You know how I love Christian humor and music parodies like Jesus People and God’s Pottery, and I stumbled upon this 2005 mockumentary, “Never Been Thawed,” on the Subversive Church blog.
According to the blog, Never Been Thawed is a mockumentary ala “Best In Show” (or “Spinal Tap” or “A Mighty Wind,” I would guess), which focuses in part on a band called The Christers. I surfed around the fake band site, and it’s pretty funny (although some of the song lyrics are edgy, so just a head’s up if you to check out the music. This isn’t a Christian band, but a spoof. The Christers used to be a punk band but changed the f-word in all of their songs to “pray” so they could get a record deal more easily You get that joke, right?)

The comic equation, as I’ve told you before, is truth + pain (or exaggeration) = funny, and in this case the truth is both painful and exaggerated, and the end is definitely funny but thought provoking.
The Christers bio says they are “a new edgy, gritty, yet commercially viable voice to help spread the Word of The Gospels throughout the major markets of the world.” That’s not too far off from some of the actual band bios I’ve gotten. They’ve “performed” at the fictional Christapalooza and sold “more T-shirts over a three month period than even Promise Keepers.” Their new album is called Crucifixerupper. (I’m sorry, I laughed out loud at that.) At the same time, the band uses foul language, which isn’t really true of most Christian bands; unless the joke is that they’re using relevant language to reach their audience, in which case the point is well taken.
Do you think that spoofs like this highlight some of the absurdities of Christian music and the commercialization of Christianity in a funny way? Or are you totally offended? Do we need things like this to point out where we’re being ridiculous? Do you even care what the non-Christian world thinks when they look at Christian music?
You can check out The Christers’ website. (Again, the lyrics in the music and videos have some language you’ll want to skip.)
RELATED POSTS for Christian music parodies and humor:
“Jesus People” readies for leap from web TV to big screen; catch a preview here
Christian humor meets Christian music in Jesus People web series
God’s Pottery on Last Comic Standing
God’s Pottery Part 2
Are these videos a joke or just cheesy Christian music history?