DC Talk ~ Supernatural
In this Re(Play) I’ll tell you why this album still transports me to a more hopeful world, 25 years after its release, and how my late Granny is forever connected with it in my mind.
Scroll to the bottom to play the album while you read!
The first time I heard Supernatural was in early high school, maybe 9th grade. I had just discovered DC Talk, although I was only vaguely aware of their impact to the genre of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). Up to that point, I had been a huge Newsboys fan (another 90s CCM band) especially after the addition of Michael Tait, formerly of DC Talk. His joining took me on a MySpace dive into why that was a big deal. Yeah, Myspace.
One of my favorite memories at my grandparents’ house was when my Granny invited me to pick through their CD shelf and take the ones I was interested in. After sifting through for an hour, I took a Sinatra collection, a few WoW worship CDs, and maybe a U2 or two. A pretty good haul.
After hearing a couple DC Talk songs on the WoWs, I wanted more. I found YouTube videos and was quickly hooked on Supernatural. The two songs that enraptured me most were “Dive” and “My Friend (So Long)” — “Consume Me” was on the WoW CD, so it was old news but still a favorite. Soon after began my love for Kevin Max as a solo artist, due to his evolving relationship with religion that feels similar to my own.
"God is there and He is watching. The signs are everywhere."
Supernatural stands out to me because it feels like an objectively pretty good turn-of-the-millenium rock album. It’s not quite as preachy as DC Talk’s other albums, so I still feel connected to its lyrics throughout the entire album. I’m nearly the age of the trio when this CD was released in 1998, so much of it feels fresh and connects with me on a deeper level lately. From a musical standpoint, the combination of these three voices and their style is at its peak here. It is still a musical tragedy that this was their last album as a band; each new single from DC Talk that comes out every few years feels elite and are always standouts from the albums they appear on – for example, check out “Space” from Toby’s new album. But the best parts of Supernatural are the bridges. Each song’s bridge is so distinct and sends the piece as a whole to a higher plane of existence. So much of the vocals feel desperate for something better than what’s available to us on Earth, crying out for peace. Sometimes all I can do is sing, to clear my mind and rinse out my frustrations. With this album, from “Red Letters” to “The Truth” and all the rest, I can pick a part in the harmony and let go for the better part of an hour.
Recently, Granny suddenly passed away after a mass on her brain took away her ability to do basically anything. I felt overwhelmingly anxious for the week and a half she was bedridden, stuck hundreds of miles away from all my family and forced to cope relatively alone. This album was one of the things I turned to. It helps me dispel emotions when I can’t find words to express them. Granny’s death rendered me speechless. At her funeral, a good old Southern Baptist one, a flood of lessons returned to me as I sat among some of my favorite teachers, my family. Most notable was the way Granny handled everything: with faith, hope, and love. I could hear her telling me everything would be alright, for as the preacher said, “we’ll see her again.”
I’ve had this RePlay in my drafts for over a year now. I’m not 100% sure I can explain why I’ve waited to post. Visiting Granny’s home in the low country of South Carolina led me to reflect on how I’d grown since the last time I spent much time there, before graduating high school. Honestly? It’s not very fun to think about that period of life. My mind and body were changing, and everything felt so heavy and dramatic. I’m sure everyone remembers their teenage years that way, but sometimes I still feel the weight of it all. It feels super cheesy to say, but the things I found joy in back then are still the things I love most: music, theatre, and pro wrestling. These private islands in my own little world are still my escapes from all the stress, anxiety, and fear I carry around with me, just like back then. I’m sure this is partly why I need time to myself as an adult, consuming my favorite things all on my own, to relax and come back to earth. I trained myself this way.
“Heard a voice calling out to me. “I have come to set your spirit free, and in me you are free, indeed.”
Obviously, a lot of my life has changed since I first heard this album roughly 15 years ago, but that was where the foundation of who I’ve become was laid. When I think about the time between now and then, good and bad, I am comforted because I can point to all the places in my life where God led my way. It is my belief in God as a supernatural power that has allowed me to hope when I felt little reason. I’ve had many desperate, earnest prayers that were answered but didn’t play out as well as what I hoped. That alone can be depressing (and it for sure was), but in every case the end result was better than I could’ve imagined. It is so much easier to trust that everything comes out in the wash, believing in that super influence over obstacles in my path. Even at my worst moments, I could breathe and think “it can only get better from here.” I am able to take disappointments lightly because I see how the pain has paid off. Just like Granny, I know everything will be alright.
Sometimes I feel like I am floating on water, like DC Talk in the album artwork pictured throughout this article. My grandmother taught me how to do that when I was a kid, so it’s a good feeling. Comforting. You have to trust that the water will hold you up, otherwise you’ll sink. Someday I’d like to go to space, where you don’t have a choice but to float. Until then, I’ll keep replaying this album; it’s close enough.
There are moments in my day where I notice the signs I attribute to God, like when I find a lost item right in front of me, or when I’m at Goodwill and find just the thing I’ve been needing. Or even bumping into old friends in unexpected locations. It also amazes me how many times I could’ve been seriously injured every day but magically pass through safely. I’m afraid I’ll die in some dumb way doing a regular, everyday task. You can attribute these things to whomever or whatever you prefer, I honestly don’t care. I was taught this way as a child, so it’s comforting to lean on. Supernatural reminds me of all that goodness, which comes in handy because I can be very forgetful. It is good to remember.
I like tapping into old joy that lingers from days passed through things like this album, a rerun of Friends, or playing Spyro the Dragon. Sometimes it helps me find new joy. Find what gives you real comfort. You deserve that.
Top 3: Dive Consume Me The Truth
“The Truth” just barely squeezes into the top because of the vibraphones — literal good vibes. It was very difficult to pick only three!
The Goods
My copy of Supernatural is a white pressing from SmLxL, a company that produces many vinyl records, including of CCM albums. Notice the grains in the white; the black spots are made into the wax. Every time I pull the disc out, I think it’s dirty and then laugh at myself for trying to clean it. The black spots could’ve been made more prominent if this was a conscious choice. As it stands, it seems like a manufacturing error at first. The gatefold makes the artwork much more prominent than the original CD (which I also have), and the sound is great. It also includes a couple bonus tracks that neither CD nor Spotify include. Bonus photos of the CD are included in the gallery below for comparison. Swipe through to see more.
