Music with religious themes
Posted on: March 30, 2007 - 8:22pm
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Music with religious themes
What do you think here? I really like Johnny Cash's music, but not the religious stuff. For me, the lyrics in a song are pretty important. Just was wondering if anyone of us likes any of these sort of songs.
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Only when Kermit sings it.
No, no, I kid.
I love Johnny Cash. And I even enjoy Evanescence's slightly religious stuff. Amy Lee's voice is too amazing to not be in awe over. And Flyleaf has some cool songs. That "Cassie" song by them has a pretty rockin' riff even though it was based on something that never actually happened.
Eh...I don't have much of a problem with it. My favorite band is The Smashing Pumpkins and there are definately some religious themes in their music. Of course most of these themes are very cynicall towards religion.
"I, on the other hand, do not feel it necessary to construct a lofty meaning for myself. I prefer the style of the butterfly myself. I will eat what I want, flit about aimlessly, and enjoy the sunshine. Then, I will die. " - Nero, RRS Forum User
Well, yeah. I meant in favor of religion. Of course we like anti-religious songs! (at least if the music is good.) Dan Barker's music, Proclaim and Corporate Avenger are some examples/
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How about Stryper?
Yeah I know but even if it did promote religion it probably wouldn't bother too much. I focus mainly on arrangement/melodies/underlying melodies. I think that mainly has to do with alot of the stuff I listen to either has alot of "mumbled" words or doesn't have any at all. I do notice though that most of the songs with "positive" religious lyrics in them are pretty bad to begin with.
"I, on the other hand, do not feel it necessary to construct a lofty meaning for myself. I prefer the style of the butterfly myself. I will eat what I want, flit about aimlessly, and enjoy the sunshine. Then, I will die. " - Nero, RRS Forum User
Stryper??? What is this "Stryper"???
Well I looked it up and I'm happy I've never heard them. Christian Metal??? As in purely christian Metal??? That makes lots of sense. Never been into metal much; I'm mostly into alternative (I know, its an ambiguous term). But I do know Christian metal is just as rediculous as Christian punk.
"I, on the other hand, do not feel it necessary to construct a lofty meaning for myself. I prefer the style of the butterfly myself. I will eat what I want, flit about aimlessly, and enjoy the sunshine. Then, I will die. " - Nero, RRS Forum User
I generally listen to techno/Electronic music so lyrics are not important to me at all. I generally like anything but country (ill even take reggae tho some of that can be religious).
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Some kickass band.
Just kidding, my pirate picture kicks more ass.
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DAMN, I love Smashing Pumpkins! They're my favourite band since I was, like, 12. They definately do have a lot of religion going on. Even when I was 14 I got kinda' irked by the song "Take Me Down", when they sang the line, " There's a love that god puts in your heart".
Fuck that noise, though, they ruled. I'm ashamed to admit I bought Billy Corgan's solo album. And I like it.... *blush*
Well "Take me Down" was I believe completely written by James Iha. I think it was Billy once again letting other members of the band "have their way". I thought that song should have been/stayed B-side and something else should have taken its place.
And yeah I liked Billy's solo album too...even though I pirated it.
"I, on the other hand, do not feel it necessary to construct a lofty meaning for myself. I prefer the style of the butterfly myself. I will eat what I want, flit about aimlessly, and enjoy the sunshine. Then, I will die. " - Nero, RRS Forum User
Yeah, I completely agree. The James songs are pretty weak compared to Billy's stuff. I need to pick up "The Aeroplane Flies High" box set one of these days.
The Eternal Flame is a song I like with religious themes, but then again it is a parody, so I don't know if it counts.
"What right have you to condemn a murderer if you assume him necessary to "God's plan"? What logic can command the return of stolen property, or the branding of a thief, if the Almighty decreed it?"
-- The Economic Tendency of Freethought
Stryper totally sucked ass.
I've always felt kind of akward because my favorite band of all time, Black Sabbath, are not only devout christians but have written many religious songs. Although, they kind of went with a darker angle. They wrote alot of songs about the devil and souls falling to corruption. These songs were intended as a warning, or so they say.
Their religious beliefs went beyond their music as well. Sometime after they realeased Master Of Reality, they came to believe that they had a satanic hex put upon them. So they consulted Ozzy Osbourne's father, who was an self-preofessed exorsist, expert in demonology and metal worker. He crafted for them four blessed metal crosses to guard against the hex, which is why all the members of the band wore giant metal crosses around their necks.
This is all wacky trivia, however I can't help but feel a little bit uncomfortable when I listen to After Forever; an anti-atheist diatribe. I usually just skip past that one. All that being said, I always thought it was ironic that Black Sabbath established the genre of heavy metal, which is widely considered to be one of the most anti-christian things out there.
Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine
I didn't know some of these things about Sabbath, which is also my favorite band. Geezer's Catholic but I don't really think Ozzy is devout. He may believe in God in some way, but I have a book of Ozzy quotes (I used to be really obsessed) and there's one in there that very very atheistic. I hate that I can't give you the quote, but I can't find the book or it on the internet so unfortunately you'll have to take my word for it for now. It went something very similar to this:
"I think we should just take 'God' and add an extra 'o'. I believe in good, ya know? (there was some more in here I don't remember, but I remember these two parts fairly clearly-especially the last part) I don't believe in the afterlife, I believe when you die you're just a piece of shit that needs flushing away (I'm 99% sure the afterlife bit is accurate)"
I didn't know that about Ozzy's dad, but I knew they wore the crosses. After Forever's a good song, lyrics or not, and they were a lot younger then and don't all believe the same anymore. Geezer may or may not still be catholic, I'm not entirely sure about the others. I know Geezer's a strong vegan, either way.
But on to the rest.
I actually enjoy religious music a lot. Traditional religious music, that is. I've always been a big fan of Gregorian Channting and what not-cathedral music, etc. Most of that's in Latin, though, and I don't understand a word of it-though I know it's religious. Middle-Eastern music is entertaining too-even the stuff in English. I got a few songs off iTunes from Yusuf Islam's Footsteps in the Light album-including the song A is for Allah. I hate that it's used for childhood indoctrination, but it's so catchy. I don't generally like when Christianity comes into secular genres of music, though-such as Christian Rock and Christian (Death) Metal-the last I feel to be a contradiction of terms, but some of them do know how to play instruments-their lyrics are just so boring, most of them anyway. "Praise Jesus, Jesus died Jesus lives...*chorus* Jesus Jesus Jesus Worship Jesus," that's an exaggeration but some of them aren't much more complicated than that.
Mostly I feel that we shouldn't shun religious music just because it's religious-but just treat it as a cultural thing that shouldn't be taken seriously. If it's a good song, it's a good song-religious or not.
Humanity needs compassion and knowledge-an end to bigotry and undue ignorance. Religion stands in the way of these and my other ideals so strongly that I can't think of a stance apart from atheism that will allow me to feel like a decent human being.
I sing a lot of classical music and after a few "last straw" incidents with christians and religion it started bothering me more than it ever had. A lot of Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic etc. music is in a foreign language, so even if it is about Deus, Gott, or Jesu I really don't know what it's saying (or if I do, it's more easily blocked from my mind). Also, I remember that composers like Brahms and Schumann were freethinkers "forced" to use religious lyrics, so when I sing their stuff, I can keep that in the back of my mind. It's refreshing.
Hymns and so-called "praise music" really bother me, probably because those were the songs with which I worshipped a non-existent entity. I got a complete mind-fucking from Christianity and I'm still pissed off about it.
I'm not sure if I'll ever "get over" it completely. I've been trying. However, I'll always keep in mind how thoroughly religion screwed things up for me. I want to help others either avoid the trap or heal from their religious mauling.
A few years ago a choir I was singing with performed an arrangement of "Amazing Grace." I was always told that the "wretch like me" lyric referred to Original Sin, which is one of my hot buttons. The dogma of Original Sin seems stupid now, but I bought it as a kid. I had no choice, really. This time I did have a choice.
I absolutely could not, would not sing that song. I could not, would not in a box. I could not, would not with a fox. I could not, would not here or there. I could not, would not anywhere! The conductor was a fundy who had betrayed a promise, so approaching him was hard. I simply didn't practice that piece and left the stage during performance.
You know, it's odd, but ever since I had the falling out with that guy, I don't get solos anymore. Hmmm.
Mattshizzle, I once asked Dan Barker how he feels about singing religious songs and he simply doesn't anymore. After all, he can write his own music.
Maybe someday I will do that, too. 
I've written him a couple of times about making sheet music available, but got no response. I wonder how the local fundies would respond to "I Don't Need Jesus"? 
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I admit it, I like Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky". I even find myself singing the line "...gotta have a friend in Jesus...". I was even planning on singing "God Bless the USA" on July 4th.
Is that so wrong?
There are no theists on operating tables.
thrice is one of my favorite bands and most of their songs have to do with christianity and/or stories from the bible.
i really dont mind religion influenced music unless it is like "jesusssssss is the lord! praise him every damn minute!".
but i also like music that rips on religion, for example NIN's heresy.
I've been a fan of MxPx for a long time, and they started out on Tooth and Nail records, a Christian label. They are a cool bunch of guys. I've hung out with them on numerous occasions.
Heresy's an amazing song. Everything Trent Reznor's put out is amazing to me, but that's one of my favorites.
I like music that rips on religion too-but not for that reason, it's just a nice touch. For all of the greatness of other rockers, shock-rockers, death rockers, metalheads, etc. out there-industrial too, I don't think anyone has done it better than Rozz Williams of Christian Death. That band is the most blatant insult to Christianity in the music business and they make beautiful music.
Humanity needs compassion and knowledge-an end to bigotry and undue ignorance. Religion stands in the way of these and my other ideals so strongly that I can't think of a stance apart from atheism that will allow me to feel like a decent human being.
On a related note, does anyone know if Billy Joel is a freethinker? From some of his lyrics I suspect he is.
Matt Shizzle has been banned from the Rational Response Squad website. This event shall provide an atmosphere more conducive to social growth. - Majority of the mod team
Yes.
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I tend to skim over religious things in entertainment. If it's meant as a powerful message I'll pay a bit more attention, beyond that I won't stop listening to a song just because it says jesus or god or whatever.
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.