Friday Flashback: Commissioned.

On second thought, I decided to share this one video. It’s by a popular gospel group called Commissioned.

Commissioned hails out of Detroit and the group started around 1984 with six members, some of whom you may have heard of: Keith Staten, Fred Hammond, Mitchell Jones, Karl Reid, Michael Brooks, and Michael Williams. The group went through changes as most groups do, so in 1991 Staten and Brooks left the group and were replaced by Marvin Sapp, Maxx Frank, and Eddie Howard, Jr. By 1994 Howard had left the group and Williams left a year later. Hammond also left to pursue a career with the group Radical For Christ. He was replaced by Montrell Darrett. By 2000, Marcus Cole and Chris Poole had taken the place of Sapp and Darrett on the group’s last studio album. In 2002 Commissioned released a reunion album which brought back most of the group’s former members and featured most of its greatest hits.

The interesting thing about my love of gospel music is that I really didn’t listen to much popular gospel growing up. Considering my background, some find that interesting, especially since I grew up the grandson of a Baptist minister. Five of my uncles are also ministers today, but I still gravitated toward R&B, hip-hop, and soft rock when I was growing up. My grandfather was old school gospel and he didn’t like any of the popular gospel of that time; Commissioned, The Winans, Might Clouds of Joy, or anyone who remotely sounded like R&B (he called it The Blues). He never articulated the spiritual implifications of the effect of lyrical content, he just said, “We don’t listen to no blues.” So, being the strong willed person that I always was, I listened anyway, because just saying no wasn’t good enough. Yeah, I’m the rebellious kind.

I guess it’s also interesting that the gospel that I do like, has R&B and Hip-Hop influences. Go Figure.

Well, here’s a selection from Commissioned entitled Ordinary Just Won’t Do. I hope it ministers to your soul. If you really like it, you might also want to check out the song “Go Tell Somebody”, the first Commissioned song that I ever heard. I couldn’t find it on YouTube, but I’m sure it’s on their reunion album. The group has some awesome talent. I’m a big fan of former member Fred Hammond. He has had a very good solo career. Marvin Sapp is also very good. So, if you are looking to add a little something that’s missing to your collection, you might want to start with Commissioned. Have a good weekend.