Who was your favourite music artist growing up? The music that you’d listen to for hours and hours because you could? The songs that you would know back to front, and the lyrics you could recite in a heartbeat without any wrong words, even if you have last heard the song a while ago? Has any music artist that you listened to while growing up had an influence in who you are today?
When I was growing up, I virtually listened to one sole artist- Carman. Famous for his songs like ‘Satan Bite the Dust’, ‘A Witches Invitation’, ‘Great God’, ‘Revival in the Land’, ‘Radically Saved’ and ‘Addicted to Jesus’, Carman, then and even now, revolutionised the culture and genre of CCM, cementing his own flair of acoustic pop, Latin American influenced songs, story-songs, and a whole lot of other unique instrumentation and song arrangements, on a genre even now still embedded in radio-pop. I can remember even having cassette tapes (yes, I’m that old to remember the predecessors to CD’s!) of albums (tapes at the time) of RIOT, and some of the Yo Kidz children’s collection of songs that were recorded way back during the day.
While in hindsight, I may have been ignorant to all the music that was out there during that time (yes, during my childhood throughout the 1990s, I failed to listen to and enjoy albums from artists like dc Talk, Avalon, Newsboys, Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith- only during my teenage years did I broaden my musical tastes and listen to these artists), Carman was a big influence throughout my primary school years, giving me a great foundation in my faith and walk with God. While me may not be as popular currently in the music industry as he was back then, he is nevertheless still an artist I often listen to even now, and possibly one of the artists currently still active that has one of the most unique music styles of the modern post 1990s music era.
Who is your favourite artist of all time? I reckon, many people’s favourite artists will have some kind of affiliation to your childhood- my favourite artist/band, though not Carman, is Delirious?; a British worship band that I regularly listened to during my teenage years. Has any music from your childhood shaped, or continues to shape, the way you view the world, God, love, family and friends and everything else in between? What has God been showing you through the favourite artists you listened to while growing up? Let us know in the comments, and below, there are some of my favourite Carman music video clips. Listen and enjoy!