Amy Grant, Pop Stars & the Industry That Trapped Them?

The 1980s gave us Amy Grant on MTV, Stryper throwing Bibles into a metal crowd, and Sandi Patti selling out arenas. but the real story doesn't start where you think. It starts in 1932, with a grieving blues piano player named Thomas Dorsey, the man who literally coined the term "gospel music." In Part 4, we trace how CCM went from ministry-with-a-business to a multimillion-dollar industry. From the Black gospel pioneers who built the bridge (Andraé Crouch, the Winans, Take 6) to Amy Grant becoming CCM's first platinum pop star with Age to Age... to Stryper taking the punches. We also pull back the curtain on the record contracts that trapped a generation of artists in debt By the end, every major Christian label in America was about to be bought. Every single one. 0:00 Intro 0:33 Thomas Dorsey and the Barrelhouses 3:15 Andrea Crouch and the Disciples 5:20 The Winans Brothers and BeBe and CeCe Winans 8:11 The Rise of Amy Grant 14:06 Michael W Smith 15:45 Stryper 19:43 How A Record Contract Works 21:58 The Divorce of Amy Grant 24:02 The Future is Grim... Previous Episodes Ep. 1    • They Burned Records...Then Started Making ...   Ep. 2    • The Untold Tragedy Behind the Jesus Movement?   Ep. 3    • The Bizarre Evolution of Christian Music L...   References: Thomas Dorsey and the Birth of Gospel "Thomas A. Dorsey." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_... "Thomas Andrew Dorsey." Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/... "Thomas A. Dorsey." Gospel Music Hall of Fame. https://gospelmusichalloffame.org/hal... "The Father of Gospel Music Wanted to Be a Secular Star." Christianity Today. https://www.christianitytoday.com/201... Andraé Crouch "Andraé Crouch." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andra%C... "How Did Andrae Crouch Revolutionize Christian Music?" Christianity.com. https://www.christianity.com/wiki/peo... The Winans Family and Take 6 "Winans family." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winans_... "BeBe & CeCe Winans." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeBe_%2... "Heaven (BeBe & CeCe Winans album)." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_...) "Take 6." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_6 Amy Grant and Age to Age "Amy Grant." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Grant "Age to Age." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_to_Age Rich Mullins "Rich Mullins." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Mu... (Full video on Rich Mullins available on channel.) Keith Green "Keith Green." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_G... (Full video on Keith Green available on channel.) Michael W. Smith "Michael W. Smith." Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael... Stryper "How Did Stryper Change Christian Music?" Christianity.com. https://www.christianity.com/wiki/peo... "The unlikely story of Stryper and Christian metal's brief moment in the spotlight." Louder Sound. https://www.loudersound.com/features/... "Michael Sweet of Stryper: 'We Have Always Thrown Bibles And We Always Will.'" Dallas Observer. Background Sources Stephens, Randall J. The Devil's Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned, and Embraced Rock 'n' Roll. Harvard University Press, 2018. Stowe, David W. No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism. University of North Carolina Press, 2011. Powell, Mark Allan. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music. Hendrickson Publishers, 2002.