Why Christian Music Sucks

Let me preface this article by saying that this is from the perspective of a Southern Guy born in the 70’s and raised deep in Pentecostal circles. I did everything I could to remain in the faith but after while, it just became hard to fit in at school and in life while clinging to odd rituals while being convinced that all others were headed for eternal damnation. I made my own ways and became involved in music, especially guitars, drums and playing bass. Metal music was my favorite and I just couldn’t get enough of it. I had a few bands and played in several others and my dream was to be in a major band and make it big. The music industry is a cruel business and unless you’re just pure lucky and willing to sell your soul, the odds of making it are not good. The whole time that I pursued my dream, my Mom and others were praying that I would come to my senses and turn back to God. I have music in my blood and it is a large part of who I am. In 1984, I was at a friend’s house and he was also the drummer for my band. My buddy had an album from the group Stryper and we gave it a spin. It seemed that I had found a true calling and could combine my love of metal music and a Godly path. Needless to say, I quickly adapted a new lifestyle involving changing my ways, clinging to the church and mixing in every possible angle of Christian rock music. I made new friends, many of them involved in Christian rock and metal bands and the music was fresh, lyrically strong with Godly messages and was a pure art form focusing on music quality. The sad part was that I eventually got removed from a church position teaching youth because Christian rock music was considered to be too radical and I was told by the pastor that it would be better to have the kids listening to country music with warped messages than to promote any Christian rock or even contemporary Christian music. I continued headstrong into all forms of heavy Christian music until my first child attended some concerts with me at around 8 years old. There began to be a change or a turn in the purity of the art. One concert that we attended was for a group called Bride. The opening act was another group called Disciple. The concert involved one lead singer screaming that Santa Claus is dead! The line was repeated over and over again and it made for an interesting conversation with my son. I began to communicate with the lead singer for Bride and his emails became obsessive about the abortion issue. It seemed that all of the Christian groups were on the same bandwagon and it went from this issue to a hard turn toward republican politics and the emphasis was that if you are a Christian, you also have to be a republican. Through my correspondence, I relayed some concerns about the direction of Christian music being away from God and toward politics and political issues. It became painfully obvious that I was involved in a losing battle. This issue more than any other was a catalyst to defining my political views as non conservative and I was able to admit to myself that I truly am a Liberal and a Democrat. My grandfather was a Democrat and so is my Dad and although I had watched politics from a distance my whole life, I was now enlisted in the battle. I spent much time trying to define and splice together Christianity and Politics but the truth is these two things should remain separate. Today, I am far removed from Christian music and will not even listen to it because it is synonymous with right wing politics. I have yet to find even one artist that does not use their platform as a means to spread the gospel of conservatism above all else. I do want to make one caveat. One group that seemed to always hold their ground and not sell out in Christian Music was Petra. The version that featured Greg Volz as the singer was that way at least. The best way that I know to describe my relationship with Christian music and to a large degree, the church is that I trusted the system and poured my heart, soul and mind into them and for my efforts, I feel as though I was carried out into a dry and lonely desert place and left there to die. In response to this, I am dead to Christian music and to any and all church systems that believe in hate, racism, political action and brainwashing. In my own mind, I’m a good person and a moral human being who cares greatly for society, my parents and my children more than I could ever convey in words. I hope someday to be able to be open and honest about these issues but at least at this point, I remain in silence to some around me for fear of causing them worry over the state of my soul.
http://www.stryper.com/
http://disciplerocks.com/
http://www.myspace.com/bridemusic
http://www.petraband.com/jekyllandhyde/index.html

The Southern Donkey Blog- 09/04/2011