M
MrVersatile48
Guest
Let's hear it for, "The Rock That Doesn't Roll!"
He was one of the best known & loved figures of the '70s Jesus Revolution & was certainly one of the main inspirations for my own gospel songwriting, thanks to a weekend of inspirational seminars he did for UK Christian songwriters
& part of his best known lyric, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" climaxes my 'Precinct Pulveriser Medley' @ Creative Writing Forum
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=19055
1 - 10 of 1,700,000 for Christian singer Larry Norman
WEB RESULTS
Larry Norman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Norman's first album, I Love You , recorded when he was the lead singer for the ... Performers of Christian music | American Christians | People from Corpus ...
In 2001 Norman was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's (GMA) Hall of Fame as a solo artist. In 2007 Norman was inducted into the San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame (San Jose, California), both as a member of People!, and as a solo artist. At that time Norman reunited for a concert with People![3]
A documentary on the life of Larry Norman is due out in 2008 [8]...
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Norman - 67k - Cached
Larry Norman, 'Father of Christian Rock,' Dies at 60 | Christianity ...
Norman's 1972 Only Visiting This Planet album is regarded as one of the top contemporary Christian music albums of all time. His many hits were at the cutting edge, said Larry Eskridge, associate director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College.
"The song 'Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?' was one of his enduring trumpet blasts against the stodgy, old Christian establishment," Eskridge said. "'I Wish We'd All Been Ready' fit with the end times, apocalyptic feel that was in the air at the time."
"I Wish We'd All Been Ready" was also featured in the 1972 end times film A Thief in the Night.
In concerts, the singer gave his trademark "One Way" gesture, pointing an index finger toward heaven.
Eskridge said Norman was an icon during the Jesus People of the 1960s but distanced himself from the movement when it became a fad and eventually faded.
Norman became less prominent on the music scene after suffering head injuries in an airplane accident 30 years ago, and he later had severe heart problems. He dictated a message to a friend just before his death.
"I feel like a prize in a box of Cracker Jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up," Norman said. "I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home."
He officially retired in 2001, the same year he was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's (GMA) Hall of Fame along with Elvis Presley and Keith Green.
"His flame burned the brightest in the '70s, but he set a lot of things in motion that reverberated through those decades," said GMA President John Styll. Norman's songs have also been recorded by contemporary Christian artists such as Rebecca St. James, DC Talk, and Audio Adrenaline...
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/200 ... -22.0.html - 55k - Cached
Larry Norman, Christian Rock Legend, Dies
Larry Norman, who led a San Jose band into the Top 40 before becoming a revolutionary force in Christian music, died Sunday in Salem, Ore. He was 60.
“He never tried to become the father of Christian rock,†says Charles Norman, a guitarist who toured the world with his older brother. “He was just talking about the world as he saw it.â€Â
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/20756/larry-norman - 43k - Cached
Larry Norman at Basic Music - Online Music Guide
Singer/Songwriter. Larry David Norman (born April 8, 1947 in Corpus ... singer-songwriter and record producer who is considered a pioneer of Christian Rock. ...
Although Norman was not the first, there were very few artists making Rock and Roll records with Gospel lyrics at the time, possibly because so many people associated rock music with secularism and hostility to traditional morals and Christian values.
Larry Norman changed that and opened the door for other artists with his 1972 classic LP "Only Visiting This Planet." This groundbreaking LP included an anthem for the burgeoning Christian rock movement, "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music."
What made the album particularly significant was the combination of credible rock and roll music with razor-sharp songwriting that critiqued both American society and the contemporary church.
Norman's songwriting stunned many in the Christian music scene by its bold references to subjects ranging from the Vietnam War to venereal disease and even the U.S. space program.
Songs such as "Great American Novel" attacked hypocrisy in the American public square. Others, such as "The Outlaw" portrayed Jesus as an anti-establishment figure, fitting with Norman's identification with the Jesus Movement.
These songs and others were often covered by Christian musicians such as Steve Camp and DeGarmo and Key in later decades.
However, Norman's contribution to Christian music went beyond the songs themselves. His use of critique, satire and unflinching songwriting launched a tradition within Christian rock that was continued by artists such as Steve Taylor, Daniel Amos and Resurrection Band...
http://www.basicmusic.net/musicians.php?aid=4248 - 28k - Cached
Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman dead at 60
Norman earned his biggest commercial hit as the lead singer of the folk-rock band People! The band's cover version of The Zombies song "I Love You" was an international hit and peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard chart in June 1968.
Norman left the band on the day its debut album was released, when some members began experimenting with Scientology.
Though Norman never again hit the Billboard Top 10, his solo career proved durable and influential.
Norman's first solo record - the 1969 release "Upon This Rock" - is considered the first Christian rock album. He later started his own independent label, recording additional solo albums while discovering other Christian artists. It all led to him being dubbed the "father of Christian rock."
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/entertainment/080226/e022608A.html - 30k - Cached
Larry Norman Biography from Basic Famous People - Biographies of ...
Larry Norman Biography. Born: 1947-04-08. Field: Singer/Songwriter ... singer-songwriter and record producer who is considered a pioneer of Christian Rock. ...
The majority of Norman's music that was produced during his most creative years (1969 - 1977, or from "Upon This Rock" through "Something New Under the Son") was markedly different than that of other artists in Christian Rock Music.
In the early years, this was partially because so few Christian Rock artists existed, however this minimizes how significantly different Norman's music was from other music in the genre.
Other than "Street Level" and "Bootleg", which were intentionally raw and underproduced, Norman's music was of a significantly higher quality, production-wise, than that of other music of the genre. Larry was able to get significant figures in secular music involved in the producion process, most notably George Martin and Andy Johns.
Most of Norman's offerings through 1977 offered a sound quality and delivery much closer to that of their secular counterparts at a time when most Christian Rock music was of a noticeably inferior quality.
In addition, there were times when the lyrical content of Norman's work was more on par with that of Bob Dylan or other significant writers of 60's, rather than the cliched, superficial lyrics of most of Christian Rock music of the time.
His songs addressed topics far beyond those of his contemporaries, touching on politics ("The Great American Novel"), the eventual emptiness of free love ("Pardon Me"), the realities of war ("The Six O'Clock News"), witchcraft and the occult ("Forget Your Hexagram") and alienation ("Lonely by Myself").
A recurring thematic element in Norman's music is that of surreal imagery and nightmares.
In many of the songs in this style, the main characters seem to move in and out of alternate times and dimensions. On his debut album "Upon This Rock", songs like "Ha Ha World" and "The Last Supper" presented verbal imagery that seemed a hybrid of biblical prophecy crossed with "The Twilight Zone".
This continued on "So Long Ago the Garden" with "Be Careful What You Sign" and the lyrically brilliant "Nightmare", in which the sleeper engages in a tortured conversation with a marioinette of Harpo Marx that rattles off apocalyptic warnings about mankind's future.
"In Another Land" saw a more subdued version of this element with "The Sun Began to Reign", and stretching the pardigm a bit, the song "666". However, "Something New Under the Son" once again took listeners into another journey into the surreal with "Larry Norman's 97th Nightmare" and to a lesser degree "I Feel Like Dying".
To appreciate this distinctiveness of this style, one needs to compare it to the other albums and artists of the time. While Norman was recording these types of songs in 1969, it was probably not until Daniel Amos's "Horrendous Disc", recorded nearly a decade later, that writing of this style began to emerge in Contemporary Christian Music.
While the "concept" album had probably been born with the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's" album, Norman took the idea a step further. The albums "In Another Land", "So Long Ago the Garden" and "In Another Land", were grouped together as parts 1, 2 and 3 of the first trilogy.
In an interview with CCM, Norman claims that all of these albums were not only related as a look at the past, present and future, but that each album had its own themes and sub-themes.
In addition he has stated that the track order of the songs was originally designed to allow certain thematic elements to occur at specified intervals within and across albums...
http://www.basicfamouspeople.com/index.php?aid=4248 - 22k - Cached
That song in the first line of this piece?
"He's the Rock that doesn't roll!
Jesus is the Rock that doesn't roll!
He's good for the body!
He's great for the soul!
He's the Rock that doesn't roll!
You're gonna rock me from the water..
You're gonna rock me from my grave.."
Love & prayers go out to Larry's family & friends
God bless!
Ian
He was one of the best known & loved figures of the '70s Jesus Revolution & was certainly one of the main inspirations for my own gospel songwriting, thanks to a weekend of inspirational seminars he did for UK Christian songwriters
& part of his best known lyric, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" climaxes my 'Precinct Pulveriser Medley' @ Creative Writing Forum
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=19055
1 - 10 of 1,700,000 for Christian singer Larry Norman
WEB RESULTS
Larry Norman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Norman's first album, I Love You , recorded when he was the lead singer for the ... Performers of Christian music | American Christians | People from Corpus ...
In 2001 Norman was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's (GMA) Hall of Fame as a solo artist. In 2007 Norman was inducted into the San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame (San Jose, California), both as a member of People!, and as a solo artist. At that time Norman reunited for a concert with People![3]
A documentary on the life of Larry Norman is due out in 2008 [8]...
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Norman - 67k - Cached
Larry Norman, 'Father of Christian Rock,' Dies at 60 | Christianity ...
Norman's 1972 Only Visiting This Planet album is regarded as one of the top contemporary Christian music albums of all time. His many hits were at the cutting edge, said Larry Eskridge, associate director of the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals at Wheaton College.
"The song 'Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?' was one of his enduring trumpet blasts against the stodgy, old Christian establishment," Eskridge said. "'I Wish We'd All Been Ready' fit with the end times, apocalyptic feel that was in the air at the time."
"I Wish We'd All Been Ready" was also featured in the 1972 end times film A Thief in the Night.
In concerts, the singer gave his trademark "One Way" gesture, pointing an index finger toward heaven.
Eskridge said Norman was an icon during the Jesus People of the 1960s but distanced himself from the movement when it became a fad and eventually faded.
Norman became less prominent on the music scene after suffering head injuries in an airplane accident 30 years ago, and he later had severe heart problems. He dictated a message to a friend just before his death.
"I feel like a prize in a box of Cracker Jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up," Norman said. "I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home."
He officially retired in 2001, the same year he was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's (GMA) Hall of Fame along with Elvis Presley and Keith Green.
"His flame burned the brightest in the '70s, but he set a lot of things in motion that reverberated through those decades," said GMA President John Styll. Norman's songs have also been recorded by contemporary Christian artists such as Rebecca St. James, DC Talk, and Audio Adrenaline...
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/200 ... -22.0.html - 55k - Cached
Larry Norman, Christian Rock Legend, Dies
Larry Norman, who led a San Jose band into the Top 40 before becoming a revolutionary force in Christian music, died Sunday in Salem, Ore. He was 60.
“He never tried to become the father of Christian rock,†says Charles Norman, a guitarist who toured the world with his older brother. “He was just talking about the world as he saw it.â€Â
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/20756/larry-norman - 43k - Cached
Larry Norman at Basic Music - Online Music Guide
Singer/Songwriter. Larry David Norman (born April 8, 1947 in Corpus ... singer-songwriter and record producer who is considered a pioneer of Christian Rock. ...
Although Norman was not the first, there were very few artists making Rock and Roll records with Gospel lyrics at the time, possibly because so many people associated rock music with secularism and hostility to traditional morals and Christian values.
Larry Norman changed that and opened the door for other artists with his 1972 classic LP "Only Visiting This Planet." This groundbreaking LP included an anthem for the burgeoning Christian rock movement, "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music."
What made the album particularly significant was the combination of credible rock and roll music with razor-sharp songwriting that critiqued both American society and the contemporary church.
Norman's songwriting stunned many in the Christian music scene by its bold references to subjects ranging from the Vietnam War to venereal disease and even the U.S. space program.
Songs such as "Great American Novel" attacked hypocrisy in the American public square. Others, such as "The Outlaw" portrayed Jesus as an anti-establishment figure, fitting with Norman's identification with the Jesus Movement.
These songs and others were often covered by Christian musicians such as Steve Camp and DeGarmo and Key in later decades.
However, Norman's contribution to Christian music went beyond the songs themselves. His use of critique, satire and unflinching songwriting launched a tradition within Christian rock that was continued by artists such as Steve Taylor, Daniel Amos and Resurrection Band...
http://www.basicmusic.net/musicians.php?aid=4248 - 28k - Cached
Christian rock pioneer Larry Norman dead at 60
Norman earned his biggest commercial hit as the lead singer of the folk-rock band People! The band's cover version of The Zombies song "I Love You" was an international hit and peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard chart in June 1968.
Norman left the band on the day its debut album was released, when some members began experimenting with Scientology.
Though Norman never again hit the Billboard Top 10, his solo career proved durable and influential.
Norman's first solo record - the 1969 release "Upon This Rock" - is considered the first Christian rock album. He later started his own independent label, recording additional solo albums while discovering other Christian artists. It all led to him being dubbed the "father of Christian rock."
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/entertainment/080226/e022608A.html - 30k - Cached
Larry Norman Biography from Basic Famous People - Biographies of ...
Larry Norman Biography. Born: 1947-04-08. Field: Singer/Songwriter ... singer-songwriter and record producer who is considered a pioneer of Christian Rock. ...
The majority of Norman's music that was produced during his most creative years (1969 - 1977, or from "Upon This Rock" through "Something New Under the Son") was markedly different than that of other artists in Christian Rock Music.
In the early years, this was partially because so few Christian Rock artists existed, however this minimizes how significantly different Norman's music was from other music in the genre.
Other than "Street Level" and "Bootleg", which were intentionally raw and underproduced, Norman's music was of a significantly higher quality, production-wise, than that of other music of the genre. Larry was able to get significant figures in secular music involved in the producion process, most notably George Martin and Andy Johns.
Most of Norman's offerings through 1977 offered a sound quality and delivery much closer to that of their secular counterparts at a time when most Christian Rock music was of a noticeably inferior quality.
In addition, there were times when the lyrical content of Norman's work was more on par with that of Bob Dylan or other significant writers of 60's, rather than the cliched, superficial lyrics of most of Christian Rock music of the time.
His songs addressed topics far beyond those of his contemporaries, touching on politics ("The Great American Novel"), the eventual emptiness of free love ("Pardon Me"), the realities of war ("The Six O'Clock News"), witchcraft and the occult ("Forget Your Hexagram") and alienation ("Lonely by Myself").
A recurring thematic element in Norman's music is that of surreal imagery and nightmares.
In many of the songs in this style, the main characters seem to move in and out of alternate times and dimensions. On his debut album "Upon This Rock", songs like "Ha Ha World" and "The Last Supper" presented verbal imagery that seemed a hybrid of biblical prophecy crossed with "The Twilight Zone".
This continued on "So Long Ago the Garden" with "Be Careful What You Sign" and the lyrically brilliant "Nightmare", in which the sleeper engages in a tortured conversation with a marioinette of Harpo Marx that rattles off apocalyptic warnings about mankind's future.
"In Another Land" saw a more subdued version of this element with "The Sun Began to Reign", and stretching the pardigm a bit, the song "666". However, "Something New Under the Son" once again took listeners into another journey into the surreal with "Larry Norman's 97th Nightmare" and to a lesser degree "I Feel Like Dying".
To appreciate this distinctiveness of this style, one needs to compare it to the other albums and artists of the time. While Norman was recording these types of songs in 1969, it was probably not until Daniel Amos's "Horrendous Disc", recorded nearly a decade later, that writing of this style began to emerge in Contemporary Christian Music.
While the "concept" album had probably been born with the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's" album, Norman took the idea a step further. The albums "In Another Land", "So Long Ago the Garden" and "In Another Land", were grouped together as parts 1, 2 and 3 of the first trilogy.
In an interview with CCM, Norman claims that all of these albums were not only related as a look at the past, present and future, but that each album had its own themes and sub-themes.
In addition he has stated that the track order of the songs was originally designed to allow certain thematic elements to occur at specified intervals within and across albums...
http://www.basicfamouspeople.com/index.php?aid=4248 - 22k - Cached
That song in the first line of this piece?
"He's the Rock that doesn't roll!
Jesus is the Rock that doesn't roll!
He's good for the body!
He's great for the soul!
He's the Rock that doesn't roll!
You're gonna rock me from the water..
You're gonna rock me from my grave.."
Love & prayers go out to Larry's family & friends
God bless!
Ian