39,327
edits
Not Christian Rock: Difference between revisions
m
update links
m (clean up) |
m (update links) |
||
Line 16:
{{examples}}
* [[The Band]] often used Christian or Biblical imagery. Their most famous song, "The Weight", is a good example ("I pulled into Nazareth..."), see also "Daniel and the Sacred Harp", others.
* Live is sometimes thought of as a Christian band, and Ed Kowalcyk specifically said that "I Alone" was written about the Christian church.
** Until you listen to the lyrics of "Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition)": ''Heard a lot of talk about this Jesus / A man of love, a man of strength / But what a man was two thousand years ago / Means nothing at all to me today''
** Also, most Christian rockers don't drop f-bombs in their songs.
** Ironically, as of 2010, lead vocalist Ed Kowalczyk is now a legit Christian rock musician; songs on his solo debut include "Zion" and "In Your Light" as well as lead single "Grace".
* [[Bob Dylan]] incorporates biblical allusions into a lot of his music, but only the albums recorded during his late-'70s/early'80s "born again" period (''Slow Train Coming'', ''Saved'', ''Shot of Love'') can really be considered Christian Rock in an overt sense.
Line 27:
* Hirax, an American [[Thrash Metal]] band, has been called Christian for songs like "Demon's Evil Forces" where their singer plays God, so to speak with the lines "You will go down, down to the demons, and when you get there, you'll be in Hell" and "You must believe in me my son, I am the Lord God, the Holy One"... They have since denied direct involvement in the Christian music scene, though some of their members are indeed Christian.
* Bono of [[U2]] is a Christian, and many of his lyrics have Christian subtext. However, they're usually more of the "[[Jesus Was Way Cool]]" kind that one would expect given his views on social justice, rather than songs about the power of faith and other such things that are often found in Christian music.
** Actually, Adam Clayton's the only odd man out religiously. U2 very nearly broke up early on because Bono, Edge, and Larry all belonged to a small evangelical group with a leader who was urging them to give up music because it wasn't quite "Christian". After a couple days of seriously considering it, they decided God wouldn't have given them this skill if He hadn't meant for them to use it. They put the Christian subtext in as a little nod to the people who want to find it—but it's subtle enough that those who don't want to go there don't have to.
* "Kyrie" by Mr. Mister. (''Kyrie eleison'' is Greek for "Lord, have mercy," and is still chanted by most Roman Catholics at Mass.)
* "Show Me The Way" by [[Styx]].
* The [[New Romantic]] band Ultravox might be confused for a Christian band, especially because of "Dear God", and "Hymn" to a lesser extent. "Dear God" is decidedly spiritual (ala [[U2]]), but the band itself is not explicitly Christian. In fact, "Answers to Nothing" openly questions religion.
* Certain songs by Kansas, such as "Dust In The Wind" and "Carry On Wayward Son." Some members of the group have, later on, joined the Christian Rock scene. Those songs are actually about a Platonistic world view, and a drug trip respectively.
* To this day, it's argued over whether or not [[Creed]] was Christian Rock. Whether they were or weren't seems to depend on whether Scott Stapp happened to think being a Christian was cool or not at the time the issue came up.
* "Spirit in The Sky": Norman Greenbaum is Jewish, but he thought it would be fun to write a gospel song, even though he knew nothing about gospel music. Of course, he had no idea that he'd end up as a [[One-Hit Wonder]], with that song as his one hit. The fact that it has [[Epic Riff|the most epic fuzz guitar riff ever recorded]] didn't hurt, either.
** And then Bauhaus [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zspU9LWZWFM covered it] and made it sound like a funeral dirge.
** It's been a UK number one hit for another two acts: Doctor And The Medics (vaguely pagan/druidic context) and Gareth Gates and The Kumars (vaguely Hindu context).
* Indie/folk rocker [[Sufjan Stevens]] often includes explicitly Christian themes and lyrics in his songs, and somehow manages to strike a balance between spiritual expression and [[Narm]]ful God-rock.
* The members of the Soul/Metal hybrid trio King's X were all devout Christians, but explicitly resisted the Christian Rock tag. Despite that, the members religious beliefs and generally clean, vaguely spiritual lyrics led to them being treated as a Christian Rock band, and gaining a fairly large evangelical following. Then Doug Pinnick came out as being gay, and suddenly the band was being condemned from all quarters as heathens and betrayers of their Christian Rock fandom—something they had never sought in the first place.
Line 42:
* "You Raise Me Up" ''wasn't'' a Christian song. It's been altered by some groups to end up that way though, and is so prevalent that [[Josh Groban]] got lambasted for 'taking out' the Christian lyrics.
** The song was an adaptation of the "Londonderry Air". There are many different sets of lyrics that have been set to "Londonderry Air", including about a dozen Christian hymns. The oldest lyrics (Confessions of Devorgilla) and the most famous lyrics (Danny Boy) as well as many of the others contain at least a few explicit references to Christianity as well. Christian lyrics were "taken out" in the sense that the lyrics written for the new version of the melody were not religious (but even then, Josh Groban had nothing to do with it, since he didn't write the lyrics ''or'' the melody).
* Saving Jane has a couple of songs which, if you listen to them exclusively, could fool you into assuming it is a Christian band.
* [[Evanescence]]'s song "Bring Me to Life" topped some Christian singles charts when it was released... only it wasn't. Until the band explicitly denied it, a lot of people thought they were Christian. The band seems to be part of a sub-genre of pop-metal bands with vaguely spiritual lyrics and comprised of entirely Christian members who spend the entirety of every interview they do denying that they're Christian rock. This kind of denial is so common that in 1999, a Christian band named [[Joy Electric]] released an album called "CHRISTIANsongs" explicitly to subvert the trend.
** Also, other songs like "Tourniquet", throwing around the words salvation, deleverance, and Jesus Christ, makes this confusion understandable.
Line 54:
* Parodied in this video with Nickelback: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sB9E8mRP6E
* Of all metal bands, '''''[[Slayer]]''''' actually has an interesting variation that could potentially make the heads of [[The Fundamentalist]] explode en masse a la [[Scanners]]...especially hilarious if you know the trope they have bred of being essentially Eviller Than Venom.
** The song "[http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/slayer/southofheaven.html#2 Silent Scream]" on ''South Of Heaven'' is based on a [[wikipedia:The Silent Scream|a rather infamous anti-abortion video]] (showing the dismemberment of a fetus by D&X via ultrasound, very graphically focusing on the apparent death throes of the fetus). In fact, the song lyrics pretty much EXACTLY match the plotline of the film and are in part written from the perspective of the fetus being aborted.
** Of note: "Silent Scream" (the movie) is fairly obscure outside of evangelical and Catholic anti-abortion circles. Tom Araya (who penned the lyrics) is actually a [http://www.themetalinquisition.com/2008/01/tom-araya-is-catholic-kerry-king-is.html rather devout Catholic].
* A few of [[The Who|Pete Townshend's]] songs, including "Bargain", "Drowned" and "Let My Love Open the Door", could be considered Christian rock... were Townshend not a pseudo-Hindu pantheist who follows the teachings of Meher Baba. The latter song, according to Townshend, is explicitly written from God's POV.
Line 95:
* After [[Megadeth|Dave Mustaine's]] conversion to Christianity circa 2004, he started including Christian elements in a few of his songs, mostly involving the Biblical [[Endofthe World As We Know It|apocalypse]]. These tend to be dark enough to make people wonder if Mustaine is serious or if he simply uses the darker prophesies for dark entertainment.
** ''The System Has Failed'' has "The Scorpion," "Truth Be Told," "Of Mice and Men," and "Shadow of Deth."
** ''United Abominations'' has "Never Walk Alone... A Call to Arms" and "Blessed are the Dead,"
** And way back on his first album he wrote "Looking Down The Cross" which was about as Christian as you could get. He still had the apocalyptic tone in the second half of the song, though. It may not have been as much a 'conversion' as a public admission of his faith.
** ''Endgame'''s title track can be interpreted to be all about the Mark of the Beast.
Line 113:
** And "Hallowed Be Thy Name". The Other Wiki quotes Steve Harris as saying "having faith, whether it be in religion or whatever, but could that faith fail you at the last second when you need it most?". Make of that what you will.
*** "The Thin Line Between Love and Hate" follows the same line ("I will hope, my soul will fly, and I will live forever").
* Norwegian rocker Jorn Lande has so much Christian symbolism in his works at times it's hard to tell whether things like "Behind the Clown" are really stealth Christian songs.
* Listen closely to Beyonce's "Halo" sometime. Is it a song about forbidden love no longer denied, or about a past skeptic having a religious experience?
* Heavy Metal band [[Lamb of God]] are occasionally mistaken for a Christian band, for obvious reasons. Once people actually listen to their songs and/or find out that they used to be known as Burn the Priest they will usually reconsider. This trope was played with on their video for "Redneck," where the group is booked for a child's birthday party.
Line 139:
** He stated recently in an interview he wants to start a Christian Rock project eventually.
* "Turn! Turn! Turn!" is taken straight from the Book of Ecclesiastes, but neither the song's writer (Pete Seeger) nor the band responsible for the best-known recording of it ([[The Byrds]]) are considered to be Christian artists.
** The authorship of Ecclesiastes is disputed, but whoever wrote it was presumably Jewish (and lived at least 200 years before Jesus).
* Lifehouse at least has Christian members, but their music isn't explicitly Christian and several songs sound pretty spiritual but have been interpreted to be more soft-rockish love songs ("Everything," "Spin," "The First Time," etc.). This gets confusing when they have songs that seem to be explicitly about a romantic relationship ("You and Me" would be pretty difficult to interpret as religious). To be fair lots of openly Christian bands also write romantically oriented songs: Relient K, Delirious?, etc.
* Human Fortress is a typical power metal band, until they throw a song like "Defenders of the Crown" at you.
Line 175:
* Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", which contains many Biblical allusions, including those to Biblical figures such as King David and Samson. There's also its title. However, the song is most widely interpreted as a kind of allegorical break-up song. That hasn't stopped some from singing in church, although sometimes with altered lyrics.
* Take it from someone who made the mistake of asking before he knew: [[Nine Inch Nails]] is ''not'' a reference to Jesus being nailed to the cross.
* [[George Harrison]]'s "My Sweet Lord" starts out sounding Christian...until the backing vocals start singing "Hare Krishna".
* In stark contrast to the stereotypical quasi-Satanic colloquialisms associated with [[Heavy Metal]], "Doomsday For The Deceiver" by [[Thrash Metal]] band Flotsam & Jetsam is about the devil getting his just desserts.
* The sincere-sounding song "Jesus" by the Velvet Underground was written by Lou Reed, a Jew.
* [[Florence
* Disco group [http://www.last.fm/music/Fan+Death Fan Death's] song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7WxAeLaRV0 "Veronica's Veil" ] is about [[wikipedia:Saint Veronica|Saint Veronica]] told from Veronica's point of view. This is quite odd considering Dadillion Wind Opaine (vocalist of Fan Death) has criticized religion in another song.
* "The Catalyst" by [[Linkin Park]] is a song that can pretty much be described as a desperate prayer to God asking him to save us from all the corrupt war in this world. Also, "What I've Done" is basiclly a song about forgiving your sins. Some members of the band are infact Christian, however they are not a Christian band.
Line 186:
* Attack Attack!'s lyrics are full of Christian allegories and themes, including the ones in the video that spawned [[Memetic Mutation|crabcore]], but have stated that not all members of the band are Christian and thus they do not consider themselves a Christian band.
* Chevelle was mislabeled a Christian band due to the first label they signed with being a mostly Christian label and some vaguely Biblically allusions in their lyrics. This led to a controversy with some bands they shared the stage with on tour at Ozzfest and among fans of Ozzfest who were upset about "religious preaching" being present there when that was never the band's intention and they did everything possible to distance themselves from being considered a Christian band.
* mewithoutYou is a particularly interesting example, as they have no issues being blatantly religious and spiritual in both their lyrics and their interviews...but not in the way most Christians are comfortable with, taking influences not only from the Bible and Christianity, but also Jewish mythology, Sufi Islamic poets and even secular philosophers. The members are avowed Christians, but view their faith as part of a broader context than the traditional evangelical subculture, making them relatively controversial in those circles (especially the song "Allah, Allah, Allah").
** This is partially because two of the band's members, Aaron (vocalist) and Michael (guitarist) Weiss were raised in a Sufi household; their father is ethnically Jewish. Both brothers converted to Christianity later in life. Aaron Weiss has stated that mwY is not an evangelical band.
* Influential [[Emo Music|Emo]] band Mineral is an interesting case. On the one hand a very good percentage of their lyrics were obvious references to Jesus and God and frequently referenced or even quoted [[The Bible]]. On the other hand the band frequently played with secular bands, never associated with the Christian music scene, and never spoke of religion publicly outside of their lyrics. Debating whether they should be considered a Christian band is a surefire way to start an [[Internet Backdraft]].
Line 192:
* Post-rock group A Silver Mt. Zion has been mistaken for being a Christian band [http://www.archive.org/details/asmz2006-08-21.m300.flacf at least once (track 4)] simply because of their name. The group does use Judeo-Christian imagery [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ez6p0Y8Qng a little here and there], but primary vocalist Efrim Menuck, while Jewish in descent and culture, has claimed to be an atheist on more than once occasion.
* Moving Mountains are occasionally mistaken for a Christian band due to a name that could be a Bible reference and frequent references to the Bible and spirituality in their lyrics, but the band says that they are not heavily religious or a Christian band. They also have used the word [[Precision F-Strike|"fuck"]] in their lyrics as well...
* Despite their name, Aussie [[Psychedelic Rock|psych rockers]] The Church aren't Christian Rock, tho they've veered tangentially into such territory on rare occasions. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw9s7Md210k "Radiance".]
* In This Moment can be considered this, especially with their song "Ashes". The song is about the Apocalypse, and the bridge (below) even makes a reference to the star Wormwood.
{{quote|It is said hail and fire mixed with blood will be thrown down upon the earth
Line 205:
* We Came As Romans has been mistaken for being Christian Metalcore because some of their songs have an uplifting theme/message in their lyrics.
* Brand New are definitely not a Christian band, but you could be forgiven for thinking that after listening to "Jesus Christ".
* [[Fun with Acronyms|V.A.S.T.]] could very easily pass for a Christian Rock band, especially what with the song "I'm Dying"'s lyrics; but when you take the rest of their songs into consideration....well "I didn't want to fuck you baby but you're pretty when you cry" isn't exactly a Christian rock lyric.
* [[Flyleaf]] has some explicity religious songs, alongside others [["God Is Love" Songs|that are not explicity religious but are easily interpreted that way]], but they prefer not to call themselves [[Christian Rock]].
** Further confusion arrises from the fact that all of the members are Christian.
* [[Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly|Death/Thrash/Groove]] metal band The Showdown is an interesting case. Their first album is clearly Christian (all of the songs are bible stories, and the last song is a prayerfully song power ballad about finding rest in Heaven), but after that album, the Christian refrences got more and more subtle (they are still there however). All the members are Christians, but they do not consider themselves a Christian band.
* Rob Halford told once of a humorous incident in 1977 when he and the other members of [[Judas Priest]] were hosted for the night by a convent full of nuns, who (he says) must have assumed that they were a Christian rock band because of their name. (It's actually an old-timey euphemism for "Jesus Christ" used as a swear word, much like "Jiminy Christmas.") He was careful not to let them know that the album the group was just about to record was called ''Sin After Sin'', or that its very first song has as its chorus, "Sacrifice to vice or die by the hand of the Sinner!"
* This arguably goes back to the very beginnings of rock 'n' roll, with the 1958 folk-rock song "Make Me a Miracle" by Jimmie Rodgers (''not'' the country singer, by the way). The song is probably addressed simply to a girl the narrator pines for, but because it is more somber and much less "pop" than other [[Silly Love Songs]] of [[The Fifties]], and because it features [[Ominous Latin Chanting|a chorus of chanting men who sound kind of like Gregorian monks]], and because it contains the words "miracle" (of course), "choir," and "chalice," and finally because the person being addressed comes across as having nearly omnipotent power ("You can make a fabulous thing of me...or nothing at all"), it's not hard to imagine that "my love" in the song is God! (And even if the song isn't religious, which it probably isn't, it's still arguably a ''very'' early example of [[Heavy Mithril]].)
* When someone remarked upon the spiritual nature of [[Paul Simon]]'s 2011 album ''So Beautiful Or So What'', with its many references to God and angels, Paul was surprised; he hadn't noticed.
* Manchester Orchestra, especially on their never-officially-released [[Early Installment Weirdness|first album]], often make direct references to God, though it swings between cynicism and reverence.
| |||