OK, so this won’t be the conventional blog you normally see here, but it’s one I’m curious what you old school CCM fans would say about. While at Purple Door Festival over the weekend, some friends and I got into a late night diner discussion over which dc Talk album was truly better — 1995’s Jesus Freak or 1998’s Supernatural. (For the new kids — DC Talk is TobyMac‘s original band. Good stuff! Check ’em out) Now, while some might assume that I hold Jesus Freak as the best record ever created due to this site’s very name, I definitely wouldn’t say that’s the case. While I think it’s a very important record for Christian rock music and still a very solid album, I don’t think it’s my favorite album — however, I do think it’s my favorite dc Talk album of all of their releases. As far as an album as a whole, I think it’s stronger and flows better than Supernatural. It seems Supernatural tried too hard to be a big follow-up to Jesus Freak. There were one too many quirky songs (and by that I mean… not quite the caliber and quality you’d expect from dc Talk even if they are decent pop songs in their own right) – like “My Friend So Long” and “Since I Met You” (which was kind of pop-punk-ish in the process), and you even had the song “Jesus Freak” referenced in “My Friend So Long,” which just seemed to make the record feel too much like it was riding the cotails of such an iconic record. But at the same time, you have killer tracks like “Supernatural,” “Dive,” “It’s Killing Me,” and even the uber-catchy although debatably corny “Into Jesus.” So it’s still a great album. I guess it just has a couple missteps on it in my eyes (yes, Jesus Freak could have done without “Mrs. Morgan” or especially “Jesus Freak (Reprise)” to give it a more serious tone overall).
So anyway… let’s carry on the diner conversation my friends and I had that night. Let’s hear your honest casual opinions (no mud-slinging, we’re all friends here, right?). Give me your opinion and WHY.
Which is better: DC Talk’s Jesus Freak or Supernatural? Discuss!