The veteran editor of CROSS RHYTHMS magazine, Tony Cummings, takes a personal look back on Cross Rhythms' 10 years of publication, and his own beginnings in music journalism.

Tony Cummings interview Cliff Richard

With the 10th year of Cross Rhythms, it seems appropriate to look back. But with the recent appearance of a pop history book I've been encouraged to reminisce even further on that moment in May 1990 when issue one of Cross Rhythms landed in Britain's Christian bookshops. As many readers may know, I've been involved in music journalism since the tender age of 16. Now a book has been published, The In Crowd: The Story Of The Northern Soul & Rare Soul Scene by Mike Ritson and Stuart Russell which covers bits of my personal history. Intriguingly, I think it reveals the parallels and differences between "secular" music journalism and the Christian music journalism in which I am now so involved. And though The In Crowd carries no spiritual agenda, it also reveals the limitations of fandom and how being an avid music fan is never going to adequately fill the void of a life without Christ. The In Crowd chronicles the early years of Britain's club culture and the way in which an audience developed in the UK in the early '60s for R&B music. Amongst many other things it recounts how, in 1963,1 edited my first magazine, originally called Soul then Soul Music Monthly, and finally Shout. This tiny circulation fanzine was published by me with the help of Dave McAleer (now the compiler of pop trivia books), Charlie Gillett (who went on to become an acclaimed pop historian and broadcaster) and Clive Richardson (who took over the editorship of Shout when I left to write for Record Mirror).

The In Crowd records the strange elitism of this bunch of R&B fanatics who had gathered to find a new name for their fanzine. Richardson thought the London R&B scene was very close knit. "It was like a brotherhood, a gathering of like-minded souls." The book recalls how "one of the gang had spotted a headline in a music paper where Cliff Richard had spoken of 'His Kind Of Soul'. They were desperate not to be associated in any way with Richard, so they compiled a list of alternative names which would create an image, as far as possible away from that of the pop star. Tony Cummings' favourite 45 - the Isley Brothers' "Shout" - saved the day.
The In Crowd goes on to quote my thoughts about this brotherhood. "Soul music buffs back then really felt they were on some sort of religious crusade. The music of African Americans was being plundered and copied by a white music industry and the British cover versions of US R&B songs were loathed by us. We had the recorded evidence that 'Money' by Barrett Strong, or 'Go Now' by Bessie Banks were vastly superior to the Beatles and the Moody Blues and hundreds more and our mission was to spread the word about the originators."

The soul fans of the '60s and 70s with their 'Keep The Faith' badges and unremitting passion for their chosen musical heroes were indeed engaged in a religious crusade. Today, of course, you'll find many similar music cliques in our culture. Those prone to sound off about "the cozy Christian music subculture" might indeed see contemporary Christian music as just one more little clique. I think such a view fails to grasp the genuine zeal for Christ and his Kingdom which undergirds the Christian music scene. For CCM followers know, like no other group of music enthusiasts, the limitations of fandom and that no music, be it soul music or country music, fanatically pursuing Oasis or obsessively following Delirious?, can genuinely fill the deepest needs of the human heart.

What is unique, of course, about the Christian music genre is that it has the potential to deepen a relationship with God, rather than being one more sad 20th century idol. The In Crowd records that by the mid 70s I had personally come to the realisation that soul music was a woefully inadequate god. "Here was a journo who'd gone from being a passionate R&B fan, writing for a mag run off on a duplicator, to a publicity department lackey who, when not stoned, was a bemused spectator of a corrupt record industry. I had entered black music journalism as a kind of populist scholar, trying to record for some imagined Academy of Black Music Studies all the information I could on every black American musician I came across. I left it disillusioned with the giant-sized egos and the money-lust I was increasingly encountering and frightened by what my recanting of the black music religion might lead to. I dropped out, left behind my beloved record collection and returned to Britain."

Today, looking back on my "R&B years" (1963-1976) I see that without them, I would never have taken that terrifying leap of faith to birth Cross Rhythms magazine in 1990. When I received a "call" from God in a bathroom in Walsall, the Lord told me that my whole life had been a preparation for the work ahead. During those years as an R&B journalist I came to recognise that music could invoke in those touched by it deep passions, zealous loyalty and a hint of the transcendent C S Lewis refers to as "the experience of intense longing" that art can awaken in the human soul. That experience was awoken in me when I heard "Shout" by the Isley Brothers and other soul records all those years ago. But though I committed my life to promoting and documenting the soul music I found that over many years my enthusiasm for the music gradually diminished. With the benefit of hindsight I now see that "Shout" and all those R&B records actually were gospel records with the Gospel removed, secularisations of the sound of black church which by removing God from their lyrics lost the means of guiding the listener directly toward the living God. Instead, of course, they often expounded the cheap and profoundly dishonest lyrical conventions of most 20th century popular songs - namely that in man/woman relationships we will find the fulfilment of our deepest longings; or alternatively that meaningless sex is what we want and need. Looking back, I'd say it was the transparent dishonesty of the romanticism and lust of much contemporary music which eventually alienated me from music journalism. That, coupled with plenty of close up experience of the ugly side of the record business, convinced me that I would never return. Clearly God had other plans.

When I started Cross Rhythms magazine in 1990, my editorial plans for the magazine seemed straightforward. My years editing both tiny circulation fanzines like Shout and big circulation magazines like Black Music had convinced me that there was a sizable audience for "serious" music journalism. And my time as assistant editor for Buzz had shown me the value of Christian magazines, particularly ones that strove to make the Christian faith relevant to our fast changing culture. So, with that commission from God still resounding in my soul, I set out my editorial agenda:
1. Cross Rhythms was to be a catalyst in increasing awareness of Christian music in Britain;
2. It was to be a publication of journalistic excellence;
3. It was to carry a spiritual message as it informed its readers and critiqued the art. Now, with our 10th year of publication upon us, this seems a good moment to analyse Cross Rhythms' success and failures in these three aims.

10 years on I would say Cross Rhythms' aim to be a catalyst for growth of Christian music in Britain has only been fulfilled in part. Christian music has taken significant strides in the last decade. From Sir Cliff and Delirious? in the pop charts to hundreds of independent artists releasing their own albums, the Christian music marketplace has expanded and Cross Rhythms has played, I believe, a key part in that growth. Most of the biggest selling artists in the British Christian music scene received their first ever-editorial coverage in Britain in the pages of Cross Rhythms. As has been proven on quite a few occasions, we are able to take an artist with a "demo" or "independent release" with a small regional following and encourage more discerning readers to investigate their music, thereby taking them a step up towards national consumer consciousness. But with a still small circulation Cross Rhythms is aware of its limitations. In the same way that I was once editor of a small circulation R&B fanzine that was to carry an influence way beyond its small readership and pave the way for R&B to today become mainstream popular music, I believe Cross Rhythms is today carrying out that same function in the Christian music arena. Cross Rhythms doesn't have the circulation to make a Christian musician a UK best seller, bought, or at least investigated, by the casual browser of the Christian bookshop CD racks. To help them in their endeavours to achieve that, the record labels have developed their own advertorials, Premier and now Juice. I believe it is as a militant, small-readership, big-influence opinion-builder that Cross Rhythms magazine largely functions. In the coming years though the UK CCM scene could significantly change. It is in another communications arena, radio, that Cross Rhythms is doing its most groundbreaking work. For it could be argued that until UCB's battle to change Britain's broadcasting laws bares fruit even the tireless efforts of the UK companies can only expand the market so far (remember the biggest UK Christian music seller, outside of the Cliffs and Delirious?, is Matt Redman with 60,000 units) and that it is access to the airwaves, above everything else on the British scene, that is needed.

Cross Rhythms set out to be a publication journalistic excellence. That, of course, is a very subjective concept. For the marketing man excellence perhaps can only be gauged by a magazine's circulation figure. Such a view is understandable, particularly in a field of art that gets its very name by referring to the size of its audience. It is "popular" music after all. But as we all know, pop music is often promoted and written about in the most shallow and demeaning way by mass circulation publications; as a cursory glance at the pop coverage of The Sun or the top selling Smash Hits magazine will demonstrate. In-depth interviews; articles on "unknown" artists; efforts to bring spiritual overview rather than promoting mere consumerism; or discourses like this one; are transparently not the stuff of big readership pop coverage. From issue 1, Cross Rhythms has striven to be an informed voice rather than a shrill exhortation to merely buy.

Now it could be argued that we have taken Cross Rhythms down the road of the Christian Music broadsheet when we should have steered it in the direction of the Christian music tabloid. A record company executive once exhorted us to turn Cross Rhythms into a CCM Smash Hits. But I don't think that was an option for Cross Rhythms. When Cross Rhythms was launched there was, in Premier, already a big circulation free advertorial going out to Christian music fans. Now Juice, complete with free CD and featuring the biggest names in CCM, is also effectively expanding the marketplace. We see these as necessary tools in expanding and raising awareness of quality CCM. But we also recognise that Cross Rhythms has a vision to be an independent voice chronicling the WHOLE of Christian music. We will continue to write about the biggest names in CCM. But we will also continue to cover grassroots music ministries who don't have a huge multi-national behind them. We have, in fact, moved into a thrilling era of music marketing. Technological developments like the internet, cheap midi systems and CD burners has meant that most Christian musicians, rather than the select few fortunate enough to land a Christian record company contract, can record a CD and begin the process of building a following and ministry. Cross Rhythms magazine and radio enthusiastically encourage this movement which, to some extent, returns artistic and financial control back to the artist. And as our readers can see from the record number of artist entries in our sixth Christian Music Directory, this grassroots movement continues to grow in Britain's churches.

Cross Rhythms' third original aim, to carry a spiritual message, is, I believe, still evolving. Much has happened in our nation over the last 10 years, and much has happened in the lives of those who write within these pages. In particular, I would say that since its inception Cross Rhythms has grown in it's vision of the Kingdom of God and how essential it is for every church and every Christian to move beyond the mere practice of religion to find the dynamic of the living, communicative God effecting every thought and action of our lives. Secondly, I would say that our expectation of Holy Spirit revival coming to Britain has never been greater. I have documented those outpourings of God's Spirit in, first, Toronto, then Pensacola. But we genuinely believe that Britain will have an even more powerful visitation and that contemporary Christian music, as was prophesied some years back at the National Day of Prayer & Fasting For Christian Music, will be a spearhead in this revival.

As the social historians tell us, Britain is a postmodern culture. Way back in the '60s it was a motley bunch of R&B fanatics meeting to plan a new name for their fanzine who were put out by Cliff Richard's use of the word "soul". Today it is BBC Radio One publicly vilifying Cliff for his "Millennium Prayer" while our culture descends ever deeper into the abyss of decadence. We need, as never before, to hear "God music" pouring from our airwaves as our nation humbles itself and prays. I believe we will see it happen.