• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Larry Norman has gone home to be with the Lord

R

radioboy

One of the pioneers of CCM music, Larry Norman, passed away on Feb. 24.

His brother Charles has written a letter with more information at
http://www.larrynorman.com
 
In that day... Many will say... "I'd wish we'd all been ready'..... Larry was more than ready and his eternal heart will not be faint, nor weak... It will beat forever with "The One" he proclaimed in verse and song... See you later, trubadour Norman....
 
He will definitely be missed.

Are any tributes being done anywhere?
Click to expand...

WJTL in Lancaster, PA did tribute to Larry on the Monday morning show. They played several of his songs. I must say that the eeriest and sadest moments for me was hearing "...I don't want none of those funeral marches - I ain't dead yet..." in "Why Should The Devil (Have All The Good Music)". They also kicked off their "classic cafe" lunch hour with three Norman tunes.
 
AFR's CCM network mentioned Larry's passing and read his brother Charlie's letter, and I was told that the regular AFR network mentioned it as well. K-LOVE had an article on their website and might have mentioned it at some time on the air, but I didn't hear it yet. I'd think that Jon Rivers would have something on 20, but that may be later.

I talked to the station manager at WIGH 88.7, the AFR affiliate for Jackson, TN, and was told that they plan to do something on their Friday morning show when the co-host for that day, who has more of a CCM connection than anyone else. I also found out that WTKB 93.7 in Jackson is working on a tribute. The one common factor is that none of the stations have played any of Larry's music. WTKB and WIGH are looking for music, but they were still working on it.

It's sad that as much as Larry did to bring about CCM that his music isn't being played, even after his death. They're mentioning Larry but not playing even a sample of his music. I'm not surprised at that with CCM stations like WTKB and even AFR that have only been playing CCM for a short time and only play more recent music, but it looks like K-LOVE would be in the best position to have at least some of Larry's music, but they aren't playing it.
 
Larry Norman was the trailblazer...We wouldn't have Amy Grant,Don Francisco,John Michael and TerryTalbot,Phil Keaggy,Randy Stonehill,Mary Mary and all the others if it weren't for him.

Peace be with 'ya Larry!
 
Can't deny the man's impact on the format. For all you out there who are hedging on whether or not (or how little or how much) to do a tribute, please remember one-time Rock legend WNEW-FM/New York, which got shredded after going to the adult album alternative format, when: "... after the death of The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia in 1995, bereft Dead fans turned to the station for solace, only to be greeted with current hits from The Smashing Pumpkins and Hootie and the Blowfish and very little about their fallen idol." (Wikipedia)

Respectfully, if the best feature on Larry Norman I hear comes from NPR rather than Christian radio, then shame on us all... remembering and honoring our history doesn't as much stray from our format as much as enhance it http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=64442288 .
 
It would help if the station is still playing Larry Norman in the format. I don't believe I've heard one of his songs on the radio in nearly 10 years. I'm probably listening to the wrong station. :)

Unfortunately a lot of the great old music has gone by the wayside. :(

Sad to see that Larry passed ... but a bit of a relief as well due to the illness.
No one likes death but he is certainly in a better place.
 
Larry was releasing his albums on CDs through his own label, but didn't have major distribution. I'd think that the only Christian stations that had any of his music were the ones who went specifically looking for it, and would only be the ones that made time for classic CCM. Most of the stations that have come on in the 90's and later are only playing CCM from that time, so earlier CCM, including Larry, gets left out. Even K-LOVE, who has been around since the early 80's, doesn't play anything older than the last 10 years.

I hate to say it, but the PBS report does sound better than any report that was on a Christian station that I've heard so far. AFR acknowledged his place in Christian music history, but they didn't play even one clip of his music at the time I heard it. I'd guess that K-LOVE had a report on their news, but I didn't hear it, and it probably wasn't any better. I never got to hear if WAY-FM or Air 1 did anything, but it was probably just a short mention as well.
 
We actually had a couple of Norman's classics in our gold section (on cart in those days) of the original WAY-FM (WAYJ) in Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral...Cira 1987 to 91.... "I Wish We'd All Been Ready", "Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music" and "Only Visiting This Planet"...

"Skip" the original music director of WAY-FM in 1987.....
 
The other day, I was listening to the NPR piece on Larry Norman on my computer at work. The station's technician, a new Christian and a pretty good guitar player, overheard the bit of "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?" He had, to this point, never even heard of Larry Norman.

He was spellbound by what he heard, and asked me to try and find him some of his music so he could learn it. It turns out YouTube has some video of Norman. My tech is now practicing the tune, and has promised to play it for my church when he learns it well enough.

That is the power of a good song, and a committed Christian. The combination never really dies.

Later....
Matt Smith
WGSR-TV, Reidsville, NC
 
In the church I grew up in (Southern Baptist, but still very conservative in its methods, even now) it was a regular thing to hear I Wish We'd All Been Ready, and even the older people who were against CCM liked it because someone they considered "acceptable" did it. I always had this fantasy of getting Larry to do a concert and only telling them that the guy who wrote the song was being invited to sing. Although I wouldn't have been able to get it past the music director who thought the song was good, but knew enough about Larry that he wouldn't do it, I would loved to seen how many older people who liked the song but hated CCM would have had a heart attack when Larry walked up, even before singing the first note. :eek:

"Look out Elizabeth, this is the big one!!!" ;D
 
Many of Larry's songs are known by their remakes.

I have three versions of "Why Should the Devil" ... one tame one by Larry, one "more modern" one by Geoff Moore and one "really noisy" one by Larry with Geoff Moore (head bangers enjoy!).

"I Wish We'd All Been Ready" is a beautiful message ... but it sounds like someone's playing a 45 at 33 on stations that have moved on to faster music (a better match for Michael Card than Geoff Moore). DCTalk's cover is good ... with their remix being better, IMHO.

There are a lot of Norman songs that SHOULD be played on the radio ... even if it is only remakes from the tribute album. Great messages that have been lost. The same can be said about other artists that made CCM what it is today who have been quietly swept aside only to be played on Moody stations (or not at all).
 
I think today's CCM managers have tunnel vision.

Like their competitors, they rely on focus groups, "testing" and other such nonsense, and thus make their programming sound as lame and uninteresting as other FM stations.

CCM of the 70s and 80s was great and brought a lot of people to the format.

Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith did in no way invent CCM.

Unfortunately, you'd never know about any of the great CCM of the past on most CCM stations these days thanks to radio managers who more resemble pharasees. THey will control the vertical, they will control the horizontal...
 
I am somewhat in the 'tunnel vision' agreement.... I think we've got into our 'choir' of suburban white females and have watered down our potiential to meet the need of the younger demo Christians, and yet be Evangelical and plant a lot of seed to the lost who understand the CCM language... Especially CHR.. It sounds so Hot AC today.... Way and Air-1 sound great, but are a shadow of the 'edge' they once were, compared to their secular formatic counterparts..... Still believe we are making a difference, but feel we have lost some of our edge to 'expand' The Kingdom.... ;)
 
anotherguy said:
Larry was releasing his albums on CDs through his own label, but didn't have major distribution. I'd think that the only Christian stations that had any of his music were the ones who went specifically looking for it, and would only be the ones that made time for classic CCM.
Click to expand...
Doesn't that say a lot about the CCM recording establishment.

I heard David Meece had to sue to get his master recordings, as the record co. (a "CCM" label - right) would in no way let him even touch them. The label did not want anyone to benefit. It was their recordings and anyone, including the artist, wanting to re-release recordings on CD could just go to ....

Larry Norman couldn't get a label interested in his great music.

Randy Matthews lived in near- poverty and works now as a pirate for a cruise ship or hotel.

What a lot CCM recording co's did/ do for the genre's pioneers.
 
And now Larry Norman is reaping the only reward he sought. Fitting in a way.

That isn't to say that the labels and others should treat the pioneers badly, but the pioneers I remember are the ones who were not in it for the fame and the gold. They were in it for the God.

After all, he was "only visiting this planet".
 
You hit the nail on the head my freind. Larry always glorified God and not himself.

By the way I still have "that album" you mentioned on the old Verve Forecast label along with its follow-up "So Long Ago...The Garden"

Surely he along with Keith Green, Bill Allen "The Hossman" from WLAC and the others are jammin' and praisin' with the angels as we speak.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom