A lot of sites have, over the last few days and weeks, compiled their lists of the best albums of the decade. As I've read through them, I have myself reminisced about the last ten years of music, especially Christian music. The Christian music of this decade has influenced my life considerably, but it's really crazy to think what albums did – and didn't! – come out in the last ten years.
Lifehouse released their first album, No Name Face, in the year 2000. Other bands who got their start in the first year of the decade include Ace Troubleshooter, FFH, Thousand Foot Krutch, and Pillar. Relient K's first album on Gotee Records, the self-titled Relient K album, was also released in the year 2000, kick-starting their professional careers that would span the entire decade.
Many of the bands and artists popular today got their start during the last ten years. Matt Redman, Avalon, The David Crowder*Band, Anberlin, Chris Tomlin, Sanctus Real, John Reuben, and Superchick, though they may seem to have been around forever, all got their starts in the 2000's.
This wasn't just the year of big starts; plenty of major, influential Christian bands said farewell this decade. Bleach, Five Iron Frenzy, The Supertones, Audio Adrenaline and recently Delirious decided to break up after very successful careers. Some bands never called it quits per se, like Dc Talk, who has been on hiatus for nine of the last ten years.
Despite the trend, many Christian bands and musicians have somehow managed to stick it out through the last ten years, reunite, or reconfigure. The Newsboys faced a potential break up when frontman Peter Furler decided to leave the band, but Michael Tait, formerly of Dc Talk, stepped up to the microphone – pun intended. Other artists that survived the decade include Switchfoot, Michael W. Smith, Skillet, and Third Day.
It's hard for me to pinpoint the Christian bands and musicians that have shaped my decade. My first Christian concert was Bleach in 1999, and I got saved shortly thereafter at a Third Day altar call. Those two bands clearly influenced my decade, and then some! I was a huge fan of Relient K and all the Gotee bands early in the decade, thanks in part to my closest friends who introduced me to the bands.
When I started college in 2002, I started listening to bands like Further Seems Forever, Emery, The Juliana Theory and even a little early Underoath. More recently, I've been heavily influenced by Showbread, Chasing Victory, As Cities Burn, Twothirtyeight, Sufjan Stevens, Denison Whitmer, and Danielson.
But who knows what the new year – and new decade – will bring? It's an exciting place to be, on the cusp between the 00's and the 10's. There is a world of possibility in the Christian music scene, and I'm excited to see what develops.
What Christian bands or musicians shaped your decade? What bands did you love, and which ones will you miss? What albums and songs were your favorites or least favorites?
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