…does anyone here listen to it? I occasionaly catch a Christian music station while flipping channels, late at night. I can’t help but watch, like a car crash or something, I’m oddly curious. Has a Christain band ever crossed over into the mainstream? The only band like that, that I remember, was Stryper. That was some funny shit.
Anyway, just curious. If anyone does actually listens to this stuff, I hope I wasn’t offensive.
Sixpence None the Richer never really “crossed over” as they just started in the mainstream. They had a couple of hits last year with Kiss me and There She Goes. They don’t make a big deal out of their being a Christian band but won’t deny it if asked either. Mostly they get their message across when asked about their name which comes from Christian philosopher and apologist C. S. Lewis.
Jars of Clay had a minor hit a few years back with a song called “Flood.”
See that. you learn something new every day. I love that song, even have it in my MP3 files. Never knew they were a christian band. I always assumed they were some artsy band using religious symbolism for that specific song, ala REM or XTC.
Don’t forget two very popular bands at the mo’ Creed and P.O.D.
Creed - Aren’t outright Christians but the lead singer is the son of a minister and their songs are pretty much in a spiritual vain.
P.O.D. - Which actually stands for Payable On Death, are extremely popular with their latest single Alive. They are all self confessed Christians and the lyrics to Alive include
Of course nowhere in the song is the “you” in question actually said to be Jesus but the thing is a non-religous person listening to the song could interpret it to be his wife/girlfriend/child/etc, while a religous Christian gets a Christian interpretation out of it.
I think thats how these crossover Christian bands can become mainstream as they leave their lyrics very much open so that non-Christians(like me) can listen to it without feeling preached to.
It’s all I listen to on the radio. I listen to KLOVE, it’s a nation wide, listener supported network based in California.
I listen to it mainly because I can’t stand all the negative crap and inane commercials on regular radio.
I strongly believe that what you see, read, think about and listen to affects you. Ya know, “what you sow is what you reap”, and “garbage in/garbage out” kinda stuff. I avoid as much negative influence in my brain as I can, cause God knows there’s plenty of it out there, I don’t need to activly search it out.
don’t forget the band Lifehouse, which was formed from a Vineyard church band. their hit song “Hanging by a Moment” has been very mainstream the past few months.
PS–oh yeah, forgot to mention that if you like Jars of Clay, my brother has written a handful of songs available at:
these songs are heavily influenced by jars, but mostly by their slower songs, so don’t expect to hear flood, if that’s the only song of theirs that you know.
Saviour Machine is a band that was pretty popular in Germany, even had the number one song on the metal charts for awhile. That’s funny since they aren’t metal at all.
Circle of Dust was pretty popular, but aren’t together anymore.
What I don’t get is why Christian music is isolated and other spirtual music isn’t. Madonna is very spiritual and I don’t see her in the New Age section.
Not really a group but Amy Grant started her career as a primarily Christian rocker(insert irony here). But she managed to make it pretty big in the mainstream over the years.
Kansas definitely had Christian leanings (for instance, see their song “The Devil Game”). Some metal fans don’t like Megadeth because they feel they’ve become too Christian, although I would have a very hard time classifying Megadeth as a Christian band. Wasn’t Collective Soul a Christian band?
Soulfly has alot of mentions about God, odd if you consider that the lead singer was in Sepeltura, a Brazilian death metal band, and he also did a duet with #8 of Slipknot. Who’s new album contains the wonderful chorus "If your 555 then I’m 666.
Extreme (yes, Extreme!) have a song on their first album which is about the crucifiction.
On Pornograffiti, the verses of Hole Hearted are based on Ecclesiastes, and if you keep in mind the Christian saying that everyone has a God shaped hole in their heart, then the chorus takes on a whole different meaning!
the lead singer is the son of a preacher, yet i don’t believe his personal beliefs have been made public. you can definately see the influence in his lyrics, but he does have a swear word every now and then (which is a problem with some christian music listeners).
Michael W. Smith had a similar start to Amy Grant. In fact they did a lot of duets together. He did “Place in This World” and “I Will Be Here For You” in the early 90’s. “Love of My Life” was another song he did that got some pop station play, but not much. He has since gone back to a more “Christian” audience, though he had written a song for Titanic and has done some recent instrumental work. Personally, I think he’s getting better all the time. He doesn’t, and never really has, considered himself to have a “music ministry,” though he sings a lot about God because that’s what is important to him. That and his family (FTR, he considers his family to be his “ministry.”)
That’s not the case in country music. The songs about Christianity or general “God” songs are commonplace.
MXPX…Christian punk that has gone fairly mainstream. Remember the song Chick Magnet? Good stuff.
michael w actually started out writing amy’s songs.
great band, but i believe that, a couple years back, they completely or partially denounced their beliefs. i remember they went on tour with bad religion, something which wouldn’t exactly be acceptable for most in the christian music biz.
Weren’t King’s X Christian in some sense? At any rate, some of their leaned heavily in that direction, and they were fairly mainstream a few years ago.
Hmmmm…I didn’t realize that. I thought that it was just two cool punk bands on tour together. I suppose that it is kind of a juxtaposition of messages, though. Your explanation makes more sense.