Christian music

[mellanella]

I just had a thought while at work (slow day in the admissions office...and I didn't bring my sermon with me to work on, nor any of my reading because I thought I'd be swamped...grrr....). The radio was on in the office and I started thinking about how the vast majority of Christians I know here at Drew don't listen to Christian music -- they

Comments

[the_methotaku]

U2 are not a 'Christian Band', but they are Christians- Irish Anglicans to be exact, so very much mainline Protestants.

[mellanella]

Yeah, and I've really grown to appreciate their music. I really wish more Christians would come to listen to them!

[illiander_9bees]

be careful how you lump 'christian rock...' there's a huge difference between bands like Anberlin and Delerious

[illiander_9bees]

If a plant has taken root and bore fruit, does it still need the soil, or can it throw it away? It is the same with the Chrsitian. I'm not certain that a lot of the Christian Rock Industry (and it IS an industry!) usually attempts to convert the masses. I choose to listen to it because I am already a Christian: it provides the musical content I require, and yet not have a negative connotation that most music of the genres has.

And when I want to be spiritualized, I might just pop in a praise CD. There is nothing wrong withh praise songs, they serve a function. There are - and I think you agree with me on this - good and bad praise songs. I suppose I just try to separate the chaff from the wheat? :-P

As for praise songs, though, I must suggest Shane and Shane. Their live CD is amazingly fantastic. Take care!

[jnerd]

I don't think there are all that many artists in general who are grounded in reality. Christian artists admittedly skew in the complete opposite of the "sex, drugs, and rock&roll" crowd, but they're still largely in a place where they're stuck living an image, and not necessarily the standard human experience.

Besides, why be original when there are a frazillion bible verses and old prayers you can rip off instead?

[illiander_9bees]

hey, at least there are only an infinite number of rhymes in the english language... gonna have to rip something off sooner or later :-P

[illiander_9bees]

crap, i meant finite...

[mellanella]

I don't think there are all that many artists in general who are grounded in reality.

Why do you say this?

[yaycoffee]

You are quite right. That, and as a general rule, Christian music sucks. It is SUB-PAR lyrically, emotionally, procductionally (is that a word), etc. It's about ten or so years behind the times... as a general rule. To me, this is pretty much offensive, because people who've recognized that God has given them a talent and then also given them success and also they claim to be "giving that talent back to God," their music should be the BEST ones out there doing it. They should know what they're trying to do. But they aren't. It's as if they forget that they are artists and individuals rather than just another cog in the Contemporary Christian Music machine

[mellanella]

So, yeah... this is why I think Over the Rhine and The Innocence Mission and old-school U2 are right on the money... they didn't/don't play for a Christian audience--they make art for themselves and for God... and it's just better.

Over the past year, I've really fallen in love with U2's music. There's just something about it that is deep and profound, and touches upon a lot of truths that I think scare many Christians.

Anyway, I'll have to check out some of the bands that you've mentioned.

I think Christians don't generally like honesty.

Haha -- I think this is true as well. I think many Christians have a too simplistic view of the world. To some extent, we all delude ourselves, but Christians in many circles do this to the extreme by attempting to safeguard themselves from the world and its more gritty side.

[princessleia2]

I agree that making your band sing about God and being a Christian all the time is too exclusive to work. We may be devoted to our spirituality and have it infused with everything we do in a day, but that doesn't mean we want to directly express the root of it all day long, it's tiring and feels fake. I think those of us who are honest with our beliefs and really integrate them into our lives don't need a whole genre spouting the fundamentals that we learned years ago. We can enjoy music from all spectrums and recognise what will work for us, and I think that's really the key. There are already plenty of good musicians out there with good morals and fantastic christian-friendly songs.

[mellanella]

I think that's very true. It frustrates me to no end how many Christian radio stations promote "family-friendly" songs, which I (perhaps mistakenly, but perhaps not) interpret as "secular=bad, Christian=good."