Tell me about Christian rock music

Cafe Society
21

You’re talking about the K-LOVE network there (which a “thinking Chirstians” site referred to as K-LOATHE). While on one hand, yeah- it is a dumbing-down of the airwaves, I can see a valid reason for it. Why shouldn’t there be a radio station that parents don’t have to worry about the kids listening to?

Anyway, I listen to K-LOVE regularly. Usually when I want to get to sleep- and that’s not a put-down. That’s usually why I have a music station on the radio.
Otherwise, I listen to news/talk stations.

22

I think it’s useful to have a radio station that parents don’t have to worry about the kids listening to…but if the kids don’t WANT to listen to it, its usefulness is pretty limited, isn’t it? Much better to have good, thought provoking Christian music than bland praise songs all day, IMO of course.

Also, I did a little looking and the one I’m familiar with isn’t actually part of the K-LOVE network (as far as I can tell), it’s WBGL. And I guess their slogan is “Family Friendly Radio” so I can’t really say I didn’t know what I was getting into.

23

Is “Lifehouse” considered Christian music? I could never really tell.

24

I do agree about having quality deep C’tian music (and even on K-LOVE there is some challenging “social justice” C’tian stuff), but I should have qualified - the “safe for kids” angle actually seems to mean “safe for little kids around the house when Mom is listening”. That is definitely a market that doesn’t have a wide choice of listening options.

25

I started a thread about this just a few months back. It has some good suggestions:
Christian rock that does not suck donkey balls

26

Hey, Stryper might have been a little goofy but Oz Fox could wail. I always hid my Stryper tapes from the other metal heads, but some of it was pretty good.

27

Heh. I did the same thing but I know I wasn’t the only one. Their musicality was actually pretty decent and some of their deeper, non radio cuts had some balls.

28

Yeah, it is a pretty narrow range of acceptability. I cope with folk music, classical, and stuff, and pop in the Oingo Boingo while I’m driving alone.

I do own a couple of Jars of Clay albums, and one of older hymns sung by modern bands–some are pretty good, a few I skip. I also bought a sort of collection CD because I liked a few songs on it, and it’s mostly pretty good, but I was also appalled by one song that called the day of the Crucifixion “that wonderful, scandalous night” as if it was a romantic one-night stand or something. :eek:

On the whole, I don’t care for Christian rock/pop, (or the LDS flavor thereof). But I’m willing to listen to it if it’s really good; it’s just that most of it seems to be both shallow and repetitive. So, I guess I’m listening for good recommendations too.

29

Christian radio is built for the kind of people who listen to Christian radio, in all respects and formats. If it’s talk, then you have to basically be Republican and be a creationist. If you’re a DJ, you have to play, um, I basically have no idea who is popular in Christian pop now, uh, Steve Green?

In my older years, I’ve drifted out of the “scene”, because it seems sort of more pointless in general to me, but there were Christian bands that were actually good. You can’t take a population of 50 million (or whatever) and not have some talented people in there. From the Annals of the Paaaaaaassst:

Bloodgood: Detonation (yes, it’s hair metal, but on this one, they scored)

Crucified: The two “actual” albums, not the demos. “Pillars of Humanity” still sounds heavy and intricate at the same time.

77s: Basically anything

Daniel Amos: Terry Taylor is a major talent whether he’s trying to be the Eagles or trippy New Wave or Johnny Cash. There’s a reason he’s the last remaining member.

King’s X: They’re not a Christian Band any more in the way they were (if they were) earlier, but they can really hit the ball out of the park sometimes.

Scaterd Few: A truly punk album from your average pot toking Christians.

Undercover: Managed some enjoyable but sort of immature albums, then put out Branded, which is what opera might sound like if it were written by Ramones fans.

Altar Boys: Are we rock or punk? We can’t decide, so we split the difference. I still like them. I don’t care if you’re throwing things.

Delirious: Mostly a flat out Modern worship band. Made a few very good albums. I’ve sort of lost track of them. I should try their more recent stuff.

Maybe the most obscure here: Dead Artist Syndrome/Brian Healy (DAS was an excuse for Healy to record). Some really nice stuff, for the psuedo-goths.

LSU: Wow, I forgot Mike Knott/LSU/Lifesavors. Mike is an authentic arteeeest. You never get the sense that it’s fake or made so he’ll sell product. He’s a songwriter/singer, guitarist/painter/producer with lots of bands so he can make lots of product so he can support a family. He’s one of those guys who’s managed to be honest about his bad behavior in the past.

Proclaimers: What, those “500 Mile” guys? Listen to the albums after that. If they’re not Christians, they need to have their recording contract revoked. Why did they cover “Lord, I Want to be a Christian”?

Resurrection Band: I don’t know what they’ve been doing lately, but their first five or so albums have some pretty good blues/rock stuff.

Violet Burning: I don’t know their early stuff from when they made a splash on the scene, but I think “Faith and Devotions of a Satellite Heart” is a major achievement. I usually don’t like slow albums, but I bought this for my rocker buddy, and he enjoyed it. “This is the Moment” is also enjoyable.
Oh, yeah, Stryper: They actually have some good songs, but always have that at least slightly embarrassing gloss of hair metal. I tried their reunion album, but it didn’t work for me. There are a few songs that do work from their main catalog, though.

I heard once that Lifehouse was essentially the Malibu Vineyard Worship Band. They happened to have a real songwriter, and made the leap.

30

That sounds like “Beautiful Scandalous Night,” but I don’t think I share your interpretation of it. For the curious, lyrics to the song, and a couple different downloadable versions, are available here.

31

You gotta love a guy who lists his heroes as

32

I went into iTunes and called up The Crucified, and especially for “Pillars of Humanity”, I have to post again: Wow.

I wish I could have one artist achievement on my resume like that.

33

I’m not what you call a Christian, myself, but I enjoy stuff from Kutless, Skillet and 12 Stones. I believe they’re all considered Christian-lite.

34

One more chiming in on this.

My problem w/ most overtly Christian music is the lame lyrics, but even there there are exceptions.

Rich Mullins has been mentioned, and Mark Heard and Steve Taylor were also absolutely brilliant songwriters, as good as anyone on the secular side IMO. Unfortunately, the first two guys are dead (as a freind once asked, “Why couldn’t God take the ones who suck?”) and Taylor confines himself to producing these days, but picking up a used album or two would be cheap. And I’ll second anything from **Terry Taylor/Daniel Amos/Swirling Eddies
**
Of course, since a lot of Phil Keaggy’s stuff is instrumental, his lyrics are swell.

I’m always saddened that Chagall Guevara’s name never comes up in these threads. I am far from alone in thinking their debut one of the best Christian Rock albums ever. * It says something about the Christian music market that they got no support and never did another.

*(Actually, that might make a more interesting thread)

35

“Scandal” is the English derivative of the Greek http://www.antioch.com.sg/cgi-bin/bible/vines/get_defn.pl?num=1964#A1]skandalon , a word specifically used in Gal 5:11 to refer to the crucifixion.

36

Lyrics. Wouldn’t it be better to let your faith sort of “permeate” your lyrical content without overwhelming it? That is, no matter what lyrical subject you are focusing on, wouldn’t there always be an undercurrent of faith in there somewhere? So why force it and always sing about “Jesus is Great, God is Good, Praise them all” etc.? Don’t grasp why the lyrics have to always be so narrowly focused. You could make an argument that U2, a band with devout Christians in it (as opposed to a Christian rock band), have done just that, even if you have grown tired of their shtick.

IANA Christian, but I do tend to end up with a number of bands who have a rather spiritual bent in one way or another, and the lyrical content for them is invariably much more rich, creative, and varied than that in a typical Christian rock band; not feeling the need to explicitly sing about God etc. (shut up you jokers) would appear to “free” a lyricist to truly shoot for the stars and not be held back. For one thing they aren’t afraid to explore the “dark side of the faith” so to speak (no not Satan that’s much too crude). Just my 2 cents.

37

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with writing specifically about spiritual issues, provided it’s done intelligently and beautifully.

Of the ones I named, Rich Mullins has a somewhat contemplative, spiritual focus, and his songs have a poetic cast to them: e.g: This and This The latter sounds - consciously, I’m sure – a lot like an updated Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Mark Heard is also mostly about sprirtual issues, but is more oblique:

Steve Taylor and Chagall Guevara have larger interests and are less explicitly Christian. I was just looking at the Amazon reviews for Chagall Guevara and half of them didn’t even recognize that they were a Christian band.

Video

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delete

39

It’s been a long time since I’ve encountered a christian band I enjoy, but I recently re-discovered a band I’d seen about 5 years ago: House of Heroes. Their live show this time around was pretty rough around they edges (they just got out of the studio, so they may have been short on rehearsal time for live performances) but I checked them out on iTunes, and their album “Say No More” is excellent. Little bit of a weezer vibe in the vocals. Worth taking a listen.

40

Well, they weren’t—depending on what you mean by “a Christian band.” They were an attempt by the members to break out of the “ghetto” of Christian music and into the mainstream. They released their (sadly, only) album on a mainstream label and aimed at the mainstream market (MTV, Rolling Stone magazine, etc.), and there was nothing explicitly Christian in their lyrics (as there certainly was in lyrics Steve Taylor wrote for himself, the Newsboys, and Guardian).