Why Worship Music Sucks

I write most of my songs in the key of E,
it's a bad habit i need to get out of.

The key of E:

E
F#minor
G#minor
A
B
C#minor
D#diminished
E

I guess in theory one could say that minor chords are equal to major chords. Minor chords tend to feel heavy, sometimes bitter. So, in music there should be a relatively equal amount of bitter/heavy chords and major chords. One could say that major chords represent "completeness". They sound full to the ear, like nothing is lacking.

This is why worship music sucks.

The average devo song written in the key of E will consist of E, A, B, and sometimes C#minor. This formula applies to 95% of the worship music out there. Shift it to any key: take the 3 major chords and one, at most two of the minor chords and rip off a psalm or something out of Isaiah and you could win the next Dove award.

Why does this make worship music suck?

Because worship music is like much of our consumer culture . . . it likes to ignore the way things are, in preference of smiling to make oneself happy. By playing only major chords perhaps we'll forget that minor chords exist. And, I think it is this attitude that is increasingly making church irrelevant in our culture.

I'm not happy all the time.
I don't use the words 'holy' or 'glory' in normal conversation.
My life consists of a good moments and plenty of bad ones, and in the bad ones I long for resolution. And, resolution is something far too often lost in worship music. Instead we sing songs that somehow give the impression that we are called to live our lives in major chords.

Most songs, even depressing ones, end on the key note or on a note that feels like it will be followed by the key note. I wonder if God did this on purpose. What I mean is that a song can go a thousand different ways. There is an unlimited bredth of different melodies that can come from any key, but it seems that all, if they end, should end by returning to the key note. Our lives seem to do the same thing.

Life is written in a key.
It starts with one chord.
It proceeds as a melody.
There are moments where it seems full (majors).
There are moments where it seems lacking (minors).
There are moments of excitement (sevens),
and tension (diminished).
One moment leads to another.
Full moments may seem like they should mark the end,
but the song continues,
and when the proper time comes:
resolve. We return to the beginning.

I imagine the state of praise music is the way it is, more as a byproduct of our mental state as a culture, still clinging to the American Dream. As Americans maybe our holy hour on Sunday is the last place we can pretend life is really an affair of major chords. Families know their messed up outside the churches walls, its only Sunday morning when we all play our personal role on Leave It to Beaver, and pretend like our perfect lawns don't have weeds in them.

For church to matter, we need songs that are creative with melody. We need songs that display our imperfections musically and lyrically, and long for resolve.