Since I’ve never heard of Larry Norman or any of the other bands mentioned in the past few days, I can’t really speak of the history of CCM; I can speak as to its current state.

Firstly, bands like MxPx, Dashboard Confessional, The Juliana Theory and countless other “indie/underground” acts do not consider themselves coming from the stream of CCM. If you ask them their musical influences (and I’ve met most of them after shows), they’ll say they listen to bands like The Beatles, Smashing Pumpkins, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, U2 or The Cure. The would look at you blankly if you asked them about Keith Green or Larry Norman. They would also say that their purpose is not to evangelize or “minister” to people; it’s just to make good music and have a good time doing it.