Wyatt Unhinged: Why (Christian) Music Peaked in 2011

    Yes...just like that cough that comes back just when you think it's finally gone, Wyatt Unhinged hath returned. And today, I'm talking about why music peaked in 2011. Specifically 2011.

    Let me make something clear. I listen to Dad Rock. Christian Dad Rock, to be specific. Poor Old Lu, Grammatrain, Falling Up, the O.C. Supertones, Bleach, and Stavesacre, to name a few. Stuff from the early Christian Rock scene, but also a bit after that, like Disciple, Thousand Foot Krutch, Pillar, Skillet, and so on and so forth.

    Now, why do I state that music peaked in 2011? To be more specific, Christian music? One word: Hillsong. Now, while Hillsong has been around since before 2011, their sub-genre of worship music didn't really take off into mainstream Christian music until around 2011, around the same time as Matt Redman was becoming popular and Chris Tomlin was one of the biggest names in Christian music. As a caveat, worship music like Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, and Hillsong has been around since the early 2000s, as evidenced by Kutless' "Strong Tower". After Hillsong and worship music blew up and became the biggest names in Christian music, we would start to see, especially on the radio, the rise of worship bands. Now, whenever I listen to the radio (which in itself is a once in a blue moon event), all I hear is worship bands.

    Now hear me out. I think that worship bands are fine. But when you have an almost total monopoly on radio play time and almost no other Christian sub-genre gets played, that's when we have an issue. It gets boring. Sometimes my brain has trouble even registering the simple fact that I've just listened to five different songs by five different artists, yet the music sounds so similar that I don't really notice a change. Meanwhile, Christian music from before the worshipoply (I just made that word up. It's a word now. Deal with it) sounded different tonally, lyrically, and even in the beat itself. And that was a good thing. It was a healthy variety. I'm not asking for radio stations like WayFM to start playing Skillet's "Ash in the Wind" right after Phil Wickham's "Battle Belongs"; I'm just asking for more variety.

That variety was evident in 2011. We had just seen Thousand Foot Krutch release their best album ever, "Welcome to the Masquerade" (fight me on this. I dare you), and Skillet dropped "Awake" which is one of the greatest Christian Rock albums of all time. Chris Tomlin had "And If Our God Is For Us", and there were still many other great Christian music albums coming out. I distinctly remember hearing songs like Skillet's "Feel Invincible" on WayFM or Air1 (I don't remember which), albeit this was in 2016, but there was still that single word defining the music on Christian radio waves: variety.

    And I do listen to Christian music from after 2011. I just think that Christian music from before 2011 was better. And I chose 2011 as a key point in time, since this was when there was a balance. Worship music was for church, and a minor part of Christian radio; Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) was the majority of the Christian music genre/Christian radio; and Christian Rock was a healthy sub-genre of the genre called Christian Music, and while it may not have had a ton of airtime on the radio, it was still there. To quote Thanos: "Perfectly Balanced. As all things should be". 2011 was the best time for Christian music, especially on the radio, for it was balanced.

    And before you say, "the music has evolved, and that's why worship music is so popular", I offer you a counterpoint. Christian Rock hasn't gone anywhere. Skillet has dropped two albums since 2020, Disciple dropped "Skeleton Psalms" in 2023, Earthsuit dropped "The Rise of Modern Simulation" on January 22nd of this year, 2026. The music that helped create Christian music as it is today is still alive and kicking, and the fact that most people who listen to Christian music can't even tell you who they are is astounding. Most people can tell you that we wouldn't have Nirvana without the Beatles, and we wouldn't have the Beatles without the Rock n' Roll of the 50's. Understanding where your music came from is vital to enjoying it more.

    So, in conclusion, to all my Christians out there who have never even listened to early CCM or the Christian Rock of the early 2000's, I have one request, which I will convey using a lyric from Earthsuit's song "One Time": "People of the rock come and rock one time".

    Rant over.