i've been listening to Christian radio. i've given it a very real shot, honest i have. it's just a lot of really badly written drivel to be honest. why not just listen to regular radio, if it were produced in a basement somewhere, and whenever i came across the ooooh, baby baby moments then i could just substitute God's name for the object of the affection and i'd be in the exact same place.
i just got back from taking my dearest to the doctor and it required me to wait in the car until she was done. i sat, did sudoku's and listened to drivel. in 90 minutes of waiting i heard 1 song that wasn't lyrically poor. seriously, 1 tune. that tune was all about how life causes dents and rips in the fabric of your life but the relationship we have with Jesus we're "Free to be me". that makes 4 minutes out of 90 that was tolerable.
i just want better music. say something other than oooooh baby baby in Christian form. whatever happened to the legacy handed down by guys like Mark Heard and to a lesser extent, Larry Norman? i miss those guys. i hear that U2 were buddies with Larry Norman, but i already know those guys kill on the tune factor. i also hear that The Newsboys worked with both Heard and Norman, maybe i should check them out better.
somebody please tell me of some music that i can check out that actually says something along faith lines. there's only so many times i can play my Steve Bell and Bruce Cockburn stuff. any wisdom out there for me?
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19 comments:
have you ever checked out Karla Adolphe/Jacob and Lily (Karla is half of Jacob & Lily)? I find their lyrics to be great... they're from Winnipeg actually...
Sara Groves, Derek Webb, Kendall Payne and Michael Card are all also worth checking out.
I like Matthew West as a Christian artist...I agree with you, though, on the most part. It is hard to beat the classics like the Beatles, Kansas, Queen, U2, and Green Day.
There is some pretty good praise and worship music out there too. My personal favorite is Revelation Song.
I may just be adding fuel to your fire though. I guess it is personal taste.
Sarah Groves plays, sings, and has very interesting lyrics. I mostly agree with the vapidity of most of it in the last decade.I have 4920 songs on my Ipod, lots of world and new age instrumental I enjoy.
I like Celtic Christian Music, makes it so musically sweet I can enjoy most of it.
Thanks for reading my blog.
Listened to much Derek Webb. He was (I think) the lead singer for Caedmon's Call. I really cannot stand most so called 'Christian' music either, but his is acousticy and he puts some thoughts into his lyrics. I can't speak for his newest album though as I have not heard it.
The whole idea of even making a distinction between christian or non-christian music actually irks me in general. Making all of these big lines in the sand between the spiritual and the worldly is not something I am so sure we should be doing.
Might try an old band called Black Eyed Sceva - Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/Way-Before-the-Flood/dp/B0002445I2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1251359710&sr=8-2
Also, Newsboys worked a lot with Steve Taylor (not sure on Larry Norman working with them) so you might try some of Steve Taylor's work and also the band Gaurdian (another link: http://www.amazon.com/Guardian/e/B000AQ3038/ref=ntt_mus_gen_pel)
yeah they are older groups but definitely more than oooh baby baby.
Lisa, i agree completely on Michael Card he's been a fave for a lot of years. i don't know anything about any of the others though.
Dusty, i've never heard of Mathew West but i certainly agree on some of those classics.
Don and Joel (Stainers), you and Lisa listen to some of the same stuff, maybe i should really look into it eh?
William, yeah Steve Taylor is a fave of mine that i forgot to mention here. i blogged about a Taylor song a couple months back (I want to be a hero). maybe i was misremembering (as Roger Clemens seems to call it) but i had thought that Larry Norman produced The Newsboys first album. now that i think about it, it could've been Taylor from the start.
thanks for everything, everyone. more comments are still welcome.
Bethany Dillon. To some extent Brandon Heath as well.
Nicole Nordeman has a few great ones.
I sometimes worship more through a secular song than through music written by Christians, so I'm not a fan of boxing oneself in.
don't know Bethany Dillon at all but the one song i know of Brandon Heath's i kinda think should belong on country music radio, unless i'm misremembering again.
I'd have to agree on Revelation Song - been listening to the version done by Kim Walker/Jesus Culture on repeat a lot lately...
Thank you for your comments on Christian radio. I sometimes like Calvary Chapel's radio network, but lately they are trending too commercial like the rest of the spectrum. I like acappellaradio.net on the Web. Thank you for following Frogtown also.
Stainers and Christopher--good points about 'segregating' music, or any of the arts for that matter.
If we understand that the creative force comes from God, then it all comes from him. If love is of God, then a love song should be considered godly, whether it is talking about God or your dearly beloved.
Lust, etc., well.....!!
I know there are lots of kind of music I don't enjoy, but that doesn't mean it is bad--just not my style. Perhaps the same can be said for Christian media (radio, TY, books, etc.). But then again I am segregating things by calling them Christian--or at least someone is.
i agree Al. i guess i'm just a snob sometimes. mostly i just want well written tunes that actually SAY something. maybe i'm just reacting to worship tunes as a steady diet, i like worship tunes but i'd like them more if they got more practical for how i'm going to get through my week.
BAAAHAHAHAHAaa.... This was such a great read. I am totally right there with you. Ten, fifteen years ago I was an avid Christian radio listener (of course...because we don't listen to anything secular...right?). Now it turns my stomach so fast I can barely stand the three seconds that I have to hear it while trying to flip the dial to NPR.
PS. On christian artists that I actually like and that actually have a little depth to them:
The Lost Dogs (*love* them)
Vigilantes of Love
Other than that, I'm still in mourning that I got rid of my huge and delicious music collection back when I decided to follow Christ and thought that all secular music was evil... *depressed sigh*
oh man, Lost Dogs ... i had forgotten about them. i still GOTS to hear more of that.
there was another band that Steve Taylor had some involvement with too (i think) called the Swirling Eddies. i vaguely remember something about that one.
cool blog. Thanks for stopping by mine (Nullus Extra Cruem). I'm with you on the Christian music, much of it is lame. Try the Newsboys, I was Jeff Frankenstien's youth pastor and he's been with them for 15 years now as the dude on the keyboards. They are something special. The new cd just came out and my mother was telling me yesterday (the day before her 64th b-day) that it was sweet (she's a hip mom)... I need to check it out.
The problem with Christian music is that it is essentially commercialisation of the gospel, and as you say, a very watered down Gospel. I find more inspiration from listening to Rage Against The Machine that I do from most 'Christian' music...
I would highly recommend checking out Ross King.
www.rosskingmusic.com
And the first cd I would buy is "And All the Decorations, Too"
Rich lyrics. But, I don't know your taste in music...
thx Shane. you were actually one of the folks that i was hoping would chime in on this discussion because i saw on your blog that you were a worship leader. i also saw a video clip of one of the tunes you did and i enjoyed it.
oh, i'm SO WITH YOU! if we're about glorifying God in everything we do, shouldn't we be doing our best??
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