Hey everyone,
I like rock and I’m Christan, yet I’ve noticed that most Christian rock I’ve heard completely felches goat testicles. Anyone know some good Christian rock that does not fall into this predicament?
So far Jeremy Camp seems alright, this song at least. I also hear good thing things about Switchfood, and apparently P.O.D’s songs are heavily Christian.
With that said, I ceed the floor. Thoughts?
Sincerely,
Auto
Evanescence tries very hard not to be perceived as a Christian rock band, though AFAIK at least two band members are definitely Christian. For me as a lapsed Catholic, the Christian influence came through very strongly on their first album Fallen.
Other than that, I’m out. The only explicitly Christian group I’ve heard that I’m happy to listen to is ‘Jars of Clay’, and they’re more alternative than rock.
I’m cool with alternative too. I guess what I meant really by rock is “anything other than hymnal music,” although I do like the old songs sometimes.
Sufjan Stevens has strong Christian themes in his music, as does Danielson. They’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but they’re different, anyway.
Old Amy Grant from the 80s was quite good. She had a sort of Grace Slick edge and sound.
ETA:
Also, Bob Dylan from the same period. Check out the “Slow Train Coming” album.
Delirious!
another vote for Jars of Clay
Si
Tried any Glass Harp? Been defunct long time now,but the guitarist Phil Keaggy is still doing things,keeps getting better,and has covered a lot of ground.
U-tube had at least one clip recently-scalp lifting guitar.Keep yer extinguisher handy.
Jesus Christ Superstar 
Relient K.
(Especially check out “Be My Escape”, on Mmhmm .)
MxPx.
Both bands are punk-influenced, and I would characterize most of their songs as “Christian-themed” rather than praise and worship.
Audio Adrenaline is pretty good. For harder/metal stuff, Thousand Foot Krutch has pretty good work.
Most seem to like Third Day, although they aren’t REALLY rock. Check out their album Wire.
Lifehouse is presumably Christian. I know lead singer Jason Wade is the son of a preacher. I’ve found that with many Christian songs, the subject matter is either God or a girl. Most of Lifehouse’s songs are ambiguous like this.
Guitarist Jonny Lang’s father was also a pastor, IIRC, and some of his music has religious influence.
Switchfoot is branching out more mainstream, I think, but they started (and probably still are) a Christian band.
I haven’t listened to and POD since their 2001 album, so I can’t say on them.
Relient K is more punk/pop rock, but if that’s what you’re going for, they have an alright band. A similar Christian band of this genre is FM Static (I’ve only heard their first album though (they just released their second not too long ago)).
You can check out most of these on iTunes’s 30 second samples. Songs by artist I would recommend are:
Audio Adrenaline: Underdog. They also did a good cover of Free Ride (Edgar Winter Group)
Thousand Foot Krutch (Harder/Metal sound): Rawkfist, Step to Me
Third Day: ‘Til the Day I Day, Blind
Lifehouse: Hanging By A Moment
Jonny Lang: Lie to Me
Switchfoot: Dare You to Move, Meant to Live
POD: I really got nothin’, but I remember Satellite being an alright track.
Relient K: Be My Escape, Pressing On
FM Static: Something to Believe In, October.
Hope you don’t think every single one of these felches goat testicles, but people have varying opinions on music, so I hope you find what you’re looking for.
It’s out there, but Sturgeon’s Law (90% of everything is crud) definitely applies. Can you narrow down what you’re looking for?
I don’t know if anything good is being released nowadays. If you’re willing to dig around a little, the most brilliant Christian rock band ever is Daniel Amos, although a lot of their stuff is hard to track down nowadays, and they’ve covered so much ground stylistically that listening to one song or one album of theirs is like the proverbial blind man feeling one part of the elephant. See also their alter egos the Swirling Eddies, and solo works by lead singer/sonwriter Terry Scott Taylor.
Also under the category of Classic Alternative Christian Rock for Grown-ups:
the hard-rocking 77’s,
Adam Again,
The Choir,
and the supergroup formed by thelead singers of these four bands: the Lost Dogs
Music that even this atheist loves…
The Innocence Mission, with the lovely and gentle Karen Peris on vocals.
Over The Rhine (I didn’t know they were Christian until a recent thread).
Victoria Williams (perhaps an acquired taste, but oh so wonderful).
I knew it! You can just tell.
-FrL-
I’m a big fan of The Echoing Green, but I think they decided to drop the Christian thing a couple of albums ago. The themes still come through.
I second Sufjan Stevens.
-FrL-
There are a couple of streaming audio stations I’ve listened to that are all about “Christian Rock” - Christianrock.net and Reign Radio. They both play/ed most bands mentioned in this thread so far.
Here are some bands besides those already mentioned that don’t suck donkey balls:
Flyleaf
Skillet
Plumb
Mutemath
Kutless
Falling Up
Blindside
Eowyn
Pillar
Dead Poetic
Thousand Foot Krutch
Forest Green Tuesday
Red
12 Stones
Disciple
Bride
Fireflight
Decyfer Down
Gretchen
There another band I have three songs by, but can’t find anything about on the internet: The Broken Saints 
They’re not connected with the webcomic. I’d buy their cd if I could find it.
Here is my thread from a couple of years ago on the same topic.
If you don’t mind the occasional f-bomb, Pearl Jam’s CD Yield has Christian themes (as implied by the CD’s title). It’s subtle in some places, though. Listen carefully to the lyrics of “Given to Fly” for example. (Particularly the last couple of verses.)
Christian music is in a pretty abysmal state right now, coming off of a creative heyday in the late nineties. It’s funny how a good chunk of the late-nineties Christian indie rock bands went on to have major success in the regular indie rock and/or punk/hardcore world - Pedro the Lion, Summer Hymns, The Danielson Famile, Sufjan Stevens (who got his start as the lowly keyboardist for the Famile), Mae, the Juliana Theory, Jimmy Eat World, Zao, Appleseed Cast, the Autumns, and more recently Richard Swift and Page France.
Two bands that have made consistently killer records for the past decade that are “Christian” bands (in that they’re Christian guys in a band but make regular, non-evangelical music) are Starflyer 59 and Joy Electric. SF59 started as a shoegaze band in the My Bloody Valentine or Pale Saints vein and has matured into a lush, melancholy pop group. Check out The Fashion Focus and Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice for the moody pop stuff and the recently re-released Gold for the surfy shoegaze stuff.
Joy Electric (incidentally the brother of the Starflyer 59 guy) does incredibly dark synth-pop in a way that literally nobody else is or has done it - every sound made from scratch with one analog synth. The guy is one of the greatest songwriters I’ve heard, and he’s written some of the most gorgeous, perfect songs that you’ve never heard. Check out the recently-released The Otherly Opus and 2003’s Hello, Mannnequin for a great start.
Another incredible band that you’ve never heard is Daniel Amos, who were pretty much “The Christian Beatles.” They were one of the first Christian alternative bands in the eighties, and they did some AMAZING records, all of which are out of print. They started off sounding like a country rock band before turning into the bizarre love child of Devo, the Clash, the Talking Heads, and Oingo Boingo, only to then mutate further into a sort of shoegazey dream-pop band in the late eighties. They’ve changed further since. Check out “The Alarma Chronicles,” a four-album cycle. Fearful Symmetry and Vox Humana are the strongest two. The post-alarma Darn Floor, Big Bite is essential.
But yeah, the current state of Christian music is abysmal. It’s all really embarrassing adult contemporary stuff, and the flipside has gone all hardcore and metal. The Tooth and Nail record label, once responsible for bringing us Pedro the Lion and The Danielson Famile, has gone all bad hardcore and lame metal. Even though their stuff sells in the Christian and mainstream market (Underoath in particular), it’s pretty much creatively bankrupt.