August 07 2008
Top 5 things I miss about 90s worship
Tagged Under : band, church, funny, instruments, Top 5, worship
I grew up on late 80s and 90s worship music. My father was a worship leader and later pastor at a Vineyard which was cutting edge worship music in those decades. I remember those years fondly and here’s what I miss:
Wind instruments – There are a lot of flute and saxophone players out of work in ministry. I mean there has to be a line around the block for those guys collecting worship band unemployment checks. I really do miss those soft flute intros and funky white boy sax solos that just took the songs to a whole new power pop level. I think it was every worship pastor’s holy dream to get Kenny G saved. Can you imagine how powerfully the spirit would have moved? Unfathomable.- Streamers and Banners – At its peak churches were removing rows of chairs just to make room for this tornado of twirling silk. They should have been surrounded in caution tape cause they were dangerous. Those wooden dowels were like holy swords waiting to impale you or gouge your eye out in accordance with scripture. I dunno about you guys, but you give me a banner team and a hard core sax solo and that’s heaven on earth. I never could get a beat on the males who joined the banner wavers though…that always gave me cause for concern.
Transparencies – Who can forget the giant glowing box sometimes strategically placed smack in the middle of the stage for the backup singers to operate. I honestly miss the feel and even smell of those transparencies, shuffling through the accordion folder to find the songs and get them all lined up. Was there ever a professional way of handling these? I certainly am familiar with the bad way, the blank transparency with dry-erase handwritten words and the operator who seems to always make the slide appear upside down no matter how many times you try to explain mirrors to them.- Percussion – Rain sticks, triangles, cowbell, congas…what isn’t appropriate for a worship song? Even the rocks will cry out, and Lord knows we tried to see what beating a rock with different sized sticks would sound like. The big churches share in culpability for this pandemic, but the smaller churches took it to a new level. I mean really, who isn’t qualified to play percussion? As long as you have a heartbeat and 2 hands you can beat things with, you should be on stage right?
- Constant 3 part Harmonies – Picture with me if you will, vocal arrangements as a mixing board with sliders for each singer. Usually you’d think of these sliders moving up and down as the song progresses through the arrangement, layering nicely in parts, muted in others. Well back in the day this picture was more of a giant switch. Vocals are either all on or all off. Hey those words on the transparency aren’t for looking at, if you got a mic and there are words up, sang those things sister! Oh and you know your part, it’s the same harmony you do on every song, it’s easier that way and we also took the liberty of color coding the windscreens so you know which mic is yours.
I need some help, what’s this list missing?
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OK, so if I come out with three part harmonies in my new band am I gunna be shunned? LOL The penny whistle can be added to your wind instrument list, and how about the conch? One of my favorite transparency stories, we copied a song with the chords and used it for a transparency, over the word Jesus it had the chord Gsus, someone came up after and thanked us for spelling things phonetically for them. One thing I would add to this list is……. A white man doing a rap solo in the middle of the song.
I loved Transparencies… LOL! I remember we had to start a Transparency ministry. Where we had to teach people how to that when the get touched in worship they can not get lost and lift there hand in front of the light and then they block out the words. Man these where the days when worship was raw.. LOVE THIS POST!!!
As a sax player (that learned piano before we became obsolete
) I take offense to the Kenny G thing. I’ve always thought it would be much better to get Branford Marsalis saved.
I would say the one thing I miss about worship where I grew up was the snakes. Handling them, drinking the venom. What you guys didn’t have snakes in your services??? I’m feeling slightly embarrassed now.
Okay, you have me in tears Kyle. I’m laughing hysterically in my office and everyone would love to get the joke but they have zero frame of reference for why this is funny, oh but it is so funny. I would like to add another strange trend of trying to use “secular songs” as worship songs. I personally was asked to sing “What if God Was One of Us” by Joan Osbourne as a worship song which went over like a lead balloon. Your brother even lead Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down” which he actually pulled off fairly well. The worst was someone trying to lead worship with “I Beleive I can Fly” by the endlessly talented R. Kelly, that was just a train wreck! I’m all for adapting secular songs for the praise of God, just like you have been talking about in previous posts, but there seemed to be a distinct facination with this in the 90′s that didn’t go over so well. I still think we could redeem that classic 80s tune “We Built This City on Rock & Roll” to “We Built This City on Jesus Christ”. come, on you know that would be amazing.
thanks for the great post, it brought back some great memories!
@Kendra that’s a great idea for a blog post. I don’t even want to talk about it more out of fear someone else will steal the idea. I’m almost considering deleting your comment it’s such a good idea.
Weren’t the 90′s the high-point of worship leader hand signals? I remember even Tim Hughes would use foot signals with his team. Then somebody realized it was actually possible to plan ahead…
I love me some hand signals. The more charismatic you are the more hand signals required. Kim Walker loves hand signals, she’s like the John Lennon of hand signals.
Kaki pants. Who doesn’t miss kaki pants?
Remember the days when denim was forbidden on the platform?
Thanks, Kyle this post cracked me up.
Billy – you just KILLED me with the khaki pants thing! The always looked best when paired with the 90′s youth pastor goatee. I could never make it out the bathroom at church without getting at least one wet spot on the crotch of my Dockers Khakis. Yea, that’s pretty much TMI…
What’s missing? More cowbell! Ha! Remember that from SNL?
Really enjoyed your comments. The only thing I could add would be..I miss God’s anointing on those earlier pioneers of contemp worship. There was a difference in that music. Maybe the newness of it all,..now it’s pretty .ah well..never mind, I just appreciate the 80′s and 90′s worship &praise.
haha wow. I remember Vineyard back in the hey-day. I was a teenager- and just thought that “Come Now Is the Time to Worship” was the coolest thing EVER when they went to that Sax solo. ugh…good times.
How ’bout worship songs inspired by either Promisekeeper anthems, Disney soundtracks like Lion King, and the music of Titanic? For a while there some of the worship songs had very familiar tempos, instruments (the pennywhistle,) and percussions reminding one of “The Circle of Life.”
Speaking of Promisekeepers, remember when churches were trying to get guys to go to meetings to cry and hug? Sorry, but I still can’t shake that 36″X36″ personal space, guys!
Oh yeah! And one more thing (BTW: I love this post, thanks!)
Remember all the tunes that “Amazing Grace” could be sung to? Here’s my count:
1. Gilligan’s Island theme song
2. Peaceful Easy Felling by the Eagles
3. Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix
4. No More Tears by Ozzy Osborne
5. Loser by Beck
6. Joy to the World (The Christmas Carol)
7. Down With Disease by Phish
Any others? Anyway, those are the worship trends of the 90s I remember. Again, thanks for posting!!!!
Thank goodness someone revived this thread so I can add…
I remember so far back that the 80s and 90s still seems like new music. A pox on all you flatbellies!! [Kidding, of course]
As resident old-guy-trying-to-be-young, I still bring the sax out and I’m doing my best to bring some R&B, Funk, Latin, etc. into church. We need SOMEthing besides this brit rock.
I take comfort in the fact that all the hip kids have all that angst and I don’t anymore. bwahaha!!!
Oh, and I think it would be better if Junior Walker was the sax player that got saved.