Song Of The Day 2/27/2016: Lust Control – “The Big ‘M’”

Well, you know, I don't feature a lot of Christian rock on this blog, guilty as charged. Even still, when I was going through the archives last night looking to fill today's space, I was kind of surprised that we haven't gotten around to discussing Lust Control. Hoo boy.

Lust Control first came to my attention via a compilation called Jesus Made Me Do It, Vol. 1 put out by Texas crank-call provocateur Brother Russell. This comp featured some jaw-dropping, eyebrow-arching material from the outsider wing of Christian music and oration. For example: tracks by the Mormon Kids, Christian ventriliquist dummy Little Marcy, Jimmy Swaggart and, ha ha, David Koresh. With the rise of cardboard fundamentalism happening lately, not to mention the candidacy of now reportedly die-hard Bible thumper Donald J. Trump, this kind of Christian entertainment seems almost harmlessly quaint.

The only rock track on the record, and arguably its most radio-friendly unit shifter, was a punk-esque song called "The Big 'M'" by Texas psalm-thrashers Lust Control. Their big agenda item was sexual purity: abstinence, waiting until marriage, overall maintenance of carnal appetite, all that jazz. They also wore ski masks for some reason. Maybe to prevent themselves from becoming sex symbols and stumbling the flock. The Christian music community had problems with Lust Control because of the explicitness of their lyrics, but how are you going to tell people not to do something if you don't explain what it is you don't want them to do? These kids, they don't get euphemisms. You gotta spell it out for them.

As far as "The Big 'M'" is concerned, for all you newcomers to the music of Lust Control who have not yet picked it up from the title, I think it's more effective if I don't address what it's specifically about and let you experience the glory for the first time without comment. That way, in the future when people ask you "Do you remember your first time?" you can say, "Oh, the first time I heard Lust Control? Yeah, it was on that blog!"

Humorous side note: At the end of the '90s Lust Control was named "Worst Christian Band Of The Decade" by HM magazine, a publication focusing on Christian rock. However, the sting of that censure may be alleviated when you learn that HM was founded in 1985 by a man named Doug Van Pelt. One of Van Pelt's side projects was, wait for it -- lead singer of Lust Control. Ha-ha! Nice one, Doug! Say hi to your brother Linus.