Did Christian music get better in the 80's and 90's

[Hawkee]

When the 1980's began it seemed that Christian music was starting to develop a new image and this image continued through the 90's and it makes me think Christian music was attracting new audiences at the time. Because singers like Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith were huge names in Christian music at the time and soon became competitive when new stars like Sandi Patty and Kathy Troccoli became superstars in the Christian market and Christian rock was forgotten about even though bands such as Petra made their marks. But I think once the 90's began gospel began becoming the second most popular genre in Christian music and with gospel singers like Cece Winans becoming huge the gospel genre took off like a rocket. But in the 90's girl groups such as Point Of Grace made their debuts and soon every girl band in Christian music wanted to copy Point Of Grace's style and while new female singers such as Nicole C. Mullen and Jaci Velasquez this new style of Christian music became a huge selling point in the 90's. And just like pop music has boy bands Christian music had started the boy band craze too with bands like DC Talk and Plus One and I think this is why 90's and 80's Christian music was the best. But if you look at the Christian music market today the singers are now focusing on the traditional songs with a folk music sound and I think this is the path that Christian music has started to take now

[Steve_uk]

I like this contribution: https://youtu.be/FTI8CWSiZ40

[ABlairican Pie]

CCM was great in the 80's. It was my epiphany in 1984, 1985.

But I can barely stomach it these days. Too many fluffy boy-band types on the radio now.

[Hawkee]

I think the main reason why Christian music got better in the 80's and 90's was because new artists made their marks in Christian music leaving the popular artists in the dust. Like for example when Amy Grant debuted in the 70's at just 15 years old she was considered the top artist but it was the album Age To Age released in 1982 that Amy Grant made her mark scoring hit after hit from Age To Age. But with singer Sandi Patty she had competition when Kathy Troccoli made her debut also in 1982 and when Kathy came out Kathy Troccoli was soon to be a big star but just like Amy Grant Kathy crossed over to the pop charts in 1993 when she released her pop ballad Tell Me Where It Hurts but it was actually her second pop album with the first being Pure Attraction in the 80's and if you look at Kathy Troccoli today she has a jazz sound in most of her albums. But I think Christian rock is making a huge comeback with bands and artists like Newsboys Jars Of Clay Third Day Matthew West and Jeremy Camp making huge marks in the Christian market. And in male singers Michael W. Smith and Bob Carlisle were huge in the 90's. But when gospel music became huge in the 90's with artists like Cece Winans Yolanda Adams and Karen Clark-Sheard making hit albums gospel seemed to replace Christian music as the top genre

[Hawkee]

Why I think we saw a change in Christian music was in the 2000's because like in pop music the teen Christian singers started to become popular with newcomers such as Stacie Orrico and Rachael Lampa and while female singers Jaci Velasquez and Amy Grant and Sandi Patty were releasing albums that became popular with fans. In the 2000's gospel music became even bigger with the debut of Yolanda Adams making her major label debut after several independent record albums in the 90's and Kierra-Clark Sheard made her debut as well and when Mary Mary made their debut in 2000 they had become big stars. But I think Christian music has headed toward a rock sound with bands like BarlowGirl and singers like Brit Nicole and Bethany Dillon becoming popular and started a rock image to Christian music today

[Hawkee]

With the rise of gospel music becoming more popular I think it meant that we would see gospel artists crossover to Christian music. Take for example when Yolanda Adams debuted in the 90's she started out as a gospel artist but it wasn't until her 2000 album Mountain High Valley Low debuted Yolanda Adams crossed into the Christian music market and released hit after hit and some of her hits even made it in the R&B stations and charts. And the same thing with gospel groups and when Mary Mary debuted in 2000 with Thankful that album quickly was a bestseller and with more albums and a Christmas album to even being featured on the third and final season of GSN's The American Bible Challenge Mary Mary were superstars. But today it is hard to find good Christian music artists and groups that have amazing hits probably because gospel has taken over the Christian music industry

[Hawkee]

When you look at how different Christian music is today than the Christian music of the 80's and 90's you may notice that today gospel music is the number one selling music in Christian music and today's Christian music is mostly rock oriented with groups and artists such as Jars Of Clay BarlowGirl Jeremy Camp and Newsboys making their marks selling dozens of albums. And Christian pop music is rare to find these days and it seems that artists like Amy Grant and Joy Williams and Cindy Morgan have moved to add a folk music like sound to their image

[Dude111]

I love Marantha singers.. I have these records

1) Praise 2 - ???? (1977)
2) Marantha Current - 1979
3) Praise 4 - 1980
4) Praise 7 - 1984

I have a couple other ones also (Not Marantha singers)

[JO Sweet Heart]

I love the Amazing Grace music trilogy. A country music salute to gospel is what it is and the first one was released in 1995.



God bless you always!!!

Holly

P.S. The second one was released in 1997 and the third one was released in 2004.

[Little_stinker]

Praise 7 was the first praise album that I bought.