Welcome to the first weekly “Songs & Such” article. These (hopefully) weekly write ups on songs, lyrics, and analysis of those two things, will hopefully give you readers some insight into the songs I like, why I like (or even dislike) them. Think of it as a way to get to know me a little better why looking at some songs and bands you might not have heard of, or seeing something new in a song you have listened to for years. This week, we are going to look at a song by All Star United entitled “Smash Hit” from their self-titled release, which can be purchased at Amazon.com (affiliate link).

The reason I like this song is because there is a lot of truth in the “tongue in cheek” approach to looking at the Christian sub-culture. The lyric “Join His name to any cause, drop His name to get applause” is/was extremely true especially when this song came out (1997). This song came out in a time when the Christian sub-culture was in full swing. Christians had to have their own alternative solution to everything that the secular (non-Christian) market had. Clothing, music, movies, books, and even jewelry. It was sold to the Christian masses and these folks (myself included) ate it up and dropped hard earned dollars on this merchandise (“This Jesus thing, it’s a smash hit. It’s packaged right”). While progress has been somewhat made in the separation of music and movies there remains a large sub-culture when it comes to Christian merchandise.

From a song perspective, this song is about as pop as one can get. Simple verse-chorus-verse methodology keeps it simple and helps the lyrics make their point quite well. While I do not know if the music or the lyrics came first in this song, it is probably safe to say that the music was written after the lyrics (or at least the chorus) was on paper.

Pity though, that like other songs that take a similar approach, the point was sadly lost or missed entirely in 1997. Oh well, that does not make the song any less appealing now.

Lyrics in their entirety after the jump…

All he needed was PR
A million box of business cards
Careful image consultation
Securing reputation
A clever market plan
He didn’t understand
That’s all it really takes
He coulda played for higher stakes
Now
Somehow
We’ve gone wrong

Chorus:
This Jesus thing, it’s a smash hit
it’s packaged right
All stocks have split, it’s a smash hit
It’s gone worldwide

Join his name to any cause
Drop his name to get applause
They never get enough
Nothing here to be ashamed of
Those ever loyal fans
They wanna get their hands
On His newest merchandising
Ignoring overpricing
Now
Oh Wow
We’ve gone wrong

Repeat Chorus

It has no explanation
It smells like exploitation

Repeat Chorus