I heard a rumor on the Internets a while back that CCM Magazine, the Christian music magazine with self image issues, was no longer going to be published. And if it’s on the Internet it must be true.

But it turns out this rumor is true. The April 2008 issue–the 30th anniversary of CCM–will be its last issue.

What I think is most telling about its demise is that it’s going away with hardly a whimper. I had to really search to find any info about it. The fact is people aren’t interested in the Christian music label anymore. There are too many exceptions and it’s too hard to walk that fine line between edgy enough for the young people and safe enough for the gate keepers. And plenty of good magazines cover the ground on either side of that divide.

Oh sure, CCM will still be around online (we know how well that works). Though their web instincts seem about as good as their magazine instincts.

But I shouldn’t completely badmouth CCM. I wrote an article (a Q&A with Danielle Young of Caedmon’s Call) and a number of book reviews (mostly horrid books I tried not to completely bludgeon) for them a few years back.

And in high school CCM was my sole (soul?) source for Christian music info. I discovered new bands in its pages and actually paid full price for CDs based strictly on their written-word recommendations (an activity which seems incredibly quaint in today’s world). When I wasn’t yet ready for U2 or Johnny Cash they guided me through the select (elect?) halls of contemporary Christian music–bands like Petra, Newsboys, PFR, Geoff Moore and the Distance, DC Talk, Guardian, Jacob’s Trouble, All Star United, Johnny Q. Public, Steven Curtis Chapman.

So I have fond memories. But they’re also juvenile memories. I discovered Five Iron Frenzy and MxPx on my own, and went on to explore U2, a band CCM would frequently mention, but rarely come right out and discuss. And now 15 years later that’s likely their biggest mistake.