Earlier this year Julie Roys had a two-part podcast conversation on megachurches monopolizing the contemporary Christian music landscape. Not being one to listen to podcasts most of the time I was grateful for the transcripts provided at the following links earlier this year
https://julieroys.com/podcast/the-megachurch-worship-monopoly/
https://julieroys.com/podcast/the-megachurch-worship-monopoly-part-ii/
Conspicuous by absence was the late Mars Hill Church. Although the church had some influence on the local Puget Sound music scene it is as though the megachurch functionally didn't happen in terms of the city's musical history, although given the restrictions during the covid-19 era a lot of musical life withered on the vine in terms of live music.
Nevertheless, it seemed worth revisiting how certain Mark Driscoll was in May 2012 that the church he preached at was going to change Christian music.
https://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2012/05/mars-hill-starting-record-label.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20120512194954/http://marshill.com/2012/05/02/were-starting-a-record-label-pastor-mark-interviews-jon-dunn
By: Pastor Mark Driscoll
on May 02, 2012
Head’s up: we’re starting a record label, and we’re gunning to take over Christian radio.
At the helm of the newly minted label, Mars Hill Music, is Deacon Jonathan Dunn, interviewed here by Pastor Mark. Dunn, a founding member of the heavy metal band Demon Hunter, spent a decade at Tooth & Nail/Solid State Records, and was the director of A&R when he felt God calling him to Mars Hill—"one of the top three things ever called to in my life," he says. And he’s got a big vision for Mars Hill Music and bands.
Bottom line, whatever you think has defined “Christian music” up til now, you can forget it: “We don’t limit our bands to the Christian cul-de-sac of U2 circa 1987,” says Dunn. [Editor’s note: Said with all due respect to Joshua Tree and U2, who have a solid contingent of fans at the church.] In short, it’s a label defined by Christ and culture and corporate worship.
By January 2013, no less, that music label transformed into the announcement that Mars Hill Church was partnering with Tooth & Nail Records/BEC Recordings. Link decay being what it so often is, I'm featuring the original link and a Wayback Machine replication.
http://www.becrecordings.com/news/4370/Mars_Hill_Music_Partners_with_Tooth_Nail_Records_BEC_Recordings/https://web.archive.org/web/20130118020208/http://www.becrecordings.com/news/4370/Mars_Hill_Music_Partners_with_Tooth_Nail_Records_BEC_Recordings/
And in just covering this ground I have covered a fair bit of the history of Mars Hill Church attempts to start music labels.
https://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/search/label/resound%20and%20other%20MH%20music
For a significantly more detailed overview of Mars Hill Church musical culture and subcultures the benchmark contribution is still Maren Haynes Marchesini's dissertation, which I discussed a few years ago.
Nearly a decade after its demise it might be more plausible to say that Mars Hill Church had a musical culture that was parasitically dependent on what might have been otherwise independent indie Christian music than a viable "engine" of musical innovation. That's not to say there weren't any talented, ambitious and interesting musicians within Mars Hill Church across roughly twenty years. I'd be the last person to suggest that but I don't feel like naming names. I do think Haynes Marchesini touched on an issue in the corporate culture of Mars Hill leadership that had a range of preconceived ideas of what kind of music the church was "supposed" to be represented by and hip hop was not one of those styles. I'm not even a fan of rap or hip hop myself but I think that was a shame because the sheer range of talented musicians across every genre and style I recall meeting over the time I was there ... I think a church like Mars Hill could have and should have been open to encouraging musical experimentation.
But the thing about preachers, I suppose, and folks thinking through liturgical issues is they tend to default to thinking about solving musical problems that are of liturgical interest. I'm not against that ... but longtime readers of my blog probably know that I think there's so much more problem-solving we can tackle about music, music theory, and related ideas that doesn't have to be chained to what's musically relevant to high or low liturgical concerns.
Anyway, that's stopped being a set of brief thoughts, I know, if I go far down those rabbit holes.
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