The Devil’s Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned, and Embraced Rock ’n’ Roll

Randall Stephens traces rock’s inspiration to the Pentecostal churches where Elvis, Little Richard, and others worshipped. Faith, which served as a vehicle for whites’ fears, led them to condemn the godless music of blacks and hippies. But in a reversal of strategy, evangelicals later embraced Christian rock as a way to project Jesus’s message.

Table of Contents:
Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Introduction 1. Pentecostalism and Rock ’n’ Roll in the 1950s 2. Race, Religion, and Rock ’n’ Roll 3. The Beatles, Christianity, and the Conservative Backlash 4. The Advent of Jesus Rock 5. The Fundamentalist Reaction to Christian Rock Epilogue Notes Acknowledgments Index

About the Author :
Stephens Randall J. : Randall J. Stephens is Associate Professor of British and American Studies at the University of Oslo.

Review :
David W. Stowe, author of No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism: An admirably balanced, exhaustively researched, consistently engaging narrative of the complex and fraught relationship between conservative Christians and popular music in the United States.David N. Hempton, Dean of the Harvard Divinity School: Stephens brilliantly explores the many enmities, ambiguities, adaptations, and constant braiding of rock music and conservative Christian youth culture as the electricity of rock music jolted and shocked parents and captivated teens and young adults. The fiercely fought battles over music, values, and taste were indeed proxy wars for the soul of the nation. Matthew Avery Sutton, author of American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism: In this beautifully written, entertaining, and smart book, Stephens masterfully analyzes the religious roots of rock music, the evangelical response to the rise of rock music, and the ways in which evangelicals made rock music their own in recent decades. Paul W. Gleason: An engrossing story about American Christianity's long and ambivalent relationship with what Fats Domino dubbed 'the big beat.' Harriet Baber: The Devil's Music chronicles the development of popular music in America since the mid-20th century, attending to the audience as well as the performers. Focusing on the reception of rock by conservative Christians, it is a commentary on the emerging social role of Evangelicals and the politics of the period. Ed Whitelock: Stephens' deeply researched The Devil's Music charts the long and oftentimes contentious relationship between evangelical Christianity and rock 'n' roll. Along the way, it offers some surprising historical insights and a somber lesson for social progressives who have long scoffed at their evangelical adversaries in America's ongoing culture wars. Clive Marsh: [A] beautifully written, well-researched book...What Stephens has provided is an extensively evidenced account of just how tetchy Christians--especially theologically and politically conservative Christians in the U.S.--have been about popular music, while also wanting to make use of it when necessary to promote their version of the faith. Christopher Carroll: [E]xcellent... [V]aluable, clearly written and meticulously researched.