Reviewed by Jim Coursey
Released: June 1981 Andy McCarroll & Moral Support Zionic Bonds Genre: Christian New Wave Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Highlights: How the Kids Are Feelin’ To Know You Cyan City Growing up a church-goer, I recall following a particular Christian band from Ireland quite avidly in middle school. The band seemed edgy and looked cool, but some of their lyrics wouldn’t have sounded out of place in a hymnal. I was mostly into secular music, but in the years before I turned my back on organized religion entirely, it was comforting to hear a band that could sound rebellious and Christian simultaneously. That band, of course, was U2. It comes as no surprise that there’s at least one more 80s Christian band from Ireland. Andy McCarroll had apparently released two albums in the 70s before teaming up with Christian punk band Moral Support. They all seemed to catch the new wave bug, and put together an album of credible new wave that sounds all neon and then-futuristic while channeling the raw energy of punk. Opener “Sin” rocks pretty well, and it wasn’t until the “Sin kills!” refrain that I realized this was a bonafide Christian rock band, not just one of those bands that occasionally goes spiritual. As a “genre” I am more than a little hesitant about Christian rock, and a few songs here conform to my worst assumptions about it. Firstly there’s the “non-alcoholic beer” vibe of the genre: even if it tastes the same is it really the same if there’s no alcohol? And sure enough the second song, “How the Kids Are Feelin’” kicks off with a very obvious nod to Devo’s “Whip It”. Even though the song goes more unique places from there, that cookie-cutter opening leaves a bad “Kids Bop” taste in my mouth: “Hey Christian kids, you don’t have to buy into that Satan music, we can make the exact same sounds and praise God while we do it.” The second assumption is that I won’t connect to the overzealous moralizing and evangelizing, and this is all over the album but is hardest to ignore on the anti-abortion song “I Am Human”, which starts with the following lyric: “Why do you murder babies? Abort them and get paid? Just like an execution with that mask upon your face.” Yeah, f*** these guys. From the secular perspective, it’s frustrating in some ways that these guys clearly get new wave and punk and have some talent, and yet squander it on music that preaches to the choir at the exclusion of others. In the years since McCarroll there have been a few bands that follow more in the direction of U2, successfully marrying clear Christian evangelical themes with secular indie rock tastes without alienating the indie audience – Sufjan Stevens, Danielson Famile, Half-Handed Cloud all come to mind. [1] In some cases they even express moral anxieties I can’t relate to (“I need blinders when I'm in the Douglass library, 'cause tighty whiteys contain I.M.P.U.R.E energy” sings Danielson Famile about a library for women's, gender, and sexuality studies at Rutgers). But in keeping the focus on their own feelings rather than proselytizing to others, I can empathize with them even if I don’t fully understand them. As “out” Christians in a defiantly secular subculture, these bands are perhaps the ultimate non-conformists, [2] while McCarroll & co operate as little more than scolds. Sure McCarroll co-opts the language of rebellion, but does he make any dent in the secular world? I’d argue he remains comfortably cloistered within the, ahem, morally supportive church community. However decent the music is at times, “Zionic Bonds” would be a “discovery” for an evangelical 80s music lover but few others. ********** 1. Per Daniel Smith of the indie rock band Danielson Famile: “To be honest, I can’t insist enough that we are not a Christian band, and every critic insists that we are… It’s the term that I’m against… "Christian music" doesn’t mean anything. As far as I’m concerned, everybody sings what they live for, themselves or a girl or a guy or something. We’re singing what we live for, and it happens to not be very popular, but I maintain that shouldn’t put us into a horrible category. The reason I’m against that category is because I think it implies an exclusivity, and I don’t subscribe to that. Our music is for everyone. First of all, [the term] doesn’t describe anything about the music, and number two, I think it implies something that is not true about my intention. My intention is that we make music for people.” http://www.gadflyonline.com/home/07-01-02/ftr-danielson.html 2. Allen Sparhawk of Low “Our culture still equates religion with parents, so the spirit of rebellion (& therefore rock ‘n’ roll) tends to throw it out with the bathwater.” http://www.silbermedia.com/qrd/archives/49alan.html
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