CCM is contemporary Christian music. I am noticing a feature which I do not care for: the 'top hits' syndrome removes very good material by displacement and by market forces, instead of by the wisdom or solidity of the content. This probably is not something you can see in a decade, but the fact is that there is very sound material (not counting older hymns) that gets set aside.
Add to this, there is a priority placed on 'relevance' not worship. So if there is human drama, the song is good; but there are few songs that are worship for the historic reasons--God's acts in history--as opposed to immediate instances. This weakens to truth. Some songs go into repetition that adds very little content.
This is not to say that older hymns will be easy to tap into. Sometimes the artist has to do a clever touch-up like 'How Marvelous, How Wonderful' in recent years was done in an upbeat style by a very authentic Celtic band and most people would not realize it was a 150 year old hymn.
Sometimes it is best just to read the lyrics of older hymns, but definitely do not neglect them; they have far more power than the existential style.
Add to this, there is a priority placed on 'relevance' not worship. So if there is human drama, the song is good; but there are few songs that are worship for the historic reasons--God's acts in history--as opposed to immediate instances. This weakens to truth. Some songs go into repetition that adds very little content.
This is not to say that older hymns will be easy to tap into. Sometimes the artist has to do a clever touch-up like 'How Marvelous, How Wonderful' in recent years was done in an upbeat style by a very authentic Celtic band and most people would not realize it was a 150 year old hymn.
Sometimes it is best just to read the lyrics of older hymns, but definitely do not neglect them; they have far more power than the existential style.