Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?: Larry Norman

Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?: Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock

The riveting, untold story of the â€œFather of Christian Rockâ€ and the conflicts that launched a billion-dollar industry atÂ the dawn of Americaâ€™s culture wars.
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In 1969, in Capitol Records' Hollywood studio, a blonde-haired troubadour named Larry Norman laid track for an album that would launch a new genre of music and one of the strangest, most interesting careers in modern rock. Having spent the bulk of the 1960s playing on bills with acts like the Who, Janis Joplin, and the Doors, Norman decided that he wanted to sing about the most countercultural subject of all: Jesus.
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Billboard called Norman â€œthe most important songwriter since Paul Simon,â€ and his music would go on to inspire members of bands as diverse as U2, The Pixies, Guns â€˜N Roses, and more. To a young generation of Christians who wanted a way to be different in the American cultural scene, Larry was a godsendâ€”spinning songs about oneâ€™s eternal soul as deftly as he did ones critiquing consumerism, middle-class values, and the Vietnam War. To the religious establishment, however, he was a thorn in the side; and to secular music fans, he was an enigma, constantly offering up Jesus to problems they didnâ€™t think were problems. Paul McCartney himself once told Larry, â€œYou could be famous if youâ€™d just drop the God stuff,â€ a statement that would foreshadow Normanâ€™s ultimate demise.Â
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In Why Should the Devil Have all the Good Music?, Gregory Alan Thornbury draws on unparalleled access to Normanâ€™s personal papers and archives to narrate the conflicts that defined the singerâ€™s life, as he crisscrossed the developing fault lines between Evangelicals and mainstream American cultureâ€”friction that continues to this day.Â What emerges is a twisting, engrossing story about ambition, art, friendship, betrayal, and the turns oneâ€™s life can take when you believe God is on your side.
Country USA
Brand CROWN
Manufacturer Convergent Books
Binding Hardcover
ItemPartNumber 24706X
Color Black
ReleaseDate 2018-03-20
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781101907078

Country	USA
Brand	CROWN
Manufacturer	Convergent Books
Binding	Hardcover
ItemPartNumber	24706X
Color	Black
ReleaseDate	2018-03-20
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781101907078

Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?: Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock

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