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Terath -> RE: Secular Bands OK? (4/16/2008 1:28:10 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: BlackCapnHarlock
I can honestly say, I've been listening to Contempary (sp?) Christian Music since the late 1980s and I can tell you that through my 14 years of being a faithful Christian, that CONTEMP CHRISTIAN MUSIC STINKS!!
I am a big Christian hip hop fan, and man the guys are just no where near the secular guys . . not in production not in talent. Only a handful of Christian artists get positive responses when I pay them around non Christians. Mars Ill . . . I think that's it.
Music is supposed to be Music, the problem I have with too many Christian rappers is that they PREACH through out their music, that's not MUSIC, that's PREACHING. Also I can understand in having praise and worship songs, but if your music is all about praise and worship then call it that praise and worship hip hop not real hip hop.
I just want better rhyming and better production . .. . period.
The same for Christian Rock. Too many bands either sell out and dump JESUS all together like Evanesance (sp?) or they just aren't good.
MXPX is still around and they are good, but they need to develop their sound more they are light years behind Green Day.
Relient K is doing well, and so are some other groups, but we don't have a Christian Beatles or Christian Rolling Stones or Christian Dr. Dre folks who change the industry and the way music is made.
We have too many folks who water down and steal secular trends and fall way short.
Music overall isn't good right now, but man I would love to see a Christian group the caliber of Nickelback, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay Z, Eminem, Swisha House, etc. . . .
GRITS is probably the only Christian group who's beats are near secular ones, everyone else is still way behind.
Some Christian emcees can rep as Magellan says, "It's 2007 whey Christian rappers sounding like Chuck D.?"
As the guys from the Shaolin Mixtape put it, "We have to be realistic it's not 1995 it's 2005 (at the time) it's not 1985, who are we trying to reach? The guy listening to G unit, the G listening to 50 Cent and this is what you are putting out?"
Some guys have gotten better, but man, CCM has a long way to go.
I find nothing wrong with secular artists a song here or there, but I'm not too big on supporting them with full cd purchases and concerts where they drink beer an curse GOD on stage.
CCM is defnitely in need of improvement, though that doesn't mean that there are no Christian artists worth listening to. I would agree, however, that they probably won't come from CCM. I was looking at the SoulFest lineup to see if I would consider going. There were a total of two bands I liked, one that I would pay to listen to. Most them would have me covering my ears. But that's just me.
Well, you do have to admit, a style that abounds in reveling in sex, drugs, violence, ghettos and the like is not the most attractive medium to an up-and-coming Christian artist. No wonder there aren't many in that genre.
Well, two things here. One, is rapping even really music? It reminds me more of open verse poetry than any music. Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with rapping. My problem is with rap i general. Rapping has it's place, and I've heard rapping I like, but music is not the first thing that comes to mind. Second of all, is there problem with preaching through music? Granted, I would hold that preaching in music is akin to healing the healthy, but is that doesn't diqualify it from being music. I've heard Christian bands that preach, most of which are in it for the preaching and not the music. When a Christian band preaches, but they actually work to make good music to accompany the preaching, that's something that stands a chance. I even know of a few bands, Mortal Treason and Nema, that included a more worshipful song along with their music. I even like Nema's take on it, because it was both discernable and powerful, without coming off as church music, despite the name "Church Song."
These bands you're mentioning...I listen to Green Day on occasion, but to hold them up as a standard for Christian music? I recall listening to a few songs on the TV once, from their "Bullet in a Bible" tour. *heh* Minority comes to mind at the moment.
I want to be the minority
I don't need your authority
Down with the moral majority
'Cause I want to be the minority
I'd go on, but I'd probably violate TOS, in more ways than one. Anyway, is there a rule saying that Christian bands have to follow anyone else? I can think of some Christians bands that are actually BETTER than their secular counterparts. As I Lay Dying takes metalcore to its limits, almost breaching Melodic Death Metal in the style of In Flames. Underneath the Gun and With Blood Comes Cleansing beath out most deathcore, hands down. If you like the lighter side of rock, Anberlin does a good job of it.
Really? No one to define a genre? What about Stryper? These guys coined the term "Christian metal." I'm not exactly a fan of big hair, make-up and spandex, but they blazed a path through the secular bands, coming out with quite a bit of respect. As I Lay Dying was given the "Ultimate Metal Gods" title by MTV; guess they never heard of Lamb of God, but that's another issue.
Christians don't get the cred for it, but they were one of the biggest influences on death metal, period. Mortification's "Scrolls of the Megilloth" and "EnVision EnVangelene" are practically sacred doctrine for extreme metal fans.
CCM does have a long way to go. You know why? For most of them, the music is secondary. They are there first and foremost for God. Not that there's anything wrong with that mind you, but personally, most CCM doesn't cut it. Now, there are bands that aren't in CCM at all but are still Christian through and through. As I Lay Dying is currently signed to Metal Blade Records. Facedown Records is the home to Impending Doom and With Blood Comes Cleansing. I think it may have been Nuclear Blast, actually, that had a Christian president for a while, and really pushed Horde, a Christian black metal band. For those not in the know, black metal is usually where people take "satanic" from metal and spread it wholesale over all metal. That's because many black metal artists actually are satanists, usually from Northeast Europe. Horde, on the other hand, is headed by a guy from Australia, and he really pulled off a true black metal metal album that glorified God. His label promptly recieve death threats asking for his identity to be revealed so they could kill him.[;)] What some people will do for music.
Well, whether or not a band should be listened to comes down to one thing: the message. What does the music say? Does that hurt or harm one's testimony? About supporting with purchases, that really comes down to the band. What kind of message do they themselves put out. As you mentioned with the drinking (I'll assume you mean in excess) and blasphemy, that's not exactly a great cause, no matter what their music says. Really, there's a lot of good secular music, and a lot of bad secular music. I'm lucky. I only like one genre (metal), so I only have to weed through one brand of garbage. ^_^;
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