Question about the Christian metal industry

troublezone wrote:

Lets say you really liked a band's music but the lyrics preached about God would you be offended by that? If you owned the cd would you keep it? Please answer honestly.

I've probably used this line before in this forum, but I honestly don't care if a band worships God, Satan, Captain Kirk, or the Teletubbies. They can write lyrics about whatever they want, it's whether or not they're good musically that really matters to me. I've heard lots of good bands, and plenty of awful bands, on both sides of the religious coin.

troublezone wrote:

It wasn't because my faith was weak i got rid of them because i didn't like excessive cussing or praise of evil. What i missed was the music so i just bought back some of the cd's mainly just the ones that didn't bother me as much lyrically.
Let me ask you something : Lets say you really liked a band's music but the lyrics preached about God would you be offended by that? If you owned the cd would you keep it? Please answer honestly.

if that question was for me, then the answer is yes. take Mortification for example. i consider them to be a rather preachy band, but i still dig them quite a bit. as i do alot of other christian metal. i do not get offended because i don't find the lyrics the least bit threatening to my ideals. in the opposite direction, the same goes for bands like Deicide. i'm comfortable enough in my beliefs (or lack thereof), to not be threatened by others expressing theirs.

The only time the lyrics came into play for me was when I picked up a copy of Dope's Felons & Revolutionaries. There was a hidden track on the cd, a cover of NWA's F*ck Tha Police. Aside from being a horrible cover, I have friends that are in law enforcement and I have respect for the police, so for me, to listen to a song that glorifies violence or show disrespect towards them isn't for me. I returned it and picked up something else.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

The only time the lyrics came into play for me was when I picked up a copy of Dope's Felons & Revolutionaries. There was a hidden track on the cd, a cover of NWA's F*ck Tha Police. Aside from being a horrible cover, I have friends that are in law enforcement and I have respect for the police, so for me, to listen to a song that glorifies violence or show disrespect towards them isn't for me. I returned it and picked up something else.

Actually, the N.W.A. song was about police corruption.

Much like Body Count's Cop Killer, it was only targeted towards certain police, not all police.

Yea, I know people are gonna argue that point, but still, it just wasn't for me. I know it's a broad generalzation about the police, but I still didn't see a reason to support it by purchasing the cd. I'm not saying the band can't say what they want or condemn anyone else for liking it, but it's not for this guy. I wouldn't have purchased Body Count either, partly for the song Cop Killer, but also because the idea of a rapper singing metal music didn't appeal to me.


EDIT: Please don't tell me "Dude, Ice-T didn't RAP on the album, he actually sang". I don't care. I still ain't buying it.

One simple rule. No riffs, no hooks, no listen. Beyond that I don't even care if the lyrics are in english or not. I prefer clean vocals to cookie, but the riffs are the thing.

For me being in radio there is no time for personal, we rock what the industry gets out to us. It's up to the listeners to make the decision.-TJ

I used to be the same way...all Christian metal, no secular. In fact, I went like this...

All secular...

All Christian...(about 2 years or so in the very early 90's...)

Mix of both, though still very picky about anything satanic (this is how I am currently, and will likely always be...).



Arttie

I write this to Christians....I don't think that the issue is secular vs. Christian. Nor do I think it is an issue to see how far I can go to see what I can handle without it affecting me. For me, anyway, the issue boils down to a couple of commandments.

Deuteronomy 6:5 (and other places) And you shall love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; (7) and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and rise up.

I John 2:15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world, if any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. (17) And the world is passing away, and also it's lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.

I am not a self-righteous Christian, I listen to secular music as well, but I think long and hard about my motives for listening before I do.

And I am so glad that our salvation does not depend upon what we do, or how we act, because if it did every person on the face of the earth would be going to hell, because the very best deeds of the very best person (excluding Jesus Christ) who ever lived are considered on the level of a tampon. (the Bible calls them filty rags, or another version calls them a filthy garmet)

I just got to thinking. My favorite song is a hymn called When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. I think maybe I will attempt to change it a bit, and make it a little closer to metal. I'm not that good at the guitar but I think I will try anyway.

I'm REALLY glad that no one has started flaming people in here! Haha!

Anyway, I've kind of been Christian all my life mostly. Of course I started going to church when I was 9 (I'm 21 now) and I used to listen to country music when I was a little kid because that's what my mom and stepdad listened to. When I moved HERE (at 10) I became friends with a kid who listened to ALL the heavy stuff (but sadly a lot of the radio heavy rock type stuff though). This guy is STILL my best friend in the world 10 years later and I used to get this feeling about, "Oh maybe he's a bad kid and his family does drugs or something" (oh shut up I was like 12 at the time, so I don't want to hear it! I'll smack you! *raises hand in preparation*)

So I go to church camp and heard P.O.D. for the first time. I never knew that there WERE Christian heavy bands before then so I got into them. I eventually heard Tourniquet and the rest is history. I don't even really like P.O.D. anymore...ESPECIALLY not since they became really popular. Cuz that stuff sucks. Anyway!

For a while though when I first started hearing REAL Christian metal it was ALL Christian metal. Not that people who listened to secular metal were evil or something, but I knew that Christian metal was the thing for me at that time.

In the past few years, I've gone all out now. I'm a Christian but I like King's X (who has an openly gay singer/bass player) and Megadeth who had a lot of evil type lyrics on their first couple cd's...at least a lot on "Peace Sells" anyway (even though it IS one of my fave cd's by them too).

So yeah, I still really wish that there were a LOOOOOOT more Christian metal bands out there because, well that would be cool. Unfortunately, I can't listen to the same few bands all my life, therefore I expanded my horizons. I'm glad I did because there's a lot of great stuff out there.

I just STILL really hate insipid satanic lyrics (which I mentioned in a post about Slayer and also in a new post about sucktastic band Slipknot). I LOVE Mortification though of course. They are heavily Christian and that's fine with me. I don't like bands that like to act all super evil, but that's because I just don't like hearing it. Acting like some super evil band is too cliche and you just look intellectually ignorant anyway. Of course some people will say the same thing about Christian lyrics but at least Christian lyrics are supposed to be more uplifting. And by the way, even if it isn't satanic, if they cuss all the time...then they're retarded. Come on people there's more words in the english language besides those 7 or so words. Be more original people!

Christians have some stupid prejudices that we need to get over sometimes (like thinking any and all rock music is evil or something). I just hate seeing someone who is SO closeminded to things that they can't hang out with NON-Christians even? I mean, come on! That's stupid.

ANYWAY! METAL IS METAL! If it is Christian and sucks or satanic and sucks...it still sucks people. Thankfully I know what I like and am comfortable with it. If another Christian doesn't like my metal....then I'll turn it up and get super thrashing metal in their faces. Becuase I LOVE Metal. BEST musical style on the planet! And if someone makes fun of me for headbanging in my car, then I'll open the window and throw my fist in the air because metal is empowering!!!!!!!

There's no better therapy than turning on Megadeth and just bangin away sometimes. Praise God for music and praise him most of all for letting metal be SO awesome!! ROCK ON!

I grew up in what I like to call a zaelot family. It wasnt always that way but as I and my sister became teens, in our unstable home, church became more forced on us. My dad and mom became more distant in their unhappy marriage and my mom clutched to strict church views from the Assemblies of God church. My dad, born and raised catholic, was becoming rebellious to the faith we was brought up in.

So of course I was also force fed the idea of no music but christian, as was most of my friends in the church. We complied, threw out or burned the stuff.

As I became older and also independant, I realized that I had a mind of my own and realized there wasnt much christian music out there. What was the Dino brothers signed and made them all sound the same so I branched back out there. To this day I listen to secular music, and not christian outside of what I like from the 80's and early 90's. Not to mention I changed church, no one said you have to stay with the church you grew up in, but the faith is the same.

I try and scope out a band, if they are all about devilry or evil I will avoid them. There are some bands I like that I question, but if things are said that I disagree with, I just ignore it. It is the music I like not the message. I have my faith and someones song isnt going to change my mind. If it is affecting me or I am uncomfortable then I wont listen to them, for example Slayer, never will listen to them, but yet I jam to Dio. Are either evil? no idea, but I go with my convictions.

The Holy Spirit of God lives inside of me. If something offends God, it offends me, and vice versa(no, God is not a patsy, He HATES sin, kinda like you would hate it if your 2 year old broke your favorite rare cd; you would feel compassion for your kid but still be burned by the act.).
so He lets me know if something Im listening to goes against what He feels is hurting my spirit, even if it's ever so subtle.
most of you probably dont understand this, and thats ok with me. Being a christian isnt some members-only club or even what you see on tv or read in the papers. its about being invited to a wonderful feast and accepting the invitation, trusting that the One who invited you keeps His promises.
its that simple.

peace
James

I usually don't give a rip about lyrics. There are some albums I do like, but won't own because the lyrics don't jive with me (Nocturnus - The Key for example; AMAZING death metal w/ horrible lyrics).

I think that you can get only 10% of the music if you don't read the
lyrics. If the lyrics are good / special in any way, though. For
example, Realm's Endless War is very good musically, but the lyrics are
so average that you definitely don't lose so much if you don't read
'em. On the other hand, Forbidden's Twisted Into Form is great
musically, but the lyrics open the entire new dimension. Or King
Diamond - sure, you can enjoy it without understanding the story, but
once you read it, you can't even compare it anymore.



A question to all Christians here: do you agree with all Christian
lyrics? Sometimes they get pretty offensive, if you know what I mean.

what do you mean by offensive lyrics?

stepcousin wrote:

what do you mean by offensive lyrics?

He probably means when it has turn or burn or very preachy lyrics.

No, I wasn't appealing to the very preachy lyrics. For example, the Bible itself is pretty harsh with gay people, and that's pretty offensive. Or all the religious wars (= forcing people to believe in God), stuff like that.


"We love to serve God, as you can see we are not wimps

Don't let idiots lie to you, Christianity is not less

Come and join the warriors, serve God and be bold!"

sovdat wrote:

No, I wasn't appealing to the very preachy lyrics. For example, the Bible itself is pretty harsh with gay people, and that's pretty offensive. Or all the religious wars (= forcing people to believe in God), stuff like that.


"We love to serve God, as you can see we are not wimps

Don't let idiots lie to you, Christianity is not less

Come and join the warriors, serve God and be bold!"

Being gay is offense to a lot of people, giving up your natural self to unnatural desires. Christianity by its nature is offensive to people, and if you can't deal with it, why follow it?

For me I don't care if the lyrics praise Satan or if there evil it's is more of the music that makes me like a band. I honestly don't care about lyrics I just care about the music(except if a band has lyrics like Nattefrost I might automaticly dislike the band.)

For the most part, I purchase Christian bands music, though I have no problem grabbing a secular bands cd's. A personal favorite band is Megadeth (though good ol' Dave's said to be a christian now, cool for him) so I got a ton of there music, (Peace Sells being a big player in the cd player, I wake up to Wake Up Dead, and a TON of those lyrics make song's even Dave won't sing anymore). For the most part, I'll listen to anything without cursing, (Though Metallica's S&M, ...And Justice For All, Kill em All, and Master Of Puppets, Megadeth's (well anything). Other than that, no satanic stuff, more just because it's silly. (Horde, Antestor, Holy Blood, Evrocklidon, 7th Angel, Frost Like Ashes, Slechtvalk, and Crimson Moonlight are enough Black Metal bands for me).

I like to purchase Christian bands music more than secular bands any time, the choice between a Divinefire or Hammerfall CD would go to Divinefire each time. Also, a bunch of my Christian friends like that metalcore/hardcore stuff (some of it's cool with me) so I have to get some of the classical styling metal in there somehow. (My metal band may one day do some neat covers of Christian hymns and carols in a more metal style. in the form of "A Brutal Christmas - A Season in Chaos".

I'm a Christian and would probably listen to more Christian music if it was up to par with secular. But apart from a few bands, I find that most Christian stuff is just generic rip offs of secular music.

I love Christian lyrics first and foremost, but I also really appreciate positive lyrics as well.

I do listen to some satanic stuff, simply because I like the music and try not to pay attention to the lyrics. I only listen to small amounts though. For example I love both Slayer and Venom. Two of my favorite metal bands. But since their lyrics are so offensive, I don't play either one very often. Though I do crank them from time to time and have their stuff in my collection.

Everybody here knows where I stand on this!

However, I will say that I have learned allot about the other "side" of
this topic. Everybody here has taught me that although this is my
conviction, it maybe not be theirs and that’s cool.

To give somewhat of an explanation for my choice of only Christian
metal....because of my past (my mistakes) I'm constantly in a battle of
trying to forget and move forward, trying to live without guilt and
without shame. Because of my bringing up and perceived opinions of
secular metals effect on me as a person (however immature or false they
may be), I don't want to have to deal with that inward battle of "is it
right or wrong for me". So, I choose to eliminate that struggle since I
have others much more important and bigger to fight.
However....sometimes I just gotta crank a little "Night Trane" or "I
use to love her" by GnR!

I guess what I'm trying to say is, for the first time, I actually have
a good reason for my choice, and I'm at peace with it. Instead of it
being because "it's Evil", LOL!

BTW, you’re all a bunch of heathens.

T-Roy wrote:

BTW, you’re all a bunch of heathens.

And we're proud of it.

T-Roy wrote:

...BTW, you’re all a bunch of heathens.

That's awesome that you have the strength to do that. Much respect, homie.

But honestly, Christian music doesn't have any guilt associated with it, and in that respect it's like diet soda. I drink diet soda daily.
Secular music can include many different additives like anti christian lyrics, sexual overtones, tales of Half-Elves with Chaotic Lawful alignments, etc. Secular music is like a root beer float. I like root beer floats. But if I eat many more of them, I will need to have a wall removed in my house to enable me to get out of my bed.

I don't have a point to this post, but I wish you all a Merry Christmas.