Curb Your Enthusiasm vs Christian rock

GOOD THING: CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM

The UK produces The Office; the US throws Arrested Development back across the pond. The UK makes Extras, and the US gives us Curb Your Enthusiasm. America gives us its fair share of rubbish, unfunny comedies (Everybody Loves Raymond, Will & Grace etc), but then redeems itself by coming up with comedy as incredible as Curb Your Enthusiasm. Well, Larry David came up with it. In fact, he is Curb Your Enthusiasm. I'm ashamed to say that I came to this programme very late (about 6 years late), but I intend to make up for it fully. It's one of those programmes which, if you like that sort of bizarre, spare, unflinching comedy, grabs you from the very first episode and won't let you go. Putting yourself at the centre of such a comedy is a very brave thing to do, especially as we're never actually sure to what degree David is playing a 'fictionalised' version of himself. His character, if you can call him that, gets himself into the most horrendous, socially-mortifying situations with remarkable ease. It's like watching a car-crash in show motion, but it's totally compelling because it's so horribly believable. I also had assumed that the actress who plays David's wife Cheryl was actually his wife, so realistic is their portrayal of middle-aged matrimony. It's also interesting to see the weird and unusual types who hover on the periphery of showbusiness and inhabit the world of a screenwriter.

BAD THING: CHRISTIAN ROCK
I have absolutely nothing against Christians whatsoever; I come from a family of them, and have every respect for people choosing to follow a religion. However, when Christianity and rock music collide, some very bad things tend to happen. Crimes are committed left, right and centre. The picture above is of Delirious?, the only Christian rock band I have had the dubious pleasure of seeing live in concert. To be fair, they weren't that bad, but there seems something slightly dishonest about Christians getting into rock music. I wouldn't go so far as to say that rock 'n' roll is the devil's domain, but it seems a bit wrong for Christians to be spreading their message through guitar-driven music - and we're not talking about acoustic guitars with rainbow straps. Delirious? are one of the few bands to break into the mainstream and make their mark on the charts (if only briefly), but there also bands like P.O.D., who masquerade as rap/alternative metal while bringing the gospel to the people. In fact, lots of nu-metallers took their CDs back to shops in disgust when they found out that there was religious connotation. The same religion whose followers (well, some of them) burn the records of certain rock artists should not be dipping their toes in the same river (of Hades.) Some of them are quite blatant in their band names, which at least gives people a heads-up. e.g. Out of Eden, The Crucified, but then there are plenty of others who slyly give their bands quite ordinary rock names. The fact is, that real rock fans just don't buy it, and - like riding in the back of a car, and wearing socks with sandals - some things will never, ever be cool.