Tuesday, 18 November 2008
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My Taste in Christian Music Has Changed...
by miss poppy
I like Christian music.
When I was little, I was all about Clay Crosse. Michael W. Smith was kind of young. Steven Curtis Chapman was cutting edge. Those crazy-haired kids who called themselves DC Talk were just bursting onto the scene. 4Him was still big stuff.
Then came boy and girl bands. Zoe Girl, MaryMary, TrueVibe. I was so into Plus One that I really ought to blush even thinking about it. Their rise to fame perfectly corresponded with my rise to the age of concert-mania. It was mental.
After that came the worship craze. For a couple of years you could pretty much go to any youth group in the nation and hear at least one Third Day song.
During the Plus One and worship phases, I discovered Christian punk rock, and I have stayed there ever since. Hawk Nelson, Relient K, and Superchick are three of the bands that get the most playing time on my iPod. TobyMac, Grits, and Stellar Kart are more recent acquisitions. I like hearing new Christian music.
I'm not here to argue the Christian/secular music debate. I listen to some of both, but I love Christian music. I'm grateful to have many different style options. My collection includes music by Phillips, Craig, and Dean, Sanctus Real, Chris Rice, Big Daddy Weave, Newsboys, Nichole Nordeman, Kutless, John Reuben, KJ 52, Creed, Burlap to Cashmere, The Doug Reid Band, Geoff Moore and the Distance, and Avalon, to name some of what I've acquired over the years. Sometimes I seem to "grow out" of music I used to love, but then a few years later, I suddenly get the urge to listen to it again.
This afternoon I head out to the Winter Wonderslam tour to see TobyMac and Relient K, two old favorites, and to experience the music of Family Force 5 and B. Reith. New favorites? Who knows?
Who are some of your favorite Christian musicians? Have your tastes changed? How has Christian music affected you?
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Comments (74)
my friends used to mock me whenever Plus One's last flight out would come on because I would start getting really into it. they are great though!
Back in the day I was just into whomever was popular: which at the time meant the newly-arrived Jars of Clay, the peak-of-their-popularity Newsboys, and D.C. Talk's Jesus Freak album.
Nowadays I tend to gravitate toward groups and artists with meaningful lyrics. This means Caedmon's Call, Switchfoot, Tomlin, and the more worshipful side of Third Day. I also hang on to several albums from no-longer-extant groups such as Clear or Five Iron Frenzy.
I'm not Christian, but Superchick is great. Most modern Christian music sounds cheesy and self-aggrandizing to me, but I think Superchick got it right! I think the reason why I don't like most Christian music is because it sometimes sounds like a cheap knockoff of other more original artists. Kinda like that Southpark episode "Christian Rock Hard" where Cartman just replaces the words "baby" and "honey" with "Jesus" and his band becomes a hit.
I love all 15th and 16th century choral pieces by Bach, Palestrina, and Faure though. It is truly a transporting experience.
Okay....serious question here: what makes Relient K 'Christian' music??? I don't know A LOT of their stuff, but what I do know would be accurately defined as secular music, as it's not overtly about God. Actually....neither is the vast majority of Superchick's stuff....so how are you personally defining 'Christian music'?
@hubbaduh@xanga - quite a good question! It seems to me, music is classified as "Christian" when it comes from a Christian perspective, when the band plays at Christian concerts, or just decides to label themselves "Christian". It's confusing, esp. when some bands don't even sing about Christianity at all.
P.S. Red is a good band if you're into metal...
I was huge in the Christian music "scene" when I was in junior high/ high school. I attended a private baptist college in Southwest Ohio for four years and many of my peers that I hung out with did not like that scene. They thought it was fake and not glorifying enough. I agreed with them. I was a young college student and was easily swayed. I am now attending a private college in Southwest Ohio and don't have many friends who have an opinion.
I have tried really hard to get back into Christain music, but all I hear is the same stuff I heard when I was in high school. I loved Pillar, Thousand Foot Krutch, DC Talk, Grits, KJ-52, etc. RadioU was always on my radio. But now, I just don't know. I want to get back into that music, for it has always helped me get through tough times. It seems my spirit is so much lighter by listening to Christian music. But, I just can't get into it. It just seems like too much of the same ol', same ol'.
@hubbaduh@xanga - Miss Poppy here- Much of Relient K's music is very devotional. I have almost all of their albums. Some of the songs are more crossover oriented.
Some Relient K lyrics:
"Never Underestimate My Jesus. You're telling me that there's no hope. I'm telling you you're wrong." (from "For the Moments I Feel Faint")
"You loved that Lamb with every sinful bone, and there you wept alone. Your heart was so contrite. You said 'Jesus, please forgive of my crimes'" (from "Deathbed")
"I lay my life before you, and I'm not getting up. Father, how I adore You. Those words are not enough. (From "Those Words are Not Enough")
There are so many more examples it would take hours to list them. Many Relient K songs that don't mention the word God or Jesus are obviously addressed to God.
As far as Superchick, their lyrics are less explicitly Christian, but some of their songs are addressed to God as well, and they identify themselves as a Christian band.
@Ailean@xanga - I loved that episode.
i think it's narrow-minded to listen to bands just because they make music with a Christian theme. and i think the label itself is narrow-minded... just because other bands choose to not sing about Christian beliefs, doesn't make them any less Christian.
@Pickwick12@xanga - Thanks for the infor about Relient K. What I know of theirs is limited to what I would simply call 'good, clean secular music' (which I think that we need more of.
"Many Relient K songs that don't mention the word God or Jesus are obviously addressed to God."
You say that they're 'obviously' addressed to God, but obvious to who? Only Christians? I think that this goes back to how we define and label music. Secular music, is, by definition music that is not OVERTLY about God/religion...so my guess is that a lot of the 'obviously addressed to God' music would actually be, by definition, secular.
My concern with the biggest state of what we call 'Christian music' is that too much of it really has nothing to do with Christ (in any overt fashion). It's imply bands that take the label of 'Christian band' and are signed to a 'Christian label'. Again, I find NOTHING wrong with that kind of music (I think that it's something that we need), BUT...I don't understand why we insist on calling it 'Christian music' while we don't do the same thing with other things. I don't know why we find it necessary to have these two competing groups: Christian bands vs. secular bands, when we don't do that with actors or athletes. Now, if they really are Christians we might mention that, but we don't lump them in to one category or the other. And the truth is, many 'secular bands' are actually made up of Christians.
/hops off soapbox
Oooh boy. Don't get me started on Christian music. Relient K is also one of the first Christian bands that drew me into the whole thing. I remember my youth pastor's wife playing "Marilyn Manson ate my girlfriend" in our chapel service, and I was like, "OMGZ Christians can haz c00l m00sik?! Prayze da Lord!"
Some other favorites of mine aren't necessarily "Christian" bands, but they aren't exactly secular either. I'd call them Ambigious Christianity bands. Meaning some members of the band are Christian, but their songs don't target just Christians, but rather a broader audience. I'm talking about Further Seems Forever, Copeland, or Mae. As Cities Burn has turned out to be one of my favorites. Oh, and Devil Wears Prada. You know, the harder stuff.
However, nowadays I'm kinda wary about Christian bands because it seems most Christian bands nowadays are trying to get into the whole metal scene. I mean, it's cool, yeah, but not after you have 200 (I only exaggerate :P) other bands out there trying to do the same thing.
You know what I'd like to see? A freaking Christian prog-rock band. Like Coheed and Cambria-esque. Okay, maybe not exactly like them, but just something prog-rockish. With some decent singing and decent lyrics. Something that's not rehashed and redone, or followed just because everyone is doing it. We need a pursuit of creativity!! xD
My tastes in Christian music have definitely changed over the years! I used to be all about Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Point of Grace, and Steven Curtis Chapman, and while I still have a soft place in my heart for SCC, I now listen to a lot more diverse groups, like Relient K, Pillar, and a lot of indie groups. I also love Bethany Dillon and Nichole Nordeman and Caedmon's Call.
@Boogalice@xanga - I remember watching one of Red's music videos. Something about a guy stuck in a house or something, and some girl, and the guy gets taken over by the dark side but then suddenly he bursts in a flash of light like a bald super saiyan from dragon ball z. I was like, "What... the... heck?" I couldn't help but laugh. I was too distracted by the video that I currently can't even remember the song. I'll give them a look-see though .
@NoHeroesForTomorrow@xanga - haha, yeah, that vid is....interesting, but I like most of their music...their tunes are great.
I wish Matt Thiessen of Relient K would go solo. I think he'd end up a lot like Jack's Mannequin when Andrew McMahon started up that project.
I've always been into Caedmon's Call, which has translated to loving Derek Webb's solo career. I'm also into Phil Wickham, and as a worship pastor, a lot of worship artists (Crowder, Tomlin, Redman, Hall, Baloche, Beeching) I'm also a huge Sufjan Stevens fan, although he's not defined as a "Christian" artist, he has a lot of Christian themes in his songs.
My tastes have definitely changed. I've done the boy/girl Christian banks, punk rock, worship songs and "classics" thing, but these days I've been listening to local folk Christian artists, Switchfoot and Andrew Peterson. I like the artists that don't feel they have to sing about Jesus every song. They sing about romantic love, family and other journeys in life as well as their relationship with Christ. I still enjoy singing hymns and worship songs at church, but I like variety throughout the week.Â
man... i've followed the same sort of progression... i'm lovin ayiesha woods right about now, and david crowder band....
I'm just starting to listen to Christian rock and what I like about it is I never have to worry about dirty, depressing lyrics. Yes maybe it sounds a little hard sometimes but in the end it always brings me up and not down!! Also since my Mom made a pact to listen to only Christian music on Sundays I get to bring out my CDs on Sunday!!
Alisa Childers is a new favorite of mine. :)
I used to adore the "poppy" stuff.
Now the softest thing I listen to is Casting Crowns & Third Day (Both bands are fairly soft though)
I tend to lean a little bit more towards metal. With Blood Comes Cleansing (So sad they broke up.), A Plea For Purging (Amazingly sweet guys), Blessed By A Broken Heart, Becoming The Archetype, Luti-kriss (Now Norma Jean), The Showdown, Once Nothing....and a lot of local bands.
I do like the rockier music as well...TFK, Anberlin, Flyleaf, etc
my taste steer from michael w. smith to relient k to mercyme to sandi patty to jars of clay to chris tomlin....
i listen to all music, anything with a good lyric. morally good music and christain music always benefits my spirit.
Wow! I love Christian music, I grew up in a home where we were not allowed to listen to anything that had insturments on it most of it was the requirments of the church we attended. Today i listen to pretty much everything there are a couple different types of music that I refuse to listen to and pretty much anything that focases on sex as the theme of the the lyrics I also dispise but great post.
Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever thing are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of a good report, if there is any virtue or praise, think on these things. Philippians 4:8 kjv
ps. it applys to music too
Haha, that is almost exactly how my taste in Christian music changed, except for the current. Hillsong and Phil Wickam are the two main Christian artists who dominate my Christian genre, then David Crowder, Chris Tomlin, and oh, I'm still into Superchick (but I am 17).