This week is the first big hit of releases in 2002. A Keith Green rehash
and a new album from Out of Eden top the list. This is only a small
indication of what's to come, with many great new releases coming to you
this year. So, let's take a good look at them:

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2001: THE YEAR IN NEWS
by Ben Forrest

The Year of Our Lord 2001 was, obviously, one in which the death of more
than 3000 people due to terrorist acts in the United States, overshadowed
everything. But it was a big and interesting year in Christian music as
well. The industry continued to grow, showing a sales increase of 13.5%
despite an overall drop in music sales of roughly 3%. This, of course was
bolstered by several big-name releases by Steven Curtis Chapman, the three
members of dc Talk, and big debuts from MercyMe and The Benjamin Gate. Here
we offer you the biggest stories of 2001.

JA'MARC DAVID SENTENCED TO 5 YEARS IN MINIMUM SECURITY PRISON
This is undoubtedly the saddest story of the year, and one that we were
reluctant to report. Ja'Marc Davis, former frontman of the techno group Raze
was arrested and charged with molestation and several offences of a sexual
nature stemming from a sexual relationship with one of the group's back up
dancers, who was then 13 years old. Davis plead guilty to three of the
charges, all felonies, and had the remaining seven dropped. Davis had
expressed extreme lament for his actions, and had the support of several
character witnesses, but was sentenced to three consecutive 10-year jail
terms. All but five years were suspended. The presiding judge, Jefferson
Sellers, said, in his ruling, "good people do bad things, and there are
consequences."

Davis had already been seeking help for his problem, and it is expected that
he will continue to do so. We need to continue to pray for him, the victim,
and the victim's family.

DC TALK GOES SOLO
This has been talked into the ground, but we'll say it one more time: dc
Talk is not breaking up. Though the three members of that Platinum-selling
group embarked on the creation of individual side projects (for reasons that
really aren't clear), the group remains intact, and is currently touring
together in the United States. The news broke early in the year, before I
arrived here at cMusicWeb.com as a news writer, but gathered excitement with
the seven-song EP Solo (an album that, surprisingly, went on to be nominated
for a Grammy). Michael Tait, who gathered with friends to form the band Tait
(the band was named after Tait's father...but since they share the same
surname, one wonders why it wasn't named "George." Or whatever Tait's
father's name might have been) to record Empty, which spawned several top
ten singles, and earned praise following the Sept. 11 attacks. Also of note
is the fact that one of the tracks, "American Tragedy" includes a sound bite
of at woman using the word "n---er." Interestingly, the band avoided
controversy.

Tait's Empty was released in July, but the enigmatic Kevin Max (who some
have called an egomaniac) followed with Stereotype Be, whose pervading theme
may be summed up with the chorus from the song "Be" ("Be yourself / If you
don't who's going to?). While it may have been the least accessible of the
three dc Talk solo albums, our former senior writer, Josh Shepherd, liked
it. Read his in-depth review.

Toby McKeehan (alias tobyMac) was the final of the Brothers to enter the
fray, with Momentum in November. The album contained his smash hit "Extreme
Days" and the hits "Somebody's Watching" and "J Train." The album sparked a
return to emceeing for McKeehan, whose "white chocolate" rapping was once
the driving force behind the band. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard
Heatseekers chart, and at #110 on the Top 200. Mac was also featured in USA
Today, and MSN's music site. Watch for a full review of Momentum soon.

CREED RELEASES WEATHERED
Arguably the biggest release of the year, Weathered hit stores on November
20, selling more than 887,000 copies and grabbing on to the top spot on
Billboard's Top 200 chart. It remains there even today, fighting off debuts
from heavy hitters such as Ludacris, Garth Brooks, Busta Rhymes, Kid Rock
and Jewel, and resurgent albums from Linkin Park, Nickelback and Ja Rule.
The album has since gone on to sell more than 5 million copies, and was one
of the top selling albums of the year despite the fact that it was released
only 6 weeks before year's end. Such grand success is particularly sweet for
the band considering the beating they've taken from peers and critics in
recent years.

"Our success has come relatively quickly," says drummer Scott Phillips. "And
a lot of people resent us for that. Human Clay went way above and beyond
what we all expected it would do, and a lot of people tried to knock us down
because we were on top at that point.

"We lived through a weathering process, he continues. "You get knocked down,
so you get back up again and keep going. All that stuff really came out of
the blue, and I feel like we've handled ourselves well by not retaliating in
a negative way, but in a positive way. And if people want to say stuff,
they'll say stuff, and there's nothing we can do about that. We just gotta
go out and do what we do."

So, frankly, Limp Bizkit (Fred Durst was one of Creed's most vocal critics
over the past year) you can take your slander and shove it up
your...yeeeeeah. Check out Rick Foux's review of Weathered.

RELIENT K AND THE ABERCROMBE & FITCH CONTROVERSY
Gotee recording artists Relient K were one band that didn't escape
controversy this year. The group had reached an agreement with clothing
retailer Abercrombie & Fitch to have their music sold in A&F stores, and
have their videos play on in-store monitors and on the abercrombiekids.com
website. They were forced to pull out, however, after harsh criticism from
many in the Christian community.

Bill Johnson, president of the American Decency Association, was perhaps
most vocal. "I am very disappointed and very troubled that a Christian band
[or any Christians] would feel comfortable aligning themselves with a
corporation so blatant in targeting our youth through sexually erotic
images," he said. A&F is notorious for having catalogues featuring scantily
clad models. Johnson even went so far as to say that he'll be advising
people not to buy Relient K records, calling the partnership a serious
error.

Bob Smithouser of Focus on the Family was also critical of the deal: "I
think the issue here is about confusing young people. The Christian teen
audience knows what Relient K stands for, and when they see the band is
connected with Abercrombie & Fitch, then they think that Abercrombie & Fitch
must be all right. I am reluctant to get kids jazzed about Relient K and
that's a shame."

Gotee president Joey Elwood saw the move as a great ministry opportunity,
and defended the band, saying, "For me, it's no different than us putting
our [products] in other stores that are selling materials we consider
inappropriate. We know people are coming into these stores and we want to
offer them an option."

Interestingly, the band and label stood to gain no monetary compensation.
The only commercial benefit for them was exposure (no pun intended).

Check out the rest of this feature:
http://cMusicWeb.com/features/2001news


AVAILABLE TUESDAY (at cMusicWeb.com or at your local store)

CIRCLES AND SEASONS
Gary Chapman starts anew on a new record label. It's sill the old
contemporary style, but it's more Gary Chapman.

SONGS 4 WORSHIP: BE GLORIFIED - VARIOUS
As seen on TV, the Songs 4 Worship collection is supposed to be the best in
praise and worship. However, this new one reaffirms that it's just your
basic hymns and 80s choruses rehashed with a newer style.

STORM - FERNANDO ORTEGA
More Fernando Ortega. What can we say?

WOW GOSPEL 2002 - VARIOUS
Although we're not huge Gospel fans here at cMusicWeb.com, we may as well
cover the mega-project of Gospel every year. This spin-off of the wOw
series is at least a good sampler of the Gospel music market.


THE LATEST NEWS HEADLINES
. SoulJahz Find a Label
. Big Tent Revival: The Spirit Lives On

Again, we apologize for some technical difficulties. Our news system has
been randomly deleting news, which is why we only have two stories right
now. Hopefully, soon, we'll get all this worked out.

View all the latest stories on cMusicWeb.com:
http://cMusicWeb.com/


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Dan Ficker
http://cMusicWeb.com/
a different approach to music
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