FACE TO FACE 
The band that comes to mind when I think of Wild Blue is a long-time favorite of mine called Face to Face (not the punk rock band of the early 1990’s called Face to Face), which released several albums in the 1980’s and had a minor hit with “10-9-8”. While not part of the Christian contemporary music scene, they were instead a mainstream rock band that soft-pedaled their Christianity. Their eponymous first album, Face to Face (released in 1984) features a song called “Under the Gun” that – like Blondie’s early foray into hip-hop, “Rapture” (from 1980) – includes a long verse that is spoken rather than sung. I can’t prove it, but from what I can tell, this qualifies as the first Christian rap song. (June 2012) |