Now that I’ve got you to check out my post (via controversial headline), you should know this: I like ALL the following Christian albums. They are on my playlist continually, and they are timelessly enjoyable. So let me tell you what I did to determine the most “unloving” Christian musician of all time. In order to pinpoint the main themes found in each album, I pasted song lyrics into a nifty application called Wordle. In Wordle, the more a word is repeated, the more it is enlarged. I used the results to determine the main themes of each album. Only lyrics of original songs were pasted in.
This list is only lyric-based, and does not take into account melodies, tones, or even how attractive an artist is. The list should not be a measuring stick for an artist’s godliness, compassion or skill with an instrument. 6 albums were measured: Switchfoot, David Crowder Band, Charlie Hall, Brooke Fraser, Shawn McDonald, and Phil Wickham.
Artist: David Crowder Band
Album: Remedy
Comments: David Crowder should be glad my ratings aren’t based on appearances. I haven’t seen this dude in person, but witnesses have told me that “though he’s real cool… he’s real creepy-looking.” I didn’t expect DCB to emerge so high on the “love” scale. David Crowder is better known for writing extraordinary lyrics, word-puns and singing them at near light-speed.
David Crowder Love Scale: 8/10
Artist: Phil Wickham
Album: Singalong
Comments: Phil Wickham gives out so much free stuff online (music, chords, YouTube videos and live performances) that it’s hard not to like him. He’s got great heart, catchy tunes and awesome voice. Clearly one of my new favorites.
Phil Wickham Love Scale: 10/10
Artist: Charlie Hall
Album: On the Road to Beautiful
Comments: If you’ve been to any Passion conference you’ll understand why Charlie has a lot of “heart.” He’s energetic and infectious and uses a lot of kinetic verbs like “dance” and “swim.”
Charlie Hall Love Scale: 6/10
Artist: Shawn McDonald
Album: Simply Nothing
Comments: This CD is so good I’ve built quite a few memories around it. I’m surprised so few people know about him. He’s got a testimony that will pull many heart-strings. God basically turned him away from a life of drugs; this probably resulted in the enlarged notion of “need.” However, I give him extra points for writing this timeless line: “What are you, man, if you do not learn love.” Genius.
Shawn McDonald Love Scale: 7.5/10
Artist: Brooke Fraser
Album: Albertine
Comments: Brooke is the only female on this list, and also the artist with the largest vocabulary. She reads a lot of C.S. Lewis, travels overseas a lot, and writes songs from uncommon books of the Bible such as Hosea.
Brook Fraser Love Scale: 4/10
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Artist: Switchfoot/Jon Foreman
Album: The Beautiful Letdown
Comments: This is probably going to make some people angry. Hey, I like Switchfoot too, but the closest they got to “love” is the word “like.” The word we’re looking for doesn’t even show up! However, you could make the point that they’re subtle and relevant.
Switchfoot Love Scale: 0/10
Interesting, I’d love to see more comparisons like the most unholy Hillsong album. heh.
wow this is really interesting. i personally feel that sometimes switchfoot overuses the word “love.” maybe just not on that album. weird.
funny that “twenty” and “four” are so big, probably because they’re repeated a billion times in just the one song.
i love that wordle thing too! i think i like dcb’s wordle the best. you should do more of these.
this was a lot of work.. thanks for commenting guys!…. glad you liked it.
great post, king!
now i feel like wordle-ing my album. except since you said it was a lot of work i probably won’t. haha. i like that brooke fraser has the largest vocabulary. dcb doesn’t mention “jesus”. funny, that.. since they’re pretty much worship-focused.