Speck

Item: Gogglebox
Author: Michial Farmer

Gogglebox

(1999)

Reviewed by Michial Farmer

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Label Gray Dot RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth1999

ccm modern rock pop rock

Some bands are forever doomed to be known as "youth group bands." These bands tend to be severely lacking in the lyrical department, and their music tends to be a rip-off of everything that was popular a year and a half ago. Well-intentioned youth ministers push this music on their pupils, and, boom, they're the next big thing in Christian music. After listening to the latest release from Speck, Gogglebox, I got the impression that they could be the next big thing in fundamentalist-friendly rock music.

That's not a good thing, by the way. Speck is no exception to the standard clichéd lyrics and tired music of youth group bands-- Gogglebox is pure CCM trash, with lyrics such as these:

I don't accept
That we are Generation X
My dad, well he loves God
So did his dad and his grandpa
I wanna leave some evidence
They say we're dead, well, I'm not convinced
I've got to go
I want to show
My Generation can be close to You

Maybe these lyrics pass for insightful to someone raised on Carman and Rebecca St. James, but they just don't cut it for me. The lyrics aren't the only problem. Gogglebox's music is bland, played with no heart, and completely forgettable. Worse, lead singer Doug Hutchcraft has an astoundingly bad voice, coming across as both nasal and raspy at the same time (difficult, but he accomplishes it).

Gogglebox is completely unacceptable as art. One might argue that its intended purpose is ministry, but answer me this: how is it going to minister to anyone if it's so terrible that no one will listen to it?

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