Jesus Music
| Jesus music | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Jesus movement |
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| Christian music | |
Jesus music, known as gospel beat music in the United Kingdom, is a style of Christian music that originated on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This musical genre developed in parallel to the Jesus movement. It outlasted the movement that spawned it and the Christian music industry began to eclipse it and absorb its musicians around 1975.
Jesus music primarily began in population centers of the United States where the Jesus movement was gaining momentum—Southern California (especially Costa Mesa and Hollywood), San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago—around 1969–70. Large numbers of hippies and street musicians began converting to born-again Christianity. A number of these conversions, especially in southern California, was due largely to the outreach of Lonnie Frisbee and Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa. In the aftermath of such conversions, these musicians continued playing the same styles of music that they had been playing prior to their conversion, though they now infused their lyrics with a Christian message. Most of these early bands gigged whenever asked, usually for whatever money could be collected at the passing of a hat or basket. This was known as a love offering. Few, if any, made a living from playing in the years 1970–73, nor did they expect to. Most viewed their music as a means of sharing their newfound faith and encouraging listeners to commit their lives to Jesus, no matter the sacrifice. Of the many bands and artists that came out of this time-period, some became leaders within the Jesus movement. Most notably among them Larry Norman, Barry McGuire, Love Song, Second Chapter of Acts, Randy Stonehill, Randy Matthews, and during the mid-1970s, Keith Green.
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