Larry Norman
American singer and songwriterWikipedia
28
MENTIONS
14
EPISODES
13
PODCASTS
Search complete. 28 mentions across 14 episodes found for "Larry Norman".
Sep 17, 2026
Steve GreggHOST
I think too many times people assume that religion... and spirituality are somehow the same thing.
Steve GreggHOST
Larry Norman, who was sometimes thought of as the father of Christian rock music back in the late 60s and early 70s, made some Christian albums and then he started interspersing some love songs in there that weren't specifically Christian, had no Christian specifics in the lyrics.
Steve GreggHOST
And some people began to complain that he was starting to do secular music.
Steve GreggHOST
And he said, yeah, I can understand why you'd complain about that.
Brian AlfordHOST
Lots of music.
Brian AlfordHOST
We've talked before about Larry Norman, uh, and the Jesus Movement, and how that leads to, like, contemporary Christian music as a business.
Brian AlfordHOST
I- in a lot of ways, because it's so 20th century, these nondenominational denominations really think of themselves like franchises.
Brian AlfordHOST
And you can see that with a lot of mega churches like, uh, Mars Hill or something, where they'll have satellite churches, but it's sort of like going to a KFC.
Julian FeeldGUEST
Yeah.
Josh BoermanHOST
It's like Jack Nicholson right there in the front.
Brian AlfordHOST
Just Midnight, the Stars and You playing, but it's being sung by Larry Norman.
Julian FeeldGUEST
[laughs]
Steve GreggHOST
I think too many times people assume that religion and spirituality are somehow the same thing.
Steve GreggHOST
Larry Norman, who was sometimes thought of as the father of Christian rock music back in the late 60s, early 70s, made some Christian albums.
Steve GreggHOST
And then he started interspersing some love songs in there that weren't specifically Christian, had no Christian specifics in the lyrics.
Steve GreggHOST
And some people began to complain that he was starting to do secular music.
Rick WarrenHOST
He was at our house for dinner.
Rick WarrenHOST
And we're sitting around talking, and all of a sudden, Andy, just out of the blue, brings up the subject of who was the very first Christian rock artist, the very first contemporary Christian artist of the modern era, and his name was Larry Norman.
Rick WarrenHOST
Some of you remember Larry Norman.
Rick WarrenHOST
His first album came out in the 1960s.
Rick WarrenHOST
He put out about 30 different albums.
Rick WarrenHOST
Larry took a lot of flack for taking modern, contemporary music and putting Christian words to it.
Rick WarrenHOST
And he was really a pioneer in that.
Rick WarrenHOST
And his first three albums that came out in 68, 69, and 71 were really classic, and they were so good that people like Capitol Records, who had the signing for the Beatles, wanted to sign Larry Norman because he was that good.
Kevin SwansonHOST
Bill Jack in studio.
Kevin SwansonHOST
And Bill, as I was preparing this, I was also reading Larry Norman's biography, The Father of CCM, Contemporary Christian Music.
Kevin SwansonHOST
Biography, Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music? Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock.
Kevin SwansonHOST
That's his latest biography.
Kevin SwansonHOST
I think it just came out a few years ago.
Kevin SwansonHOST
Anyway, I was reading that.
Kevin SwansonHOST
And I got to thinking, CCM sort of follows the same arrow, follows the same trajectory.
Kevin SwansonHOST
Because Larry Norman does come out with a positive view of homosexuality early on, early on.
StuHOST
And we use that symbol from the Jesus movement from the 70s.
StuHOST
um at the end of a concert larry was larry norman his name was he was a christian artist and he was being applauded for his concert like happens and instead of everyone you know instead of just taking the accolades he put his finger up and he said one way and i think what he was trying to do is say give glory to jesus not me and then everybody in the crowd stopped clapping and put their fingers up as well and that became a bit of a thing um And that's something we've adopted.
StuHOST
And I think what that symbolizes is just keep making the main thing the main thing.
StuHOST
Jesus is the main thing.
David SmallboneGUEST
got into Christian music probably 45 years ago managing an Australian band, my brother was in it, called Family, and did that for quite a while.
David SmallboneGUEST
Then got into concert promotion and would bring to Australia Striper and Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill, Leon Patello.
David SmallboneGUEST
The list would go on.
David SmallboneGUEST
Then I did a big tour 29 years ago and lost about a quarter million on that tour.
Helen SmallboneGUEST
And the kids from the time they were born would all go to the concerts together.
Helen SmallboneGUEST
He'd do a concert every two to three months and we would rock up.
Helen SmallboneGUEST
So our first, or Rebecca's first, Sydney Opera House concert was when she was six weeks old and it was a Larry Norman concert.
Helen SmallboneGUEST
And Larry made a comment to David afterwards that he could hear a baby crying, which undoubtedly was Rebecca.
Aaron HancockHOST
They managed to tour internationally, playing in England a number of times and also the United States.
Aaron HancockHOST
In 88, they opened up for Larry Norman, also served as his backing band.
Aaron HancockHOST
Then later that year, they toured Europe with Bloodgood.
Aaron HancockHOST
We're going to be talking about the album Knights of Heaven, which came out in 1989.
Wade FransonHOST
One of the greatest Christian rock songs ever.
Amy PeelerGUEST
We heard a lot of Larry Norman in my house growing up.
Amy PeelerGUEST
Yes, yes.
Amy PeelerGUEST
So I don't know if my dad is a band ever recorded.
Ainsley GrosserGUEST
But my parents were very solid with their faith, have always been, still are to this day.
Ainsley GrosserGUEST
very, by today's standards, conservative, but back in the day, and this is where my Christian music history comes, they had a youth group, and I want to say that would be around 1975, Larry Norman was out.
Eric SkatteboCORRESPONDENT
Okay.
Ainsley GrosserGUEST
Randy Stonehill, a band called The Young Ones.
Ainsley GrosserGUEST
It was of the devil.
Ainsley GrosserGUEST
But my parents were so progressive that they bought these records and had the youth groups listen to them.
Ainsley GrosserGUEST
And anybody who's been around for any time will know Larry Norman.
Ainsley GrosserGUEST
He's often considered the father of Christian rock.
4 more episodes mention Larry Norman.
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