Whats your take on Christian music?
 

I find it peaceful, lyrically powerful and underrated due to prejudice against religous groups

For example 'Oceans' by Hillsong (Accustic) - Available on Youtube

Like most music that's focused on pushing a particular message, Christian music tends to have too much emphasis on the message and too little emphasis on being interesting, enjoyable music.

I would generally agree with Janszoon's sentiments. Music that focuses on pushing a message normally relies too much on the message and not nearly enough on the actual music and being interesting. Due to circumstance I've listened to a large number of contemporary christian artists, and while some of its catchy, I generally want to listen to something more interesting and attention grabbing.

That being said I love hearing someone sing a hymn. When its truly heartfelt I feel like there's no more passionate music out there.

If the overlying theme is overtly Christian, I probably won't enjoy it.

That being said, I can appreciate and enjoy music that has Christian themes/lyrics in it. An album like Illinois has numerous references to Christianity in the lyrics, but the way it's executed, it comes off without appearing too forthright.

Good musicians can get away with making religious music. Dylan, staple singers, Kings X for example.. but most music under the Christian banner is just so awful. But then again I am a godless heathen..

my thoughts exactly

There's only one band I could get into that are apparently Christian Rock, and that's Collective Soul. I only knew them for the song "Shine", as I am sure others do. I mean, seriously, its a damn good song, and I never had any idea what the hell the guy was actually saying.

Other than that, yeah, when the content of a song is overtly about Christianity or Christian values and nothing more, it tends to be rather boring to me. There has to be more substance than just "Christ is God..." Like Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" album, which does have references to loving God, but it also talks about loving the Earth you stand on, loving your fellow brother, saving the world for the next generation, among many other things. So I guess if it has Christian values mixed in with other worldly ideals, and hell, if it sounds so damn good that I don't even notice the lyrics, then I suppose it can be alright. But as far as generic "Christian or Christian Rock" type music goes...yeah, not a fan.

I like a lot of religious music, whether Christian, Hindu, Muslim, whatever. Much of it conveys such an unbridled joy and unconditional love that's it's impossible not to get swept up in it. At it's best it's music from the heart in perhaps the truest sense.

There are actually some really good Christian Metal bands out there if you look for them. One of my favorite bands are Skillet and their 2013 album Rise.
Another Christian metal band is R3D (RED).
Their 2013 album titled, Release The Panic is ok. My favorite album by RED is their 2011 release Until We Have Faces, and the opening track Feed The Machine is a killer song.

I like the positive side to the lyrics and the musicianship is impeccable.

Switchfoot is the only 'Christian' band I know. I remember liking one of their songs, about a decade ago. But that's about as much 'Christian' bands I ever heard of.

love it
 

christian music is an essential part of life it helps me develop good habbits. all music effects us weather large or small or good or bad. christian music effects me in a good way and i love that.

I had no idea that music could affect the climate. I wonder which genre is responsible for global warming.

The good news for everyone else in the world is it only effects US weather apparently.

but isn't an interesting thought thats music can move you so much so that it can brighten your day and or have the opposite effect

but you dont digest music you listen to it. is it not interesting that when your sad you only feel like listening to "sad music" but further more what if we stopped listening to that when we are sad and started listening to happy music. have you ever tried it?

Yes. I find happy music annoying when I'm sad. Sometimes angry music, or just really off the rails music, is good for shaking me out of a funk though.

wether you choose to believe it or not music effects us ether positively or negatively it does effect us all im saying is i have made a decision that in my life i will choose to listen to music that up lifts me and encourages me. and Christian music does that its great at it.

Holy run on sentence batman!

It all depends on who's doin' the playing and singing...


Do You See The Light? - YouTube

Great Gawd almighty! Praise the Lawd!

I've said it once, I'll say it again, lyrics are primarily irrelevant to me so I don't really care what's being said as long as it's phonetically pleasing.

Musically it all depends on how talented the artists are.

Lyrically it depends how religious based the words are. If the majority of your songs are related to scripture, than I think your limiting your experience to true believers, or people who enjoy the fantasy aspect of religion.

As per example, satanic metal is really a reaction to Christianity, but despite enjoying the music produced by a bands like Slayer, as a secular person, I 've always found their lyrics to be really boring as religious based themes do nothing for me, nor does fantasy appeal of dressing up like a black wizard and practicing black magic. Probably why I ended up getting into hardcore for my teenage choice of rebellion, but then again, extremely political punk bands are just like religious based bands, if all they sing about is politics then it gets really boring especially if you don't prescribe to their radical ideology.

So any music that is driven by faith based religious beliefs or political ideology is generally pretty limiting.

As an atheist, I know I tend to avoid listening to Christian music because I usually find the message too simplistic, trite, and out-of-sync with my perception of reality...

...but a couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon an album I like by a Christian worship band, The Ember Days. I was surprised to find how much I like their music, which I enjoy because it does sound so peaceful and powerful to me.

I can imagine that a Christian person would be especially moved by this music, given that she'd probably be moved not just by the sound, like I am, but also by the meaning of the lyrics.

I tend to ignore their lyrics while listening, since many of them seem to be Christian clichés about being saved, praising God, being found, etc., but there are some lovely splashes of lyrical originality, and I like the overall mood of hopefulness that the words convey.

The Ember Days - More Than You Think (Album)
Some of the most relaxing music I've heard in a while, and I especially like the cello

http://apenasmusica.net/wp-content/u...Ember-Days.jpg

Only if it's by Steve Albini.

Christian music on the mainstream level is too redundant with its lyricism/style for me to really enjoy. Stripped down folky Christian music can be fun. Also, I love it when several people sing together, and the fact that it's common in Christian music is a plus. If a song is just PRAISE JESUS said in 10 different ways then I'm not going to enjoy it.

The term "christian music" says nothing whatsoever about the music itself, which makes it somewhat unnecessary.

I hate Christian music. It's all just the same crap.

I know, right?

X2.

I don't understand the lack of creativity when it comes to non secular music. It always strikes me as a slap in the face to God. Supreme being, mediocre praise though song, the math there adds up wrong. One would think they'd put a bit more effort or muse into music made as an act of worship.

I don't know. I've been listening to a lot of Sam Cooke's SAR Records Story lately, which is this great compilation collecting stuff released on Cooke's label. A lot of the material is religious and really good. But yeah, the modern "Christian rock" brand is sort of tainted because when people hear the phrase they think Switchfoot or whatever. If these bands weren't so musically boring the message would be much easier to stomach. Not to mention the fact that the industry tends to be pretty controlling and the audience for artists who call themselves "Christian rock" pretty limited, in a way that makes artists who make music with strong religious themes (Sufjan Stevens, Belle & Sebastian, I guess the Hold Steady) not want to associate themselves with music that's defined by religion.

Come to think of it, this is probably my favourite Christian music with vocals (there's a lot of instrumental stuff that relies on theme of religion).

Ive ALWAYS found the best songs about God are written by "heathens".

Indeed.

I love this.

I do rather like some Christian music.

^ Well done, DriveYourCar ! I was wondering why everyone was so focused on modern music, especially when what Roxy says is so often the case:-

For exhaulted, inspirational music in praise of their God, I think Christians did it better in the past. For instance, while all those Gothic cathedrals were being built in Europe, the German nun Hildegard von Bingen was writing devotional songs that are still performed today. Some of them are collected on an album called, "A Feather on the Breath of God"; nine hundred years later and her songs are still selling!That's quite an acheivement for a woman, and quite an album title too.



Meanwhile, back in the modern world, Phil Keaggy is also a very devout Christian songwriter. Not sure if his music will still be selling in 900 years though:-
http://www.musicbanter.com/jazz-blue...il-keaggy.html

^
What would be a really cool idea would be to take those 900-year old chants, interpret the words, and put them to a more modern arrangement. Imagine that piece in English, with an acoustic guitar and some woodwinds or even a synthesizer, or something like that. Enya meets von Bingen.

Hipster Rule 34 has just been invoked. For this coming atrocity, I feel pure animosity, and could not be any less stoked.

^ I don't really know, but I bet there are some projects like that around already.

This genere exsits its playing at every single new aged book store.