Did Your Music Taste Change After You Deconverted?

[FlowerDemon]

This was a random question that popped up in my mind. But when you left the faith, did your music taste change at all? If so, how dramatically?

 

For me, as a Christian I used to listen to Christian rock bands, like Flyleaf, Skillet, Fireflight, Superchick, Red, Brian Head Welch, etc. There were some Christian worship songs I liked but I was more drawn to the rock genre, so I found bands that sung about my faith that also were rock-oriented. I also tried to avoid listening to bands I previously liked as a non-believer, like Kittie, Otep, Jack off Jill, to name a few. Bands like that had songs that had a blasphemous nature, and even though I was a huge fan of those bands and others, I oppressed my desire to listen to them again. I felt like God was convicting me to clear my head of sinful ideas, music, images, etc...so I could live a holy life for god. I drowned myself in Flyleaf cuz it was the closest thing that sounded like the non-Christian bands I quit listening to.

 

When I left the faith last august, I basically just went back to listening to those bands again...but also expanded my music choice without worrying about the message "offending god by not glorifying him." I can listen to any kind of music without feeling guilty. That's another freedom of being free from indoctrination faith...being able to make personal choices like what music you listen to. 

 

I appreciate tons of music despite their culture, religious background, etc. Embracing the diversity of humanity is an important part of life, to me, and music helps me do that.

 

What about you guys?

 

You know what made me post this topic? I was scrobbling music on Last.fm, and it keeps popping up with Christian music I used to listen to (since I deconverted recently)....and it's REALLY annoying. It's like ugh I dont look down on others who are Christian but deep down I never truly liked the music. I always pretended to like it and gravitated towards Christian rock. lol

[mymistake]

Huge change for me.  As a Christian I thought secular bands were Satanic.  I listened mostly to Newsboys, Pray For Rain, Stacy Oorico, Petra.  I thought they were so talented.

 

 

After deconverting I started listening to classic rock from the 60-90s and modern rock at the same time.  Hearing ACDC, Ozzy, Arrowsmith and G&R made Christian artists look like 2 bit hacks.

[miamia]

OMG PETRA! MY MOM WAS OBSESSED! still is. so much so that we met John Schlitt, (whose name I would mispronounce as s#$% ) at one of their concerts. I gave him a hug when I was like 2 I remember it. ROFL thanks for reminding me of this.. good laugh.... 

 

As far as taste in music changing, Idk. I always liked whatever I liked. I didn't ever mindfully censor it, although I was too young to really think about it. Funny enough though as a kid I gravitated way more toward "dirty" music because it was so taboo, where now that I have a choice, my taste in music is drastically different. 

 

Always hated modern worship music; it's odd, vague, insipid lyrics,and repetitive structure. I could never wait for worship to be over. I found it extremely draining.   Old hymns I found to be pretty poetic in their own right, not that I would listen to them for fun

[miamia]

Things I like now, Daftpunk, fleet foxes, this town needs guns, the doors, led zeppelin, Van halen, Jazz in general, rock and roll from when it was still really blues-y , Eighties omg some eighties is so good and some is soooooo cringeworthy even within the creation of one artist so im not even gonna get into that. Gorillaz, Pink floyd, idk It changes all the time.

[yunea]

For a while I couldn't listen to anything that was about God.

 

Now I don't care what I listen to. Could be that well-written jesusy story song by Johnny Cash or could be a bit of satanic metal, or a good old totally secular song. For my whole life I avoided all openly blasphemous music (even when I was apathetic) so there's a lot of "new" music to find there.

[HolyGoat]

I too never had much of a music filter. Music content never bothered me if I liked the sound. The only real exceptions were songs that seemed to be pretty overtly blasphemous. "Take Me to Church" by Hosier comes to mind. Loce that song now though.

 

Actual tastes have changed very little though. I still fins myself listening to bands with some overtly christian lyrics because I always liked them, like Switchfoot, Relient K, Future of Forestry, etc.

[moanareina]

My taste not so much...it just became easier to find good music to my taste...and with this all the bands in the Christian section have become less and less attractive. At the beginning of my deconversion-process I could not listen to a lot of those bands anymore because the lyrics bothered me a lot. They transported a mindset I wanted to get rid of and therefore I wanted not to have it repeated into my face again and again.

 

I always loved rock and especially punk of all sorts. But I also have always been open to other stuff and as long as it has something that I find interesting, I can listen to anything. Except the stupid stuff that is played at ski resorts here in Switzerland...the pop-versions of German folklore mixed up with loud beats etc. Vomit...haha...a reason not to go aprè-ski...

 

And yes, opening up to secular music again was a big thing for me. Somehow an act of rebellion...first CD I bought was Amy Whinehouse and I played it having a date with a fundy Christian...he never got back to me and that was good because I was really not into him and as I became more and more nonreligious he went in the opposite direction.

 

Right at the beginning I met my neighbor and he introduced me with great music. I wish this story had not ended the way it did because I am so lazy to look for new things and he just had it all...and I somehow feel a bit stuck with the music I have and therefore often times just go on youtube...but that only works when I am home and have internet...

 

Music is great. And Christian music most of the times is very narrow, not too creative and very main stream. Audio Adrenaline had two albums I really liked because they have been experimental and different. But then they produced this Brian-Adamsy stuff again and again and well...thought it was just boring...

But to be honest, I am really not up to date with whats going on there...it's eight years now that I have not set foot into a Christian music store...yey .

[Ellinas]

I had some recordings of so-called Christian music - but ultimately, even as a Christian, I had to accept that it was banal rubbish that was best forgotten.  So no, not a change for me.

[Lilith666]

After de-converting, I gradually let myself expand my music taste. At first, I would not listen to anything with cursing, even "damn" or "hell." I progressed to allowing the kind of language we use here at Ex-C figuring if I cut off music because there was swearing, I would be missing out on good stuff. Also quit listening to Christian rock that I used to get a religious high from. Decided it was cheesy, which it was: hallelujah this, glorify gawd that. I'm most certainly into a lot of artists that I would have banned when I was Christian: The Amity Affliction, Motionless in White, Sick of Sarah, Bring Me the Horizon's glorious album Sempiternal. I'm having a lot more fun now.

[♦ Fuego ♦]

I grew up on 50s and 60s rock because my siblings were collectors of records. But as a young believer I listened to basic classic Christian songs because I was a Jesus junkie and it didn't matter that the style was grandparent music. I adopted Petra and Steve Taylor And Some Band, plus Silverwind, Amy Grant, Twila Paris, Kathy Troccoli, Mylon LeFevre and Broken Heart, a bit of the Archers, etc. I avoided all metal music as satanic. I was a good little clone.

 

Upon deconverting, I first went to 80s pop because I had avoided it during my late teens and now ate it up. Then I binged on all the heavy metal I could find. Some was great, some meh. I tended towards Black Sabbath and some AC/DC.

 

Then a few years later, I started singing lessons and a friend suggested I go to a local retro club and sing in a competition. They were singing jazz standards (Sinatra, Dean Martin, Rosemary Clooney, Peggy Lee, etc) and so I binged on Sinatra to learn some songs and started singing there. I have kept on with that genre for 5 years now. Love it, and have made some great musician friends through it.

[Aiyana]

Since I didn't become a Christian until age 21, I had a whole childhood/teen years worth of normal music. I still liked most of it during my Christian years (age 21-34), but I definitely listened to and loved TONS of contemporary Christian. I've been deconverted for almost two years now and it's very rare that I will listen to a Christian song anymore. There are a few that I can still stomach, otherwise, no.

[Prometheus]

Growing up, I would secretly listen to secular rap, rock, and hip-hop, because it didn't suck like every single Christian artist I knew of.

[RenaissanceWoman]

Since I was involved in our praise band and we did a lot of popular contemporary christian songs on the main christian stations, I listened to that all the time to learn the songs, work out my harmony parts, and add flourish to my piano playing. I no longer have to do that. If I hear that music now, I get a little sad with the memories of how much fun and comradery I had during that time, but the music is just banal. Ugh. Yuck.

 

Now I sing too loud to the dirty sex songs on popular radio, pump out AC/DC way too loud, and bang my head to some old Queen classics. No more syrupy christian drivel for me!

 

And I listened to "Take Me To Church" several times yesterday, and still can't get it out of my head. Thanks a lot, guys. Ha ha!

[Tsathoggua]

I was always a big Beatles fan. I grew up listening to rock and pop music. I was an avid follower of Casey Kasem's "American Top 40" during my teenagehood in the mid and late 1970s. I also enjoyed traditional hymns. Never cared for "Christian pop / rock", it always seemed ridiculous to me.

My tastes haven't really changed at all.

[martynq]

All I did was delete the various christian music from my ipod and computer.  (I personally would have also chosen to chuck out the CDs, but my wife listens to them still so they stay on the shelves.)  I hadn't let my previous beliefs decide for me which music to listen to particularly, so the majority of my taste is unchanged (mostly classic rock, prog rock, and the melodious end of metal).

[Thought2Much]

My taste in music remained exactly the same after deconversion. The only thing that changed was I didn't have to continue pretending that contemporary Christian music was actually good.

[DivineBlasphemer]

Not for me, i was always lax with my tastes. For a while i fluctuated between electronic and metal. I have recently came out mentally as athiest and i still have a love for metal. Even as a "Christian" i liked Black Dahlia Murder - Raped in Hatred by Vines of Thorn which has lyrics like :

her screams they cut the fog this night on sheer terror the seedlings thrive.

raped in hatred by vines of thorn.

behold the wrath of the necromicon!

raped in hatred by vines of thorn.

lancing her womb the child inside is gorged!

[LadyNightingale]

Er. I did listen to CCM but often when I wanted to listen to secular contemporary music I'd listen to J-pop, J-rock, and alternative (electro?) Japanese music. Vocaloid stuff. And other obscure things. I admit I am listening to a lot less of that. But I still listen to some.

 

I'm a big nerd.

[amateur]

Xianity never affected my choice of music.  As a 4th grader in 1972, my sister got me into Alice Cooper and we just loved all the lyrics about death and insanity.  Since we grew up going to a LOT of funerals because our family was very old and ill, I felt completely at home with songs like "I Love the Dead."  And I've always loved snakes.

 

"I love the dead before they're cold
They're bluing flesh for me to hold
Cadaver eyes upon me see nothing
I love the dead before they rise
No farewells, no goodbyes
I never knew your rotting face
While friends and lovers mourn your silly grave
I have other uses for you, Darling"

 

Seriously, at ages 8 and 10, my sister and I and our friend sang along dramatically and laughed and laughed at that song!  I still like it.  And "The Ballad of Dwight Fry" is fucking Art.

 

Around age 15, I got into punk.  It was the late 70's and the music of the Sex Pistols and X-Ray Spex and the Ramones just gave me energy and made me feel alive.  I actually had become a born-again xian during that same time, and I enjoyed the xianity for helping me with feelings of love towards others (not an easy thing in junior high!) and I enjoyed punk for getting all the anger out of my system.  I still enjoy punk for a shot of energy.  I still think "Anarchy in the U.K." is a brilliant song, with lyrics that match the syllable count of haiku:

 

"I am an anti-

christ, I am an anarchist.

Don't know what I want..."

 

I have never listened much to xian music, and when I've heard it, it's so bland and full of cliches.

 

I do love Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and always loved the hymn "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" because of his music.

[★ Citsonga ★]

My musical taste has broadened throughout my life, both when I was a Christian and after leaving Christianity. I still don't care for opera, really twangy country and nearly all rap, but otherwise I can enjoy at least some of pretty much every style of music, though I mostly gravitate toward rock. I really like most varieties of rock, such as classic rock, modern rock, hard rock, glam rock, blues rock, progressive rock, folk rock, heavy metal, nu metal, grunge, speed metal, symphonic metal, etc. (However, some of what is marketed as "rock" I would not call rock; not that it's bad music, but it's pop to me.)

[StarGazer]

Not at all, then again, I was a lukewarm Catholic. 

[FlowerDemon]

My taste not so much...it just became easier to find good music to my taste...and with this all the bands in the Christian section have become less and less attractive. At the beginning of my deconversion-process I could not listen to a lot of those bands anymore because the lyrics bothered me a lot. They transported a mindset I wanted to get rid of and therefore I wanted not to have it repeated into my face again and again.

 

*snip*

 

Music is great. And Christian music most of the times is very narrow, not too creative and very main stream. Audio Adrenaline had two albums I really liked because they have been experimental and different. But then they produced this Brian-Adamsy stuff again and again and well...thought it was just boring...

But to be honest, I am really not up to date with whats going on there...it's eight years now that I have not set foot into a Christian music store...yey .

I am the same way. My deconversion was only a couple of months ago, and I still can't listen to christian music. it makes me feel uncomfortable because just recently i got over the pain and sadness of deconversion (i planned on following jesus for the rest of my life and that plan shattered to pieces). It's not like I have a total hatred for christian music, but it brings up memories of when I was involved in the church and memories of that repeat in my head as I hear those songs. 

 

I also agree Christian music is often narrow and lacking originality. That's another reason why I gravitated toward Christian-rock as a believer, instead of traditional and/or contemporary worship songs. i learned a few christian worship songs on guitar and i noticed how easy they were to learn, and how the tune easily got stuck in my head, and how repetitive it was. but at the time i told myself the song was beautiful and it honored god so it was a good song. lol my music taste was getting dictated by my religion for a while, meanwhile i was itching to listen to Arch Enemy, Otep, Jack off Jill, Kittie, etc.

 

now i can listen to whatever i want and it rocks.

[Margee]

My tastes in music never changed but much like what T2M said, I didn't have to feel guilty about listening to it any longer. Now, I can blast my favorite music, guilt free!! I used to sneek and listen to it and then confess my 'sin' at the alter every week. I am sooooooo glad I do not have to go through this anymore.

 

Praise Carlos Santana!!  

[Orbit]

My tastes didn't change at all, but I spent my youth in a secular rock band and had no patience for awful xtian "rock". I also wasn't a fundie, so rock wasn't forbidden.

[Ravenstar]

Naw... I always loved evil, secular music. 

 

Being trained/exposed in music at an early age helped (in piano and dance), as was being exposed to almost everything from ragtime to classical, ballet, swing, pop, jazz, blues... etc... and I also grew up during the days of the British invasion, punk and classic rock... I'm still having a problem with modern country and rap though... ugh. (and almost everything on the radio in the past 10 years)

 

Music is the only truly evolutionary redeeming quality mankind has..imho..the ONE gift that homo sapiens sapiens seems to have that is unique (I'm leaving the cetaceans out of this conversation, for now)... the rest is just an complicated social drive, a knack with tools and an overactive ability for abstraction. (not sure if these are to our advantage in the long run)