Contemporary Christian Music

The term "Contemporary Christian Music" originated in the 1970s in reference to the emerging pop and rock "Jesus Music", the musical outpouring of the hippie Jesus Movement of the time. Artists such as Larry Norman, 2nd Chapter of Acts, and Love Song were among the first to express their Christian faith in the form of popular music.

There is also a great deal of popular music which lyrically identifies with Christianity but is not normally considered Contemporary Christian Music. For example, many underground punk and hardcore bands deal explicitly with issues of faith but are not a part of the Nashville industry (e.g., Seattle-based Tooth and Nail Records). Also, several mainstream music artists that sometimes deal with Christian themes in their work, such as Bob Dylan, U2, and Coldplay, but fall outside of the CCM genre.

Criticisms

Some critics of CCM often discredit the music as too imitative of mainstream secular music, thus lacking originality. They say that with music so similar to the mainstream, it is a blatant attempt to be popular or relevant to the world. Others believe secular-sounding music to be unholy, and unfit for Christian themes - many Fundamentalist Christians take this position (For instance, Bob Jones University, prohibits its dormitory students from listening to CCM).