Congratulations, Gospel Music Association! You got what you wanted when you added Miss California to the lineup of last night’s Dove Awards: A flash of added publicity for one of the most tedious award shows ever. A rant on the night, and a list of the winners, after the jump. More »
There was a news story today about a woman who is suing Orange Country because she was fired a few years ago for exposing the foster children she was counseling to Christian music. She wasn’t force-feeding them MercyMe; instead, during a jog on the beach, the woman stopped with the children to hear Switchfoot perform. The show wasn’t explicitly Christian (it was a Surfrider benefit that also had Incubus on the bill), so the firing seems a little unfair, but looking at the Dove award nominations today, it’s easy to understand how even the vaguest stink of Christian music would be difficult to wash off.
In the latest mission of his quest to milk the nostalgia of any group that has disposable income, Barry Manilow is releasing an all-covers album of songs from the 1980s next month. Manilow will take on “Careless Whisper,” “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now),” “Islands In The Stream” (with Reba McEntire), and… “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Yes, that’s right: We’ve evolved as a society in such a way that even Barry Freakin’ Manilow has to pander to those people on the Internet who still think the phenomenon of “Rickrolling”–in which you make yourself laugh by surprising whoever you’re engaged in instant-messenger chatter with a link to a clip of Rick Astley singing his 1987 hit–is funny. You’d think that the man who sang on many a McDonald’s ad would deserve a break today, but I guess this is the time we live in. Anyway, it’s time to figure out how Manilow will fare against other people who have tried to hop on the Rickrolling bandwagon! I’ve placed five other covers of Astley’s signature track after the jump.
Since apparently I have “no soul”, I’ve decided to embark on a journey to better myself. But since the likelihood of finding a replacement soul at my local Target is dicey at best I’ve decided to do the next best thing: I’m going to listen to the top five songs at Christian adult contemporary radio, in hopes that I can learn something from them.
Of course, you, the Idolator reader, are anxiously awaiting the results of the Idolator poll so you can wrap up 2007 with a tidy bow and move on with your life. But in te meantime, you get the Top 5 tracks on Christian Adult Contemporary Radio for the year now fading in the rear view mirror of your sensible minivan. And consider this fact: each of these tracks were played at least 32,000 times on radio this year. That may seem like nothing compared to the 600,000+ spins “The Sweet Escape” pulled in 2007, but in our new Huckabee nation and with a much smaller pool of stations, 32,000 spins should make us collectively afraid. Deeply, deeply afraid.
