do I have your attention now? I don't mean for half of these posts to sound as derogatory as they end up sounding, but oh well--I think most of you get my point (which is the benefit of only people who know you well reading your blog).
So I was importing some CDs into my new Mac (sorry, I had to get one more plug in for the new toy). I am mostly just putting worship-esque stuff on this laptop, since my entire 3,000 song library is on my Dell, and there's really no use in taking up just as much room on this computer too. So I am listening to each of these CDs as they are scanning, and I come to a conclusion: I really don't like Christian music that much. Let me explain.
First of all, I just don't like the idea of "Christian" or "Gospel" as a genre. I think it's kind of ridiculous. When I look on MySpace, I see bands classified as "Christian/Pop/Rock." This seems strange for me. It's strange because Dave Matthews isn't labeled "Political/Pop/Rock." And Bob Marley isn't labeled "Love/Reggae/Marijuana." And Kenny Chesney isn't labled "Childhood Memories/College Good Times/Country." Am I making any sense? It just seems like mentioning God in songs should only be a natural outgrowth of a Christian writer/performer, not a classification of his or her music. Keep in mind what I'm talking about here is the music that talks about God, rather than simply praise songs meant for corporate worship.
It's not so much that I hate the music. It's more that if I'm just riding around listening to music, I generally won't choose Chris Tomlin, or something of the like. I just think that sometimes music that is labeled "Christian" can be fairly un-Christian in the sense that it doesn't reflect any of the creativity instilled by God in the artist who created it. I say this because I recently heard someone say, in so few words, that the "Christian" music market was wonderful because it is appealing to a bigger and bigger audience, all it takes is "limited musical ability." Anyone can be a "Christian" artist.
I enjoy the fact that many artists are bucking this trend. David Crowder Band, for instance, keeps their songs very accessible while integrating technology into them. Bands like The Glorious Unseen and Jeremy Riddle are showing that you can be "Christian," "Secular," accessible and innovative all at the same time. Amen.
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3 comments:
I understand a lot of your feelings. I thought about this at the last Third Day concert I went to. It was fun, but it just didn't seem as real or honest as I think music done by a follower of Christ should be. But, I think some of your conclusions are painted with a pretty wide brush. I understand because I tend to paint with that same brush. When I do that, I try to see things from a different perspective (whcih isn't easy for me)and I ask God to remind me that He's called others to ministries vey different from where He has placed me. That's amazing that the same God is glorified in so many different expressions. Sorry, this comment was way too long. Keep writing, I love reading your stuff!
yeah, I tend to carry that brush around with me pretty much all the time. I should probably work on that.
and the funny thing is this is coming from a guy who, when he leads worship, will throw a Chris Tomlin song in there every time, because they are great for corporate worship. for some reason they just don't do it for my private worship.
p.s. the long comments are awesome.
uh... i don't like christian music. hold on.
i like hillsong, the shanes, some crowder, some tomlin, some dc talk, and a few songs here and there.
but for the most part - i don't like christian music.
i do like a lot of songs that are by musicians and bands that are christians but don't necessarily have "christian lyrics."
in main stream "christian" music - it just doesn't grab me. and if it doesn't grab a youth minister - how is it going to grab an unbeliever?
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