Tonight while scouring the web for information on the fascinating “transcendental black metal” band Liturgy, I found a brief interview with the band’s front man Hunter Hunt-Hendrix in which he mentions his recent viewing of a 1984 documentary by contemporary artist and critic Dan Graham called Rock My Religion (viewable at the link in its entirety). Hunt-Hendrix sums up the thesis of the documentary as the idea “that punk is part of an American tradition of ecstatic communal activity that began with the Shakers,” in other words that rock itself constitutes religious practice in continuity with American forms of “radical” Christianity.

The notion of rock as religion probably would not strike readers of Rock and Theology as a terribly deep insight. The documentary does make a few interesting connections between countercultural forms of Christianity and rock music, especially punk rock — connections I have been attempting to explore in my own work. But what is most fascinating about the film is its “lo-fi” visuals and production, its heavy use of footage of Patti Smith discussing the religious character of rock music and culture, and what one blogger refers to as its “mash up” juxtapositions of footage of 1950s religious revivals and music from Smith, Sonic Youth, Minor Threat, and Black Flag. If anything, the film is an interesting artifact, reflection and reference point for those inhabiting the worlds of rock and theology.

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