Switchfoot

I'm sure you've heard of, or at least have heard, Switchfoot. In my personal quest for good music by Christian artists people have mentioned them more than once. But after scanning a couple of tracks, I dismissed them as being too poppy. Well, they haven't stopped making pop songs but I'm giving them a second listen.

I've thought the mythical kind of band I would love to listen to and support would be a great rock band whose members "just happened" to be Christian. What happens in reality is, either a Christian band tries to crossover losing one audience while gaining another (like Sixpence), the band or artists flop (too many to name here), or the band has no identity as Christians and they might as well be any other band. Commercially, DC Talk might be closest to "living in the balance" that I listened to (Jesus Freak went double Platinum- people were definitely listening), although I can't really say they made much of an impact in terms of public mindshare.

Switchfoot is a band that is successfully playing to that secular/sacred balance. They achieved some success on re:think/Sparrow Records but after their role in the movie "A Walk To Remember" with Mandy Moore, and moving to major label Columbia is when they started really making a splash.

Two different groups of people have to relate to their lyrics and I think they do a decent job of writing lyrics that are broad enough that anyone can identify with them while being honest and not completely watered down. See what you think.

Daisy is an interesting song from their latest album Nothing Is Sound, and the Goo Goo Dolls-y Dare You To Move is an earlier radio single from The Beautiful Letdown.

Daisy - Nothing Is Sound
Dare You To Move - The Beautiful Letdown