Shaun Groves
Rock Star • noun – A performer behaving in an arrogant, rude, or obnoxious manner.
The stage manager was panicked. The festival was more than an hour behind schedule. Because of a city curfew, power to the stage would be shut off at 10. Road managers were asked to have their artists cut some songs so that every artist would get a chance to play.
When one road manager refused, he left the promoter in a tough spot. A not was penned and passed directly to the artist on stage between songs. We’re running behind by more than an hour. Can you please cut a few songs? Thank you for understanding.
“Get the **** off the stage!”
“I’ve worked all kinds of concerts,” one crew guy later told me. “I’ve been treated bad before. I just didn’t expect this from a Christian artist.”
How do singers become rock stars? How does this happen to the best-selling author, successful entrepreneur, widely read blogger, or mega church pastor?
Broken Model
This model has successfully created rock stars since the 1950’s. It’s naive to think that Christians churned through this same system will come out the other end any differently. The same is true when Christians are processed through any machine primarily designed to produce stars and wealth. The machine will work more often than not.
Paid Accountability
But touring artists (and many other successful people) often don’t have enough real friends. Instead, many of us are surrounded most of the time by those who benefit from our success and happiness. There’s no accountability when every relationship is on the payroll.
Constant Affirmation
My first record did very well entirely because radio stations played my music…a lot. I was constantly told in myriad ways that I was amazing. Slowly, I must have started believing it.
When my second album released, radio stations didn’t play it. And the people who’d told me how great I was no longer booked me, came to my shows, asked for my autograph, or returned my phone calls. I felt personally slighted. I must have thought I was owed attention, that radio stations needed me, that fans loved me. I became bitter, complained publicly, and burned many bridges.
Constant affirmation warps perspective, makes us believe we are more important than we are.
A Better Way
I’ve overreacted to these three bogeymen. Like an alcoholic avoiding drink, I’ve chosen to live far outside of Nashville, not even socializing with people in the music industry. I avoid affirmation like the plague too. Applause and compliments make me very uncomfortable – I’m terrified of what they might do me. I often don’t sell merchandise at my concerts, choosing instead to focus solely on asking my audiences to sponsor children instead – I’m afraid of feeding my materialistic motivations.
It’s an unhealthy extreme I live in today. That’s not the solution to all this.
But we need a solution don’t we? Not misappropriated scripture references and well-intentioned platitudes but practical actionable changes.
And not just for the Christian music industry. Anywhere fame and wealth are highly prized, constant praise abounds for the successful and authentic corrective relationships are in short supply.
Maybe the way forward begins with honest uncomfortable conversation about all this. So let’s talk.
the_chrismo says:
So, I think it’s helpful to have two discussions – “What are we aiming for?” and “How do we change the current state of things towards the ideal?” If our ideal is ‘focused on the local church community and completely letting go of such things as Christian record companies and the like’ – then the second discussion may be a lot different (and/or shorter).
What practical, healthy benefits can come from regional/national scale organizations to promote and distribute music? Should we work to have them at all, or worry more/solely about local communities?
Shaun Groves says:
What’s the artist aiming for and what’s the music listener want and what’s the church/Church need and what’s the label need and what’s a radio station want……Not sure it’s possible to answer all of these questions the same way.
Tell me more about what it would look like to focus more/solely on local communities. Got ideas?
the_chrismo says:
I need to dig up the Lewis essay I’m trying to remember, it’s been years … it may not even be _about_ the arts, but in it he describes a small community providing for each other. People are gifted in different ways, and over time the community learns how to depend on each other and take advantage (for lack of a better phrase) of those skills for the betterment of all. Music, story telling, various arts, can also be thought of in this way. These may be less pragmatic needs than food, clothing and shelter, but being made in God’s image, we enjoy/need the arts as well, to help us communicate mystery, to help us enjoy, to help us grieve, to help mark milestones.
I made a decision when I was younger after trudging through some difficult wedding gigs that I would stop doing them. They were too much work and hassle. But on reflection, that’s really backwards. A wedding is an important event, and if I’ve been gifted to help make much of a ceremony that we _should_ make much of, who am I to be hiding it under a bushel?
At other times, I’ve tried to be practical about _not_ pushing to use my musical gifts locally when there’s not a need. Our church is right off the UNT campus in Denton, so we have no shortage of talented musicians. What we don’t have a lot of is older couples who can counsel troubled marriages, so my wife and I press in there, where the need is. Certainly, there are times when I miss participating in the music, but that can easily be tempered with the realization that a 4th keyboardist on stage is likely an indulgence 🙂
But then pulling back more, I’ve realized that my musical sensibilities can and should infuse itself into other aspects of ministering in our church. Our recovery program uses music, but sometimes we haven’t used it well in an attempt to care for broken people. If I’m merely a musician, but can’t counsel someone or grieve with the suffering, I may just be beating everyone around me with singing that falls on deaf ears and songs that don’t speak to heart.
the_chrismo says:
That’s not to say music distributed at a national/global scale doesn’t feel important to me. I’m sure like probably everyone, there are songs that I’m thankful to have that I wouldn’t otherwise without a big marketing machine, Christian or not.
But I also believe that, even locally, the larger the audience, the more shallow the impact. “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.” [Prov 20:5] and those who have impacted me and I’ve been able to impact are always in person, in close quarters, over a period of time. If I had to pick, take away my music collection, I’ll be fine. Most likely the songs that have the most meaning to me only have that meaning because of where I was at in my relationship with the Lord and with my community at the time I received the song.
That may be overstating things … but I’ll post anyway for now 🙂
dubdynomite says:
Is this just a symptom of a prevailing mindset; one that has basically turned the word “Christian” into a marketing term? All in response to a dichotomy that was created by a perceived demarcation between “secular” and “Christian”.
I’ll spare you the rant, for the sake of brevity; unless you want to hear it – then I’ll send you an email 😉 .
And aren’t most of the major “Christian” music labels owned by the same media companies that own all of the others? (Your former label excluded, as it was, as I understand, initially independent). As such, would we expect their business practices or values to be any different? Isn’t the entire business model to create a “rock-star”, because “rock-star” = sales = money = success?
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t an indictment of every individual who navigates the industry behemoth, because I’m certain there are good people making positive impacts in spite of the environment.
But at the core of it, when you have an industry creating products for consumers, I fear there will always be more marketing than ministry.
I’m not saying artists shouldn’t sell what they create. I really don’t think that is the problem. I do think we should ask the hard questions about the methods, though.
davearthur says:
Shaun, I heard all about the incident over the weekend you referred to. Thank you for writing this. And its not just artists, its ANYONE who is in the public eye. For years I’ve been sad that we’ve never had a conversation about a Portland concert back in 2003. I appreciate your honesty in this post and where you are today. We’re all imperfect people, especially me, and I know God uses our mistakes to grow us into the men and women of God He’s called us to be. Maybe someday you and I can have a cup of coffee and share what God’s been doing in our lives and growing us. God bless you, my brother.
Dave Arthur
Portland Fish PD 2001 – 2012
Brittney Switala-HisRadio says:
Thank you for this article. I remember interviewing you when that first album came out and we talked about the need for spiritual accountability for Christian artists… I can see you can still see the need for it. I personally have been treated very poorly by a road manager and crew member when I simply asked when I would need to go up on stage for the emcee intro. I have watched people try to hurry along the prayer time and not have enough counselors to talk with new converts after a concert. Thank you also for not making this an article full of prideful snark- I have had my belly full of those. I am in the industry because I believe in the power of music- how it reaches into the heart in a special way. It softens the heart with melodies so it is ready to hear Truth. People come to faith through this music across the nation because it is readily available on the radio. There are broken things here and broken people and people who are following the idols of wealth and fame. There is also the good of Jesus saving lives in spite of us.
Nancy Tyler says:
I remember those guys! Glad to have gotten to see God work in and through you through different life phases and hair and facial fur combos. 🙂
Brad Richardson says:
Been waiting to weigh in on this because anything I say could be easily misunderstood. I don’t mind people wanting to be rock stars. What I have a problem with is people not owning up to that desire and pretending that what you are doing is “for the Lord”. I’m a musician in a rock band. I’m a performer and as such I enjoy playing in front of big audiences. I love applause. I love connecting with the audience. I love being loved. Now, I’m also a Christian. My faith fuels my art, but my art doesn’t always directly reflect my faith. It (hopefully) reflects a broken life that is being transformed by my faith. There is a mindset within the Christian community that being successful and famous is an inherently bad thing. Yes, it can be a bad thing, but it is usually a bad thing for those who are trying to pretend it doest matter to them. Ego is almost always involved in any endeavor where you end up on a stage in front of thousands of people. Having said that, you need to know your limitations for sure and have accountability. For me, it helps to always treat both extreme praise and criticism with a healthy dose of skepticism. So, as far a solutions go with regard to the Christian music scene, I would just hope for some honesty and for us to stop hanging God’s name on something that is simply fueled by our own ambitions.
Kelly Arabie says:
I’ll say it again.Thank you for your honesty & for sharing your journey, for showing a different way. Practical actionable changes to me are examples. Stories of people who’ve done it differently. Jesus seemed to do that. He had a crowd eating out of his hand, but then he withdrew. And said hard stuff. Weird stuff. That made people think, “Nah. Maybe not.”
Being “the real you” (publicly and privately) is one specific measurable thing we can do. The trouble is, we’re all on a journey of discovering what that really looks like. Humility seems to be key. What does that look like for you?
It usually makes me feel stupid and like a failure. (Not the kinda thing people run to and embrace.) But it’s just what I need.
Sharon says:
I have never heard of any of your music with the exception of Third World Symphony and it is a favorite in our family, even with the kids. (I started listening to more contemporary music only a few years ago.)
I have spoken with you on more than one occasion at Allume conferences and have found you to be a very humble and approachable artist. Thank you for that.
I also think this could happen to anyone who gains a following of some sort whether it be blogger, book author, women’s bible study leader, missionary or pastor.