The Mediatunes Project

Christian rock is a family of rock styles whose lyrics and outlook are explicitly Christian, ranging from evangelistic and testimonial songs to social commentary filtered through a Christian worldview. Musically, it spans the same breadth as mainstream rock—soft rock ballads, heartland and country-tinged rock, pop-rock, alternative, hard rock, and even metal—while keeping melodies and hooks accessible for radio and congregational settings. Typical instrumentation includes electric guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards, with production that varies from raw garage energy to polished arena-sized anthems. The genre coalesced out of the late-1960s Jesus movement and the early-1970s "Jesus music" scene, later developing a robust industry of labels, radio, and festivals. While purpose-driven in its message, Christian rock has produced artists who crossed into the mainstream and influenced modern worship’s arena-rock sound.

Church music refers to music created for Christian worship and liturgical use, ranging from ancient chant to modern congregational songs and large choral–instrumental works. It encompasses unaccompanied vocal traditions (such as chant and Renaissance polyphony), congregational hymnody and chorales, organ repertoire, Anglican anthems, Lutheran cantatas, Catholic Mass settings, and contemporary praise and worship styles. The music’s primary aims are to carry sacred texts clearly, support ritual actions, cultivate reverence, and enable the gathered assembly to participate in prayer. Typical performance forces include soloists, choirs (children, adult, or mixed SATB), organ, and occasionally chamber or orchestral ensembles, with languages historically in Latin and later in various vernaculars. Stylistically it has evolved through modal melodies, imitative counterpoint, tonal harmony, and contemporary idioms, while remaining text- and context-driven.

Contemporary Christian music (CCM) is a broad umbrella of popular music that expresses the Christian faith using the sound, structures, and production values of mainstream pop, rock, and singer‑songwriter styles. Emerging from the late‑1960s Jesus Movement, it pairs radio‑friendly hooks and polished arrangements with explicitly Christian lyrics—ranging from personal testimony and devotion to congregational praise. Over time, CCM has absorbed elements from soft rock, folk, country, and modern pop trends, and it now includes both artist‑driven radio pop and church‑oriented worship music.

Contemporary gospel is a modern form of gospel music that fuses the traditional message and church-rooted call-and-response of Black gospel with contemporary production and mainstream styles such as R&B, soul, pop, funk, rock, and later hip hop. It is characterized by rich vocal harmony (soloists, ensembles, and mass choirs), groove-forward rhythm sections, sophisticated keyboard-led harmony (piano, organ, Rhodes), dynamic modulations and extended vamp sections, and lyrics centered on praise, worship, testimony, and encouragement. Compared to traditional black gospel, contemporary gospel typically features sleeker studio production, radio-oriented song forms, and a broader palette of modern rhythms and textures.

Gospel is a family of Christian sacred music that emerged from African‑American church traditions in the United States. It centers the voice, communal participation, and a message of faith, hope, and testimony. Musically, gospel is characterized by call‑and‑response, powerful lead vocals answered by choirs, rich harmonies, handclaps, and a propulsive backbeat or 12/8 shuffle. Typical ensembles include voice, piano or Hammond organ, drums, bass, and guitar, with occasional horns. Harmonically it blends simple I–IV–V frameworks with blues inflections and sophisticated chord extensions, turnarounds, and modulations that heighten emotional intensity. The genre encompasses several streams, notably traditional Black gospel, Southern (white) gospel rooted in shape‑note singing, and contemporary/urban gospel that integrates R&B, soul, and hip‑hop. Its sound and spirit have profoundly influenced American popular music—from soul and R&B to rock and roll.

Indie rock is a guitar-centered rock music movement defined as much by its independent production and DIY ethos as by specific sonic traits. Early practitioners worked outside major-label systems, distributing music via small labels, college radio, and fanzines, which fostered a culture of experimentation and community. Sonically, indie rock ranges from jangly, melodic songs to abrasive noise-leaning textures, from lo-fi home recordings to meticulously arranged studio works. Hallmarks include inventive song structures, literate or introspective lyrics, and a willingness to blend elements of punk, post-punk, folk rock, and psychedelia. Over time, the term has come to describe both an approach to making music and the broad cluster of styles that grew from the independent rock underground.

Indie surf is a modern indie rock offshoot that borrows the twangy, reverb‑drenched guitars and beachy imagery of 1960s surf rock, then filters them through lo‑fi, DIY production and indie pop songwriting. It favors bright, chiming guitar tones (often Jazzmasters/Jaguars through spring reverb), simple, catchy melodies, and compact song forms. Vocals tend to be airy and drenched in space, with lyrics about youth, romance, coastal life, and bittersweet nostalgia. The sound emerged in the late 2000s blog era and crystallized in the early 2010s, especially around West Coast U.S. and Brooklyn scenes, intersecting with garage revival, dream pop, and slacker aesthetics.

Instrumental is music created and performed without sung lyrics, placing the expressive weight on melody, rhythm, harmony, and timbre produced by instruments. As an umbrella practice it appears in many cultures, but its modern identity cohered in Baroque-era Europe when purely instrumental forms such as the sonata, concerto, and dance suites began to flourish. Since then, instrumental thinking—developing motives, structuring form without text, and showcasing timbral contrast—has informed everything from orchestral music and solo piano repertoire to post-rock, film scores, and beat-driven electronic styles. Instrumental works can be intimate (solo or chamber) or expansive (full orchestra), narrative (programmatic) or abstract (absolute music). The absence of lyrics invites listeners to project imagery and emotion, making the style a natural fit for cinema, games, and contemplative listening.

Instrumental rock is a branch of rock music in which the featured melodies and hooks are carried by instruments—most famously the electric guitar—rather than a lead singer. Emerging in the late 1950s, it emphasizes memorable riffs, strong rhythmic backbeats, and distinctive guitar tones (twang, tremolo picking, and spring reverb), often supported by bass, drums, and sometimes organ or saxophone. It ranges from raw, riff-driven singles to more sophisticated, jazz-tinged or studio-crafted pieces. While closely associated with early surf sounds, instrumental rock is broader, encompassing twangy rock-and-roll, R&B-rooted combo instrumentals, and later virtuoso guitar showcases.

Praise & worship is a strand of contemporary Christian music designed for congregational singing in church services, conferences, and worship gatherings. It typically features a modern band (vocals, acoustic/electric guitars, keyboards, bass, and drums), singable melodies within a comfortable range, and lyrically direct, "vertical" address to God. Songs favor clear hooks, memorable choruses, and simple harmonic movement (e.g., I–V–vi–IV) to enable wide participation. Stylistically, it draws on gospel, contemporary Christian music, and pop/rock balladry, often building dynamically from intimate verses to anthemic, hands-raised choruses. The genre has spread globally through church movements, recordings, and licensing (e.g., CCLI), shaping the sound of modern worship across denominations.

Rock is a broad family of popular music centered on amplified instruments, a strong backbeat, and song forms that foreground riffs, choruses, and anthemic hooks. Emerging from mid‑20th‑century American styles like rhythm & blues, country, and gospel-inflected rock and roll, rock quickly expanded in scope—absorbing folk, blues, and psychedelic ideas—while shaping global youth culture. Core sonic markers include electric guitar (often overdriven), electric bass, drum kit emphasizing beats 2 and 4, and emotive lead vocals. Rock songs commonly use verse–chorus structures, blues-derived harmony, and memorable melodic motifs, ranging from intimate ballads to high‑energy, stadium‑sized performances.

Singer-songwriter is a song-focused style in which the same person writes, composes, and performs their own material, often accompanying themselves on acoustic guitar or piano. It emphasizes personal voice, lyrical intimacy, and storytelling over elaborate production. Arrangements are typically sparse, allowing the melody, words, and performance nuance to carry the song’s emotional weight. While rooted in folk and blues traditions, singer-songwriter embraces pop and rock songcraft, producing works that can range from quiet confessional ballads to subtly orchestrated, radio-ready pieces.

Christian (often shortened to Christian music or CCM in market terms) is an umbrella genre for popular and worship-oriented music whose lyrics explicitly express the Christian faith. It blends contemporary songwriting and production with devotional intent, ranging from pop and rock to folk, country, and modern worship anthems designed for congregational singing. While rooted in centuries of church music and hymnody, the modern "Christian" genre coalesced in the late 1960s United States with the Jesus Movement, later building its own labels, radio networks, and touring circuits. Today it includes radio-friendly CCM, stadium worship, youth-focused pop/rock, and stylistic fusions that carry Christian themes into nearly every mainstream style.