Film documents Christian rock’s ‘Fallen Angel,’ Larry Norman

By Bob Smietana/THE TENNESSEAN

Among Christian musicians, there’s never been anybody like Larry Norman.

In the early 1970s, Norman mixed lyrics about sex, drugs, rock and roll, and the end of the world, with healthy doses of Jesus and the end of the world, and became a Christian rock star.

With songs like “Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music,” “He’s the Rock that Doesn’t Roll,” and “666,” Norman helped launched the Christian music industry.

“He’s was this fantastic character who fused rock music and the Christian message,” said filmmaker David Di Sabatino, a long time Norman fan. “He wasn’t the first to do it – but he was the best at it.”

But while Norman, who died in February 2008, was a creative genius, his personal life was more complicated. He allegedly was unfaithful to his wife and cheated his business partners.

Di Sabatino explores Norman’s complications in a new documentary called Fallen Angel: The Outlaw Larry Norman. The film features footage of Norman in concert, along with interviews with Norman’s friends and former wife.

The director had hoped to screen the film in Nashville this week. But he canceled those plans amid a legal challenge from Norman’s family. Charlie Norman, Larry’s brother, did not respond to an interview request.

John Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association, was disappointed the screening had been canceled. He’d known Norman, a member of Gospel Music Hall of Fame, for years, and had great respect for his talent.

But Norman was always pushing limits. While other musicians sang praise songs, Norman wrote lyrics like “sipping whiskey from a paper cup, you drown your sorrows ‘til you can’t stand up.” 

Norman was also controversial for his songs about drug addiction, drinking, political corruption, racism and the apocalypse.

“He was a rock musician and leader of the Jesus Freak Movement in California and was a true anti-institutional radical who scared the church half to death in his day,” said John McClure, professor of homiletics at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

Like other rockers of the '60s and '70s, Norman had a political edge.

That’s most evident in his song, “The Great American Novel,” which includes the lines, “You are far across the ocean, but the war is not your own. And while you’re winning theirs, you’re gonna lose the one at home. Do you really think the only way to bring about the peace, is to sacrifice your children and kill all your enemies?”

Di Sabatino said that Norman’s talent, and his personality, made him a perfect documentary subject. Like most human beings, Norman had his flaws. Those flaws clashed with his image as a Christian superstar.

Di Sabatino believes Norman could never bring himself to admit his faults. That’s too bad, he says, because he thinks that Norman’s fans would have forgiven him.

“Christians are willing to forgive, if you are willing to say, I’m sorry,” he said.

The film's legal troubles may be resolved this week. Di Sabatino and his lawyers are talking to Norman's family about a settlement. The director hopes to announce plans for a future Nashville screening on the film's Web site,www.fallenangeldoc.com"="" target="_blank">http://www.fallenangeldoc.com">www.fallenangeldoc.com.

As a fan, Di Sabatino misses Norman’s music most of all. He believes that most contemporary Christian music lacks the soul, heartache, and redemption that Norman sang about.

“They’ve taken the mystery out of it – there’s no mystery of life in Christian music,” he said. “Good rock and roll is about mystery and heartache and the reality of life.”

Copyright © 2008 The Tennessean.