Jump to content

Wikipedia:WikiProject Christian music/Sources

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christian music
WikiProject
General
Main project page talk
Project banner talk
Project userbox talk
Project category talk
Project navigation template talk
New articles talk
Task Forces
Christian Metal talk
Contemporary Christian talk
Southern Gospel talk
Urban Contemporary Gospel talk
Albums talk
Songs talk
Assessments talk
Outreach and Recruiting talk
Editing Tips
Article structures talk
Sources for writing talk
Things to do
To-do List talk
General stubs talk
Templates
{{WikiProject Christian music}} talk
{{User Christian music}} talk
{{Christian-music-welcome}} talk
{{Christian-music-recruiting}} talk
{{Christian-music-recruiting2}} talk
{{Christian-music-stub}} talk
{{Christian-album-stub}} talk
{{Christian-song-stub}} talk
{{Christian-radio-station-stub}} talk
{{Infobox musical artist}} talk
{{Infobox album}} talk
{{Infobox record label}} talk
Project Navigation talk
{{Christian music}} talk
Assessment
1.0 Editorial Team talk
Articles by quality talk
Automated log talk
Assessment statistics talk
Assessment category talk
Wikilinks
Christianity portal talk
Christian music on Wikibooks
Christian music on Wikimedia Commons
Christian music on Wikinews
Christian music on Wikiquote
Christian music on Wikisource
See also:

This page is intended to help in sourcing Christian Music articles on Wikipedia. It serves to inform users on questions about a source's credibility, and provide suggestions as a starting point for research. The following list consists of recommended sources for expanding Christian music articles about albums, songs, and artist pages that primarily or exclusively cover Christian music topics. This list is a supplement to Wikipedia:WikiProject Albums/Sources, as most Christian artists do not receive consistent coverage in publications that are not geared specifically to a Christian audience. In addition, the list also includes book sources that contain information on Christian artists, even if that is not that book's primary focus. This list is merely a collection of suggestions, and other good sources may exist, so please help to expand this list. Questionable sources or proposals for additional sources may be discussed on the talk page. CMNexus.org is a useful resource for finding issue numbers and article titles for many of the online and print resources found here.

Online and print

[edit]
Publication Genre(s) Rating system Country Website Notes
CCM Magazine CCM, hip hop, metal, rock Older Grades B+/-,
Now five star
US ccmmagazine.com Many archives can be found at http://ht.salemweb.net/ccm/ccmmagazine/pdf/200709.pdf, with the date in the url modified to the desired year and month. These now require the use of Internet Archive to find.
New magazines can be found by http://www.ccmmagazine.com/magazine/yyyy/mmm/pageflip.html.
Charisma CCM, gospel, worship, rock Unrated US charismamag.com Non-rated reviews
Christianity Today All Five stars US christianitytoday.com Ratings for older albums can be found by using the Wayback Machine.
Cross Rhythms All Ten squares UK crossrhythms.co.uk Articles prior to 2005 usually correspond to the now defunct magazine.
HM CCM, rock, metal, hip-hop Five stars US hmmagazine.com Sometimes deals with non-Christian, particularly in "So & So Says"
Singing News Southern Gospel No rating US singingnews.com
Worship Leader CCM, praise & worship, rock Five stars US worshipleader.com

Online only

[edit]
Publication Genre(s) Rating system Country Website Notes
365 Days of Inspiring Media Popular music Five stars AUS 365daysofinspiringmedia.com Joshua Andre (editor)
All About Worship CCM, praise & worship Out of five stars US allaboutworship.com
Alpha Omega News CCM, hip hop, metal, rock Letter Grades B+/- US alphaomeganews.org Ken Wiegman (editor)
Angelic Warlord Rock, metal Percentage (85%) US www.angelicwarlord.com
ChristCore Rock, metal Five star US christcore.net Bryce Cooley (editor)
Christian Broadcasting Network CCM, praise & worship, rock, hip hop Five spins US cbn.com/cbnmusic/reviews/
The Christian Beat Popular music Five point system US thechristianbeat.org Jessie Clarks (lead editor)
The Christian Manifesto Popular music Five star US thechristianmanifesto.com Calvin E'Jon Moore (editor)
The Christian Post Popular music No rating US christianpost.com/entertainment Sometimes deals with non-Christian
Christian Rock 20 Metal, rock Five stars US thechristianrock20.com
CM Addict CCM, metal, praise & worship, rock Five or five stars US cmaddict.com Kevin Thorson (senior editor), Grace Thorson (editor)
Crosswalk.com CCM, pop, praise & worship, rock No rating US crosswalk.com/culture/music/ Also deals somewhat with non-Christian. Many article are reprints from Christianity Today or CCM Magazine - using the original sources are preferred in such cases.
The Front Row Report Popular music Ten points/stars US thefrontrowreport.com Also deals with non-Christian. Reggie Edwards (editor)
Indie Vision Music Popular music Five stars US indievisionmusic.com Josh Murphy (editor)
Jam the Hype Hip-hop, urban gospel music 8.6/10 US jamthehype.com Contains content formerly hosted at DaSouth.com, which is now defunct. Mike Laxton (managing editor)
Jesus Freak Hideout All Five stars US jesusfreakhideout.com Contains both staff and fan reviews. Official staff reviews use red stars, while user reviews use yellow stars; some albums, often older ones, have reviews from both readers and staff. Example, John DiBiase (editor)
Jesus Musik
Sketch the Journalist
Hip hop, praise & worship No rating US blog.chron.com/jesusmusik/ Some articles also appear in DaSouth.com, Rapzilla, and Wade-O Radio.
Jesus Wired CCM (adult contemporary, praise & worship), Gospel (contemporary, rhythm & praise, traditional), hip hop, rap, rock (alternative, folk, hardcore, metal) Five or five stars (old)
Ten or ten stars (new)
US jesuswired.com Iain Moss (editor)
Louder Than the Music All Five stars UK louderthanthemusic.com Jono Davies and Dave Woods (editors)
The Metal Resource Metal Numeric 7/10 The Netherlands mauce.nl Website devoted to Christian metal; also hosts a local music festival
New H2O CCM, hip hop, rock Five stars/water bottles US newh2o.com Sister site of Rapzilla
New Release Today All Five stars US newreleasetoday.com Often reprints reviews from other publications. Contains both staff and reader reviews. Staff and featured reviews are labeled as such, and are located first on the review list. Marcus Hathcock (editor)
The Phantom Tollbooth Popular music Five stars/clocks US www.tollbooth.org Shari Lloyd (editor)
Rapzilla Hip hop Five stars US rapzilla.com Justin Sarachik (editor)
The Sound Opinion All No rating US thesoundopinion.com Lindsay Williams (editor)
Sphere of Hip Hop Hip hop No rating US sphereofhiphop.com
Today's Christian Entertainment Popular music Five or five stars US todayschristianent.com Jay Heilman (co-founder)
Sean Perry (co-founder)
Angela DiFilippo Cofield (editor)
Today's Christian Music CCM, praise & worship, rock Five stars US todayschristianmusic.com
The Underground All No rating US theundergroundsite.com Contains staff and contributor reviews. Use only if the review can be confirmed to be by staff. Reviews do not have their own section so it may be difficult to find specific reviews. It's not clear what they mean by being independent so use with caution.
Up Popular music No rating US uptv.com Formerly the Gospel Music Channel and GMC TV

Defunct

[edit]

Defunct print

[edit]
Publication Genre(s) Rating system Country Notes
7ball Metal, rock US 7ball.com per Wayback Machine
Christian Music Planet Popular music Five stars US Some reviews reprinted in New Release Tuesday.
OnCourse CCM, metal, praise & worship, rock Five or five stars US oncourse.ag.org
True Tunes News Alternative, metal, rock US

Defunct online

[edit]
Publication Genre(s) Rating system Country Website Notes
Alt Rock Live Metal, rock 8/10 or US altrocklive.com Also deals with non-Christian. Drew Bartlett (founder)
BREATHEcast CCM, Gospel, Praise & Worship, Rock No rating US breathecast.christianpost.com Affiliate of The Christian Post.
Christian Music Review Popular music Five or five stars , if not on the whole or half put 4.25 or 4.75/5; older grades B+/- US christianmusicreview.org Daniel Edgeman (current editor), Jay Heilman (former editor)
The Christian Music Review Blog Popular music A mixture five or five stars and out of ten or ten star US thechristianmusicreviewblog.com Jonathan Kemp (editor)
Christian Music Zine Popular music Five or five stars ,
older grades B+/-
US christianmusiczine.com Tyler Hess (editor)
cMusicWeb.com CCM, pop, praise and worship, rock, hip-hop, folk No rating US cmusicweb.com Ceased updates in 2005; creators and publisher launched InReview.net instead
CMSpin Popular music Sometimes out of ten US cmspin.com
inReview.net CCM, pop, praise and worship, rock, hip-hop, folk No rating US inreview.net Published by Different Media, a continuation of cMusicWeb.com. Has not updated since 2011.
Wade-O Radio Hip hop, praise & worship No rating US wadeoradio.com Some articles reprinted in Daily News, Houston Chronicle and The Wall Street Journal.

Defunct print and online

[edit]
Publication Genre(s) Rating system Country Website Notes
Cornerstone Popular music No rating US cornerstonemag.com Some reviews can be found by using the Wayback Machine.

Books

[edit]

Primarily or exclusively Christian

[edit]
  • 100 Greatest Songs in Christian Music: The Stories Behind the Music that Changed Our Lives Forever. Nashville: Thomas Nelson. 2006. ISBN 9781418561239.
  • Alfonso, Barry (2002). The Billboard guide to contemporary Christian music. Broadway: Billboard Book. ISBN 0823077187.
  • Brothers, Jeffery L. (1999). Hot Hits: Christian Hit Radio: 20 Years of Charts, Artist Bios, and More. Nashville: CCM Books.
  • Cusic, Don (2009). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music: Pop, Rock, and Worship. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313344268.
  • Cusic, Don (2002). The Sound of Light: A History of Gospel and Christian Music. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9781617743566.
  • Di Sabatino, David (1999). The Jesus People Movement: An Annotated Bibliography and General Resource. Bibliographies and Indexes in Religious Studies, Number 49. Westport: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0313302685.
  • Dowley, Tim (2011). Christian Music: A Global History. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress. ISBN 9780800698416.
  • Dowley, Tim (2011). The Lion Companion to Christian Music. Oxford: Lion Hudson. ISBN 9780745953243.
  • Foley, Edward (2009). Foundations of Christian Music. American essays in liturgy, Volume 24. Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press. ISBN 9781607243755.
  • Granger, Thom (2001). CCM Presents: The 100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music. Nashville: CCM Books.
  • Howard, Jay R; Streck, John M. (1999). Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music. Lexington, Kentucky: The University of Kentucky Press. ISBN 081319086X.
  • Joseph, Mark (1999). The Rock and Roll Rebellion: Why People of Faith Abandoned Rock Music—And Why They're Coming Back. Nashville: Broadman & Holman. ISBN 9780805420616.
  • King, Roberta Rose; Kidula, Jean Ngoya; Krabill, James R.; Oduro, Thomas (2008). Music in the Life of the African Church. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press. ISBN 9781602580220.
  • Moberg, Marcus (2009). Faster for the Master! Exploring Issues of Religious Expression and Alternative Christian Identity within the Finnish Christian Metal Music Scene. Turku: Åbo Akademi University Press. ISBN 978-951-765-492-0.
  • Powell, Mark Allan (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 1-56563-679-1.
  • Stowe, David Ware (2011). No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807834589.
  • Thompson, John J. (2000). Raised by Wolves: The Story of Christian Rock & Roll. Toronto, Ontario: ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-421-4.
  • Wilson-Dickson, Andrew (2003). The Story of Christian Music: From Gregorian Chant to Black Gospel: an Authoritative Illustrated Guide to All the Major Traditions of Music for Worship (2nd ed.). Minneapolis: Fortress Press. ISBN 9780800634742.

Includes Christian artists

[edit]
Contemporary Musicians is a multi-volume general reference work. It covers the modern era of music, and does not leave out Christian artists, so long as they have had a measurable impact. It is published as a hardback periodical; each volume has its own ISBN in addition to the series ISSN.
This is an indispensable general market resource for broad information on 1980s era metal bands, though it has few full biographies.
The foremost book on the New Wave of American Heavy Metal, it includes many Christian hardcore and metal acts from the mid-90's onward.
Examines the impact of Christianity and faith on rock music.
Mean Deviation focuses on progressive and experimental metal music and associated topics. It includes profiles of artists associated with Christian metal.

Academic papers

[edit]

Self-published

[edit]

Self-published sources are generally unacceptable as references on Wikipedia. An artist's social networking site, such as Facebook or Twitter, in addition to personal blogs and forum posts, should largely be avoided. If the information being added from one of these websites is truly notable enough for inclusion, a publication will likely report about it. However, the following sources are classified as reliable self-published sources, as the authors have worked for other, reliable publications. Use of them is acceptable under the following conditions: They MUST NOT be used to make statements about living persons except for information about themselves. They also should ONLY be used if no other source for the information can be found. For more details on usage of self-published sources, see WP:SPS, WP:ABOUTSELF, and WP:BLPSPS. Only the writers mentioned in this table are considered reliable self-published sources on the listed websites.

Publication Author Genre(s) Rating Country Website Notes
Blacforje Magazine Andrew Voigt Black metal and dungeon synth No rating US blacforjemagazine.com Only use content from Voigt
Jay's Musik Blog (now defunct) Jay Wright CCM, metal, praise & worship, rock Out of five or five stars US jaysmusikblog.com Many reviews reprinted at New Release Tuesday, those are not self-published.
Notes from the Sketch Pad Sketch the Journalist Hip hop, praise & worship No rating US sketchthejournalist.blogspot.com Many articles also appear in the Houston Chronicle, DaSouth.com, Rapzilla, and Wade-O Radio, those are not self-published.
Metal for Jesus (now defunct) Johannes Jonsson Metal, rock Out of five guitars Sweden metalforjesus.org
The Whipping Post (now defunct) Matt Morrow Metal, rock, underground Out of ten skulls European thewhippingpost.tripod.com Some articles appear in similar form in HM. Occasionally deals with non-Christian.
No Life 'til Metal Scott Waters Metal, some rock No rating US nolifetilmetal.com Some recent reviews appear in HM. Only use reviews written during or after 2013, which is when HM began publishing reviews by Waters.

Not reliable

[edit]
  • The Worship Community [1]
  • Praise.com [2] - About us does not list staff and no staff list could be found.

Acceptable charts

[edit]

United States

[edit]
Publication Information Charts
The CCM Update Published by CCM Magazine and originally known as MusicLine, this was the only Christian chart format until the charts ended on April 15, 2002. The charts were updated monthly from July 1978 to September 1986, bi-weekly from September 1986 to June 1992, and weekly from June 1992 to April 15, 2002.

Chart histories are generally unavailable online, but some are available in individual magazines as well as three out-of-print books:

  • Hot Hits: Christian hit radio (Jeffery Lee Brothers) - Published in 1999; includes all the history of the Christian hit radio chart from 1978 to 1997. This book is incredibly hard to find.
  • Hot Hits: AC Charts 1978-2001 (Jeffery Lee Brothers) - Published in 2003; includes all the history of the AC chart as well as all #1 hits on the CHR chart.
  • Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (Mark Allan Powell) - Published in 2002; includes all charting CHR songs for artists with biographies.

The CCM Update is reliable for pre-Radio & Records charts, and was the only magazine to publish CCM charts from 1978 to 2001. It is preferred to use the Radio & Records charts once the comparable chart there was created.

User:Toa Nidhiki05 owns Hot Hits: AC Charts and The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music and will gladly find the numbers for you if asked.

  • Adult Contemporary (1981–82; 1985–2002)
  • Black Gospel (1981-85)
  • Country (1995-98)
  • Christian Hit Radio (1978–2002)
  • Inspirational (1978–2002)
  • Metal (1990-93)
  • Rock (1983–2002)
  • Southern Gospel (1978-86)
Radio & Records R&R began covering Christian charts in 2001. While not available in a database, nearly complete archives of R&R charts can be found at AmericanRadioHistory.com, including year-end charts. R&R Christian charts were published weekly from April 27, 2001 until June 2009, when the magazine was shuttered and Billboard took over all formats.

R&R charts are reliable and a good accompaniment for the Billboard charts, especially in regards to the Christian CHR, INSPO, and Christian Rock formats, which Billboard did not cover for most of when Radio & Records was active.

  • Christian CHR (April 27, 2001 – June 5, 2009)
  • Christian Rock (April 27, 2001 – June 5, 2009)
  • Christian AC (May 25, 2001 – June 2009)
  • INSPO (June 7, 2002 – June 2009)
  • Christian AC Indicator (May 7, 2004 – June 5, 2009)
Billboard Billboard began covering CCM singles with the creation of the Christian Songs and Hot Christian AC charts on June 21, 2003. After the shuttering of R&R in 2009, Billboard took over publication of the Christian CHR, INSPO (Christian Soft AC), and Christian Rock charts. The latter two have been discontinued as of 2019.

Chart histories are available in database form at Billboard.com and Billboard.biz, and AmericanRadioHistory.com has full archives of most magazine issues up until 2016. The smaller Billboard charts (Christian AC, Christian AC Indicator, CHR, Soft AC, and Christian Rock) are only available on Billboard.biz, which has a paywall, but individual song/album results can be found through manual search.

Beginning November 28, 2013, the Christian Songs chart began incorporating digital downloads and streaming, as well as radio play from secular stations if a song on the chart receives mainstream play. The old airplay-only format continues on the Christian Airplay chart, and both charts have identical archives going back to June 21, 2003.

Active

  • Christian Albums (March 29, 1980 – present)
  • Christian Songs (June 21, 2003 – present)
  • Christian AC Songs (June 21, 2003 – present)
  • Christian AC Indicator (September 19, 2009 – present)
  • Christian Hot AC/CHR (September 19, 2009 – present)
  • Christian Digital Songs (January 23, 2010 – present)
  • Christian Airplay (December 7, 2013 – present)
  • Christian Streaming Songs (December 7, 2013 – present)

Discontinued

  • Christian Rock (September 19, 2009 – December 22, 2018)
  • Christian Soft AC (September 19, 2009 – February 3, 2018)
Chart history

International

[edit]

See also

[edit]