Comments on: Erik Davis: Jesus freaks rock

By: Karen Sylte-Munson

Karen Sylte-Munson — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 22:17:00 +0000

I agree. I just tend to hold bb readers to a slightly higher standard. :-)

By: Joe Markko

Joe Markko — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:15:00 +0000

ASFB started in 1968 and the first album came out in 1973.

By: Joe Markko

Joe Markko — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:14:00 +0000

Sincere thanks for remembering the music of the All Saved Freak Band. Keeping history straight, I would challenge the assertion that asfb’s music “featured” Larry Hill’s vocals which appear less than those of other members on the 4 albums.

Joe Markko [co-founder asfb]

By: cdh1971

cdh1971 — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 09:52:00 +0000

”Oh I know Hamlet. And what he might say with irony, I say with conviction: What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god!”

By: vintermann

vintermann — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 08:28:00 +0000

That’s – unlikely, to put it mildly. Fundamentalism is way older (not much older than the 20th century, but older than hippies!), and while there have been plenty of attempts from that culture (and other Church traditions) to reach out to embrace the grooviness of the various times, none have been especially successful.

The legacy of the Jesus Freaks is a number of low-key, mildly hippie churches present in most American cities, little influenced by Fundamentalism (but still sharing some of their values, obviously). Like most hippies they got more moderate with age.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:03:00 +0000

Oh, hey, you co-wrote a book on the Process Church, which I almost commented about here. (I decided not to because their theology, as you know, was a bit… complicated.)

By: Pope Ratzo

Pope Ratzo — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:07:00 +0000

That All Saved Freaks Band album came out in 1976, the same year The Ramones hit the shelves.

I sometimes forget how close in time the era of the hippie and the punk rock era really were (and with disco and glitter rock stuck in between).

Personally, I was saved a few years earlier when I saw Iggy Pop at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland with the MC5. The scales sure fell from my young eyes that night.

By: Perizade

Perizade — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 23:11:00 +0000

Enh, it can describe everybody if you think about it.

By: chris jimson

chris jimson — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 14:09:00 +0000

Not that I am defending any comments above, but “Cowardice and a cheap way to feel superior” could easily describe a great many Christians.

By: cdh1971

cdh1971 — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 08:30:00 +0000

Thank-you Jon (and Happy Boxing-Day if you observe it.)

I read Larry passed on his WikiP page, I have a habit of referring to the deceased in the present tense.

Larry’s story as summarized in the executive summary (WikiP) is pretty interesting, well, Epic. How many of us survive a nasty plane crash?

(To disclose a bit about me – I don’t attend synagogue as much as I probably should, and when I do it’s usually a variety of Orthodox shul, or a Jewish Renewal service.)

By: robuluz

robuluz — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 02:56:00 +0000

I don’t mind at all! In fact, I’ll even share a tip with you. When you see a post with the words “Jesus Freaks Rock” in the title, just skip to the next one!

By: Karen Sylte-Munson

Karen Sylte-Munson — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:54:00 +0000

Actually a lot of people who were Jesus Freaks became non-believers or at least underground believers thanks to the fundamentalists and their focus on hateful exclusionary rhetoric. There are ex-Jesus freaks in the world who call themselves agnostic these days because American Christianity today bears so little resemblance to anything related to anything Jesus had to say.

By: Karen Sylte-Munson

Karen Sylte-Munson — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 01:49:00 +0000

Regarding some of the comments: It’s so easy to mock this stuff. So easy to make jokes about people who believe in something fervently. But sometimes I wonder if it is at all noble to be skeptical when one does so via always making fun of other people. This kind of easy mockery just has the flavor of cowardice to it, somehow. Cowardice and a cheap way to feel superior for a few minutes. Sometimes I read comments like some of the ones posted here and I think I’d rather be religious than just another loser on the internet putting people down for a cheap laugh.

Thanks to all the people who commented respectfully, though. This stuff meant a great deal to some people once…maybe still. It’s good to see that some people can see that.

By: Ian Wood

Ian Wood — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:38:00 +0000

I found Jesus that way. And when he saw me, he was all “Get the fuck away from me! I’m being a god, here.”

I don’t know if it was the same Jesus everyone talks about, though. He was kind of scaly.

By: sarahnocal

sarahnocal — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 23:45:00 +0000

I credit the 60′s-70′s Jesus movement for starting the current fundamentalist fervor in the US. It made it cool to be a Christian, and gave the grooviness of the time a non drug place to be.

By: Erik Knutzen

Erik Knutzen — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 23:23:00 +0000

Great post! While not exactly a Jesus Freak, BoingBoing turned me on to this interesting dude:
http://boingboing.net/2011/08/19/friday-freak-out-d-r-hookers-forge-your-own-chains-1972.html

By: chris jimson

chris jimson — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 22:12:00 +0000

That Fraction LP is so freaky and hairy it’s hard to tell if it IS a Christian Rock group at first listen.

By: fredh

fredh — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 21:19:00 +0000

A favorite of mine: Concrete Rubber Band. http://youtu.be/UTMnm1auwjg

By: tristan eldritch

tristan eldritch — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 20:36:00 +0000

Thanks Erik, I’ll definitely check that out when I get the chance. Love your book Techgnosis, btw.

By: Erik Davis

Erik Davis — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 19:48:00 +0000

Thanks for the tip Tristan. Have you checked out the ace doc Marjoe, also an early 70s affair? A mellow freak IRL, he still goes on the holy roller circuit, with Mick Jagger moves. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-O9aNl2Xrk

Hi Adam! Would love to see your vinyl collection sometime…

By: Adam Parfrey

Adam Parfrey — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 19:41:00 +0000

Great piece, Erik. Always loved these freak folks who found Jesus through psychedelic means.

By: tristan eldritch

tristan eldritch — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 19:11:00 +0000

Great documentary of the Jesus Freak scene here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvHSP3kT16A&feature=player_embedded

By: Jon-Michael Windsor

Jon-Michael Windsor — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 15:48:00 +0000

Happy Hanukkah and thanks! Unfortunately Larry is no longer with us but I did get to attend one of his concerts (in utero) at Memorial University of Newfoundland

By: millie fink

millie fink — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 15:01:00 +0000

If I’m ever tempted to go down this route of weird nostalgia, I prefer Crumb’s Jumpin Jack Flash.

http://www.undergroundcomixart.com/drawings/main.php?g2_itemId=3593

By: George Forrester

George Forrester — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 14:53:00 +0000

My favourite Larry Norman album is Something New Under The Son http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Something_New_Under_the_Son , which has some great blues rock on it. Alexis Korner, blues player and DJ, loved it, especially Watch What You’re Doing, which he used to play on his Radio 1 show. When I was a student in Swansea, I saw Larry play at the Brangwyn Hall, and it remains one of the best gigs I’ve seen.

By: UnderachievingSheep

UnderachievingSheep — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 13:44:00 +0000

Horrific how? Because of the seemingly “heretic” nature of the image or because of the topic it depicts? Really, there are millions of Christian related iconography that are much, much worse than this which can be found in churches and museums the world over. I have seen more horrific religious images at the Louvre. Now, if you want to talk “horrific”, I’d say the works of Hieronymus Bosch or Caravaggio can be truly chilling. This is rather tame in comparison.

By: margaretpoa

margaretpoa — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 13:37:00 +0000

Yeah, I remember when so many of my friends picked up a Bible and started thumping it at me, a trend that has occurred in my own circle as recently as the mid 2000s. I’d just as soon forget all of the ludicrous hypocrisy and attempts to convert me, if you don’t mind.

By: Michael Christian

Michael Christian — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 13:19:00 +0000

Stigmata.

By: kid_a_ok_com...

kid_a_ok_com... — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 13:03:00 +0000

Did Erik Davis cut her, and is showing the photographer the blood on his hand???

By: cdh1971

cdh1971 — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 10:28:00 +0000

Thank-you!

and

Merry Christmas to you!