Music: A view from the top

Just before Christmas, Rush Limbaugh devoted a segment of his radio show to a discussion of "One of Us," a song by Joan Osborne that over the next few months went on to turn the grammatically ambiguous and theologically curious question "What if God was one of us?" into one of the most recognizable refrains on rock radio.

But while Mr. Limbaugh was wise to wonder if the success so near Christmas of a song that openly pondered the Incarnation might count as a miracle, the really miraculous event was taking place on Billboard's album-sales chart: For the first time ever, Christian recordings not bearing the name "Amy Grant" were making the top 250 and staying there.

The first was I'll Lead You Home, the only Michael W. Smith album of the '90s so far to forgo the inclusion of top-40-friendly love songs in favor of hymns ("Crown Him with Many Crowns"), Scripture ("As It Is in Heaven"), and spiritual songs (the remaining dozen). Produced by Patrick Leonard, who prior to his recent conversion had co-composed some of Madonna's best-known songs, I'll Lead You Home represented the most mature work of Mr. Smith's career. And although it had fallen to number 223 by June, its 18 weeks on the chart-a Methuselan span in pop-music years-testified to the resiliency of its appeal.

Then in November came DC Talk with Jesus Freak, which by selling 85,000 copies in its first week debuted at number 16 (a Christian first) and which by continuing to sell has maintained a steady top-100 presence since then.

More impressive than their numbers, though, is the fact that instead of purveying more of the "baptized" easy-listening music with which most Christian pop has become synonymous, DC Talk has in Jesus Freak come up with a blend of rap and alternative styles that complements their bold, clever lyrics especially well. Specifically, the trio excels in transforming such derogatory and all-but-meaningless phrases as "Jesus freak," "So help me, God," and the ones in the chorus of Godspell's "Day by Day" into spiritually potent slang.

But no sooner had DC Talk begun to look like Christian music's official rock 'n' roll ambassadors than the eponymous debut from the alternative quartet Jars of Clay caught commercial fire nearly one year after its release. What elevated it from a family-bookstore bestseller to a Billboard one was its getting picked up for secular distribution by Silvertone Records, who immediately began getting the Adrian Belew-produced song "Flood"-allusions to Noah and all-played on alternative and top-40 radio.

But what elevated the album to Silvertone's attention in the first place was its quality. In a decade worn down by the relentless pummeling of "grunge," the Jars' emphasis on ringing acoustic guitars and instantly hummable choruses functions as aural balm. That the album has climbed the charts steadily in its five-month run and broken the top 50 makes it, with the possible exception of Andy Griffith's hymn collection, the most successful Christian album of the year so far.

But even Jars of Clay may yet be overtaken if Take Me to Your Leader, the sixth album by the Australian group Newsboys, benefits from a second wind. Its first wind-the momentum generated by its release earlier this year by the Christian label Starsong-has kept it in the top 200 for nearly four months. Its second wind-the momentum that the internationally formidable mainstream label Virgin hopes to generate by re-releasing it this summer-will depend to a large extent on whether or not an audience raised on '90s pop will know what to make of the unabashedly faith-enriched lyrics that accompany the group's effervescent electro-pop.

Virgin, the home of alternative rockers Smashing Pumpkins and the notorious rappers Geto Boys, is betting that secularized fans will make the adjustment. Although the label's first official Newsboys press release refers to the band as "playing contemporary Christian music," it also refers to the band's "quixotic lyrics, sharp songwriting, thundering rhythms, and refreshing splashes of skewed Aussie humor."

The irony is that, since 1992, the "quixotic lyrics" that convey the band's "Aussie humor" have been written almost exclusively by the American Christian performer-and non-Newsboy-Steve Taylor.

"Usually what happens," Mr. Taylor explained to WORLD, "is that Peter [Furler, the Newsboys drummer and main composer] will have a title and a concept. With the song 'Lost the Plot,' he had only the title and the line, 'When you come back again, won't you bring me something from the fridge?' It was just a matter of my taking it from there and seeing what I could come up with."

Mr. Taylor's modesty belies the significance of his contribution. As the Newsboys themselves admit, they lack verbal advancement.

"They have always needed help with their lyrics," Mr. Taylor said, "and they haven't made any bones about that. But Peter writes the music, and I think he does a really good job. Besides, and I wouldn't name them, but there are a lot of Christian bands who write bad lyrics and don't even realize it, so they just keep doing what they're doing. What's worse: for a band to write trifling stuff while thinking they're doing God's work or for a band to realize that because their lyrics are bad, they need help?"

Not that any of Mr. Taylor's Newsboy lyrics rival "Jesus Is for Losers," the highlight of his own Warner Alliance LP, Squint, two years ago and arguably the best Christian rock lyric ever written. But he does need to keep something in reserve. He has, after all, just inked his own deal with a subsidiary of Arista Records, and in so doing sent fair warning to Michael W. Smith, DC Talk, Jars of Clay, and Newsboys that they may soon need to make more room at the top once again.