THE IMPACT OF NINETIES WORSHIP /
AN INTERVIEW WITH CHAD GENTRY
By Alexander MacDougall
It ’ s been said that perspective is opinion backed up by experience . My perspective on nineties worship music is that much of it had profound impact on the church and the Christian Music landscape almost 30 years ago . It was then that a new “ genre ” was created for the marketplace , worship songs began to be released specifically for radio airplay , and major artists recorded worship songs for release . My perspective includes recording and production / A & R participation , curation , marketing , and music publishing , and my executive roles within labels allow me a unique viewpoint .
I met Chad Gentry two years ago when he asked to interview me regarding the subject of church music created during the 1990 ’ s . Chad ’ s passion for Nineties Worship is an extensive attempt at recognizing , honoring , and recapturing the worship music created some 30 + years ago . Why ? Because these streams of worship music were foundational to what we now call modern worship . This decade built upon the praise and worship musical offerings from the previous two decades , but yet offered some unique and distinctive characteristics . And in the mid-nineties when the British persuasion entered the North American mix primarily via Kingsway Music , Delirious , and Vineyard Music UK / Eire , worship teams and musical stylings were radically influenced . Canadian worship leaders via Vineyard Music also contributed here .
So what are some of the distinctives within those musical stylings ?
They start with the way how songs were written . Many of the songs composed during this time were born from experience , and because of this often had a deeper lyrical content . As the old Nashville adage goes , “ A good country song is always born from personal experience ”. The same holds true for expressions in worship . A good example of that is Matt Redman ’ s beloved song , “ Heart of Worship ”.
Many of the worship songs copyrighted and released during the 90 ’ s were also born of church movements . Vineyard Worship is a good example of this . Songs were tested and proven , typically long before they were ever recorded .
And speaking of copyrights penned during the 1990 ’ s , CCLI still lists 5 songs within their top 100 songs . That ’ s impact !
The songwriter dynamic was also much different than now . I speak with regard to the creation of songs . Collaboration was not a thing back then . It ’ s not uncommon now to see individual songs with five , six , or seven songwriters sharing the authorship credit , and the same amount of publishers involved as well . Writing collaborations are now arranged by publishers with deadlines attached . Some of these songwriting sessions even include the sharing of lyric suggestions via text messages while songwriters are not even in the same meeting room with the other writers .
34 February 2024 Subscribe for Free ...