April 2, 2010Not to bothered about the manipulation part. But a song about Jesus would have been much better. I don’t understand why so many Christian’s don’t want to use Jesus Name publicly!!!
Not a big Delirious fan anyway!
Steve
April 2, 2010Whether or not History Maker gets to number 1, and whether or not it was the right choice of song for this campaign, it’s got a lot of people talking and thinking about what Easter is about. Surely what makes it a success is that the death and resurrection of Jesus is being talked about a lot.
Fat Roland
April 3, 2010It’s a terrible message to get to number one at Easter: me, me, me. It’s just not what Christianity is about. I’ve waffled about this on my own blog, but basically it all boils down to point 3 above.
People need to buy Starflyer 59 instead!
History Made? « Tim Simmonds
April 5, 2010[...] found a number of people in the blogosphere who agreed with me. Hugh, Matt thought it was an April fool, Gareth brought the song even though he hated it, Andy couldnt [...]