Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock

by Andrew Beaujon

Body Piercing Saved My Life is the first in-depth journalistic investigation into a subculture so large that it's erroneous to even call it a Christian rock. Christian rock culture is booming, not only with bands but with extreme teen Bibles, skateboarding ministries, Christian tattoo parlors, paintball parks, coffeehouses, and nightclubs,encouraging kids to form their own communities apart from the mainstream. Profiling such successful Christian rock bands as P.O.D., Switchfoot, Creed, Evanescence, and Sixpence None the Richer, as well as the phenomenally successful Seattle Christian record label Tooth & Nail, enormous Christian rock festivals, and more, Spin journalist Andrew Beaujon lifts the veil on a thriving scene that operates beneath the secular world's radar. Revealing, sympathetic, and groundbreaking, Body Piercing Saved My Life (named for a popular Christian rock T-shirt depicting Christ's wounds) is a fascinating look into the hearts and minds of an enormous, and growing, youth culture.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Religion, Christian, Pop Culture, Cultural, Christianity

304 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 2006

Reviews

[Melissa (Semi Hiatus Until After the Holidays) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Beaujon is not a Christian. The most important thing about that comment is that it is what makes this book so terrific. If any Christian musician or writer had set out to do a year-long project researching a book about Christian rock, you would have ended up with something completely different. Beaujon’s neutral standpoint—just looking at the music for the music’s sake, from the point of view of a writer for the magazine Spin—has a great deal to teach us about Christian music, and even modern Christianity as a whole.

The title of Body Piercing Saved My Life is based on a T-shirt slogan (featuring Jesus) that Beaujon saw at the Cornerstone Festival, a Christian music event. Throughout the book, he discusses the history and progression of Christian music and the Christian rock movement, conducts in-depth interviews with influential people from the Christian rock market—Doug Van Pelt, Steve Taylor, David Bazan, Brandon Ebel, and many others. These are current and former musicians, magazine editors, and record producers, all who have a tremendous impact on the Christian music scene. Beaujon looks analytically at Christian music and poses many thought-provoking questions. Should Christian music be a genre? Is there a difference between Christians in a band and a Christian band? He also talks to the musicians themselves (those who were willing to talk to him) and asked the same questions. The answers he receives are varied and eye-opening.

The author experienced Gospel Music Association (GMA) week, the week in Nashville preceding the GMA Awards. It’s a week of publicity, performances, and a veritable who’s who of Christian music. What Beaujon found there truly amazed me. It was shocking how much was closed to him as a “secular” journalist. The complete unwillingness of people to talk with him about his project left me speechless. I can understand wanting to protect oneself from poor publicity, but this avoidance was almost as telling as an interview would have been.

Body Piercing Saved My Life should be required reading for pastors, Christian musicians, and anyone wanting to read an in-depth, basically unbiased book about Christian music—its good and bad points. Beaujon is never overtly harsh towards Christians and even sought to understand things he found confusing, such as the worship music phenomenon. His comments about Christians in general and the occasional legalistic practices should spur Christians to do some reflecting. The book offered a large amount of discussion material for my family and would make an excellent small group study book. I don’t know when I’ve read a more insightful and intriguing book.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried really hard to get into this book. Honestly, I just could NOT. I have made numerous attempts over the last couple of months, and I did manage to make my way (almost) through several chapters, but it really just did not hold my interest.

I think the big problem (aside from the Greil-Marcus-meets-Raymond-Chandler style of writing) was that it's written by an outsider. Everything that Beaujon knows about Christian culture, and can explain about it, we already understand. I think it's impossible for anyone outside of Christianity to write about it without inadvertantly making it look like some sort of bizarre cult (which I myself imagine it to be), because unless you actually believe in the teachings of Christ, you really can't understand where all these people are coming from. It's not like writing about the man who invented analine dyes, or a pickpocket from the 19th century, or a guy who paves highways, because with enough research and experience, one might actually be able to put themselves in the shoes of those people. But I think it is impossible to imagine believing something that you don't, no matter how hard you try to be objective.

I mean, I find it horrifying that there are teenagers at rock and roll shows wearing shirts proclaiming themselves "former fetus"es, and hearing that as women the only choices are to be a lonely, albeit independent, spinster, or to be subservient to the only man you've ever dated (that's right- not only can you not have sex before marriage, you are also not supposed to date). The fact that the people preaching these things appear to be "cool" in their hipster clothing and warehouse churches with state-of-the-art sound systems, is equally frightening to me. But you can't blame them for trying, or even believing in these things in spite of their penchant for thick-rimmed glasses and shaggy hair. It's not like the indie scene and Christianity have to be mutually exclusive, and it's not like finding out that someone who "looks cool" is Christian has to be shocking and disappointing.... but I don't think I'm wrong in saying that most of us "outsiders" do think that way. To us, it's almost like some plague has affected these people and made them lose their ability to reason.

And so when Andrew Beaujon goes around interviewing the key people in the Christian Rock industry, he can't help but transcribe everything they say with a grain of salt. And it's that grain of salt that ruins the book for me. I think it would be a much more interesting read from the point of view of a believer. It might sound weird, or again, frightening to hear a hipster go on about the wrongs of abortion and premarital sex and homosexuality, but, like reading the writings of a psychopath, it would be a moment in someone else's head, and it would be fascinating.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting read. It raised a lot of great questions and Beaujon introduces a lot of figures in Christian rock that I've never heard of. I think he maybe bit off more than he could chew. I was also really disappointed that, while he criticizes the church for being racist, he interviews one, maybe two women, in the whole book. The only woman I remember him interviewing works for a Christian record label. There are female Christian rockers out there! I guess if they all turned him down for an interview, I wish he'd at least told the readers that he had tried. Still, it was worth reading.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unexpectedly touching—I appreciated Beaujon’s humor and outsider’s perspective, reminding me of An Unlikely Disciple. His subjects were sometimes assholes (Mark Driscoll makes an appearance), sometimes jaded, sometimes refused an interview altogether (Sufjan Stevens, to my dismay). But for the most part, the folks were more thoughtful, interrogative, and nuanced than I expected.

I particularly enjoyed Beaujon’s conversations with Dave Bazan:

“Pedro the Lion is plangent in a way that, say, Relient K never could be. Whether it's Bazan's empathy for those who came up the same way he did or the thrill of hearing a marginally sanctioned heretic … who's somehow still allowed inside the Christian cloister, Bazan's become a leading figure in alternative Christian culture because he's a reflection of those who can't square their desire to believe with their contempt for the system in which they find fellowship.
You can take the boy out of evangelism, but you can't take evangelism out of the boy. Bazan seems to have dedicated a sizable part of his career to leading his listeners out of the desert of certainty, preaching the gospel of doubt.” 90-91
[I like this passage for the stray shots fired at Relient K, and because I dearly love Bazan’s solo Curse Your Branches album, which deals in the same currency as described above.]

“When the subject of Tooth & Nail's Brandon Ebel came up, Bazan said, "I love that guy, man."
I interrupted him, saying I noticed that whenever he used that phrase, it usually preceded an insult.
"I's not an insult," Bazan said. "It's just that what he represents as a professional is truly evil.’ “ 129

I’ve only recently heard of Mewithoutyou (“The Angel of Death Came to David’s Room”?!?!?! Anyone????), but nevertheless I laughed at the descriptions of Aaron Weiss’s quirks, and I appreciated his message.

“ ‘The main reason I can try to justify even being in a band is to communicate to the people who are gonna come to these kind of gatherings or listen to our band just because we're on Tooth & Nail Records and say to them, “You know what Jesus called us to do is to come and die, suffer and sacrifice, lay down our lives for other people. Not try to live the most comfortable life we can or have a whole lot of fun or look a certain way.”’” 263-264

My favorite interview with a “Christian Rock Lifer” was with Mark Salomon.

Salomon: “This is the lot that I've got. These are the people that I've picked. I believe that God chose me as one of his children. It's my faith. It's what I believe. And I love my savior very much. But this is America…Some people would say, only in a place with this many creature comforts could someone feel so much conviction over such trivial stuff. Christian people are taught to be ready to fight for their faith at a moment's notice … there's just way too much ingrained dogma—it's impossible to shake it. Even me, I'm a pretty liberal cat. But there are some things that I'll see other Christians doing that I don't dig on. I've also learned that I don't necessarily have to stop them right there and say it.
I am a punk rocker. I've been a punk my whole life. I despise the tendency in myself to be a cop. Back off, man. Mind your own freaking business. God changed me in lots of ways that nobody knows anything about, and it's nobody else's business, so who am I to assume that nobody else is gonna have the same thing happen to them?
Beaujon: “It sounds almost like you're settling into your own skin. How old are you?”
Salomon: “I’m thirty-five. I sure do wish I was settled into my own skin. You live with the expectations that you live with your entire life. They don't ever go away, just in case you're curious.” 219-223



I did not expect to sympathize, much less resonate, with anything that David Crowder had to say, but here we are:

“Because, and Crowder knows it, this is not music for non-Christians.
"We play church music," he said flatly. "We play music that is for a corporate group of people to articulate their faith." To the extent that Crowder's band is out in "the world," it's to challenge the faithful to look at their faith in different ways. So, when the David Crowder Band plays in a nightclub or a bar, he has no illusions about whom he's reaching.
"I'm very aware of what we're doing," he said. "But what if you get a bunch of church kids in a club that has a bar, and it's open, and you wind up having church there? I think it shifts some of their paradigm of where God exists and where you can engage God, even through music. … We started this church to try to blur the line between sacred and secular. We have this belief that there's not a moment that's happening that's outside of the presence of God.
And I think that's not what has been verbalized by the church at large, because we're scared …It’s the same with the sacred/secular thing," he continued. "There's really disgusting things within the church. It's not out there; it’s in here as well cause people are in here, just like they’re out there. So that's why any chance we get to blur that line and make people scratch their heads, it's an opportunity for conversation.’ “ 241

Beaujon’s perspective as an outsider to Christian culture made this book something more than the sum of its parts. He’s an atheist, engaged with Christians in conversations about their faith. He’s genuinely curious, non-judgmental, and writes with an eye toward comedy.

“As far as I'm concerned, death is the end of life-lights out, game over, don't forget to rewind, please. I'm okay with that.
This is the kind of talk that makes my Christian friends unbearably sad, and that's what I love about them—they really, really, really don't want anyone to die, and that's why they can sometimes be such a raging pain in the ass. So next time a Christian tries to save you from the fate that awaits you, don't get irritated— remember that it’s because they care about you. Seriously. If you take nothing else away from this book, remember that.” 254

“Most non-Christians look at evangelical Christianity and see a mono-culture, a place where the nail that sticks out is mercilessly hammered down, so to speak. But over two days in a field in Florida, l'a watched the O.C. Supertones present their version of Jesus, a muscular advocate of banning abortion and gay marriage, staying pure till marriage, and beating the crap out of Satan.
But contrast that with Bazan, who told a rapt crowd he didn't consider himself a Christian, because "I wouldn't want my identity to infer that I voted for George Bush [to cheers] or against gay marriage [to boos]." Or with Mewithoutyou, whose hippie-ish, dervish-flavored Christian worldview harkens back to the early days of the Jesus Movement and calls them to meet with, as a recent Web posting implored, “friends, your enemies, your parents, your pets, strangers, saints and scumbags. Especially the scumbags!"
Or the sound-heads of Mute Math, trying to find a way to challenge Christian or mainstream culture with their outer space sounds Or the aficionados of handmade music I met in Michigan, trying to be salt and light in the kingdom of death. Or the shiny, happy people of the Christian music industry in Nashville, constructing an ever-more-impregnable fortress in which Christians can amuse themselves while waiting out the apocalypse. Or any of the believers Id met doing this book, all of whom were trying their best to figure out how their convictions fit in with the culture at large.”
267-268

[Micah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started reading this book not really sure what to expect, particularly since the author states that he is not a Christian. He doesn't have a hostile tone at all, and is very positive where it is deserved. As a music writer, he critiques inferior and mediocre music, but readily praises quality artists. It was interesting to hear familiar Christian beliefs explained by a non-Christian author to possibly non-Christian readers. Having listened to a lot of Christian rock at some points in life, and also criticized elements of it myself, I enjoyed this book a lot.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading this book when it VERY first came out in 2006, and I definitely connected with many of the artists he profiled in the book. 13 years later, after finishing the first draft of my memoir, I relate more to the author as he compared and contrasted what "Christian Music" claims to be and what it seems to really be. It's exactly what I needed to read as I start heavy edits of my book.

[Becks · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't finish it. It was just so dry and not interesting that I just couldn't do it. And that is saying something. This is the first book that I've stopped reading in the middle because I just couldn't do it.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An at-times hilarious and most-times cringeworthy look at an industry that is so unpopularly popular in so many senses of the word that it almost seems like a shadow network operating behind the scenes of pop culture. Spin magazine journalist Andrew Beaujon, at great personal risk, jumps into the world of Christian rock music and examines its roots, eventually covering the spread of the Christ-centered genre that has seen steady growth since its inception in the late-1960s.

Like most niche genres, they all have beginnings, and Beaujon, who is not a Christian himself, excellently begins his book with a fascinating chronicle of the Jesus Music movement of the late-60s, where Hippies were getting high to celebrate their conversions to Christ, faced persecution from fundamentalist ministers, and, by the 1980s, shocked conservatives with more edgy material (as seen through Stryper's "bumblebee costumed" heavy metal).

Having grown up in a conservative Christian household, from parents who were part of the Born Again movement in the late-1970s/early-1980s, a lot of what Beaujon examines was eerily familiar. From the inundation of Maranatha worship music playing endlessly on the car stereo (mixed with talk radio or pre-recorded church sermons), what Beaujon pokes fun at is accurate and relatable. Much like some of the subjects of Beaujon's journalism, I broadened my horizons, finding punk music in the 1990s and never really looked back, although some of this was done through the Christian alternative. Through this, I went on to the way louder (and to many, scarier) subgenres until coming to my comfortable niche in all things music... with Christian music a far-off island I don't really visit at all anymore.

Enough about myself, this book is a fun and easy to read look into a massive musical industry not many people talk about. Beaujon's curiosity is bolstered by his own personal beliefs (or disbeliefs in a Higher Power), which lends credence to one of the more key facets of Christianity itself: acceptance. Even though he comes into conflict with almost everyone's viewpoints in this book, Beaujon has a respectful tone, and he is treated with the same respect and acceptance by the record executives and musicians he speaks with. Usually his remarks are met with positive acknowledgment, with his sardonic tone being agreed upon at times, which was interesting in itself. At the same time, Beaujon leaves himself open to explore and does that thing I love so much in critical works: Actually reading and listening to the thing being examined. Rather than take a dismissive tone akin to nearly every anti-spiritual work of criticism, Beaujon remains an explorer, and even finds himself bopping to earworm worship songs like "Blessed Be the Name" (which got a chuckle out of me, who can still recite the lyrics to this song despite not having listened to it for over 15 years).

Beaujon's book is littered with hip, journalistic prose... He is a music critic after all. And this, I think, is what got him such an in with the ones he was able to speak with, from members of Jesus Music artists like the Resurrection Band, to high-level execs in Sparrow Music, to underground powerhouses like Brandon Ebel of Tooth & Nail (who sounds like a total douchebag), Beaujon has the opportunity to speak with Christian artists who also struggle with the "Christian music" label, as many find it a death stamp on reaching any outside audience. Key voices in this argument are seen in Switchfoot's Jon Foreman, Pedro the Lion's David Bazan, and mewithoutYou's Aaron Weiss. By the end of his journey, Beaujon lets you know if he truly "got" his assignment, but I will leave it at that.

Like most explorations into the Christian music phenomenon, I find it still very limiting. Most explorations of Christian rock stop at a certain point, not venturing far into the underground cliques that truly exist, and arguably serve as essential sociopolitical subjects for further research. My gripe here is that Christian hardcore is mostly ignored. I am not sure if this is due to fear or discomfort with the way more aggressive side of music, but most of my curiosity behind these stories remain unsatiated. In most podcasts, or critical works, the loudest band explored tends to be Florida's UnderOath, who breached the mainstream through melodramatic and overemotional music that was popular in the early-aughts. Never mentioned are the Facedowns, the No Innocent Victims, the Overcomes, the Focuseds. Beaujon almost proved me wrong by interviewing Mark Salomon of seminal Christian thrash band The Crucified, and Tooth & Nail's arrogant founder, Brandon Ebel. But he just stops there, opting instead to cover spoken-word post-hardcore frontman Aaron Weiss of mewithoutYou (a great band, but hardly representative of such a subgenre). The closest Beaujon comes is by briefly asking about shlock Christian metal band Demon Hunter (which is still a tame example). And the quick tossing aside of such material almost reeks of fear and discomfort. Which is unfortunate, as the subgenre I am so interersted in is not only rooted in a spiritual background, one with ties to the Born Again movement, but also to the early-80s Reagan era of hardcore music, not to mention Latin-American diversity, gender relations, and the overall DIY aesthetic. I guess, maybe it is just the universe telling me to write my own damn book.

Either way, Body Piercing Saved My Life is a worthwhile read, no matter where you stand on the Jesus issue. Considering the current political climate with Christian Nationalism on the rise, this book might deter you, but I assure you it is not a case to drop everything and buy a copy of Maranatha Music's "Give Thanks" along with a Trump Bible. It's a funny, and downright interesting look at something that is on the fringes, but not at the same time.

[Ben Ricketts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in the world of Christian rock, and it’s amazing to read a secular account of the honestly strange world that is the industry.

Beaujon writes with respect for his subjects, but also with humor, honesty, and amazement at some of the absurdity involved in the world of Christian music. As someone who grew up in the Christian rock universe and has almost entirely moved on, this was a moving read that left me happy, nostalgic, and more sympathetic towards Christian rock than I have felt in some time. If you grew up like I did and want to read an outside take, read this book and reflect on your experiences. If you are coming from an outside perspective, read this book and marvel at an entertainment industry that exists as some sort of parallel to “mainstream” pop culture.

I recommend it.

[Evan Kostelka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book more than another that I read on this subject.
However this book is more journalistic. The author follows bands and people around different music festivals in award shows. Unfortunately, many of the bands refuse to talk to him.
He was still able to pull together some good stuff from different panel discussions or through emails. He has pretty in-depth coverage of some major bands like switchfoot, POD, and he seems to spend the most time with David Bazan of Pedro the lion.
I've seen some reviewers not like the fact he's not a professing Christian but to me that added to the value of his point of view.
If you had no history on this topic I don't know if it would sway you to listen to some of these bands, as most of them he covers are admittedly not that great. Still for someone growing up listening to this music it was a fun read.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beaujon captured a broad snapshot of Evangelical subculture with this book. He interviewed a range of important people in Christian Rock -- band members, promoters, record executives, fans, and magazine editors. He attended big events like Cornerstone and the Gospel Music Awards. He reviewed Christian music as an outsider. He revealed the inner workings of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). And ultimately, he presented the story of Christian Rock.

I'm a fan doing my own research on a slice of CCM during the same time period as Beaujon's primary research. I'm excited to build on this book and fill out the story of Christian Rock in different ways. Now I know some of the questions that have been asked.

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was published at the peak of my CCM obsession. I was 15 and attended every Christian music festival in NorCal that year, plus at least 10 concerts.
So, I’m sad to say the read was a disappointment. The writing is dry and I struggled to stay focused. The author himself wasn’t “in” the industry and that shows in the pointless, boring, repetitive interviews he conducts mostly with men who worked behind the scenes with obscure bands I personally never heard of (and I still know a weird amount about the bands that were Big in the 90’s-00’s). Like, you couldn’t at least interview the actual youths who were active in the culture at the time? That would have been 100x more insightful and interesting.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a fascinating look into the world of Christian rock from a neutral perspective. It has two big flaws. The first is it is written by a former Spin magazine journalist and has the kind of depth you would expect from somebody who used to write for Spin magazine. This leads to the second problem. A lack of meaty questions leads to a loose and repetitious structure. I'm not sorry I read this book, there is nothing else like it out there, but the writer had the willingness to dive into this subject, but not the chops to really deliver on it.

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author doesn't seem to be a fan of the subject material; he complains about not landing interviews with more of the artists but can you really blame them? So the end result is a book that isn't much of an 'inside look' on multiple levels. It feels like an exposé assignment that fell flat. But having said that, I appreciate the author's honesty and efforts. And I also enjoyed how many familiar Christian bands/personalities that you get a glimpse of throughout the book.

[The Rudie Librarian (Brian) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t fully know what to expect of this book. The part of me that grew up in this culture wanted this book to be an ode to a life I loved. But it was more honest and at times cynical than that. I still enjoyed it.

[Catrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF

[Neil R. Coulter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just loved this book. I started reading it as part of my background reading for a book chapter I'm writing, but once I'd started I could hardly put it down. Though I don't think the title or the subtitle are particularly helpful, the actual content is really fascinating. Andrew Beaujon (writer for Spin magazine) presents more of an outsider's view of Christian rock, since he is not himself not a Christian, and he didn't know much about Christian rock at all before starting this major project. That's a positive thing--at least, the way Beaujon builds his narrative. What he presents is not a year-by-year chronology of Christian rock--in fact, the book is at times frustratingly unsystematic in its approach--but instead it's more of a guided tour through his year of immersion in the American Christian music scene. Throughout the book he is fair toward everyone he meets (though I thought it was a little tacky to include some verbatim emails from a couple of his contacts), and he concludes his research with a genuine appreciation of the good things that he discovered. He's not converted--but what he writes in his Afterword is as Christian a perspective on the world as you'll find (just without acknowledgment of the full identity of Christ).

What makes the writing so addicting is that it is a style that I think of as "top-shelf blogging" (and I most definitely don't mean "top-shelf" in the way that some Brits might understand it). It's a style that is awfully difficult to pull off, as evidenced by the large amount of it in the world that I generally find excruciating. With Beaujon, it just seems to flow naturally: casual and conversational, but not obnoxious. As I read, I shared some particularly good lines (especially about attending a large worship gathering during the Gospel Music Week in Nashville) aloud with my wife, and I texted lines here and there to one of my best friends who I knew would appreciate it.

At the start, Beaujon traces the roots of Christian rock, from its 1970s origins in the Jesus People movement, the Explo Festival, and all of the disenfranchised people who were finding a new path into Christianity through the music and ideals they loved. I was interested to see the grungy origins, and how a lot of early Christian rock was focused on social justice issues. By the time I knew much about Christian music, it was the much more sanitized 1980s, dominated by just two performers: Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. One of the benefits of this hindsight perspective on Christian rock is to see just how quickly "tradition" changes. The things that completely define American Christianity in one era might be very different just a decade later. That actually gives me a lot of hope, in the midst of a lot of frustration with where the evangelical church is right now.

Following that introduction--which, for me, was a delightful tour of a lot of things I hadn't thought about in a long time, along with other albums and personalities that I never knew about--Beaujon's history becomes less direct. There's not much in his book about the late 80s through the 90s. His brief mention of some Christian heavy metal in that era is surprisingly slim (which I only know because--and I hate to admit this--I really loved Christian heavy metal in the late 80s/early 90s). Beaujon spends a lot of time in the book with some kind of morose musicians (especially David Bazan of Pedro the Lion), which skews the narrative in a particular way. I don't think it's bad, but he certainly gets a more insider view of that aspect of Christian rock than he does of, say, Top 40 radio pop artists (and this skewing is largely because the managers of those Top 40 artists restricted Beaujon's access to them).

Quotes like this make me love this book:

I'm not saved and don't think I ever will be, but if such a miracle were to take place, I can't imagine anything worse than being forced to pay for my salvation by listening to worship music for the rest of my days. (158)

Thank you, Andrew Beaujon, for your honesty, graciousness, good humor, and willingness to gaze into the delights and oddities of Christian music. I hope sometime we can hang out and talk about music and faith.

[C. J. Scurria · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the VERY few books where I could not exactly finish it.

The strangest thing is the book's description versus what the writer felt about the subject.

Look at this:


Body Piercing Saved My Life is the first in-depth journalistic investigation into a subculture so large that it's erroneous to even call it a subculture: Christian rock. Christian rock culture is booming, not only with bands but with extreme teen Bibles, skateboarding ministries, Christian tattoo parlors, paintball parks, coffeehouses, and nightclubs,encouraging kids to form their own communities apart from the mainstream. Profiling such successful Christian rock bands as P.O.D., Switchfoot, Creed, Evanescence, and Sixpence None the Richer, as well as the phenomenally successful Seattle Christian record label Tooth & Nail, enormous Christian rock festivals, and more, Spin journalist Andrew Beaujon lifts the veil on a thriving scene that operates beneath the secular world's radar. Revealing, sympathetic, and groundbreaking, Body Piercing Saved My Life (named for a popular Christian rock T-shirt depicting Christ's wounds) is a fascinating look into the hearts and minds of an enormous, and growing, youth culture.


Now did you get any idea that the writer absolutely despised Christian rock and completely picked it apart? Well if so, the description sure fooled me.

I was fairly surprised that in the intro the writer admitted to not being a believer. Okay. I accepted that.

But the chapters following featured the writer bash everything that people believed about the culture that is "Christian rock" became increasingly unpleasant for me to continue.

According to this writer the bands P. O. D. have "hard-core" origins that are so shocking they are pretty much generic now to what they used to sing about (anti-abortion song, etc.), Switchfoot, according to the writer is ashamed to admit that they are Christian (I believe quite the opposite), and many other bands are just terrible according to this man.

Now while I don't completely agree with this culture (I read the words "Christian tattoo parlors" and my eyes when big and thought "What...?" And what is up with there being Christian nightclubs?_) I feel that this genre is one small step to get this young generation and any other one that learns about this culture exposed to the word of God.

It is so sad that this writer does not ultimately understand what knowing Christ is all about. The real "spirit" that is hard to explain because it is a mystery to even the believer and all we know is that what we learn and what is told us comes directly from God. Talk about a "phenomenon!"

I feel in effect he just couldn't understand which is a shame.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book is somewhat deceptive since the author is not inside the phenomenon of Christian rock. He's an outsider, trying to understand something he's not a part of and doesn't believe. He frequently complains that he is unable to get interviews, is frustrated that no one returns his emails, and frets about his lack of access. But he never addresses how those problems influenced the book he ultimately did write. Did they end up mattering at all?

The author also comes to this (fascinating) project as a music industry expert and consequently the book is somewhat heavy on descriptions of which label did what before it merged with what other label and what it means to sign with which company through which distributor and so on. That part kind of lost me. But I imagine, if the ins and outs of the music industry were your thing, it would be interesting to trace the development of the business side of Christian music.

I was more interested in the cultural angle and I thought the book was a little light there. He remarks at the end that he had learned a lot during the project: he now knows the difference between a Baptist and a Pentecostal. So, do they listen to different kinds of music? He often blurs Christians together, when it might have been more productive analytically to tease them apart. Or is the phenomenon of Christian music an exclusively non-denomenational thing? Either way, it would be interesting -- and probably should have been addressed.

I'm kind of torn about whether he handled the material with enough journalistic detachment. I mostly think he did, only he's sometimes just a tad too surprised to learn that he "actually" likes one of these Christian bands or that so-and-so is "really" a nice person. Oooh. Feeling scorn for your subject is kind of fatal. I do think he knows that and tried to avoid it and even mostly managed. And to his credit, it's not the easiest task to be even-handed when it comes to Christian rock -- which is, we must admit, a punch line.

Finally, there's a random chapter on abortion. He includes it because of all the anti-abortion t-shirts he saw at Christian music events. But it leads him to attend some demonstrations with Christian activists and to explore their position and theology in greater depth. Which really has nothing to do with music. It's an interesting chapter, but I don't know why it's in the book.

All together, worthwhile read. Useful to me and my project. But probably not the final word on this subject.

[Furiosalizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this directly after finishing Daniel Radosh's riveting "Rapture Ready," and while I felt this effort wasn't quite as deft as that book (perhaps in part because the author had trouble getting many subjects to talk to him), it was still a compelling read. Where Radosh covers pretty much the whole landscape of American evangelical pop culture, Beaujon focuses almost entirely on the music industry. His detailed history of the development of "Christian rock" and its variants is enlivened by his interactions with both the industry's artists and producers and (to a lesser degree) its target audience. I particularly enjoyed his parallel exploration of integrational "crossover" artists such as David Bazan, Sufjan Stevens and Aaron Weiss, who have devoted followings despite alienating many evangelicals with, for example, songs about struggling with doubt or which contain profanity. And while the author -- a secular rock critic -- gets justifiably snarky on occasion (and there is much about which to snark in the Christian music industry), he writes with touching honesty about seeing many of his prior assumptions turned upside down during this journey.

It's hard to sum up this book, but I recommend it to anyone who is (like me) weirdly fascinated by the truly bizarre aspects of U.S. Christian pop culture, especially outsiders seeking to understand it. Many evangelical fundamentalists will no doubt find it offensive, but if you're an open-minded Christian curious about how this culture really looks to someone from the outside, I think you'll enjoy it. YMMV.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Beaujon writes a historical/ blog-style/ tourist guide to Christian music. An incredible compilation, he spits out more names and artists and record labels than I could keep up with, and I found myself wanting to look up a bunch of the bands he interviewed. It's fun to read the conversations he's having while driving with musicians to their next gig, or from behind the scenes at concerts, or while walking around at music festivals or college campuses, at Christian music awards, or while sitting at the bar, or talking on his cell phone. He seems to genuinely enjoy the company of the people he's with, which was great, because he interviewed some people I kinda know: like Aaron Weiss (mewithoutyou), and he wrote about some others I know , too, like Denison Witmer, and the Psalters, and the Simple Way. And he gave them good reviews, how could I not like that?
Andrew Beaujon doesn't identify himself as a Christian in this book, which gives this book more of it's touristy-flavor. He writes, "I liked these people, enjoyed their company, and they'd made me feel completely welcome. But it bothered me that I wasn't a Christian and would never become one. They embraced me like they hope to embrace culture, but I'm still not sure how hard either of us can hug them back." (pg 137). More hugs to you, Andrew, great book!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

An "outsider"'s perspective on the contemporary Christian music industry and some of its most notable artists. Beaujon's sense of humor, along with his willingness to listen to those with different perspectives than his own, make this book a worthwhile read. His mostly accurate forays into the history of American evangelicalism also display a quality rarely found among mainstream journalists such as himself.

For local interest, he does mention several Philadelphia-based artists such as Mewithoutyou, Psalters and Denison Witmer.

On a personal note, I could really relate to the occasional bewilderment Beaujon expressed when encountering a religious culture very foreign to him. Though I've been hanging around evangelicals since I was a teenager, I was not raised in a "Sandi Patty" household (as several of the artists interviewed in this book say they were) nor was I accustomed to anything beyond Methodist liturgy and sunday school. So, when at a worship service, Beaujon looks around and is shocked to see people with seemingly sexually-oriented expressions on their faces, I felt an odd kinship with him.

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock is a great book. It is humorous, informative, and well-written. Andrew Beaujon is one of the editors of Spin magazine, and tells the reader of Body Piercing… early on that he is not by any stretch of the imagination a Christian. This makes for extremely interesting reading. I learned a great deal about Christian music from this book, as well as about the musicians themselves and those who listen to them. Beaujon makes many good points and - despite his self-proclaimed non-religiosity - even finds time to give theological insights.

Though this is a book about Christian music, it is not written primarily for a Christian audience. Anyone could find this book accessible and entertaining. Having said that, musicians, and those who grew up on Sandi Patti (back when she hadn’t changed to “Sandi Patty” yet) et. al., should especially enjoy Body Piercing Saved My Life. A fun read.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've tried for ages to finish this book, and maybe some day I will. But I honestly think that day will be far from now, because I'd rather use my time and brain power on something else. While it is very interesting to see how someone who is not a Christian views the Christian rock scene, I felt like Beaujon's insights were more intriguing for those who knew nothing about it. The concept of Christian rock is one that is being fought and judged on many different layers. Beaujon notices this, and points out some very true facts that some Christians may not even notice. Despite this, however, I think that his claims and conclusions create the wrong impression of many of those interviewed. I don't know, maybe I"m just being blind...you call it.
Trust me, I love the fact that someone was daring enough to investigate the strange animal that is Christian rock...but there are some things that are just lost when you're an "outsider".

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this look at Christian music. The author isn't Christian, which makes me feel like I can trust him more- that make sense? Beaujon might actually may have been more forgiving than I would have been if I did this. He goes through the history of the genre thoroughly and studies modern groups and attends festivals and such. The book makes the executive of Tooth and Nail look like a bastard, which isn't surprising- he is a record executive after all. He seemed too obsessed with image. Beaujon sure likes David Bazan of Pedro the Lion, though. This made me wish I kept more of my father's old CDs. Even made me wanna listen to a couple Sandi Patty songs. I can't believe I said that. I I felt the interviews didn't add much, but otherwise informative and fun.

[Nora Alfaham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this book for a class last semester. It looks at Christian rock as a subculture, not necessarily through a religous lens. It is well-written book, and the author, Andrew Beaujon, does a good job of being that annoying journalist and prying into everything to give a real feel to readers not familiar with Christian Rock and Christians in general, in America.

From a Muslim point of view, this could be lent to the growing Muslim entertainment industry to use as lessons in the formation of a religous subculture in America, as well as different perspectives and views of religous subcultures by Americans.

[Claire Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

a book on christian music written by a non-christian. very journalistic. brutally honest. i was really excited about reading this book, getting a detailed, honest "outsider's" view on christian music. and for the most part he did a decent job at just reporting facts. but every once in a while he would go off on some subject and be complete jerk. most of the time when he did this he gave his opinion in a way that sounded like he was giving factual information when he wasn't. but there are some great quotes and good information in here.

[Kipahni · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it interesting that the author was not a christian so it kind of made his thoughts based more on the quality of music and performance then just approving of a band because they believe in Christ and having an obligation to support christian rock regardless if it's quality.

It got me really thinking about quality christian music. I mean for the most part christian rock at best is a 2nd rate copy to what is already there. (plus 1 for NSYNC, Jaci valasquez and staci orico for christina agulaira) I have however found a few inovative christian bands, so there is still hope.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given the long and tangled debate over Christian pop and rock music, Beaujon's task as a secular reporter is unenviable and seemingly impossible. He pulls it off with admirable grace and courtesy, though, leavened with an outsider's sense of healthy skepticism and a reporter's flair for flexible honesty. He stumbles a bit when he awkwardly launches into a discussion of Christian conservative politics, but he rallies nicely when he talks to the bands themselves. Some of his nicely-diverse interviews are worth the cover price alone, notably the conversation with Aaron Weiss of mewithoutYou.

[Taylor Franks]

I read this in one day because it really hit on a lot things that deeply interest me. There are great interviews with artists I have grown to love. Dave Bazan has a great interview, Aaron Weiss(MewithoutYou) is sincere and weird as ever. The history of CCM is actually interesting, and seeing how Nashville came to be it's headquarters. What makes this book so good is the writing. The author is a non christian(who writes for SPIN) and is very generous with all the things he encounters. My only compliant is that Sufjan is not interviewed.