What do you think of Christian music?

[coloradodem2005]

Part of the reason I ask this is because I saw a Southpark last night where Cartman started a christian band. Do you think that it is any good? Is it all crap? Is it somewhere in between?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. I think it's blatant brainwashing.

[truthspeaker]

2. Bach wrote some good stuff, as did Handel...

[pagerbear]

31. As did Brahms and Mendelssohn and Verdi and Mozart

...not to mention my beloved English church music composers--Stanford, Howells, Ireland, Parry, et al.

[Reverend_Smitty]

63. Without Mendelssohn how would anybody get married??

:P

[TXlib]

33. Rock on!

[rlev1223]

72. Nerd post - God songs

Yes, Bach wrote some good stuff.

Handel too. Best stuff ever.

In addition to the Messiah and Water Music, two bona fide hits, Handel may have written the music to my favorite Methodist hymn, the Easter hymn "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" (I'm a sucker for 18th century
classical rules of harmony, figured basses, 4 part arrangements and strict structures. I don't much care for the later Victorian treacle, though.)

The words were written by Charles Wesley, who was sort of an early rock star, encouraging people to join in big public singalongs that were a lot more fun than the Anglican services. The Wesleyan hymnal is still the standard, lots of carols and well-known tunes.

The music to "Christ the Lord" came from a folio called the Lyra Davidica, in which composers placed melodies that lyricists could choose and use at will. Handel contributed to this folio, but it is unclear which tunes were his.

I am not a religious person - had some Methodist schoolin', generally agnostic....Kurt Vonnegut ruined me years ago. But being in a big church doing this hymn with a good choir, a real 60' pipe organ and several hundred others is as close to a musically religious experience as I have ever had --- and this is coming from someone who saw The Who do "Tommy" live in 1970!

[MissMillie]

3. I try not to.

Sorry... just can't get into it.

[Beware the Beast Man]

4. Some so-called "Christian" bands are ok

Namely Trouble, a metal band from the 80's that were dead ringers for Black Sabbath. Unless you carefully inspected the lyrics, you would never know.

[SheepyMcSheepster]

8. heh, i never knew

[aden_nak]

5. Depends what you mean.

If we're talking about real composers (mostly long-dead composers) there is some really great music out there. If we're talking about blatantly obvious "Christian Rock", allow me to go on record as saying that I have produced better sounds washing my privates.

[historian]

10. good response!

[sui generis]

21. hear hear!

Some of the world's greatest works of art were done and inspired by faith, and not just Christianity, but it takes a completely different level of artistic skill for Michelangelo to produce the Pieta than it does for somebody to write a bunch of sappy saccharine "roses are red" ugly fourth grader lyrics and have their computer write a formula 1-4-5-1 harmonic progression and call it music. Some of it is really quite UNinspired.

[DenverDem]

6. "Christian" music is for bands that can't make it in the real world.

Amy Grant is the only successful crossover to real music (and maybe U2).

[truthspeaker]

22. and her Christian label dropped her for not towing the doctrinal line

She was writing songs with Christian themes but they weren't exactly the themes the label wanted so they dropped her. The "Christian" book and music industry is very tightly controlled.

[coloradodem2005]

26. I thought that her divorce had something to do with that too.

They never "forgave" her for it.

[BiggJawn]

45. Has there ever been a Christian "rock" tune that didn't sound...

..like some kind of lament?
I think it's because most of them are in minor keys.

Really....You tell the young people "Hey, we're cool, we got Rock Music, too!" and then you give them a minor-key DIRGE that has lyrics along the lines of "Oh, it sort of sucks to not be fuckin' and drinkin' and doping like the other kids, but MY reward's with Da LAWD!"

Reminds me of a bunch of dweebs standing around drinking O'Ghoul's saying "Yeah, we bad, we cool..I can drink a TWELVE-PACK of this stuff and not feel it..."

[shadu]

32. Amy Grant = total hypocrite

she makes me puke

[DenverDem]

49. I am pissed at her for dumping my golfing buddy Gary Chapman

for Vince Gill.

Gary is kind of a wiener, but a good guy, and he helped her get her career started.

Other than that, personally I have found Amy to be very cool and down to earth. She's been very nice to me.

I find her performances pretty compelling, too. She writes a good song.

[mstrsplinter326]

7. Mostly boring

Not that some of it's musicians aren't talented but it usually bites.

Although there is a heavy metal band that does christian music in my home town and, while it's not my favorite music, it really kicks ass and you would never know it was Xtian music, cause the singer just screams the whole time.

Look up: 'Haste the Day' if you get a chance, they'll be on a few days of Warped Tour this year.

[Reverend_Smitty]

9. Its a crazy cult-like following

I saw a show on the Discovery Times channel about the Christian music biz...They recruit these bands and sculpt them in the image that they are trying to convey (Kinda like what they do to boy-bands). The concerts all feature these preachers that have a captive audience of impressionable youngsters that wanted to hear music but had to sit through brain washing sessions.

Actually I had no idea that Christian rock was so popular...they litterally draw thousands of teens to the shows. I never met one person who ever attended a concert like this but then again I am from the east coast. They must be really big in the midwest

[Xithras]

38. Reminds me of some HS friends

When I was in HS a few friends had a typical hard rock band ("Smite") singing typical hard rock songs where you really couldn't understand a word anyone was saying. One day they were jamming in their garage when some old fundie neighbor walked over and yelled "Turn that crap down, what is this noise anyway?" The lead singer, as a total joke, reponded "Bible quotes". The neighbors face lit up "Oh, a Christian rock band!" and proceeded to inform them that he was a Baptist minister and that he could get them signed if they were willing to play for a couple friends in the business. With visions of dollars dancing in their heads, they took him up on his offer, took their "main" song (a song that had been about rape and war) and replaced its words with random nonsensical quotes from Leviticus, and demo'ed two weeks later.

They actually got signed and put out a single album called "Books". Writing it was easy...they just took their existing songs, threw out the lyrics, and replaced them with biblical quotes (one book per song, hence the title). Just to be smartasses they left one particularly unintelligible song alone and placed it on the record as well ("give the devil his due...he's really not all that bad") Nobody ever caught it.

The record sold a little over 1500 albums, and the label told them that they needed to do some "ballads" if they wanted to record another. They turned him down, never cut another record, and ended up never making a dime off anything they'd done.

What they discovered, and told me, was that "Christian Rock" is a joke. It's a refuge for rock bands too bad to make it elsewhere, who simply want to make some money off a captive audience desperate for "cool" music that carries "their message". Most of them aren't even all that Christian.

[coloradodem2005]

84. You know what really gets me though?

I went on a trip with a youth group when I was involved with one. I was listening to some Aerosmith on my discman. Say what you will. But anyway, one of my roommates asked me why I listened to it. I said because I like it. He said that you got to be careful because the lyrics get into your head. I said that it is only music.

The minister was also talking about how his son was getting into Jimi Hendrix. He said to his son "Hendrix?! What happened to the Newsboys?" (Christian band) He cited that Hendrix had a drug problem as a reason not to listen to this as well as citing the "power" that Rock & Roll has over people. Yet he likes Bob Dylan.

There are a small kind of Christian bands that I find decent, a few that I like. But they consider giving up secular music to be a step forward. It is ridiculous.

[Misinformed01]

11. It's like any other music

There is some "Christian" music I like: I think RATM sucks--my husband feels just the opposite, so who's "right?"

The soundtrack to "O Brother Where Art Thou," was great, in my opinion.

Stephanie

[Ruffhowse]

12. Incredibly contrived--music should flow freely from the heart and spirit..

...but with Christian music, an agenda is set prior to any music being created. Ends up making the music seem preachy and phoney. Now good gospel music is different. That music seems to come first from the heart and spirit, and maintains its spontaneous authenticity.

[DenverDem]

13. That is a classic "Southpark".

Myrrh album. Hillarious.

"F**K Jesus!", Cartman.

[demnan]

14. I think it's all crap

but the religion part probably turns me off.

But I listen to Bach's St Matthew's Passion and tear up every Easter.

Go figure.

[wtmusic]

15. Music is always a prelude to sex, so in the right circumstances

if the listener is thinking pure thoughts, or is married. :D

[SheepyMcSheepster]

16. i detest most christian music, it is lame and unoriginal

it is entertaining in the fact that it is usually rehashed copy cat stuff. but hey that is most pop music these days anyway.

i find christian music to be a bit hypocritical, christianity in my opinion is not about making tunes for the lord.

i saw that south park and thought it was dead on, you can be a crap band but if you have the "christian" label you are gonna sell records if you can get up in the mix.

it is funny, we have our local christian station on the radio and when i am scanning the radio i can usually tell i am on that station by only listening to a beat or two of the music. it screams rehashed pop lameness.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

17. Gregorian Chant?

love it!

[southpaw]

18. Kings X is (was?) a Christian band...

Though not blatant about it. That's about the only Christian band that I really like, but I'm sure there are some good ones out there.

I've heard Christians go on about DC Talk, Sonicflood, Delirious?, and others. From wht I've heard, these are all good bands (to varying degrees) but so blatant in their message that I can't truly appreciate them...

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

23. awesome yin-yang animation

[coloradodem2005]

24. I do kind of like DC Talk.

They are okay. On another note, Five Iron Frenzy is pretty good. I was also impressed by Brave St. Saturn. From what I hear they are actually inspired.


I did not know that King's X was Christian Rock. I did hear the vocalist sing backup on a Dream Theater song "Lines In the Sand."

[southpaw]

34. I wouldn't call King's X "Christian Rock"

They were a rock band, they were Christians, their lyrics often reflected their beliefs (Listen to "Mr. Wilson") but they were not, by definition Christian Rock.

I loved the album "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska"

[coloradodem2005]

40. You mean like U2.

U2 was never a Christian Rock band, even though three of the four members are born again. And considering some of their beliefs and the fact that they are liberal, I don't know if they would be too welcome in that "Community".

[southpaw]

52. I would say that King's X were slightly more overt than U2...

I read a Rolling Stone interview with Doug Pinnick (bass, lead vocals) where he said that the name King's X was in reference to being "marked by God" or something to that effect. He was referring to bearing the seal of salvation... as a recovering Baptist, I am familiar with that concept.

Still, were you not looking for Christian messages, you could listen to King's X and not realize that many of their songs were based on Christian principals.

Pinnick always struck me as liberal, plus he reminded me of Phil Lynot of Thin Lizzy: A tall, black man who sang lead in a hard-rock band and played a very agressive bass guitar style.

Ty Tabor is a unique and original guitarist, too.

[yvr girl]

79. You're generalizing a bit there my friend

I'm a Christian. I live my life by a pretty strict code. But I consider myself to be a moderate/liberal. I don't expect others to live by my rules or follow my conscience. I'm not judging you, don't judge me.

BTW, I happen to like U2 (except their dance/pop experiment). My pastor loves them. My old pastor knows Bono through some work in Africa, and he speaks very highly of him.

I will grant you that there are Christians who live narrow lives, and focus more on judgment than grace, but not all liberals are above reproach either.

[Beware the Beast Man]

37. How did DC Talk

Go from being a bad New Kids knockoff to a quasi-Faith No More/Queen hybrid? One of life's great mysteries.

[midnight armadillo]

56. Really?

The singer plays(ed?) a 12-string bass guitar. Killer instrument.

[playahata1]

60. I saw King's X back 1991.

They opened for Living Colour -- one band that NEVER should have broken up. Anyway, Kings X was pretty damned good. From what I recall, their music dealt with spiritual issues, but they did not preach.

In fact, by 1991 they had completely drifted away from the "Christian rock" scene. Doug Pinnock, the group's founder, bassist, and lead singer -- and, like Living Colour's Vernon Reid, one of the few African Americans playing straight-ahead rock -- told Rolling Stone that King's X never got anywhere when they were part of that scene. He said that crowds were small at "Christian rock" concerts and festivals, and there was a lot of "un-Christian" behavior going on on these tours. The scene had become too hypocritical and restrictive -- not to mention unprofitable -- so King's X began creating more mainstream rock, albeit rock with a message.

[supernova]

19. I don't listen to modern xtian music

Way too contrived to be sincere. Not to mention wannabe rock bands. :puke: Sorry, rock music for the most part is all about the ID let loose.

I do however listen to classical music, a lot of which was commissioned by the church.

Handel's Messiah simply rawks!

I do think that if they could have, a lot of composers would have done more secular music.

[coloradodem2005]

25. When you talk about the Id...

...you are talking about in terms of psychology? Like the child essentially?

[politicat]

35. The id has nothing to do with the "child" or inner child.

A better definition of the id is the mammalian and reptilian brains working on concert - the part of the self that seeks out pleasure, survival, self-interest. The id is effectively not generous, not altruistic, not socially conscious. It is a primal component of self-survival, and is the primary motivator of self-interested acts and feelings.

I think Christian Rock (which I hold to be neither, but I'll get to that) to be very id-based -- it appeals to the self-righteous, self-interested part of the brain by telling the listener how wonderful they are for being so faithful and better than all those heathens and sinners and apostates out there -- while not forcing the listener to give up a beat, electric guitars, and noise.

I had a lot of friends as a child and teen who listened to Xtian Rock - petra, grant, others that I don't recall now. I also recall thinking that it was badly composed, and only sold as well as it did because of the Xtian label. Had they been competing in an open marketplace, most of those bands would have died in the first rounds of the Battle of the Bands and spent their careers playing in the types of bars that surround their stages with chicken wire and pay in beer and free lunch.

I don't think it's especially Christian, since it does not generally hold up to the ideas of christian charity - the xtain rock labels have been some of the most vigorous prosecutors of online piracy, and you'd think that they'd see napstering music as a ministry. But no! They have to be paid, and have to sue, and that says to me that profits far outweigh their interest in bringing listeners to christ.

Further, I find that very little of it, either the rock or pop sides, constitute "making a joyful noise unto the Lord." Much of what I've heard is chiliastic, concerned with end-times and the punishment of the above noted heathens, sinners and apostates. It's not about the joyful message, but about the mean and cruel one. I can't say that Jesus would approve much were he here and writing as a Rolling Stone critic.

On the Rock level, it's contrived, groomed and polished to an inch of it's life. There's no spontaneity in Xtian rock, even in live performance. It's too scripted, and all of the real rock concerts I've ever seen have some element of spontaneity, even if just some back and forth between the audience and the performers. The few xtian rock concerts that my childhood churches and those of friends put on were more like sermons and lectures interspersed by poor musical performances and worse attention to details like sound quality and equipment. Interaction with the audience was severely frowned upon, but for the scripted responses - it's okay to shout praise, but not to complain about the feedback being generated by placing the stage monitor too close to the speakers...

my $0.07 cents.

Pcat

[coloradodem2005]

39. Hi Pcat.

Haven't heard from you in a while.


That is pretty interesting. I remember reading a story a couple of years ago about how K-Love would not sponsor Amy Grant because she was divorced. It has been a while but it definitely flies in the face of being forgiving.

I would agree wit a lot of what you say on the music. There have been some that I have heard that have impressed me some. Based on what little I have heard of those particular bands. I have been to a few christan concerts in my youth. Everything you said applies to my experience is pretty much true. As for audience interaction, essentially if it did not have to do with praising Jesus, it would not be said.

There are a few good Christian bands that I have heard that sound interesting and it does come from the heart. I had been listening to some with a friend of mine, who recently lost a brother (who was also a friend of mine) recently. Because of that incident, I have been contemplating spirituality and the afterlife a lot more.

Though I would agree with what you said in your post as well as what a lot of other people have said on this thread.

:hi:

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

20. All pablum on the rock and rap end

but Chris Parkening is one of the best classical guitar players in the world so we'll make an exception for him.

[amber dog democrat]

27. Not much.

But that said, I love to sit in and play blurgrass tunes. There is a plethora of old standards that are religeous. I am thinking of alot of Bill Monroe's dead old woman songs for example.

I am an agnostic. but I love playing Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring on my guitar.

[Bridget Burke]

28. Which Christian music? That seems to be the question.

Some of the finest music in the Western tradition has Christian roots. Gregorian chant, Hildegard von Bingen, Bach, Handel, etc. Black gospel music & spirituals can be quite moving. And about half the bluegrass repertoire is religious--love the harmonies.

But the "Christian" music I see advertised on TV has not made me want to explore it in depth.

[HuckleB]

29. Incredibly bland, without as much as an attempt at originality.

The only thing that's worse is the so-called "new country" music put out by the Nashville machine -- most of those dopes can't even sing. It's like Milli-Vanilli with a cowboy hat.

[scarlet_owl]

30. Christian "rock" sucks, but I love Gregorian chants

and black gospel music. To me those are truly spiritual forms of music. They come from the heart to praise God. Christian rock does not. It's mass-produced and corny.

[Frangible]

36. Faith + 1!

"But you can go double myrrh!"

[coloradodem2005]

41. That was funny.

It sounded like they wanted to make love to Jesus. It was funny. Then Cartman thought he had Kyle and then the album only went myrrh.

[coloradodem2005]

42. On another note...

...did you notice that Faith+1 did not have a guitarist? Cartman on piano and singing, Butters on drums and Token on bass. No guitar player. You cannot have a rock bans without a guitar.

[Forkboy]

43. No different from the Satan stuff to me

If a Christian band has great music I'd listen regardless of the lyrics.I think bands that sing about Satan,like Deicide,Vital Remains,etc are just as stupid lyrically.I dont believe in God or Satan so it's all the same to me.However,Satan bands have some great music to at least make up for the silly lyrics (early Slayer comes to mind).I haven't heard a Christian band yet that has riffs like the ones on Reign in Blood :)

[Commendatori]

44. All crap.

Even the stuff that approaches what I like musically (from hard rock Christian bands) sucks.

[Lautremont]

46. I liked Pedro the Lion,

found out he did the (apparently lucrative) Christian music circuit, then, as a confirmed musical secularist, listened hard to his stuff again. It was still good and I detected no proselytizing.

The rest is stinky beyond belief as far as I can tell.

[GumboYaYa]

47. I like Robert Randolph, that is considered Christian music.

I also like traditional Gospel a whole bunch.

[Dukkha]

48. Remeber Stryper?

They were like Styx except they managed to actually suck much worse!
I didn't think it was humanly possible.

[HallowsEve]

59. DUDE!

...huhuhuh...you said STRYPER, huhuhuhuh...STRYPER SUCKS!

[derby378]

50. Tooth & Nail Records

Some interesting Chrisitan-oriented bands such as Focused and MxPx. I even like the occasional Jars of Clay tune. Other than that, I'll stick with Gregorian chants and the like.

[thestatusquo]

51. It's jsut like any other Genre

there's some really good stuff, and some really bad stuff...it's no different. I personally love GOOD Christian bands such as Third Day, Caedmon's Call and Jars of Clay, but there is lots of cheesy bad music out there too. Just like there's bad punk, bad rock, bad rap, etc....

[HallowsEve]

55. IT IS NOT LIKE ANY OTHER GENRE!!

Here is why: Christian music has NO GENRE. They take popular genres and imitate them poorly. There is no Christian music, only music with Christian lyrics.

Not to mention WAY too many are only interested in the "praise, glory and guilt" rather than taking the OBVIOUS path of presenting their songs as parables to teach like JESUS (you know, the Christ guy??).

[UrbScotty]

53. Christian music is cool.

Of course, I am a Christian. ;-)

[Amaya]

54. What do you think of Christian music?

I don't.

[TeacherCreature]

57. Rutter, Verdi, Beethoven, Faure, Bach and Mendelssohn

are great!

So is soul/gospel

[8-Ball]

58. I love it.

Especially in this heat. It's hotter than Hell right now! It reminds me of nice cold snow.

[HEyHEY]

61. I can't listen to it without cracking up

[KamaAina]

62. Can't recall if I ever heard the Dead do "Samson and Delilah" live

or "The Greatest Story Ever Told". That'd be my idea of (modern) Christian music.

While we're at it, how did the thread get this big with no Kansas? C'mon, guys, "Carry On, Thy Wayward Son" was not about a teenage runaway!

[playahata1]

64. I know that most DU rockers think that CREED sucked.

However, where do you all think they stand on the X-tian rock scale?

[Worst Username Ever]

65. Great episode, BTW

Cartman: "I want get down on my knees, and start pleasing Jesus!
I want to feel his salvation, all over my faaace!"

[Lydia Leftcoast]

66. Of the pop Christian music I've heard (not many) I have liked

Take Six and Kirk Franklin, but they're connected with the African-American gospel tradition, which I have loved since I lived next door to a black church back in 1980.

Of course, I'm also a real fan of the classical Christian composers, including Monteverdi, Gabrieli, Tallis, Byrd, Purcell, Schuetz, Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Vaughan-Williams, Howells, Stanford, and others.

I could also list my favorite hymns, but I won't take the time.

[Penndems]

67. I like to listen to Southern, bluegrass and black gospel

The Statesmen Quartet, The Statler Brothers, Andre Crouch and the Winans are VERY uplifting.

Christian pop/rock just doesn't do anything for me. Sounds as if it's coming from the studio, not the soul.

[Missy Vixen]

68. There's still a few CD's I enjoy

The main one, though (and still in my car stereo): Russ Taff's "Russ Taff". It came out in 1987, and I still listen to it a couple of times a week. I think he's a tremendous musician. At that time in his life and his career, he'd "lost his faith". Interestingly enough, this paralleled my own loss of faith. He went back into the Christian recording fold; I chose to leave my church and to leave organized religion. At the same time, this CD still speaks to me.

Other musicians I enjoyed in the "church years": Andrae Crouch and the Disciples. Randy Stonehill. Larry Norman. Keith Green. I once attended a Stonehill/Norman concert in Seattle where audience members walked out in droves because the musicians performed "Little Surfer Girl" as a joke. "Secular" music is a sin, y'know. Keith Green, while a great musician, was completely humorless. IMHO, of course.

On the other hand, one of our friends is in a local band, Gaia Consort. Gaia Consort is made up of mostly pagans. They recorded a song that makes me cry everytime I hear it, because the lyrics are so truthful in my own life. You can hear it if you go to www.gaiaconsort.com.

Cry Freedom

From the bottom of the heap
Shouts an angry voice that says “No, I will not remain asleep”
I have seen it with my eyes
Seen that all religion lives by a steady trade in lies

They try to hold us back with reins of holy smoke
But I am here to say we will not bear the yoke

Once the fact is clearly seen
There is no turning back for fairytales or bloody dreams
If we dare not speak our minds
The Inquisition has a test for each of us in time

Do you trust a creed that claims to set you free
By spending half a lifetime begging on your knees?

Cry freedom! We have nothing but this day...
Cry Freedom We have nothing but our chains – to lose!

In a single cup of earth
Sings the mystery of the all expanding universe
Trust that brain behind your eyes
To carve a space for us within the universal mind

And if it's up to us to bring some balance back
Let it not be said it's courage that we lack

Cry freedom! We have nothing but this day...
Cry Freedom We have nothing but our chains – to lose!

Christopher Bingham October 30, 2000

Julie

[Courtesy Flush]

69. I LOVE it

When I put on my christian CDs, and stare at my Thomas Kincade pictures, a peaceful feeling comes over me, and I can feel my brain stick to the roof of my skull. I call it spiritual peanut butter.

It helps me forget that the world is controlled by Jews, and that blacks are out to kill me, and democrats hate America.

Sometimes it takes a couple hours before I can think again.

I believe I'll go listen to some now.

[supernova]

70. LMAO!

Welcome to DU kduse! :toast: :hi:

[drumwolf]

71. There's "Christian rock", and there are rockers who are Christian

There's a difference.

So-called "Christian music" is godawful, because it simply tries to preach over secular musical genres.

That's not to be confused with pop musicians who also just happen to be Christian. Examples would be Pedro the Lion, Starflyer 59, Low, and Danielson Famille, all of whom have gotten respect among secular indie rock fans.

[AlFrankenFan]

73. It's an oxymoron n/t

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

74. I think 99.9999% of it is crap. I'm Christian.

[chicaloca]

75. Musically, it's not all that great.

At least if you're talking about Christian rock. It has a lot of simple hooks, predictable structure, etc. I do like some gospel music, even though I don't really agree with the message, just because it's a lot more compelling and interesting. Jars of Clay aren't bad, either, from a musical standpoint -- but again, I don't really agree with the purpose of their music.

[fishwax]

76. Different kinds of Christian Rock

Most of what is considered Christian Rock comes from the philosophy that music should be used as a spiritual expression and an evangelical tool. Most of that music is pretty bad, but it gets a lot of airplay on "christian stations."

But there is a smaller segment of Christian Contemporary artists who stem from the philosophy that the creation of music (or any other art) is inherently spiritual. So they don't feel compelled to throw God into every song. Some of their songs are overtly religious, some are obscurely religious, and others aren't religious at all. Some of them even have somewhat progressive social/political messages.

And some of them are even perceived as horribly unChristian, b/c the unsophisticated "christian music" audience doesn't understand sarcasm. I'm thinking of a satirical 1990 Steve Taylor song that some might remember: "I Blew Up the Clinic Real Good." (He later had a band called Chagall Guevara.)

I'm not really a CCM fan, I just know a bit about it b/c a good friend where I used to work was a big-time fan, so I learned to appreciate some of it.

[SmileyBoy]

77. The only "Christian" music I like is...

...a Christian Metal band from Jacksonville, FL called Evergreen Terrace. They're a dead-ringer for a regular hardcore metal band. Their lyrics are spiritual/religious, but the music really kicks ass.

All the other stuff sucks total ASS.

[69KV]

78. CCM is just another tool in the right wing's culture war, but..exceptions:

From the early 1970s, Larry Norman is worth checking out. He even did a few anti-Vietnam-War songs. Also worth checking out from the early 1970s is somebody called the All Saved Freak Band, who had Glenn Schwartz from the James Gang and PG&E as a member. The All Saved Freak Band actually had a dedication on their first album to one of the Kent State 25. There's another early 1970s group called Fraction who managed to go the Doors one better if you can believe that. Ressurrection Band (late 1970s-early 1980s) did songs about the homeless, antiwar themes, anti-apartheid and such and actually walked their talk living in a poor part of Chicago. Decent hard rock. There was a similar group called Servant based in Oregon. Mylon LeFevre had his moments during his southern rock phase. I get the impression that the Christian rock from the early 1970s was a very different animal from today. A lot more liberal, radical, anti-establishment.

Today CCM is just another tool in the right wing's culture war, and that is probably the thing I most detest about it. Most of it is warmed over adult contemporary with praise lyrics anyway, either that or bad imitations of whatever kids are listening to. The groups involved are more interested in "ministry" than in music, translation: being as preachy as possible. Yuk! I never did like Jars of Clay, DC Talk and their ilk, and the very mention of Amy Grant or Stryper brings on nausea :puke:

I do like some of the alt-rockers and mainstream rockers who sometimes had Christian lyrics. Most of them are liberal Christians and not part of the CCM scene: U2, King's X, Kansas, Bruce Cockburn, The Call, T-Bone Burnett, Sam Phillips, Mr. Mister, Tonio K, Chegall Guevara. All excellent, but they're on a completely different level than the CCM one-trick pony show. I wouldn't degrade any of those fine musicians by calling them Christian rock, but some other people do.

So it depends.

[NickB79]

80. I pissed off my holier-than-thou friends by abbreviating it

From "Christian Rock", to simply "Cock". See, that flows off the tongue much more readily, doesn't it?

[ForrestGump]

81. Depends what you mean by "Christian music"

Traditional gospel (and modern songs in the same vein), especially black traditions, rate among my most favorite forms of music, and that's certainly true in terms of experiencing it in a church. Ditto Elvis' gospel recordings -- to me, they're among the best things he ever committed to tape. I say all that as an agnostic, or whatever, who's no fan of organized religion.

But if you're talking about so-called 'contemporary Christian' music, well, most of what I've heard is total crap and the heavyhanded proselytizing that makes up the lyrics is not compensated for by musicality. Some of the '70s variety was good, but so was most music back then better than what they're turning out today. Carmen and all those freaks on TBN are producing utter drivel for the Lord.

[nemo137]

82. Five Iron Frenzy

Sadly, they're no more, but in their time, they were awesome. They were a nerdy, Christian Ska band. You can, of course, understand why a band that was equally comfortable singing about RPGs and their love of the nation of Canada as they were singing about faith and their love of God would appeal to geeky Christian middleschoolers. Man. And they rocked out. Weird, slightly funky ska music. What's not to love?

Also, Pedro the Lion is quite good. There's also alot of good Christian pop-punk for some reason.

[coloradodem2005]

83. I do know a bit about 5-Iron Frenzy.

I had some friends that were really into them. They were a good band. Some of the members started a side-project called Brave St. Saturn. It sounds good too.

[CO Liberal]

85. The Christians Can Have It

I'll stick to my favorites - '40s Big Band, '50s doo-wop, and 60's pop music.

[jukes]

86. 3 word answer

amy fucking grant