I
read an article about Derek Webb and his battle with his record label, INO,
over the release of his solo album “Stockholm Syndrome”. The battle was
centered around a lyric in a song on the new album causing a delay in its
scheduled release. I
actually had the opportunity to witness first hand Webb and the infamous song
with the questionable word. I was at the Revelation Generation Festival, it’s a
fairly large two day Christian music festival and the year I went it included
five stages, the New York, Philadelphia, Nashville, Urban and Come & Live,
with over 50 artists and speakers, one of which was Webb.
Friday
night, I spent my evening traipsing between two stages, the New York and the
Philadelphia stages, watching artists like Matthew West, Haste the Day,
Delirious?, Emery, Jars of Clay, Underoath and MercyMe! It started at about 3pm
and was done by around 10pm. Saturday was a much more grueling schedule; I had
to run to all five stages to see all the artists I had come to see. The gates
opened around 10am and the first act on the Philadelphia stage was And Then
There Were None at around 11am and the last act, Switchfoot, hit the New York
stage around 8:50pm! A long with a bunch of lesser known groups, too numerous
to mention, I made sure I saw, The Fold, August Burns Red, B. Reith,
Needtobreathe, Barlow Girl, Impending Doom, Relient K and last stop was the
Nashville stage with Derek Webb.
I
must admit I was a little apprehensive upon entering the tent, but I liked Webb
before I had read the article, so I guess it was just plain curiosity that
brought me there. So there he is up on the stage, alone, just him and his guitar,
just playing and it didn’t seem so scary, so I pulled up a seat. Since I own
only one of his albums, “Mockingbird”, I have to admit that I’m not all that
familiar with his solo stuff since he left Caedmon’s Call. Not much of a
talker, he seemed kind of nervous as he was explaining that he never really had
a hit song, but the closest he had come was a song that was used on the show “Grey’s
Anatomy”, the
words of which had my 19 year old, unsaved daughter twitching in her seat, but it
wasn’t until he played a song "What Matters More" from his new album,
that she really became uncomfortable, it’s the one with the tainted lyric. The
song contains a line referring to how we don’t give an “s-word” about others, so there it was
in a nutshell! Probably one of the most common sayings in the English language, but is it
necessary for an artist who professes a faith in Christ, to use such language
in his songs? So the question is really what does matter more to Webb?
To
me, it's obviously his artistic freedom that matters more to him, more than
using discretion when choosing his words. So whatever point he was trying to
get across in the song is now lost, because the focus is on the word and not
the intended meaning behind the song. The saddest part was that the audience
didn’t seem to mind it at all, even with young children present! But I felt I
had to leave and was a little embarrassed about having taken the time to give
him a listen. Had I any desire to continue following Webb's music, it was
quickly extinguished, what would be the point? What could he possibly offer me,
something new, maybe something different? Apparently not, just the same old
drone as most of the secular mainstream music out there these days! I could
have listened to Green Day or Lincoln Park and gotten the same effect.
Listening to his songs one hears a lot of sarcasm, mostly political in nature
and rather crude descriptions of things in everyday life, which I could let
slide, if there was something of value hidden in it somewhere, but I found his
use of this word far more offensive than the Newsboys use of “elephant dung” in their song “Reality”. Dung is actually mentioned
many times in the
Bible, but somehow the use of modern slang in the lyrics of songwriters of
faith just doesn’t seem appropriate.
Maybe
it was just because I was tired and sun burnt, that I took offense, but I think
not. I still think it is much better to sacrifice one’s art instead of one’s
sense of right and wrong or the integrity of the heart. I think most people
have a tendency to use art as a license to sin. Although Jesus sat, ate and
spent most of his time with hardcore sinners, I don’t think he would have used
coarse language among them just to fit in or to make a point. So whatever
arguments Derek Webb might use to justify his actions, I think they would be a
bit flawed based on the following verse from 1 Corinthians 6:12 “Everything is
permissible for me - but not
everything is beneficial.
Everything is permissible for me - but I will not be mastered by anything.” Was Webb letting his sense
of artistic freedom in his music, master him? If he was looking for a
hit, I think it's a miss!
Webb
and INO later came to some kind of agreement, the album was then released in
two versions, a "clean" and an "uncensored" version, which
just makes me wonder why? If he was so proud of his original version, why
release an alternate version? Was he sincere or just trying to corner both
markets? My bet was on the latter!
