Can a work so monstrously successful [as Jesus Christ Superstar] be all bad? The answer, sadly, is yes. The Gospel according to Tim, Tom [director Tom O'Horgan] and Andy is a far cry from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The music is banal, the lyrics infantile, the staging monumentally vulgar, the theological conception of the Passion of Christ a travesty. It is its success—and only that—which forces one to give it serious consideration. (p. 1)

It is difficult to determine what the intentions of Messrs. Webber and Rice really were.

Is Superstar a cynical attempt to cash in on the current "counterculture" trend toward religiosity? Is it a gigantic put-on, and will the authors come forward and confess after salting away their first five million? Is it a naive but honest work inspired by true religious feeling but hamstrung by lack of talent, taste and comprehension? Or is it merely a fluke—a shoddy piece of hackwork brought to prominence by a combination of timeless and clever, massive merchandizing?

The latter theory probably comes closest to the truth….

Of course, Superstar may really be a revolutionary reinterpretation of the Passion, indeed of Jesus himself, which sees him as a petulant neurotic bent on self-destruction and carried away with his popularity, a firm believer in predestination who won't listen to Judas' good advice, a hollow superstar whose closest followers are silly fanheads.

But the treatment is too inconsistent to allow for such an interpretation. To be sure, Judas is the most interesting character in Superstar…. But his repentance and suicide … contradict his hero role, just as the cynical sentiments uttered by him after death … contradict the repentance.

No, it is unprofitable to look for clever conceits in this mess. The odd interpretations of the teachings of Jesus, the implications of seemingly original ideas are ordinary ignorance and nonsense….

The real issue is not the sad meanspirited kitsch that is Jesus Christ Superstar, but the culture than can turn such a thing into a gigantic success while letting its honest artists go begging for handouts….

Superstar is a work spawned by the generation that was going to build a new moral foundation for society. Is it representative of that generation? Is this bowdlerization of the Christian ethos its vaunted message of love and peace?…

It was once possible to hope that rock, as a cultural genre, had a viable and promising future, but even before the year JCS 1 grave doubts had arisen. If Superstar is an indication of where rock and the counterculture are taking us, it will not be toward a new dawn but into a long night. (p. 13)