Appendix One – Walking through the Athens of The Dave Matthews Band

Step 1: Prepare to walk through the Athens of The Dave Matthews Band

This walk will be through the story and music of the unusual and difficult to define quintet from Charlottesville, Virginia, the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). This band is perhaps the most musically gifted and venerated band in popular music today. In this walk, I have looked at each of DMB’s songs. Because there are so many in the DMB catalog, I have chosen to isolate the main thematic characteristics of DMB’s music.

Step 2: Close your mouth. Open your ears and eyes. Walk around The Dave Matthews Band

In a day and age when corporately manufactured popstars appear out of nowhere to fire up the charts, and then just as quickly spontaneously combust into musical oblivion, DMB has paid their dues and played their way to the top. And in doing so, these musical pied pipers have developed a growing, demographically diverse, and faithful following. The band and their music have put a face on the changing nature of contemporary youth culture. It’s a multi-featured and complex face that deserves our attention.

The Dave Matthews Band Story

Is the Dave Matthews Band really Dave Matthews’ band? Or, is it something else? Integral to the band’s story is the fact that the answer to both questions is “yes.” On the one hand, Matthews was the one who assembled the band and who writes most of the band’s lyrics. He’s also the band’s front man. On the other hand, Matthews sees himself as only the Avoice” of the band. In his mind, the band is a democratic group made up of five equal parts. Because of that, he’s indicated that if he could go back and change the quick flurry of events that led to the DMB moniker, he would. It seems that when the band was preparing to take the stage for the first time, the event’s host wanted to publicize the event with a printed flyer. Because the band had no name, one of the members hurridly told the impatient event host to put “Dave Matthews Band” on the flyer. After all, jazz bands usually take the name of their founder. The name stuck.

To understand Dave Matthews’ music, you’ve got to know his story. The band’s founder, songwriter, guitar player, and lead singer was born into a close-knit and loving family on January 9, 1967 in Johannesburg, South Africa. Dave was one of four Matthew’s children. Along with his brother and two sisters, he grew up in a Quaker home. His father John was a brilliant physicist who worked on developing high-powered semiconductors. Mother Val was a painter and architect. Together, they instilled a love of classical music into their children. They were also ardent pacifists and anti-apartheid activists.

While his home life was certainly steady and stable, Matthews’ early years were marked by some life-shaping disruptions. When Dave was two, the family moved to Yorktown Heights, New York when his dad took a new job with IBM. Another transfer took the family to England when Dave was seven. They moved back to Yorktown Heights after a year. He began taking guitar lessons when he was nine years old. When Matthews was only ten, his father’s many years of work with radioactive materials led to lung cancer and death. Longing for the support of family and friends, Val moved her grieving fatherless family back to the familiar surroundings of Johannesburg.

An indifferent student, Matthews spent his adolescent years playing his beloved guitar and observing difficult South African political, racial and cultural realities. After Matthews graduated from high school, the family’s pacifistic Quaker beliefs led Val to move her family back to the United States so that Dave would be able to avoid South Africa’s mandatory military service. The family chose to settle in Charlottesville, Virginia, a University town where John had once taught.

Charlottesville and it’s numerous clubs would serve as fertile musical ground for Matthews. While he continued to play his guitar, this first-love wasn’t much more than a hobby. Young Matthews began to dabble in all kinds of drugs, which he remembers as “smoke a little something with someone; drink a little something with someone else; whatever’s going around. Whoever’s there.” (Rolling Stone, 12/12/96). To make money, Matthews took a job tending bar at Miller’s, a popular Charlottesville jazz club. The job allowed him the opportunity to hear real people’s stories - something that instilled in him a deep sense of the broken human condition and shattered his “faith in the world.” (Rolling Stone, 8/8/02).

The Charlottesville club scene fueled his musical aspirations. He played at open mikes around town and dreamed of one day starting a band. In November of 1990 he cut a demo tape of original songs. He nervously asked two talented local jazz musicians he respected and adored - saxaphonist LeRoi Moore and drummer Carter Beauford - to listen to the tape. Impressed by what they heard, the duo agreed to join Matthews on another demo. In almost no time, Matthews’ dream had come true as the trio recruited bassist Stefan Lessard and violinst Boyd Tinsley to complete the band.

Forty-two year-old saxaphonist LeRoi Moore was born in Durham, North Carolina. Trained classically, Moore wound up playing jazz in clubs all over the Charlottesville/Richmond area. A very private person who suffers from stage fright, Moore can be seen on stage wearing sunglasses that cover eyes which rarely open while he plays his collection of saxes, flutes, and penny whistles.

Carter Beauford is a big man. The 45 year-old barrel chested self-instructed drummer and backup vocalist grew up in Charlottesville and started playing drums at the age of three. Music ran in his family. His father was a jazz trumpeter who fueled Carter’s love for the drums. After graduating from college, he stopped playing the drums and started teaching history. Missing the drums, he quit teaching and joined Secrets, a local jazz fusion band that happened to be Dave Matthews’ favorite. After Secrets dissolved in 1990, Beauford auditioned for a spot on The Arsenio Hall Show. While he didn’t make the cut, he did land a job playing drums on Ramsey Lewis’s Black Entertainment Television Network’s BET On Jazz. In 1991, he moved from New York back to Charlottesville while still doing the BET show. When Matthews heard Beauford was back in town, he tabbed him for the demo.

The baby of DMB is 29-year-old bassist Stefan Lessard. Raised by musical parents who eventually moved the family to an Ashram, Lessard was a well-respected local musician who was recruited by Matthews, Beauford, and Moore - at the age of 16! - to help on the band’s original demo tape. He’s been a part of the band ever since.

The fifth member of the quintet is Charlottesville native Boyd Tinsely, who started playing violin at age 12. The 39-year-old had signed up to take a strings class in junior high thinking he would be learning how to play the guitar. It was actually an orchestra class. Rather than quit, he learned how to play the violin. After years of training and playing as a classical violinist, he switched to playing rock in 1985. He made his living playing in the band Down Boy Down and his own Boyd Tinsley Band. He joined DMB after approaching Matthews and Buford to tell them, “I like what you’re doing. I like your sound. So I’m going to quit my other bands and join you guys.”

From time to time, Matthews has enlisted the help of guitarist and long-time friend Tim Reynolds. Although never officially a member of the band, Reynolds frequently tours with DMB and has appeared on their albums. He’s been playing with Matthews longer than the others.

Matthews says he went after the musicians he respected the most. It was an approach that would pay great dividends in musical excellence and success. Their first official show was a May 11, 1991 private party for 200 people on a Charlottesville warehouse roof. Shortly thereafter, they performed publicly for the first time before the crowd at Charlottesville’s Earth Day Festival.

The Dave Matthews Band began to build a strong and loyal following through word-ofBmouth publicity resulting from extensive touring on college campuses. In November of 1993 DMB independently released their first album, Remember Two Things. The effort charted high on the college music charts.

Late in 1993 Matthews would experience the second traumatic death of an immediate family member. His oldest sister Anne was murdered in South Africa by her husband, who then turned the gun on himself and took his own life. Along with his remaining sister, Matthews committed to raising Anne’s two young children. To this day, he has yet to release details of his sister’s murder out of respect to her children. In 1994, the band hooked up to play the H.O.R.D.E. (Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere) traveling summer music tour, a neo-hippie festival designed to introduce fans to good, new live music. They would tour with H.O.R.D.E. again the next summer.

September 1994 brought the release of DMB’s debut major label album. Under The Table And Dreaming - dedicated to his sister Anne - sold 4 million copies in its first year and spent 75 weeks on the charts. Since then, DMB has released four more studio albums, five live albums, performed at a Presidential Inaugural, performed at Woodstock ‘99, and become perhaps the most aggressive touring band in the United States.

Dave Matthews is a man whose life has shaped his music and his worldview. Today, he says his family is the most important thing in his life. His excessive drinking - caused in large part he says by his loneliness - ceased in August of 2000. His marriage to his long-time girlfriend and med school student Ashley brought an end to a bought of severe depression and creative block. The birth of twin daughters Stella and Grace in August of 2001 made him even happier.  He says, “I long for my family when I’m not with them. And as much of the time as possible, I’m going to have my family with me. I want to be around them more than I want to do anything else.” (Rolling Stone, 5/9/02).

DMB’s Music

The sonic smorgasbord Matthews lays out on the table of popular music is almost indescribable. This multi-flavored musical stew has been described as “almost unclassifiable, the Dave Matthews Band sound like four or five groups in one.” (Paul Corro, rollingstone.com).

The ingredients are many. First, there are the musical influences. The DMB catalog is a fusion of multiple genres including folk, jazz, reggae, funk, blues, pop, rock, classical, and various types of world music. Matthews himself says his personal artistic influences include the Beatles, Trent Reznor, Bob Marley, Carolos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, and a host of others. Throw that mix in with the band’s complex harmonies, rythmic shifts, improvisational tendencies, and exploratory bent and what you hear is so full of life that one reviewer referred to the music as a “demonic (paced) hoedown.” (rollingstone.com). Matthews says the vitality comes from five strong individuals - each excellent and accomplished musicians in their own right - giving their interpretation to the song. “We take a lot of different influences and make something new out of them by playing each song the best that we can play it,” says LeRoi Moore (dmbcrash.com).

Second, there’s Matthews’ own personal fingerprint on the songs he writes and plays. His guitar technique is unique. Although he’ll often strap on an electric model, he’s usually heard banging away on his acoustic model “like a drum with notes,” playing each string as if it were a percussion instrument. When he opens his mouth to sing, his vocals emerge in a voice variously described as “otherworldly and elegantly elastic” (Entertainment Weekly, 5/3/96), and a “percolating baritone.” (rollingstone.com).

Third, although Matthews sings all leads, he’s quick to point out the fact that there are actually five lead voices in the band: “I may be the first thing people notice, since I do the singing, but there are times when LeRoi’s sax is the voice, and times when Boyd is at the front. And in Carter and Stefan, we have something that goes far beyond a simple rhythm section. There are very few times when the audience has just one thing to listen to.” (rollingstone.com). DMB might just be the consumate “jam band.” They can play, and play, and play without ever taking the life out of a song. In fact, they may never play the same song the same way twice. Usually a song has been played live numerous times - sometimes for years - before DMB commits to recording the song for release.

Lyrically, Matthews is quick to point out that the words are secondary to his music. Usually the lyrics are penned long after songs are composed. In many cases, the lyrics are spontaneously arrived at while the band is playing a tune for the first time. This is reflected in the fact that while listeners can usually make out his words, it’s sometimes initially difficult to understand their meaning. Spin’s Jeff Salamon says “it’s difficult to decipher what Matthews is getting at.” (spin.com). Matthews has a different take on it: “Our music is written to be clear and simple. It’s pop music with a pretty positive message. I hope it’s accessible to everyone.” (dmbcrash.com). Savvy DMB fans will certainly understand much more than uninitiated listeners. If you know his story and the take the time to thoughtfully engage with his lyrical poetry, the message is usually - but not always - simple and clear. All things considered, DMB’s music is lyrically rich and full of deep meaning.

DMB fans love the music, and there’s nothing they love more than going to a DMB concert. Doing over 200 concerts a year has built the band’s fame and following. There are no pyrotechnics, costumed dancers, or elaborate sets. Instead, listeners are treated to five guys playing their hearts out on stage. Four remain stationary. Matthews will oftentimes move around in what he calls his “goofy leg spasm” - a unique foot tap that keeps him on beat which he says he can’t fight off. Concertgoers can’t fight off the infectious beat and will dance as they sing along to their favorite DMB songs. Two unique examples of DMB fan devotion are known among devotees as “Bagbies” and “Davespeak.” “Bagbies” got their start years ago due to a DMB policy allowing anyone to record a DMB concert if they bring their own equipment. DMB soundboard technician Jeff “Bagby” Thomas would let concertgoers patch their equipment through the main soundboard. Over the years, “Bagbies” have become a hot trading commodity among DMB fans at concerts and over the internet. DMB supports the practice as long as the tapes aren’t sold. “Davespeak” is the witty and comical Matthews’ commentary between songs. Fans eagerly await his words and will run home to post them on one of many “Davespeak” websites where fans love to share Dave’s verbal musings.

There are two things you can’t deny about DMB’s music: Their music is lively and they are amazing to listen to live!

Step 3: Look for cultural characteristics and distinctives, including values, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, changing pressures, problems, choices, etc.

Because DMB continues to crank out music embraced by a loyal and growing young following, those who care about kids need to understand the basic message and worldview communicated through their lyrics. With six studio albums and five live concert discs already under their belt, there’s far too much DMB music to seriously analyze in the limited confines of this space. Perhaps a better approach is to isolate the main themes or “doctrines” of the DMB musical package, and cite examples of each. There are certain recurring themes and messages that are unmistakeably clear. In true postmodern fashion, some of those ideas may appear contradictory, and at times they are. But the contradictions are more correctly understood as evidence of Matthews’ confusion, quest for answers, and willingness to “think out loud” as he ponders the basic questions and issues of life.

There’s something wrong - very wrong - with this world.

Dave Matthews has experienced family tragedy. He grew up surrounded by racism and violence. He stood behind a bar pouring drinks while listening to endless tales of bitterness and brokeness from people seeking answers and healing. And, he’s found himself sitting on the other side of the bar emptying his own glass. It’s no coincidence his music reflects the fact that the world is anything but a sweet and happy place to live. Perhaps no one DMB song captures that reality more than “What Would You Say.”The Grammy nominated tune off the band’s 1994 debut studio album Under The Table And Dreaming was the group’s first hit single and the song that placed them on the pop music map. It’s a fitting introduction to DMB’s musical package. The song opens with Matthews’ observations about the fallenness of the world and its inhabitants: “Up and down the puppies’ hair/Fleas and ticks jump everywhere/’Cause of original sin/Down the hill fell Jack and Jill/And you came tumbling after/’Cause of original sin. . . . I was there when the bear ate his head/Thought it was candy/Everyone goes in the end.” The fact that Matthews understands that the consequences (suffering and death) are rooted in the destruction of the created order is captured not only in his lyrical references to “original sin,” but in the song’s video. Depictions of a naked Adam and Eve along with a bitten apple figure prominently in the collage of visual images. Creation and fall are realities for Dave Matthews. All of DMB’s musical yearnings, laments, and proposed solutions are evidence of their desire to see the effects of the fall ultimately undone once and for all through the restoration of what once was. His cry for something Aright” flows from his deep awareness that something is desperately wrong.

There is no lasting and real hope. . . and we go down, down, down.

Contrary to the happy, lighthearted, and celebratory nature of DMB’s music, Matthews visits and revisits a view of the world that is hopeless, pessimistic, and nihilistic. The 1994 release of Under The Table And Dreaming followed the murder of his older sister Anne, an event that deeply impacted Matthews’ life. The album’s fourth cut, “Rhyme & Reason,” is a first-person testimony of human sadness, hopelessness, and pain. Matthews serves as the voice of one who sees no other release from torment other than death: “My head aches - warped and tied up/I need to kill this pain/My head won’t leave my head alone/And I don’t believe it will/’Til I’m dead and gone/My head won’t leave my head alone/And I don’t believe it will/’Til I’m six feet under ground. . . . Well I know these voices must be my soul/I’ve had enough/I’ve had enough/Of being alone/I’ve got no place to go.” The song never promotes suicide. It simply offers an eye-opening trip into the mind of one whose life is at least one step darker than the darkness of death.  The idea that hope does not exist continues through DMB’s later work. The hopes and dreams that people have is the topic of “Dreaming Tree.” The song puts two human faces on the Matthews belief that as time passes, one’s youthful and idealistic dreams will inevitably die in the presence of life’s harsh realities. In the first story, an old man looks back on his life and how he used to sit and dream under his dreaming tree. Progress and age have killed the tree. In the second story, a young girl who has lost hope begs her father, “Daddy come quick/The dreaming tree has died/I can’t find my way home/There is no place to hide/Oh if I had the strength. . . Take me back/Save me please.” In “Dreams Of Our Fathers,” Matthews laments the emptiness that results from shattered dreams: “My empty pages are filling up/With these wicked lies/But I hear deep in myself/An echo and echo/Of empty empty emptiness/Comes up and swells inside.” In “If I Had It All,”  he sings of the resulting depression: “Remembering time/Much younger than me now/When my breath was light/When the world raised me kind/Here the mother comforts child/Every moment was waking up/But now I have grown tired.” Even the title for the recent hit single “Grey Street” (see lyrics below) is itself a metaphor for depression. Matthews hopes to overcome his hopelessness. That desire is evidenced in the yearnings of “You Never Know”: “One day we might see/Doing not a thing/Breathing just to breath/We might find some reason.” But because of his nihilistic worldview, he’s skeptical that life can get any better. In “Raven” he sings, “Begin to ending is really just a go round and round and round.” That skepticism takes center stage on “Big Eyed Fish,” a song that details the unhappy endings of a man, a monkey, and a fish - each of which ventures beyond their respective spheres of existence (the fish sought land, the man held his breath til he died, and the monkey ventured into the city) - in an effort to find something better: “Under the weight of life/Things seem brighter on the other side/Oh God/Under the weight of life/Things seem so much better on the other side/No way, no way, no way out of here.” For Matthews, there is no permanent and eternal escape from one’s troubles. As a result, he longs for the relative innocence and security of his past. “Warehouse” is a song about an actual place that represents his lost innocence and where he’s come from. It references the actual warehouse in Charlottesville where he would hang out in recording studio owner Russ Hoffman’s apartments, and where DMB played their May 11, 1991 rooftop gig. Matthew’s ponders the place he loves in the song’s opening lines: “Hey reckless mind/Don’t throw away your playful beginning.” The song ends with him singing, “My love I love to stay here/In the warehouse.” In between he realizes he can’t recover the feeling of what once was: “This I admit/Taste so good/Hard to believe an end to it/Smell touch feel/How could this rhythm ever quit/Bags packed on a plane/Hopefully to heaven.”

Life’s hard. . . . escape through the music.

Matthews’ own history of personal crises and upheaval have not only fueled his deep longing for wholeness and healing, but led him to seek escape and relief. After all, who wants to feel depressed? One of the primary avenues for Matthews has been into the world of his music. As with the great majority of artists, the music serves as Matthews’ therapy. Singing and playing are what make him happy. His pain allows him to feel the pain of others. He invites them to escape into the music with him by popping in a CD or through communing together at a DMB concert. That’s why so much of him music, while lyrically dark, is instrumentally upbeat. “Pantala Naga Pampa”, the short opening cut and intro to Before These Crowded Streets, is titled in the Gambian language and translated “Welcome to our home.” DMB invites listeners to a place of safety, security, and refuge in the song’s brief words: “Come and relax now/Put your troubles down/No need to bear the weight of your worries/Just let them all fall away.” In “#41” (a song titled as such because it was the 41^st song he wrote), Matthews sings words that might express his desire for how he hopes his music - in terms that conjure up images of the good Samaritan -  will serve to help and heal his listeners: “What sort of man goes by/I will bring water/Why won’t you ever be glad/It melts into wonder/I came in praying for you/Why won’t you run in the rain in play/Let the tears splash all over you.” In “Dancing Nancies” - a song that asks deep questions about personal vocational destiny - Matthews states his understanding of his vocational destiny and the role he and his music play in the lives of the similarly confused: “Sing and dance I’ll play for you tonight/And thrill at it all/Dark clouds may hang on me sometimes/But I’ll work it out. . .” The final lines of “So Right” reveal how Matthews sees his unique music serving listeners in similar ways as the Techno music of Raves - all night dance parties where participants seek to escape from the world into peace, love, unity, and respect - as he sings, “This time now is so alive/Everybody’s trance dancing tonight/So beautiful and so strange/It was empty till you came.”

Death. . . it’s inevitable.

Listening to DMB’s repetoire of songs from start to finish makes it clear that Matthews is a man who realizes that death lies before us all. It’s a destiny that’s always on his mind. As already stated, he understands that the world is a broken place. He experienced the death of his father and sister. He saw death in South Africa. And while he might not fully understand the Biblical doctrine of sin and the resulting consequences of the fall, he certainly laments the fact that one of those consequences - death - gnaws at his consciousness. In “Seek Up” - from the band’s first album Remember Two Things - he sings, “Right, wrong, weak, strong/Ashes to ashes all fall down. . . . Forget about the reasons/And the treasons we are seeking/Forget about the notion/That our emotions can be swept away/Forget about being guilty/We are innocent instead/For soon we will all find our lives swept away.” His mentions of death continue periodically through subsequent albums. It’s particularly interesting to note, however, that laments over death appear with increased frequency on DMB’s two most recent albums, Everyday and Busted Stuff. On the “escape” anthem “So Right,” the opening lines implore listeners to “Roll uptown to midnight/Then roll on downtown till it’s light/Because tomorrow we may die.” He discusses his shared fear with listeners on AWhat You Are”: AWhat you’ve become/Just as I have/Are you and I so unlike/Huddled here/You just as I am/Afraid if we dance/We will die.” On “You Never Know” Matthews sings, “Everyday should be a good day to die/Oh all fall down/It won’t be too long now/Every fire dies.” “Grace Is Gone” captures the laments of a drunk and despondent man grieving over the loss of a lover. The song doesn’t make it clear if the man’s love interest has died or just gone away. Either way, images of death are used to describe her departure: “I woke with you beside me/Your cold hand lay in mine.” Perhaps Matthews’ gnawing awareness of the presence of death is best captured in the title of the song “Digging A Ditch.” The mournful tune captures the thoughts of one whose life is full of worries while getting ready to die: “Run to your dreaming when you’re alone/Unplug the TV and turn off your phone/Get heavy on with digging your ditch/Cause I’m digging a ditch where madness gives a bit/Digging a ditch where silence lives/Digging a ditch for when I’m old/Digging this ditch my story’s told.” In the absence of any claims to the contrary, it appears that for Matthews, there’s no hope for an afterlife. Death is the inevitable end.

Seize the Day!

Perhaps the one thing that sets Dave Matthews apart from other lamenting artists is his resolve to forget about pain, suffering, and death - albeit temporarily - with a positive approach to life that seeks redemption through making the most of every moment and enjoying the limited time one has on this earth. This “party hard” and “live life to the fullest” attitude comes through loud and clear in his songs, both lyrically and sonically. In fact, it’s interesting to note that even his lyrical laments are often embedded in tunes that are celebratory and happy in nature. Matthews told one interviewer that it was the deaths in his family that have inspired him to be more upbeat: “It had an effect on my outlook. Statements like ‘They’re in a better place’ - all that stuff is just junk food. Her death (sister Anne) and the death of my father made me stand up and pay attention. It makes you not want to forget - - - not want to forget to live.” (Time, 3/5/01). On the DMB website Matthews explains, “I think a lot of the reason my choruses conclude, ‘Make the best of it’ - or maybe, ‘Be grateful, anyway’ - is because the different tragedies that hit our family were also an inspiration for me. They make me want to live now, desperately - and to try to affect things positively.” (dmbcrash.com). He says, “I don’t want to be someone who writes about how sad I am. I’d rather write about those same topics, but with a little momentum. With some sort of strength.” (Rolling Stone, 3/15/01). This “carpe deim” approach to life infects DMB’s music. He criticizes humanity’s drone-like existence on “Ants Marching.” The song and video look at how people busily go to and fro everywhere with monotony: “He wakes up in the morning/Does his teeth bite to eat and he’s rolling/Never changes a thing/The week ends the week begins”. . . . . same thing over and over again. But Matthews wonders why we love like this when life is so short: “Take these chances/Place them in a box until a quieter time/Lights down, you up and die.” He challenges listeners to get over it, move on, and don’t waste your time on “What Would You Say”: “Rip away the tears/Drink a hope for happy years/And you may find a lifetime’s passed you by. . . . I don’t understand at best/I cannot speak for all the rest/But you may find a lifetime’s passed you by.” “Dancing Nancies” was written out of Matthews experience with an unsuccessful hitchhiking trip when he lived in South Africa - a trip that led him to think about the meaning, purpose, and destiny of his life: “Twenty-three and so tired of life/Such a shame to throw it all away/The images grow darker still/Could I have been anyone other than me?” The singer immediately decides to “seize the day”: “Then I look up at the sky/My mouth is open wide, lick and taste/What’s the use in worrying/What’s the use in hurrying?” “Tripping Billies” - one of DMB’s most popular, upbeat, and recognizable songs - recalls a beach party Matthews had with friends when he was in high school. The philosophical roots of that happy high school memory have become a credo for his fans as they sing with him, “Eat, drink and be merry/For tomorrow we die.” On “Two Step,” Matthews declares, “Celebrate we will/Because life is short but sweet for certain.” “Lie In Our Graves” is an upbeat tune on which Matthews declares, AI can’t believe that we would lie in our graves/Wondering if we had spent our living days well/I can’t believe that we would lie in our graves/Thinking of things that might have been.”  On “Pig” he tells listeners, “It’ll all be dead and gone in a few short years. . . . Don’t burn the day away.” “You Never Know” ponders the meaning of life. Again, Matthews implores listeners to seize the day: “But rushing around seems what’s wrong with the world/Don’t lose the dreams inside your head/They’ll only be there til you’re dead/Dream. . . . There’s not a moment to lose in the game/Don’t let the troubles in your head/Steal too much time you’ll soon be dead/So play. . . . everyday should be a good day to die.” A practical guideline for how to seize the day is portrayed visually in the “Satellite” video. The video encourages viewers to connect with and discover the wonders of nature and the world around us by moving out of the constricting artificial world of mass media. Matthews wants his followers to embrace and celebrate life.

God. . . . Who? What? Where? How?

 Like all of us, Dave Matthews and his bandmates were created to be in a relationship with God. And like so many today, DMB struggles to understand just what that means. Matthews’ Quaker upbringing combine with his thoughtful nature to bring a spiritual element to the music. But that element is a postmodern smorgasbord spirituality built around Matthews’ personal struggles and opinions. He struggles to know God, to know who God is, and to know if God cares about the affairs of the created order. In “Seek Up” he indicates that God is there, but doesn’t care about what’s happening in the world. In fact, God enjoys watching the suffering: “Look around about this round/About this merry-go-round/If at all God’s gaze upon us fall/His mischievous grin, look at him.” The theme continues in “Drive In Drive Out”: “Ooh, my head is pounding now/God has all but left me behind.” In “What You Are,” Matthews sings, “The sea is unsparing/We’re all drifting away/Away from you/But I pray for you now/Hoping to god on high/Is like clinging to straws/While drowning.” The anti-war tune “Last Stop” angrily addresses those who make war and promote bloodshed believing they have divine appointment and righteous authority to do so. Matthews not only confronts them, but he goes deeper to indict the God they follow: “Gracious, even God bloodied the cross.” In “Dreaming Tree,” Matthews tells the story of broken dreams and lost idealism. In the middle of the tune, the hurting and sorrowful first person voice addresses God: “Oh have you no pity. . . .Will you not talk/Can you take pity/I don’t ask much/But won’t you speak/Please?” The prayers of the despondent subject of “Grey Street” are described: “She prays to God most every night/And though she swears it doesn’t listen/There’s still a hope in her it might/She says ‘I pray/But they fall on deaf ears.’” For Matthews, a silent God leads him to believe there is not God at all. The song “Mother Father” asks for explanations to the problem of evil in the world. Near the conclusion of the song he sings, “There’s no god above/No hell below.” Still, in “You Never Know” he wonders out loud what would happen to the affairs of the world “if God shuffled by.” In the midst of all this, Matthews throws listeners a surprise. The last cut on Remember Two Things is called AChristmas Song.” He says the song was inspired by an Oscar Wilde quote – “If Christ was alive now, the one thing he wouldn’t be is a Christian.” On the acoustic solo he sings about the life and death of Jesus, a man Matthews believes is great because he stood up against the entire world. While the song captures much of the life of Christ, it falls short in its representation by omitting any recognition of his deity, divine mission, and resurrection. In addition, it is implied that Christ had sexual relations with Mary Magdalene: “He met another Mary for a reasonable fee/Less than reputable as known to be.”

Determine your own destiny.

Three of the primary “developmental questions” of adolescence are “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, and “What does my future hold?” All humans seek to discover who they are, what they are to do with their lives, and how they are to live out their place in this world. Foundational to that struggle is the question of whether or not one controls one’s own destiny, or if submission to another “higher” or “outside” authority is required? Because Matthews doesn’t recognize divine authority, he turns - in true postmodern fashion - to the “authority du jour” (usually the self)  that reigns supreme in a nothing centered universe.  In “Typical Situation,” Matthews exhibits the emerging generation’s frustration with the perceived reality that the older generation’s desire is to squash idealistic young postmodern individualism, while they demand conformity to some old-fashioned and out-dated standards. He states the old’s questions and threats to the young: “Why are you different/Why are you that way/If you don’t step in line/We’ll lock you away.” He answers in the frustrated voice of the young: “It’s a typical situation/In these typical times/We can’t do a thing about it.” Matthews own personal struggle to discover himself is chronicled powerfully in the lyrics and video of “So Much To Say.” The video for the hit single depicts the inside of Matthews’ mind - a dark, grey, and solitary place. Matthews sits alone in solitary confinement as he tries to break free: “Say my hell is the closet I’m stuck inside. . . Can’t see the light. . . . Here we have been standing for a long, long time/Treading trodden trails for a long, long time.” Like so many in today’s youth culture, Matthews finds the answer in reinventing himself: “I find sometimes it’s easy to be myself/Sometimes I find it better to be somebody else.” In “Captain,” he recognizes that ultimately he is the one to take control of the struggle and run his own life: “Crazy as I make my way through this world/It’s for no one but me to say what direction I shall turn/I am the captain of this ship.” The ship springs holes in “Mother Father” and Matthews screams orders to the crew in a troubling world where divine intervention isn’t even an option: “Come on out you save yourself. . . . We’re taking on water/But we’ve got the freedom/We’ve got the freedom/There’s no God above/No hell below/It’s here with us/It’s up to us/To keep afloat.”

What the world needs now is love, peace, and justice.

A neo-hippie flavor of activism permeates DMB’s music. No one can listen to the music and come away thinking this is a band that doesn’t care about the world. DMB critically addresses issues related to war, poverty, racism, justice, greed, materialism, and environmentalism. Those commitments are not just words to songs - they are reflected in DMB’s establishment of their own charitable foundation and hands-on activism. “Mother Father” catalogs a host of problems - including evil, violence, cruelty, hatred, hunger, racism, and the environment - as a child asks his parents for an explanation to it all: “Mother Father please explain to me/Why a world so full of mystery/A place so bitter and still so sweet/So beautiful and yet so full of sad sad. . . .Mother Father please explain to me/How this world has come to be.” “Minarets” is a song protesting what Matthews sees as senseless wars sparked by Christian and Muslim differences - battles that are justified in the name of religion: “Santa Maria virgin child/All our wars over you we are fighting/And all our time our faith justifying.” DMB’s anti-war sentiments continue on “Last Stop”: “How is this hate so deep? Lead us all so blindly killing killing/Fools we are/If hate’s the gate to peace/This is the last stop. . . . War, the only way to peace/I don’t fall for that.” Materialism and greed are the subject of “Too Much.” The powerful video depicts greed as a seductress as humanity wallows disgustingly in an orgy of overindulgence. Matthews says about the song, “It’s where excess has taken over, where your appetite has taken control of the narrator. As opposed to enjoying life, it’s devouring life, which seems to be a common theme in the world - certainly in America, where we do just that - eat too much, drink too much, consume too much, preach too much.” (Boston Globe, 9/27/96).  In the song, this materialism and greed lead to imperialism: “I told god/I’m coming to your country/I’m going to eat up your cities, your homes. . . . I’ve got this growl in my tummy/And I’m gonna stop it today.” He challenges materialistic greed in “Seek Up”: “Look at me in my fancy car/And my bank account/Oh how I wish I could take it all down into my grave, I’d save. . . . Sit awhile with TV’s hungry child/Big belly swelled/Oh, for a price of a coke or a smoke/Keep alive those hungry eyes.” Matthews’ own experience occasioned the message of “Cry Freedom,” a gut-wrenching appeal for peace and justice in South Africa. “Don’t Drink The Water” was the first single and video release off Before These Crowded Streets. Lyrically, the song speaks to race-based land grabbing as the United States took land from native Americans: “Move aside for me/All I can say to you my new neighbor/Is you must move on or I will bury you.” The video translates the song’s message to the environmental decimation of the rain forest. Matthews says the way to change the world is through love. On “I Did It” he sings, “I never did a single thing that did a single thing to/Change the ugly ways of the world. . . . We gotta long way to go/But you gotta start somewhere/Go door to door spread the love you got.” “Everyday” echoes - very simply - the same message: “All you need is/All you want it/All you need is love/Everyday, everyday.”

Let’s lean on each other.

In a decaying and difficult world that lacks hope, nothing can be worse than being alone. Matthews references the pain of that solitary existence in the first line of “So Much To Say”: “Say my hell is the closet I’m stuck inside.” Matthews finds one element of his cure for loneliness and hopelessness in the power of friendship and comradery. Two, three, four, or more heads are much better than one in overcoming the difficult circumstances and realities of life. Matthews sings his belief in the power of mutual encouragement to a generation alone as he recounts the high school beach party that serves as the subject of “Tripping Billies”: “We are all sitting/Legs crossed round a fire/My yellow flame she dances . . . . So why would you care/To get out of this place/You and me and all our friends/Such a happy human race.” The same idea comes across in the party anthem “So Right”: “Stay up and make some memories here/With us now/To roll red carpet out with friends.” In “Where Are You Going,” Matthews pledges to stand by the sad and despondent subject of the song who is looking for answers to the meaning of life: “I am no superman/I have no answers for you/I am no hero, Oh that’s for sure/But I do know one thing for sure/Is where you are, is where I belong/I do know, where you go, is where I want to be.” DMB encourages their listeners to walk through this life together, arms locked in mutual interdependence.

Celebrate romantic love and its redemptive power.

DMB listeners are encouraged to seize and experience the powerful feelings of romantic love. For Matthews, romantic love and the various expressions of such are to be pursued and enjoyed. DMB sees this kind of love as a redemptive escape and another remedy to lonliness. The theme is woven in and through the entire DMB catalog. In “Recently,” two lovers get so lost in each other that they forget about the watching world: “People stare and we just ignore them” because “Both say that we never before/Never before have felt as recently.” The yearning and emotional “Lover Lay Down” is about someone the singer had loved when he was younger. He desires to experience that love again and sings “I will wait for you/I will wait for no one but you/Look please lover lay down/Spend this time with me/Together share this smile. . . . could I love you?/Could you love me?” The yearning continues in “Angel”: “It’s lonely far from you. . . . But I want you back again/When you’re not here/It’s hard to pretend/It’s all alright.” He sings about love’s power to provide fulfillment, redemption, and escape. Matthews says “Two Step” is “about a love affair that takes place in the middle of great world upheaval.” (Billboard, 3/23/96).  “Say, my love, I came to you with best intentions/You laid down and gave to me just what I’m seeking/Love, you drive me to distraction. . . . You quench my heart and you quench my mind.” In “If I Had It All” the Aall” that will make his life complete is a lover: “The again if I were a king/If I had everything/If I had you.” He sings in “Fool To Think,” “Look at me dreaming of you/All I could hope is to have you/To have you walking with me/Laughing so in love we two.” Sometimes, Matthews’ “love” is purely sexual. In the lusty Grammy nominated single “Crash,” Matthews sings about seeking sexual fulfillment in some very explicit terms: ALost for you I’m so lost for you/You come crash into me/And I come into you/I come into you/In a boy’s dream/In a boy’s dream. . . . Hike up your skirt a little more/And show your world to me. . . . Oh I watch you there through the window/And I stare at you/You wear nothing but you wear it so well” In “Say Goodbye,” Matthews attempts to squelch loneliness by asking a friend to become a lover for just one night: “You’ve got me wild/Turned around inside/And then desire, see, is creeping/Up heavy inside here. . . Now let’s make this an evening/Lovers for a night, lovers for tonight/Stay here with me, love tonight/Just for an evening. . . . tomorrow we go back to being friends. . . . But tonight let’s be lovers/We kiss and sweat/We’ll turn this better thing to the best.” At other times, he sings of “love” as a commitment to another. He tells the object of his desire in the Grammy nominated  “Crush,” “Crazy how it feels tonight/Crazy how you make it all alright love. . . . God, I want you so badly.” The theme continues with references to sex as redemption in “When The World Ends”: “Oh when the world ends/We’ll be burning one/When the world ends/We’ll be making sweet love. . . .I’m gonna take you to bed and love you I swear like the end is here.” “Rapunzel” would be a wonderful song if it spoke of sexual love in the context of marital fidelity. But knowing Matthews, it’s unlikely that’s the context of this song. Still, he does mention commitment: “I give my world to you/To you I will be true. . . . I think the world of you/All of my heart I do. . . . From you my strength is full/To carry my burdens too.”

Love can hurt and be messy.

It’s no surprise that Matthews never finds in human love the ultimate fulfillment he’s longing for. He recognizes that love can hurt. Savvy DMB fans know that even though Matthews is now a happily married family man, his music reflects the breakdown of a relationship prior to the one he has with Ashley. His broken relationship with Julia Grey - a girl who three times turned down his marriage proposals - and his resulting pain, figures prominently into DMB’s music. “I’ll Back You Up” is the first song Matthews ever completed. Written for Grey after she returned to South Africa, he sings, “Do as you please/I’ll back you up. . . . And I know you’re the heaviest weight/When you’re not here/That’s hung around my head.” The calm tones and message of “I’ll Back You Up” are quickly forgotten after listening to “Halloween,” an embittered and angry response to Grey. Named because he debuted the song on Halloween 1992, this is perhaps the angriest sounding and darkest song Matthews ever penned. In addition, it’s one of only two songs that contain profanity. In “Halloween,” Matthews becomes a nightmare to Grey. In his anger, he refers to love as being “lonely” and “hell.” The angry-sounding “Drive In Drive Out” is about the mental turmoil of an on-again off-again relationship that keeps going but isn’t fulfilling: “It’s going to drive me right out of my brain/Drive in drive out I’m leaving/Drive in drive out I’ll come back again.” Matthews says “The Space Between” is about “that connection we can never make. It’s accepting that we’re basically alone. That’s kind of what life is about, trying to bridge the gap that’s between us.” (mtv.com). While the song begins with discord – “These twisted games we’re playing/We’re strange allies/With warring hearts” - Matthews states his resolve to get along and work things out – “Take my hand/Cause we’re walking out of here/Right out of here/Is all we need dear.” “Sleep To Dream Her” will connect with listeners who have an object of affection who doesn’t return the affection or notice the love: “Wish I could bend my love to hate her/Wish I could be her creator/To twist her arms now. . . . It seems so unnerving/Yet still somehow deserving/That she could hold my heart so tightly/And still not see me here. . . . Oh I sleep just to dream her.” Written the day after his stepfather died, the title cut from Busted Stuff is about a broken heart: Rolling stone gathers no moss but leave a trail of busted stuff/You know she’s going to leave my broken heart behind her.”

Let your feelings be your guide.

Woven directly and indirectly through DMB’s music is the message that there no are objective, transcendent, outside standards of right and wrong that are for all people, in all times, and in all places. Stated succinctly, Dave Matthews’ lives, sings, and promotes a true postmodern ethical system. Right and wrong are determined by the individual based on that person’s feelings and will at any given moment in time. One good example is the feel good single and video release of “Stay,” The happy song depicts a summertime street party and parade. In the song, Matthews not only wants to escape into the moment with his love interest, but he wants to “stay” there because it feels so good. And, it doesn’t matter what’s wrong or what’s right: “Wasting time/Let the hours roll by/Doing nothing for the fun/Little taste of the good life/Whether right or wrong.” In “Crush,” Matthews justifies behavior as “In this moment it feels so right.” That’s not to say Dave Matthews doesn’t have personal standards. It would be a gross misunderstanding to think that’s the case. Sometimes his standards and concerns reflect God’s order and design. But although thoughtful and discerning listeners will sometimes catch a reflection of a Biblical world and life view, that Biblical world and life view is not something he consciously ascribes or aspires to.

Seek forgiveness.

Because he was a white man growing up in South Africa, Matthews knows what it means to seek forgiveness. DMB’s music reflects a desire to not only make things right, but to ask those wronged - whether they were wronged personally or institutionally - for pardon. Examples abound in Matthews life and music. The theme jumps out at listeners in two songs. The appropriately titled “Let You Down” captures the repentant spirit. He sings to the wronged party, “I let you down, oh, forgive me. . . . How could I be such a fool like me/I let you down/Tail between my legs.” Matthews gets extremely vulnerable on “The Stone,” a song about making mistakes and seeking forgiveness. Although he never reveals his specific sin to listeners, he cries out for someone to support him as he wallows in shame and regret. He sings: “I’ve been praying/For some way to show them/I’m not what they see/Yes I have done wrong. . . . . This weighs on me/As heavy as stone. . . . I was just wondering if you’d come along.”

Success isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.

As already stated, Matthews is fairly outspoken and critical of materialism. He goes a step further and warns listeners - all those who might aspire to the fame and fortune of the band - that success is a trap and the promise that things satisfy is nothing but an empty lie. “Pay For What You Get” is a song that functions at two levels. On one level, it’s about a woman who left him. But on a much deeper level, it speaks of how easy it is to lose your sense of purpose when you get wrapped up in pursuing material gain: “Work ourselves, fingers to the bone/Suck the marrow, drain the soul/Fingers to the bone/Pay your dues, and your debts/Pay your respects, everybody tells you/You pay for what you get.” In “Too Much” he reveals how the cycle of greed works: “I’m no crazy creep/I’ve got it coming to me because I’m not satisfied/The hunger keeps on growing.” Matthews says “41” - a song about how money and success can change you -  grew out of thinking about where he had come from Aand how I was now in this situation where those things that I’d done, I so love, had now suddenly become a source of incredible pain for me. . . . the innocence of just wanting to make music was kinda overshadowed by the dark things that come along with money and success.” (Rolling Stone, 12/12/96). He longs for his past in “Proudest Monkey”: “Then comes the day/Staring at myself I turn to question me/I wonder do I want the simple/simple life that I once lived in well.” At the end of the song he sings “Monkey see, money do” - a veiled warning to his listeners who he knows face the temptation to become like him.

Sometimes we all need a little medicine.

Any discussion of the world according to DMB would be incomplete if it didn’t mention the substance abuse connection. DMB’s original “frat band” roots continue on as the music is associated with drinking, smoking pot, and the occasional use of other drugs. Marijuana smoke wafts through and over the crowd at virtually every DMB concert. And the alcohol that flowed at DMB’s early frat party bookings still flows freely in Dave’s life and through the music. It’s certainly not something DMB discourages. On some occasions, the mention of alcohol or drugs in DMB’s music isn’t and shouldn’t be interpreted as promoting substance abuse. The suicidal first-person subject of “Rhyme & Reason” says he wishes he didn’t smoke or drink: “sometimes this thick confusion/Grows until I cannot bare it all/Needle to the vein/Needle to the vein/Take this needle from my vein my friend.” The narrator of “Grace Is Gone” drowns his sorrows at the bar: “It’s 2am - I’m drunk again. . . . Excuse me please one more drink/Could you make it strong cause I don’t need to think.” But contrary to what some might think, it’s a musical story that doesn’t promote drinking. But Matthews does at times view substance abuse as an avenue to escape and redemption. Matthews says “Jimi Thing” is one of the bands Ahippie songs” that’s about smoking and getting high: “Take a Jimi Thing just to keep me swingin’ . . . . I take a drink sit back relax/Smoke my mind makes me feel/Better for a short time.” At the “Tripping Billies” beach party, “dragons were smoked, tequila was drunk, and “oh our minds will wonder to wondrous places.” The romantic couple in “Crush” are Asitting, smoking, feeling high” and will “drink some wine ‘til we get drunk.” In Matthews broken and hopeless world, it’s not surprising that momentary escape is sought this way.

Step 4: Look for evidence of a spiritual quest.

The music cries “I need God.”

DMB’s music unmasks his screams for redemption and restoration. Usually, the screams are covert and somewhat indirect. But look at the entire DMB package in the context of his life story and Biblical truth, and what lies beneath rises quickly to the top. Sometimes the cries for redemption are more overt and straightforward. In “If I Had It All” he admits that it’s the void inside that has led him to sing. He asks, “Then why in the world would I sing if I had it all?” Matthews thinks about dying and what his life means in “Bartender.” In one of his most powerful and self-revealing lyrics, Matthews addresses the bartender/priest: “Bartender please, fill my glass for me/With the wine you gave Jesus that set him free/After three days in the ground.”

For those who need an escape from the emptiness of their lives, they run to the music. Like the temporary escape so many seek through a drug or alcohol high, DMB’s music offers a reprieve from the daily grind of life and sometimes overwhelming problems. Matthews’ willingness to escape into his music is evident in the themes/content of so many songs. The music becomes a temporary therapy, escape valve, or diversion from the hard realities of life. Because of that property, it’s not surprising that DMB has been associated with the college frat-life and “rites” of alcohol consumption and marijuana use. At its root, this desire to escape is a spiritual problem and evidence of the quest for “something more.”

The music makes an attempt to redeem those who are desperately lost.  Though very few of his listeners know it, their deep hunger pains are spiritual in nature. They long for a restored relationship with their creator. DMB temporarily “redeems” their pain and loneliness through music. It’s interesting to note that many of Matthews’ most fatalistic and nihilistic lyrics are sung to the most celebratory and upbeat tunes. In effect, people are temporarily forgetting their pain while actually dancing to it. It may only be a diversion and distraction, but for them, some relief is better than no relief at all.

Step 5: Identify “touchpoints” to use as doorways of opportunity for connection, conversation, evangelism, and discipleship.

We can discuss the fact that God is the author of rich diversity and solid unity. DMB’s unity in diversity has fostered broad-based appeal. In so many ways, DMB is ripe for an age where diversity is celebrated as a virtue. Musically, they play a variety of instruments. Sonically, they fuse a melting pot of styles and sounds. Racially, the band is composed of three blacks and two whites - a powerful draw considering Matthews’ South African roots. And, they range in age from 45 to 29. The diverse band is loved by an emerging generation whose culture loves diversity. In DMB, every member does their own thing, but there is tightknit unity in their broad diversity. That’s something very appealing to a young person aware of the broken and divided surroundings of our sinful and fallen world.

The band is real and has connected with fans. Today’s emerging generation longs for authenticity and relationships. With DMB, what you see is what you get. They aren’t one thing on stage and another off. They are friendly and respectful. They are personable guys who are not afraid to interact with their fans. Dave Matthews is outspoken about the fact that he feels indebted to his fans - not to MTV or record companies - for fueling the band’s success. Pouring himself into his performances is a way to pay them back. DMB’s music serves as a “neo-folk” music - music of and for the people. Simply said, a connection has been made. The emerging generations are hungry for connections. We must initiate those connections.

There’s a comradery and community that’s very appealing. DMB’s music and all that goes with it provides devotees a sort of “surrogate family” and place to belong in a world where so many families are broken and so many individuals feel alone. By default - not choice - Matthews serves as the mentor, guide, director, and at times even a father. The music is the glue that holds the package together. The concerts function like family reunions or church gatherings where the members come together to experience a place of belonging and fellowship. The music gives listeners a chance to interact, forget about their problems, and feel good - if only for a short period of time. Matthews says, “We’re all (band and crowd) standing on the same plane. So there must be some sense of community you can build up.” (Boston Globe, 4/26/96). Providing and living community is a doorway to connection.

We should point out where Matthews has his theology right. The groans he expresses are the direct result of living in a sinful and fallen world. While Matthews doesn’t view his situation through the lens of a Biblical world and life view, he knows that something’s gone terribly wrong in the world. He also yearns for something better. His commitment to issues of justice and mercy prove that point. In a nutshell, Matthews offers a peek - albeit incomplete - into the Biblical realities of creation and fall. Consequently, his music offers a great starting point for discussion of Biblical truth with DMB fans.

DMB brings constancy with variety. The world is changing at breakneck speed. Because that change can be so unsettling, many young people long for something they can count on. Avid DMB fans find that constancy in the band’s concerts. Just like the Grateful Dead, Phish, and other jam bands before them, DMB has developed a “following” - those people who attend more than one concert and will trail the band from city to city while they are on tour. Even though they hear the same band who may perform only a slightly different set list, the constancy serves them much like a tattoo - when they wake up in the morning, it will be there. But because DMB often breaks into a jam session onstage, there’s enough variety in the music to never let it go stale. DMB and their music serve as a constant for many listeners who feel they are getting swallowed up in a sea of change. These changes and the need for constancy are something we can discuss with the emerging generations.

DMB fans love to talk about the lyrics. DMB makes music tailored for a postmodern audience. In a truly postmodern world, meaning is what the listener/observer determines it to be. Matthews’ cryptic lyrical expression encourages individual interpretation. He rarely explains his more confusing lyrics. Sometimes when he does, the explanations have changed. “Interpret as you wish,” said Matthews to an online AOL audience in 1996. “That’s half the fun.” Ask his fans for their interpretations, then discuss those interpretations with them.

The songs address “what I feel.” Ask them what they feel.  One of the most powerful aspects of popular music is its ability to put into words expressions of what listeners are experiencing. Many times, the music says it better than they can say it themselves. Matthews’ lyrics address the wide spectrum of what it means to be human. He sings of the experiences and the emotions people encounter in everyday life. He sings of love, brokenness, joy, pain, sorrow, and heartache. He says, “I try to suggest a feeling in my music - forgiveness, frustration, anxiety. . .” (Time, 8/3/98). His music is about real life. . . . and kids are connecting with it. We must ask them what they see of themselves in DMB’s music.

Step 6: Discern those elements that can be celebrated and embraced, and those that must be challenged and opposed.

First, DMB plays good music Celebrate their instrumentals and creativity. The five members of the band have been, are, and will always be musicians. Each one has individually mastered their craft through hard work, study, and lots of practice. They are technically sound. Together they present a musical package that is clean, crisp, lively, and always fresh. This band is so good that in an age of elaborate staging and showy gimmicks, the band stands on stages void of fluff and the crowd is gripped by the music. Ask any DMB fan what they like most about the band and ninety percent of the time they’ll say, “Their music is so good!” The technical excellence and musical creativity of DMB sets them apart from the overwhelming majority of their contemporaries. The image of God oozes off the band when they begin to play as their creativity reflects the creativity of the Creator. Their God-given talent is undeniable and offers compelling evidence of the Biblical doctrine of common grace. The band’s commitment to better themselves instrumentally is a model of stewardship, even though not consciously such. The joy their instrumentals brings to listeners is a clear glimpse of how it should be. I know I risk losing some of you here - so keep on reading - but I firmly believe that when the band plays, God smiles with joy. After all, aren’t they exercising the abilities and talents he’s given to them?

Celebrate an originality that’s a breath of fresh air. With pop music’s multiple genres easily identified by signature sounds and numerous copycats, everything has become so predictable. Not so with DMB. They’ve established themselves in a class all their own. Their unique instrumental combination and resulting sound are like nothing heard before. Music fans are looking for something new and fresh in a market-driven music industry that consistently replicates successful formulas in an effort to sell records. DMB was making original music long before they were making and selling record albums. The only formula here is a commitment to make “their” music.

Celebrate the fact that DMB absolutely loves what they do. Most people would think that playing the same music night in and night out might get old. But playing, touring, and recording has never gotten monotonous for this band. Watch them onstage or listen to their albums and it’s clear that this is a band that’s having fun. In a world filled with brokenness, bitterness, and bad news, there are more than enough listeners who want to get in on the merriment.

Celebrate Matthews’ activism that’s been embraced by a generation that wants to make a difference. The emerging generation is hopeful and idealistic. Many of them are willing to get behind a good cause. For them, Matthews is an inspiration and a model. He inspires them through his lyrical concern for issues of justice and mercy. He models a personal commitment to those ideals. The band’s Bama Works Foundation was established to carry out charitable works. They send lots of money, give their time, and perform numerous benefit concerts. A look at the list of Bama Works beneficiaries is overwhelming. The band gives to a wide variety of causes including youth programs, environmental programs, medical relief efforts, Libraries, community based athletic associations, schools, and world hunger organizations.  They even give money to some evangelical Christian causes, including some youth ministries.

Celebrate the refreshing fact that DMB hasn’t “sold out.”  The band has worked hard to get to where they’re at. They’ve paid their dues. Yes, they’ve risen to the top and there’s a huge market for DMB product and merchandise. They’re making a very nice living. But in terms of their attitude, the band that stands on stadium stages today is the same band that stood cramped on smoke-filled club stages ten years ago. DMB’s “don’t let success get to you” and “never forget your roots” message is consistent with who they are. In an entertainment world where the definition of “success” preached to our kids equals cars, clothes, gold, cash, houses, etc., DMB is a breath of fresh air.

Step 7: Choose how to use what you’ve learned in your particular ministry setting with your particular audience.

The band’s excellence and creativity have set the bar high - and the church should be jumping even higher. One of the oft-heard and many-times accurate criticisms of what is marketed as “Christian music” is that it is nothing more than a “second-rate imitation and rip-off” of what’s being marketed effectively in the mainstream music scene. DMB’s music shouldn’t serve as a template of sound for Christians to imitate. Instead, it should serve as a challenging template for how to make good music. . . . music that is original, creative, and technically excellent. Sadly, some argue that it doesn’t matter how good or bad music is as long as it flows from good intent. If that’s the low-bar standard we set, we shouldn’t be surprised if all we can produce is “second-rate imitations and rip-offs.” Shouldn’t we hold ourselves to a higher standard? Shouldn’t we be committed to reflecting the image of God through pursuing creative excellence? Perhaps that’s a challenging lesson we can take away from our analysis of DMB.

“Exploit” DMB’s commitment to social causes. The band’s charitable efforts put many of us in the church to shame. We should be challenged by their example to not only speak, but to act. Perhaps if the church was more committed to issues of Biblical justice and mercy, the emerging generations would see something attractive about Christianity. In addition, we should tap into young people’s interest in these issues by presenting them with opportunities to make a difference in the name of Christ through missions and service. We should also engage in what some have labeled “service evangelism” - taking the unchurched on work projects so they can see the reality of the Gospel lived out before their eyes.

Answer DMB’s “hopeless optimism” by trumpeting hope in Christ. The great paradox of DMB’s music is that their followers joyfully dance to hopeful sounding tunes that anesthetize them from the painful realities of life represented in the songs. We shouldn’t interpret that as a deliberate attempt on the part of the band to pit vehicle (music) against content (lyrics). The nihilistic “live for the moment” message is without redemptive hope. The upbeat music offers a temporary reprieve through diversion. Consequently, the dance is nothing more than a dance of death. The paradox actually serves to tell us just how deep their spiritual need really is. The church must answer these cries for redemption. If we don’t like their music and simply tell them to “turn it off,” we’re only dealing with symptoms. The deeper issues are left unaddressed. DMB speaks for a generation that cries out, “Is there an answer?”, and if so, “Will you tell me what it is?”

DMB reminds us of the urgent need to define, model, and give “love.” Like so many of their contemporaries, the “love” theme runs through DMB’s music. The yearning for love reminds us of our need to reach out as the hands and feet of Jesus through long-term relationships. The confusion of sexual expression with love is nothing new, but should motivate us to diligently define “love” Biblically. We should preach and model a Biblical sexual ethic, letting them know that sex is sacred and to be shared and enjoyed by one man and one woman within the context of lifelong marriage. Young people need to know that love is commitment. I believe these are some of the most pressing needs the church must address in our culture today.

The drug and alcohol element must be addressed. Recreational substance abuse - particularly alcohol and marijuana - is part of the DMB message and subculture. But don’t assume that all mentions of such are gratuitous. In fact, it appears that when seen in the context of the music, smoking and drinking are seen as an effective means to temporary escape from the pain of the world into euphoria. It’s just another dead-end street on the search for hope. With that being the case, it’s an anesthetic. . . . an anesthetic that would be unnecessary if the pain were gone.

DMB’s fans are looking for a place to belong. Make the church that place. The music and the concerts have become like a church community or fellowship group. The church must ask itself, “Why are they going there rather than coming here?”

The emotional escape appeal of DMB’s music should help us evaluate our understanding and experience of worship. As already stated, DMB reflects the emerging postmodern worldview, including an emphasis on feeling as a means to discovering truth, and positive emotional experience as an aspiration and end. When fans assemble for the concerts, the dancing, singing, and smiling reflect that participants are having an uplifting experience. Reaching those emotional heights become the end of the experience. As this phenomenon becomes more and more ingrained in our culture, we need to be aware that those who hold it will carry it into every nook and cranny of their lives. We should be concerned that the same attitude might be creeping into the church, specifically at the level of corporate worship. It’s a question that must be asked: Is emotionally charged worship that emphasizes the experiences of the worshiper as the end, any different from what happens at a DMB concert? If our worship has gone from worshiping God to worshiping worship, then it’s no different. If our answer to the question “What made that a great worship service?” is nothing more than AIt made me feel good!”, then we’ve got to re-examine our focus.

Finally, we should weep with God over DMB’s lostness. Earlier, I mentioned that I think God smiles when DMB plays. But when they start to sing and lyrically express their flawed understanding of God’s world and their unfulfilled spiritual yearnings, God weeps. Not only should we do the same, but those tears should motivate us to reach out and love DMB and their followers with the same grace Christ has shown to us. Dave Matthews and his growing following hunger for the Bread of Life and thirst for Living Water. Will we lead them to it?