c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ As the millennium is winding down, a number of popular recording artists are getting serious about the meaning of life, and this fall there’s been a bumper crop of bestselling albums brimming with spiritual and philosophical themes.

In late September, Nine Inch Nails released”The Fragile,”an angst-filled sonic wail of nihilistic industrial rock. The two-CD album debuted atop Billboard’s national sales chart in October before being replaced by Creed’s”Human Clay,”a collection of muscular hard rock that runneth over with religious themes. Next it was Latin rock guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana’s”Supernatural”album dominating the charts with its music that”touches each listener directly in the heart and stirs the soul.” In addition, albums like Live’s”The Distance to Here,”Paula Cole Band’s”Amen,”Sting’s”Brand New Day,”and Little Steven Van Zandt’s”Born Again Savage,”have prominently featured spiritual themes.

There’s still plenty of music glorifying sex, drugs, and violence, but the profusion of otherworldly odes is noteworthy.”Even now, with (sex) and cash ruling the scene, divine hunger still motivates some rockers,”wrote a Rolling Stone reviewer who said spiritual songs”appeal to young people who grew up swabbed by catechism, Bible study, or Hebrew school.”Earlier this year, a SPIN magazine writer commented on the metaphysical musings of artists like Madonna, Alanis Morissette and Jewel, saying,”The dividing line between the spirit and the entertainment industry is becoming increasingly tough to draw.” Bill Romanowski, who teaches pop culture classes at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., says today’s mystical music reminds him of the late 60s and early 70s, when people couldn’t get enough of songs like”Spirit in the Sky,””Oh Happy Day,””My Sweet Lord,””Turn, Turn, Turn,”and”Put Your Hand in the Hand.””There was a spiritual quest among alienated youth who were actively seeking alternative ways of life and reacting against the perceived bankruptcy of America’s material-oriented values,”says Romanowski, author of the 1996 book,”Pop Culture Wars.””Of course, materialism won,”he added.”Now, both aging baby boomers and younger people are asking, `What’s really important to me? What happens when I die?’ Perhaps this is one reason for the appearance of this trend today.” Issues of meaning _ and meaninglessness_ are at the heart of Nine Inch Nails'”The Fragile,”an album The New York Times called”a desperate identity crisis rendered in symphonic scale.” A follow-up to 1994’s multimillion selling”The Downward Spiral,””The Fragile”features Trent Reznor’s bracing lyrics, his ragged vocals and screams, and a dazzling and obsessively crafted soundscape of acoustic instruments, electronic sounds, and synthesized noise. Alternately beautiful and horrifying, the album is a perfect accompaniment for the end of the world.

Reznor sings of his descent from grace and how he has”lost my faith in everything.”In”Somewhat Damaged,”he shrieks:”broken bruised forgotten sore / too fâÂ?¦ked up to care anymore.”In”Even Deeper,”he sings,”everything that matters is gone/ all the hands of hope have withdrawn.” Only romantic love occasionally breaks pessimism’s death grip.”We will make it through somehow,”he sings in”We’re In This Together.” On the opposite side of pop music’s philosophical divide is Creed, whose music affirms the existence of God and the possibility of human transformation. The band’s debut album,”My Own Prison,”has sold nearly 4 million copies, and”Human Clay,”their hard-rocking sophomore outing, has already sold a million.

Opening with the song,”Are You Ready,”singer Scott Stapp belts out lines that point to the words of Jesus:”Hey, Mr. Seeker/ Hold on to this advice/ If you keep seeking you will find.”In”Higher,”the album’s popular first single, Stapp sings,”Can you take me higher/ To the place where blind men see/ Can you take me higher/ To the place with golden streets.” Stapp, a preacher’s kid who says he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for, rarely comments on his own beliefs.”When the secular media asks me questions, 90 percent of them have no background in religion so they don’t even understand,”he said during one recent interview, adding,”I know that I believe in God.”(A text of the interview can be found at http://www.youngleader.org).

While some critics are uncomfortable with rock’s religiosity, many fans are embracing meatier, more meaningful music.”Pop music is a central part of adolescent culture, and culture makes a difference in all our lives,”said Donald Roberts, a professor at Stanford University and co-author of the 1998 book,”It’s Not Only Rock & Roll,”which evaluates decades worth of social science research on music.”There are kids who will look you in the eye and say, `I’m not paying any attention to lyrics,’ but after a few weeks of listening, they can recite the lyrics to you,”he said.”Music and pop culture in general are dynamic things: kids change the culture, and the culture changes them, too.”

DEA END RABEY