What is happening to me?

I have stopped, or nearly stopped, listening to metal.

I have been listening nearly exclusively to 60's and 70's rock, commonly called Jesus Music. I am loving this stuff. The All Saved Freak Band and bands of that nature are(were) amazing. Too bad I didn't ever hear them the first time through. The Exkursions are awesome as well.

It could be that you're just getting older and just don't have the same need for the aggressive expression that metal offers us.

It could also be the heart that was in some of that early Christian music that seems lacking in a lot of modern music.

Regardless of the why, just let God move through whatever you listen to, bro. That's all that counts.

I was gonna guess the older thing too, but maybe you just need a break from the heavy stuff, my guess is that you will probably be back.

I took a break from most of the heavy stuff when I was in my last few years of college, but I did come back.

alldatndensum wrote:

It could also be the heart that was in some of that early Christian music that seems lacking in a lot of modern music.

Hmm so I'm not the only one who thinks that.

It's just a phase all us old folks go through. every once in a while I go through the Jesus Movement Hippy phase too. Keith Green being my fav - but there's a wealth of great "oldies" pioneers that shaped the music that we rock to today.
Them there oldies do seem to have much more "heart" overall than todays stuff.
Here's my collection: http://growinginjesus.com/collection/z-JPM.html

It can be a phase in your life.

I notice I still like hard rock and the old school bands.
But since I listen to bands as Third Day, Lincoln Brewster, Casting Crowns I am touched by the pure and honest lyrics of those bands.

Maybe God will use this phase in your life to a purpose He has with you.

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

It's just a phase all us old folks go through.

Not all of us.

7th will continue to wave the Hard & Heavy flag for those who have fallen.

You go man!

rockerVu2 wrote:

I notice I still like hard rock and the old school bands. But since I listen to bands as Third Day, Lincoln Brewster, Casting Crowns I am touched by the pure and honest lyrics of those bands.

Not to sound like a jerk but I'm not sure I understand your logic with this statement. I don't think a bands heaviness or genre has anything to do with the pureness or honesty of their lyrics. And yes Staybrite I will continue to carry the flag until death and will then rock Heaven as well.

Where do you buy your music ?
I would like to buy some but I cannot find any except for Servant.

Amie Street has a 3 CD set called The Rock Revival that can be downloaded very inexpensively. I know, not CDs, but still a great way to check some stuff out. Other than that, ebay is about the only place that I have found any discs. Hidden Vision re-issued several "Jesus Music" classics a few years ago, but they are getting harder to find. I highly recommend "Harps on Willows" by All Saved Freak Band. It is a greatest hits project that is readily available and has some killer songs.

I just found "Harps on Willows" by All Saved Freak Band on Amazon and ordered it.
The samples sound pretty good.
I really like the music from the late sixties to the early seventies. I am going to have to dig deeper and see if I can find some more albums.

I recommend the album entitled The Exkursions as well. It has some excellent psychedelic qualities to it. Very 60's sounding. Great guitar work.

If you google the names of some of the bands you find, you might run across some MP3 downloads. Not sure the legalities of that, but you can check it out and at least find a lot of clips you can try out.

I'll ask a couple of friends at the CMR about a site that has a ton of free downloads of 80s and 70s Christian bands. There's quite a bit out there. The site is supposed to be legit. Who knows, right?

I'm not much of a fan of that era of music--Christian or not. Just never got into it. The "oldies" for me are the classic 80's rock bands.

Sometimes, though, I get in a rut and really don't want to hear metal or modern rock. I will go for days sometimes, sometimes weeks, where I listen to a lot of worship music and CCM pop like Third Day and MercyMe. Sometimes, I need the message more than I need to rock. But, the rocker within usually finds his way back out and I crank it up again.

A lot of those "legit" sites have a disclaimer that the music is out of print, but that if they ever re-issue the music the sites will remove their links. I have gotten some stuff from a couple of those sites. I don't remember what the sites were, I just ran across them while googling. I am trying to buy the stuff I have downloaded if it is out there, but most of it has been out of print for years and years. The ones that have been re-issued I am buying.

On a side note, I did run across a site that has a lot of in-print Christian metal and I have downloaded a bunch of stuff that I will be buying when it becomes available on CD. I have listened to the new X-Sinner and the new Harmony discs and must say that I was very disappointed in the X-Sinner. The complaints all revolve around the vocals and mixing. Those songs that we all heard that were not the final mixes turn out to be pretty much the final mixes. I will buy the CD when it comes out and I am sure that it will have a better sound in my stereo than on my computer or my ipod, but I was surprised at how much I disliked that album. Harmony on the other hand I really liked. Much like the original, except a bit harder. Great sound on my PC and my ipod.

OK, enough for now. I am still very much into the Jesus Music sound, and part of the reason I raised this topic in the first place was that I have listened to these new releases and just not been excited. When I ran across some of those Jesus Music sites, I was blown away by the music that has been around for 3-4 decades.

Here is what I think is attracting me.There is just such a passion in the Jesus Music that does not seem to be found in today's music. People whose lives were totally transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The artists were not "making it big", many people shunned them for there being "Jesus Freaks". A large segment of the "Christian" population shunned them because of their musical stylings and lack of "proper Christianity", yet these people put their hearts and souls into the music that they made to glorify God. That is what I want in my life more and more. The music is inspiring me to have a greater passion about my relationship with Jesus Christ. All of the bands today that are covering the most popular praise and worship songs are great, but the music of the 60's and 70's was just a whole different level of passion and I am finding that amazingly refreshing and encouraging.

Quote :

On a side note, I did run across a site that has a lot of in-print Christian metal and I have downloaded a bunch of stuff that I will be buying when it becomes available on CD.

May I ask where you heard the new X-Sinner? I know you can buy MP3s on their MySpace and through iTunes, but I don't use iTunes. I preordered the CD, but it hasn't come out yet. I'd love to hear it. I wish with the preorder that they would have given you free downloads to tide you over until the disc was released.

#1 Alldat: your avatar is highly disturbing
#2 X-sinnner's new one can be listened to if you subscribe to Real players "Rhapsody"
#3 there is a ridiculously large amount of free Jesus People downloads from the 60s, 70s and early 80s here: http://heavenly-grooves.blogspot.com/

Long live Christian hippies !

Not to endorse the site, because like I said, I downloaded stuff that I intend to buy. I downloaded to get an early listen. It is a site called Christian Metal Attack and the site is in Portuguese I believe. I can't read it, but the band names are all English and the download button is in English, so I could put 2 & 2 together well enough to download what I wanted to hear.

http://christianmetalattack.blogspot.com/

alldatndensum wrote:

I'll ask a couple of friends at the CMR about a site that has a ton of free downloads of 80s and 70s Christian bands. There's quite a bit out there. The site is supposed to be legit. Who knows, right?

I'm not much of a fan of that era of music--Christian or not. Just never got into it. The "oldies" for me are the classic 80's rock bands.

Sometimes, though, I get in a rut and really don't want to hear metal or modern rock. I will go for days sometimes, sometimes weeks, where I listen to a lot of worship music and CCM pop like Third Day and MercyMe. Sometimes, I need the message more than I need to rock. But, the rocker within usually finds his way back out and I crank it up again.

Admitting that on a Christian metal board might get you dragged outside the city gates and stoned.

But seriously, I agree. I was raised listening to some oldies, '70s Christian artists ranging from Reba Rambo to David Meece to The Archers, and plenty of '80s stuff like the original Michael W. Smith which still has an important place in my life. I love metal and stuff with a very hard edge. It fits my thought processes better and my attention span, that sort of thing. But it's critical for me to blend in other stuff. It's like I get too wound up if I play metal for too long of stretches (meaning more than a week at at time basically). These days I try to mix in some pop, contemporary, or just plain random stuff--from techno to progressive to folk to whatever strikes my fancy. I function better.

And I agree completely with nazpastor. When you listen to stuff from decades ago you hear a lot more heart poured into it. Think back to 20 years ago, before the CD was so ubiquitous. For a band to have a release on CD meant they were putting some serious effort into it, and saving up to back it. You may not have always heard the greatest sound quality, but you almost always heard a band that poured itself into the music. These days, with everyone and his uncle's monkey cranking out a CD on his home computer, a person can record the sound of his dog eating crunchy food, mix it up and distort it, add the words "I love God," and sell it as the next best thing. Each decade lost a little bit more of that heart in each release. I know that there are always exceptions to this--this blanket statement doesn't cover everyone, and plenty of people are still giving their music their all. But sometimes so much effort is put into either the technological end or the moneymaking end that something gets lost in the process. Listening to the classics reminds you of just what that was, and it can be like a breath of fresh air. Hold that thought! I'm going to record that breath of fresh air so I can distort it, add "I love God," and put it on a CD. Be right back...

Funny, there are several of those blogspot download sites (that is actually where I found the Victory album last week).

I too ran into that christianmetal one and was shocked to see the amout of material they posted that was not out of print. I like the idea of being able to listen to an album before you buy it, but........

I'm probably with Alldat though, when I think of classic it is more of the 80's stuff. I rarely stray into the 70's music.

If you leave a trail of breadcrumbs you can stray as far as you want into the '70s music. You should be able to find your way back.

I actually downloaded the new Rob Rock disc before I bought it.

I didn't feel right, and it ruined the whole CD buying experience for me. I'll stick to downloading OOP material.

I would certainly much rather download OOP material. But it might be nice to try an album before you buy it. Might have saved me some stuff I don't really listen to. I certainly wouldn't keep any downloads from stuff that is inprint.

Amie Street is a fantastic place for legal mp3 downloads for really cheap prices. Many of the downloads are free or very low priced. Also a great place to browse new music.

Naz, thanks for that link. I am going to download the new Harmony and X-sinner discs to add to my MP3 player. Both discs are already ordered, so this is just an advanced screening from someone who has already bought and is just awaiting delivery.

Oh, before I forget, I like my new disturbing avatar. It's weird and crazy. I like it!

I don't necessarily agree that all the older music has a different heart. You do see a lot more artists who were definitely into the ministry aspect back then. I still find a lot of artists with that same heart. I will admit, though, that this is not as often as it seemed like when I first discovered Christian music.

For me, the modern worship artist speaks to me. I'm not talking about the Hillsongs stuff or the "I did a worship album because the label made me" artist who covers all the current hit worship songs. Jeff Deyo and Lincoln Brewster have moved away from that completely and really touch my heart. Brewster even mixes in classic rock, modern rock, and jazz influences on his latest disc. Guitar solos are also included in every track! Also, the new Re:Zound and Worth Dying For are great projects with all original tunes with a lot of passion behind them.

Unless you just like that era, you don't have to hit the 70's to find a passion for Christ.

The X-Sinner download is a very low quality. The highs and lows are clipped so much that the bass drum is completely washed out, and the lead guitars are very hard to hear.