« One of a Hundred - page 104 - Able to Function | Main | WALL-E: Another Must-See Pixar Hit »
Christian Music: Where Can I Find a Place to Rock?
By Marc | August 1, 2008
When you think of Christian music, what do you think of?
Do you imagine some guy with glazed-over eyes playing an acoustic guitar while his equally glazed-over wife stands nearby with a tambourine? Are they both smiling with perfect white teeth? Are they singing something along the lines of Kumbaya?
Or do you think of the songs “Amazing Grace” or “How Great Thou Art”? You know, grand and traditional. Something you’d see on a random Elvis record. Occasionally on a twit pop singer’s album to show off their “vocal abilities” and because they needed a space-filler.
Or is your impression of Christian music something bland and trite. You don’t know anything off-hand, but you’re sure it has phrases in it like: “God is great”, “Isn’t God great?”, “Praise Jesus”, or “I’m going to Heaven and you’re not”.
Before I became a Christian, these were all pretty much my impression. I also thought it all sounded the same. To me, all of it was the exact same song with the words mixed around a little. Actually, when Julie and I went to a wedding that featured a worship “sing-along”, I told her this.
That portion of my day was excruciating, like waiting in the mess line on pizza day, and the line (which moves at a snail’s pace) goes up the ladder and halfway around the hangar bay. It never seemed to end.
I don’t know if that was because I didn’t care to notice the differences, or because it was like my mind had a v-chip, scrambling the incoming signals so that my perception was distorted. Some of you may think I’m off my rocker, but I’m kind of leaning toward the latter. So many things in my life have been so much clearer since Christ was accepted that I look back on those old days as if I was a completely different person.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m still the same person I was. I still enjoy bad movies, cheesy music, and all that. But I am also a different person, one that is slightly less arrogant and ignorant.
Okay, I got off topic. What were we talking about? Um…was it…Christian…music? Yeah, that’s it. I’m almost sure of it.
In high school, I listened to heavy metal almost exclusively. I still do, but only the stuff from that era, the mid-to-late-80’s. There was one Christian metal group that attained popularity: Stryper. I have to admit that I enjoyed listening to them, but I had to put on a front to my friends.
Some rumor machines started saying they were just posers and weren’t really Christians. Why would someone, especially in the 1980’s where debauchery in the music industry was praised, pretend to be Christian?
Until I met Julie, they were the only Christian musicians I had heard of and heard their music that I didn’t totally blow off and forget. I had heard of Petra, but I didn’t know any songs, and I had heard pop songs by Christian acts like Sixpence None the Richer and Amy Grant, but I had never heard their “Christian” songs. Stryper was it for me, and that’s not so bad; Stryper rocks.
Now that I listen to Christian music, I have a real appreciation for it.
Usually, we listen to K-Love in the car. Around here, it’s the one of the only C-music stations around. It doesn’t annoy you with commercials for local businesses, so that’s why we choose it. The stuff they play is sort of varied. They’ll do pop, soft rock, medium rock, but keeping with contemporary Christian genre.
I can blast the David Crowder Band, Mercy Me, and Big Daddy Weave tunes, but sometimes I feel the need to rock. But, like my days in a small town, the only way to learn about stuff that wasn’t on the radio is to search it out with no direction. I want something that will make the guy in the car next to me say, “Hey, man, is that (band name)? Well turn it up, man!”
I really like hair bands and alternative music, both modern and old college Indie, so I’m on a journey of discovery.
I guess my whole point of this post is to talk about modern Christian music and a little of my frustration over the lack of ready resources in non-pop C-music. I could always try the Interweb, and (ick) Wikipedia.
Anyway, here’s an alternative band I dig the sound of, Skillet:
But, wait, before we go, how can “rock” and “modern” music be Christian? Isn’t all loud music with a beat the work of the devil? Isn’t music bad if it’s not a hymn?
To me, the message is what matters. Also, you need to look at the lives of the people delivering that message. If the group sings about loving God, but then goes backstage to take part in the rock-n-roll lifestyle like hypocrites, don’t listen to them. Use the same rules for ANY role model. Teachers, pastors, athletes, and even rockers.
Oh, and check this out. Right now I don’t know what to think of it.
And finally…Stryper still rocks.
Topics: Just for Fun, Life and Living, Miscellaneous |
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
While Skillet is one of my favorites I can also point out Kutlass and Thousand Foot Krutch as a couple more rockin’ christian bands. There are also several out there in mainstream music that claim christianity has an influence on their music. POD is one like that. They claim to be a christian rock band, but with the amount of language in their music I sometimes have a hard time believing it.
Good luck on your search.
August 4th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I like Kutlass also. I’ve heard of Thousand Foot Krutch, but haven’t heard anything by them…yet. (I’m going to check out their site now.)
I’ve heard the same things about POD. Lifehouse is played heavily on Christian radio, but they don’t claim to be “Christians”.