music review II: Nothing is Sound

In the midst of the music universe, I find either find secular music that is designed with the intent to entertain and excite one's own desires or I find fundamental music that is bold and stead fast with the intent to draw one nearer to God by worship. The question today is: Where does Switchfoot fall?

Being one of the most popular rock bands in the world, I'm almost positive you already have an opinion of them. Most people have very strong opinions of Switchfoot and I would love to hear yours (even if we disagree).

To tell you the truth, I had two main reasons I wanted to post music reviews. The first was to introduce you to my favorite Hispanic music artist. The second reason was to discuss Switchfoot. Whether you think they are too worldly or whether you think they are full of truth, I'd love for you to comment your opinion!

"What is true happiness?" asks Switchfoot frontman Jon Foreman. "Is it a comfortable four-door sedan with tinted windows? Does it mean I have 2.3 children and a beautiful wife and live in a great neighborhood? Everyone has their own version of what happiness means, but many of the things we're going for, and I include myself in this, are absurd. There's this moment in Jewish scripture, in Ecclesiastes, where it says, 'Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless.' That's the place where our new record starts."

I've heard several times that Switchfoot is a Christian band. In fact Jon says himself, "Without some sort of external influence on the social plane, I find no logical reason why humankind didn't see her last day a long time ago." But one of the first things I was wondering when listening to the CD for the first time was why the lyrics seem so sad. "Lonely Nation" is full of depressing observations of this world and then "Happy is a Yuppie Word" continues the thought saying that "everything is meaningless". In this world where "sex is easier than love" and "we are the slaves of what we want" we seem to be toppling to the day when "the world caves in". How could people who suppousedly know hope sing these sad songs? Has Switchfoot gone into problems with depression? Or... are they trying to say something?

On the Switchfoot website, Jon says, "So in the half-light glow of radio shows, music videos, and greedy billboard charts I am aware of a darkness that is beyond me, I am coming to terms with my unbelief. No, I don't believe in rock and roll. No, I don't believe in the success that we've achieved. And no, I don't believe in me. In a free market world of the bought and sold I feel caught in between. I believe I've heard about a man who was exploited to sell everything from indulgences to the wars of men. And yet he offered only one bitter pill that was not easily marketed. Maybe that's what this record hopes to be: a simple bitter pill of truth that steps outside of our hamster wheel and looks up at the stars and beyond."

This is where the hopeful songs come in. The depressing songs were sung to open eyes to corruption and now Switchfoot throws in reassurance that there is hope. I didn't really like their noisy hit single "Stars" until I finaly realized the hope they try to communicate. The second verse goes:

"I've been thinking about the meaning of resistance
Of a hope beyond my own
And suddenly the infinite and penitent
Begin to look like home"

From there, they sing that when looking at the stars (the heavens) they see someone else other than the lonely faces here on earth. Does this song make any sense unless you think Biblically?

My favorite track on their CD is "The Shadow Proves the Sunshine". Not only is it jam packed with encouraging truth but it sums up what I think is the mission of Switchfoot. Yes, everything is meaningless, happy is a yuppie word, the world will cave in, we are slaves of what we want, we are crooked souls and sex monsters, we are tearing the the world apart... BUT, just hold fast till the break of daylight. The fact that the world is full of darkness proves that there is a light somewhere. In order to find it we must give the son of sorrow the fatal wound and let go of this world that doesn't hold our interest. Then everything will be made new like freedom in the spring. Yes, nothing is sound... until the shadow proves the sunshine.

In the end, I have come to see Switchfoot as a bridge between those among that lonely and meaningless group of people to the golden and united place beyond the setting sun. Could they be a little more staightforward in presenting the answer to this world's problems? Yes I think they could be at times. But their approach to the lost people of the world intrigues me. I believe that these guys have been blessed with an amazing oportunity to have a huge ministry. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from these crazy dudes.

"The bitter struggle for meaning and truth in the postmodern world is a subject matter that I don't think I could ever exhaust.” (Jon)