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The end of an era .. almost went unnoticed.
By RickMeasham | March 9, 2008
I updated my Facebook profile today. I have changed my ‘religious views’ to Heretical Christian. What does that mean? Basically I don’t think I fit overly well into any mainline denomination’s theological bent. I have a draft blog post here called “Theory of God” that is a work-in-progress expansion on the theme.
After I changed my profile, I decided to click on it and see if anyone else also claimed to be a Heretical Christian. Sure enough, there are three of us (and all from Australia!)
But that’s not the topic of this blog post. Merely some back story to how it came about.
One of the other Heretical Christians had a note on his profile mourning the passing of Larry Norman. I immediately thought of the man commonly referred to as the Father of Christian Rock, and sure enough, some Googling later and it was confirmed. Larry Norman passed away at the end of February.
Growing up, Christian Rock was the soundtrack to my life. I’ve hosted several Christian Rock radio shows and went to many concerts in the late 80s and early 90s.
Links lead me to that great absorber of time: Wikipedia. From the Larry Norman article I jumped to the Jesus People article and from there to the Music sub-section. There was a list of my musical influences through the 80s: Barry McGuire, Second Chapter of Acts, Servant, Petra, Resurrection Band, Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, Randy Matthews, and Andraé Crouch as well as Keith Green and Larry Norman who have both now passed away.
Petra! Wow! Now there is my biggest most favorite Christian Rock act. I think reading about them is what’s really inspired this post: Petra decided to call it a day back at the end of 2005. More than two years ago, my favorite band pulled the plug and I didn’t know. Larry Norman passed away a couple of weeks back and I only found out by chance.
Just two weeks back I scoured the internet for mention of a Melbourne band from the late 80s and early 90s, “Joint Heirs” and can find no trace. I assume they disbanded many years ago and are now playing in their local church bands (if you have any info at all, please let me know).
Today’s Christian rockers are not the anti-establishment “Jesus People” of the 60s and 70s. They’re an accepted and popular part of today’s church. Yesterday’s rebels are now the music ministers at their churches and the rebels are .. well .. suppressed by acceptance.
Anyway, this post mourns the passing of my musical influences, in particular Larry Norman, Petra and Joint Heirs. Right now I’m off to see if I can find Petra’s amazing “Captured in Time and Space” on iTunes or anywhere else then I’ll crank it up and re-live my younger days.
Topics: Religion | 9 Comments »
March 9th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Yay! Captured in Time and Space is on iTunes and I have enough credit!
March 13th, 2008 at 10:10 am
I think the equivalent for me in terms of nostalgia factor might be New Kids On The Block. LOL!
June 27th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Joint Heirs final concert was in December 1992 at Yarra Valley Anglican Grammar School. I was for six years, their roadie and sound engineer. Final line-up was; John Ramsden, keyboards and vocals; Cyndy Latham, vocals; Grant Allison, bass, keys and backing vocals; Rev Rob Fergusson,guitar and backing vocals; and Mike Waddell, drums, percussion (or should that be concussion?), backing vocals, silly skits and stunts, and bad jokes!!!!
August 28th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Hey Rick
Here I am trolling through the internet and I find something I never thought could be possible – Joint heirs mentioned in the same breath as Petra and Larry! Thanks for making my life complete!
I played guitars with Joint Heirs for their last 4 years and had a blast – learnt a lot about ministry and creativity from the guys. I love Petra too… but can’t go past the classic album “More Power To Ya” as my favourite. Larry too is in my “must listen to” list, but the younger generation of Christians seemed to have moved on…
I intoduced my school (I am a teaching Chaplain) to Whiteheart’s “Let the Kingdom Come” track the other day… but it’s just too “80’s” for them!!! Oh well, the staff liked it!
August 29th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Oh wow! I can’t believe the people who are commenting on this post!
@Rob: More Power to Ya was the second Petra album I owned after Beat The System. I think Petra peaked twice: the first was MP2Y and the second peak (for me) was around the time of Fire. I remember going to see them at Festering Hall for the Fire tour supported by Rosanna’s Raiders.
I have hosted a couple of radio programs over the years and Whiteheart were a favorite along with Rez.
Oh, and guess what I found the other day? “Crash through the Barrier” on cassette tape! If only I had a player to listen to it…
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Just trying random searches and ‘Joint Heirs’. I too had a play with the ‘Jordan Hairies’ from about 1986 to 1988 might have been 1987. I have some very happy memories.
cheers
Greg (Bass)
June 20th, 2009 at 1:58 am
wow i am useless on this i was reading what ppl had said and was wandering if someone could help me find christian group called In The Silence australian group dont know if anyone will even see this lol my email is chookiebub@Gmail.com thank you
June 21st, 2009 at 1:02 am
G’day Mary, Thanks for dropping by!
In The Silence have also folded, and like Joint Heirs, there’s not a lot of information to be found. All I could remember was the lead singer was John Dickson. Using that as a clue, I’ve also tracked down guitarist Ben Shaw. I no longer have an ITS album (I think I had a cassette. Remember those?) so I can’t get the rest of the groups names to hunt them down.
John Dickson (lead singer) has been a church minister and is a published author (The Christ Files was turned into a Channel 7 production for Easter 2008). He has his own website.
Ben Shaw (guitar) is a curate at Emmanuel Church in Wimbledon, London and is also a published author.
Does anyone have any info on where the rest of the group is?
August 1st, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Well folks i have been trying to get a cd or tape of ITS, i had some but threw them out now i am missing them alot.
I used to listen to kenny marks from the 80’s and also david meece. a good local rock band called Witness was also great.
lozza