The Sacred and the Profane

Let's build two playlists this weekend. The first one, let's call it "The Sacred," will be for gospel music. Now, I know what you're thinking, "Has your Inner Frenchman found Our Lord Jesus Christ?" No, I haven't, although I've grilled a lot of cheese sandwiches looking for him.

While I'm not a fan of gospel music in general, especially that white bread, saccharine, Pat-Boone-derivative crap that's played in every megachurch across the country, there is a strain of gospel that i love. It's the kind you'll find in black churches, the kind with a kick ass choir, a cranked B-3 organ, and a can't-stay-sitting-down bass line. If you have to worship a sky fairy, you might as well do with great music.

I'll start it a song I love, one that sneaks a little politics into the preaching, Mavis Staple's 99 and 1/2.

I'm calling the second playlist: "And the Profane." There probably should be a genre named anti-gospel for this kind of music. While some might call these songs "blasphemous," I prefer to think of them as being very pointed cultural satire, much like what I do here.

We'll start out with Holly Near's I Ain't Afraid, go to a PshycoBillyKadillak's version of Plastic Jesus (I really wanted the Tom Waits cut but couldn't find it), and end up with Jello Biafra's Will the Fetus be Aborted.

Once again, I'm asking you to contribute your favorites. Just be sure to put them in the right playlist.

You can add or search for songs here.

username: jcchristian
password: ourmusic

The Sacred

And The Profane