Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?

Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock

By: Gregory Alan Thornbury

Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne

In 1969, in Capitol Records' Hollywood studio, a blonde-haired troubadour named Larry Norman laid track for an album that would launch a new genre of music and one of the strangest, most interesting careers in modern rock. Having spent the bulk of the 1960s playing on bills with acts like The Who, Janis Joplin, and The Doors, Norman decided that he wanted to sing about the most countercultural subject of all: Jesus.

Billboard called Norman "the most important songwriter since Paul Simon", and his music would go on to inspire members of bands as diverse as U2, The Pixies, Guns N' Roses, and more. To a young generation of Christians who wanted a way to be different in the American cultural scene, Larry was a godsend - spinning songs about one's eternal soul as deftly as he did ones critiquing consumerism, middle-class values, and the Vietnam War. To the religious establishment, however, he was a thorn in the side; to secular music fans, he was an enigma.

In Why Should the Devil Have all the Good Music?, Gregory Alan Thornbury draws on unparalleled access to Norman's personal papers and archives to narrate the conflicts that defined the singer's life, as he crisscrossed the developing fault lines between Evangelicals and mainstream American culture - friction that continues to this day.

©2018 Gregory A. Thornbury (P)2018 Tantor

Best Book I “Read” this Year

This is a great book that tells the Larry Norman story—obviously impeccably researched and very well written. If you have ever heard of Larry Norman or at least were a causal fan, I can’t imagine you would not enjoy this book immensely. My thanks to Dr. Thornbury.

Larry Norman the Forest Gump of Christianity

Liked the book alot, but feel like there was a lot missing on other people's reflections on Larry's life. See what happened to his two wives and what happened to so many other characters. Daniel Amos interview would have been awesome.

The facts are right

The facts sound correct but I am not sure the interpretation is always in keeping with Christs’. Still I think he largely gets it right. In the end what we think of Larry Norman matters little. What Jesus thinks of him is what counts! Pray God that I can be as faithful!

Concert 1968

When I was 18 and Larry was 21, I saw him at a church in the Valley, shook his hand and loved his music. I had no idea how important he was going to be in creating a type of music about Jesus. I highly recommend this book.

Finally a good bio on Larry Norman

This feels like the most even-handed treatment of Norman with a lot of the career details I was curious about. I would've liked to know how he ended back up with Sarah Finch. But overall a good read about a fascinating person.