ShellyD99 Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 Hello all, I just moved into a new condo days ago. It's the first time I'll be on my own since 2005. I've almost always lived with friends, family or love interest; it's exciting and scary at the same time. Anyway, I've been thinking about Christian music and how I miss it sometimes. I used to be an Amy Grant fan, but now if I listen to her songs the words get in the way, so to say. For example, she has one called "In A Little While." Basically, the words tell you that although life is hard, in a little while we'll be dead and in heaven. The melody is pretty, but you can see why the lyrics don't sit right anymore. Does anyone else have fond (if complicated) memories of Christian music? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted April 19, 2020 Super Moderator Share Posted April 19, 2020 I always found "Christian Music" to be a pale, insipid imitation of real music. I know some people still enjoy it for some reason, though. Perhaps you could make up your own blasphemous/humorous lyrics and sing along! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ Fuego ♦ Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 In the past year I have had a LOT of the old music come floating to the surface. Keith Green, Randy Stonehill, Petra, Mylon LeFevre, Larry Norman, Steve Taylor, Silverwind, and more. But that happens with Sinatra and a lot of other singers and groups too. I just notice it more when the lyrics are telling me how great Jesus is, and I know that is horse pucky. There are times I have to manually change songs to get my mind to focus on something else. It's all in there because I ate it night and day for 30 years, and it was my emotional go-to music. I've only been eating jazz standards for the 13 years I've been out of the church. Happily, I also had classic rock all life long, so that is there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disillusioned Posted April 19, 2020 Share Posted April 19, 2020 There's some Christian music that I still enjoy. I don't find the words that troubling anymore. Partly it's nostalgic, and partly it's just like any other song whose lyrics I don't directly relate to. Good music is good music. A lot of Christian music is garbage, but some of it still appeals to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
older Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 Listening to contemporary Christian music is sort of like being a duck that is being prepared for foie gras but what's being jammed down the throat is twenty pounds of stale glazed donuts. OTOH classical religious music can be beautiful if you can separate the religion from the melody. We just listened to the Bocelli Easter concert. Of course most of the lyrics were in a language we don't understand but even the closing number was beautiful. I just ignored the words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insightful Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 Totally! I still miss the music - and I've been out for seven years... Granted that some of it is really bad music, I still long for the songs that I grew up with - either because I like them musically, or they bring back good feelings and memories. I still listen to some of my old favorites every now and then. Just a couple of days ago, I was making breakfast and wanting to listen to "Colored People" by DC Talk - so I pulled it up on You Tube. And I still really like the Beyond Belief album from Petra. I wore out 2 cassettes of that album as a teenager, listening to it hundreds of times a year on my walkman - so it's pretty etched into my being... Of the many kinds of Christians out there, I still find myself drawn to the ones who are Christians because they honestly want to live a life that is noble, good, and worthwhile. I get that they are wrong in what they believe, but I share their values of wanting to live a good/true/noble life - even if we totally disagree on what that is. So I find a sort of odd comfort with the genuine yearning for truth and goodness that SOME Christian artists display... Maybe this means I'm a messed-up ex-Christian? haha! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted April 20, 2020 Super Moderator Share Posted April 20, 2020 I found it very liberating when I no longer felt myself compelled to listen to certain music simply because it was performed by people claiming to believe in "christian" values. A whole world of new music opened up to me and I have rarely, if ever, looked back. I still appreciate music that holds deeper meaning than the average pop love song; but I no longer have to pretend to like music that sucks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator LogicalFallacy Posted April 28, 2020 Moderator Share Posted April 28, 2020 I still enjoy some Christian music and no longer have the words and the Christian meanings affect me. I enjoy the songs because I enjoy the songs, not because they are "worship songs". I look at it this way, songs about loving God or going to heaven are really no different to heavy metal songs about vampires. Yes I like heavy metal songs about vampires. No I don't let the fact that they are not real affect my like of the music. I love many songs that reference things that are not real. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest freedwoman Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 I love Holy Spirit Rain Down. It's to me, one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. But I can't listen to it without crying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
◊ Weezer ◊ Posted April 28, 2020 Share Posted April 28, 2020 I had a very good church experience as a small child, and although no longer agree with most of the messages, some of those old songs bring tears to my eyes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted May 2, 2020 Share Posted May 2, 2020 For me, Christian music was a mixed bag even when I was a Christian. Some of it was quite good, but there was a lot of crap, too. To be fair, though, there's a lot of crap in mainstream music, too. I've been out of the church long enough now that I rarely think about the Christian music I used to listen to, even though there was some really good stuff. I just don't listen to it anymore except on very rare occasions. Yet, I do have to say that if Whitecross' early albums weren't so darn straight-forward religious, I'd probably still listen to them because Rex Carroll was such an exceptional guitarist; the lyrics bug me too much now, though. Every once in a while I do listen to The Prayer Chain's "Shawl" CD, which really isn't very religious overall and is one of the best alternative albums I've ever heard. On 4/19/2020 at 4:06 PM, ShellyD99 said: I used to be an Amy Grant fan Speaking of Amy Grant, I must acknowledge that her "Lead Me On" album was quite good, if memory serves me correctly. Although I haven't listened to it in many years, I remember it being a stand-out. These days I mostly listen to a mixture of classic rock, modern rock, metal, and progressive rock. There's plenty of great stuff there to keep me occupied without having to miss the old religious stuff too much. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothew Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 I was the guitar player in the church I went to. I liked the music but have a different relationship with it now, I think? My wife is learning to play the piano and she is learning the song "Amazing Grace." She was having difficulty with the triplet notes so she asked me to play it for her. It felt really good to play that song. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJaneSmith Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 I miss the feelings I felt when I listened to the songs. I’m slowly finding secular songs that make me feel the same way. For me, learning how music itself can bring up feelings* has helped me open up to finding new favorites. *vs “the holy spirit’s coming down now!” That’s something I was always skeptical about but couldn’t put it into words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted May 12, 2020 Super Moderator Share Posted May 12, 2020 On 5/4/2020 at 4:58 PM, SarahJaneSmith said: For me, learning how music itself can bring up feelings* has helped me open up to finding new favorites. *vs “the holy spirit’s coming down now!” That’s something I was always skeptical about but couldn’t put it into words. The holy spirit only moves after the second key change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqualung Posted May 12, 2020 Share Posted May 12, 2020 Does anyone remember Mary Did You know? Turns out somone made an ex-christian version. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahJaneSmith Posted May 12, 2020 Share Posted May 12, 2020 5 hours ago, TheRedneckProfessor said: The holy spirit only moves after the second key change. Exactly! I listened to a podcast once where a former music minister talked about using music to manipulate people’s emotions. That’s literally all that’s going on! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatever Posted June 6, 2020 Share Posted June 6, 2020 On 5/12/2020 at 5:09 PM, Aqualung said: Does anyone remember Mary Did You know? Turns out somone made an ex-christian version. Just want to thank you for this. Really good! I very occasionally listen to Christian music like After the Fire and Nutshell. I think it is because we grew up with the music that it has a special place for us, just as a lot of secular music does from those same years. I never listen to any worship music though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
◊ DestinyTurtle ◊ Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 @ShellyD99 That's a really good question. Now that I think about it, I recall I really loved "Free" by Stephen Curtis Chapman back when I was a Christian child. I was obsessed with the song, and the feelings of freedom it invoked. Many years later after my deconversion I think his lyrics are shallow and inauthentic, but I realize that I was obsessed with the song because of the theme of freedom. I didn't have the self-awareness to put it into words, but I felt extremely imprisoned and confined in my strict fundamentalist household. For the most part I wasn't allowed to go out or have friends, and when I attempted to make friends or pursued my own hobbies I was approached with extreme judgement and distain. The song promised "Freedom" as a vague, general concept (as a reward to servitude to Christianity, of course) and I think something about that theme struck me. Anyways, I feel that I have achieved the thing which the song promised, now that I have long left Christianity. I recall the song in ironic celebration in my head sometimes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsathoggua9 Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 I was never into contemporary Christian music, but I do enjoy listening to old-fashioned hymns once in a while. The other day I listened to the Peasall Sisters singing "Where No One Stands Alone". Great song, beautiful ladies! And sometimes I get on YouTube to listen to an old hymn like "Amazing Grace" or "Be With Me Lord". I don't have to agree with a song in order to enjoy good music! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autumn2909 Posted July 18, 2020 Share Posted July 18, 2020 I still enjoy old christian music and lou Fellingham. Been out of the scene a few years now so can enjoy it as just music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyGone Posted August 28, 2020 Share Posted August 28, 2020 The scope of music is infinite. I'm still a little amused when someone my age declares "there's no good music today!!!" People often have a sentimental attachment to the music they listened to as they were coming of age. It will pass. I have a collection of CDs of more than 1500, and still there are many I want. What appeals to you (musically) is what appeals to you. It's one of the most subjective things on earth. Don't limit yourself though to that which is already familiar. Don't be afraid to try something new muscially because it may not appeal to you, or others around you may not share your opinions or preferences. I listen to many "genre" of music, though I'm extremely particular. I often say though that rock-n-roll eventually became necessary along the path of human evolution because there is no god. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 On 8/28/2020 at 3:17 PM, alreadyGone said: The scope of music is infinite. I'm still a little amused when someone my age declares "there's no good music today!!!" People often have a sentimental attachment to the music they listened to as they were coming of age. It will pass. I have a collection of CDs of more than 1500, and still there are many I want. What appeals to you (musically) is what appeals to you. It's one of the most subjective things on earth. Don't limit yourself though to that which is already familiar. Don't be afraid to try something new muscially because it may not appeal to you, or others around you may not share your opinions or preferences. I listen to many "genre" of music, though I'm extremely particular. I often say though that rock-n-roll eventually became necessary along the path of human evolution because there is no god. Well said. I like a wide variety of music and have a few thousand CDs myself, from various genres and ranging from ancient classical to the latest metal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyGone Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 The advent of MP3 meant I could finally have my music collection available to me wherever life took me, as I worked and traveled. With my CDs stored safely away and no need to make CD copies to take with, nor the need to keep up with or make space for a pile of those CD road-copies or fiddle with changing them while driving. So many folks made mp3 copies and then sold the original CDs for cash. I could never do that myself. MP3 just means I can more easily have an acceptable copy with me. I've CDs I purchased over time, many by my favored artist(s), that didn't appeal to me so much the first few listens and were forgotten for a while, only to be discovered later and greatly enjoyed. Like an unexpected gift. Before the COVID19 outbreak, part of my personal ambition and planning was more freedom and means at some point for traveling to concerts as an ongoing vacation thing. Clubs, concert-halls, etc. Love live performance, and it grieves me now that the damn virus has taken that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 21 minutes ago, alreadyGone said: I've CDs I purchased over time, many by my favored artist(s), that didn't appeal to me so much the first few listens and were forgotten for a while, only to be discovered later and greatly enjoyed. Like an unexpected gift. Oh, yeah, I've definitely had that happen to me several times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyGone Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 Every human hears what they hear. You know what Dewey Redman said: "music... is in the ear of the behearer". Amazing the infinite variety of how humans perceive and react to music. How many there are to whom it matters not, and how far to the opposite some can lean, seemingly all by innate nature. Part of what makes us humans so damn charming and cute, ya know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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