Fed by cries of “This is what we like” or “This is what people want,” the church has seen a rise in popularity of its own kind of musical junk food. As a result, a growing repertoire of the musical equivalent of Twinkies is contributing to the serious musical malnourishment of God’s people.

Characterized largely by musical fluff, this repertoire features insipid melodies set to third-rate imitations of the latest pop trend with texts that range from the theologically simplistic to the simply wrong.

Ralph Vaughan Williams, in the Preface to The English Hymnal (1906) had an answer to those who argue that while “fine tunes are doubtless ‘musically correct,’…people want ‘something simple.’” He points out that the expression “musically correct” has no meaning. Rather, the only “correct” music is that which is beautiful and noble. The issue, he points out, is a moral,…not a musical, one.

from First Person Singular