Creep to Cruel

Hey remember this? I think we were on the letter C …

Now it’s hard to say now if he’s only stupid or smart
When he crawled through the door
And poured out more
of his creeping-Jesus heart

“Creep,” Radiohead
“Crescent City,” Emmylou Harris
“Cricket,” Thee Spivies
“Crimes of Paris,” Elvis Costello & The Attractions
“Criminal,” Fiona Apple
“Criminal World,” David Bowie
“Crimson and Clover,” Tommy James & The Shondells
“Crimson and Clover,” Joan Jett
“Criticism as Inspiration,” Pedro the Lion
“Cross That Line,” Randy Stonehill
“Crucifixion Cruise,” The Hold Steady
“Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World,” Johnny Clegg & Savuka

“Cross That Line” is D-grade Randy Stonehill. It’s the sort of song that seems like it was written to gain the approval of evangelical youth ministers looking for an unthreatening “CCM” soundtrack for the kids they’ve been hired to keep safe within the bubble. I can’t complain too much about that tactic, since it seems to have worked. Thanks to songs like that one, we kids had permission to listen to his other, better music. I wore out the vinyl on my copy of Uncle Randy’s Equator and despite (or because of) the dueling bagpipes and Ethel Merman impressions, I caught a glimpse there of something subversive. In that setting, of course, the threshhold for “subversive” was pretty low, but I’m still grateful. And if boilerplate, disposable CCM tracks like “Cross That Line” somehow helped to allow for that, then I suppose I’m grateful for those songs as well.