Whoa. Brian Littrell of the Backstreet Boys is coming out with a Christian album. He already released a single (yet another cover of In Christ Alone). I don’t know what’s most disturbing: that I know who Brian Littrell is, that I know he’s a Backstreet Boy, or that I know that he’s coming out with a Christian album.
I know who he is because when we were living in James Rd. and watching 5 Netflix DVDs a week, we once watched this DVD on the Backstreet Boys. John could not have been more disturbed by the behavior of the teenybopper girls in it. Lord knows what he’ll do if he has daughters. I have no idea why we watched it, but we did. And for the record, the BB are another thing I don’t get. They’re all unattractive, and on the DVD they sang a few songs acapella and were horribly out of tune. No looks and no talent. Sounds like a formula for success. Cuckoo.
Anyway, it’s odd to me how In Christ Alone is like a Christian standard now. It was just a semi-obscure song by Michael English until Frank Reich quoted it after that game against the Oilers. Weird how stuff like that happens.
So a confession: I like Christian music. I don’t just tolerate it or submit to it because it’s Good For Me, like broccoli. I honestly like it. I realize that makes me tragically unhip/uncouth nowadays, even among Christian circles. Everyone thinks Christian music is cheesy, cliched, and unoriginal. True, true, and true. But I dunno, I listen to my old Christian CDs and love them. I listen to other stuff too, but there will always be a big place in my heart for Christian music.
One big thing is this: Christian music can be encouraging to me. Like, that Twila Paris song, Neither Will I, is fairly cheesy musically, but it really encourages me. I can’t say that about secular music. The best I can feel with that is ecstatic. Which is a nice feeling. But somewhat empty.