Your favorite SECULAR band ?

Oooops, I forgot about the Coop. I heard a song not too long ago by him called Prince Of Darkness. It's the biblical account of the fall of Lucifer who became satan. It's on his Raise Your Fist and Yell album released in 87. As far Frank goes, He has a nice writing about his faith in Jesus Christ on his latest studio album, Eye of The Storm. Wikipedia calls him one of the most talented and underated guitarists of the 70s. I might be biased, but I agree. And, yes, I knew about the two members of Raven playing on the new Armegeddom, the bass player and drummer. That's anticipation.

Been listening to KISS lately. I really love 80s KISS the best.

I listened to quite a bit of Kiss in the 80's, and even saw them in concert. They were supporting either "Lick it Up" or "Animalize", they definitely put on an entertaining show.

Were they with or without makeup ? Cuz Animalize was with makeup and Lick it up was their first without (if I'm remembering correctly)

Lick It Up was the first album to feature the band without make-up, and Animalize came out a year later (again no make-up). You might be confusing Animalize with Creatures of the Night (which was their last album with make-up in the 80's).

Creatures of the night is my favorite KISS album of all time.

Been on an Iron Maiden Kick lately. Bought their new album "Maiden '88" last week. Its a really good album.
I also managed to score a copy of Motley Crues "Too Fast For Love" on the original Leuther Label. Awesome.

Currently on a Rush kick. I cannot stop listening to this song:


The way they "recycle" all the riffs is really cool.

Rush was one my my favorite old secular bands.

While I like a few Rush songs, I never could get into them. I was more into the Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, and AC/DC type stuff back in the day. That's probably why I am into the Saint, Stryper, and GX Project kind of stuff now.

I wonder when we all stepped over to different Christian music styles have you searched for bands from your old favorite secular hard rock bands.

There was a program over The Eagles on TV yesterday.
I was an Eagle fan many years ago.
Listening to their music yesterday I thought: "no this is not my favorite music anymore. I wondered why I liked this band so much in my younger years.

I never "stepped Over"...felt it is not necessary. I still listen to all the old stuff and keep up with the new releases by old bands and newer bands. I still dig the eagles.

My favorite secular band has always been Journey. Although I first heard of them around the Escape time period, my first album was actually Captured, a live album from before Escape. I'm not too crazy about Arnel Pineda, and the latest album has a bit too much humanism in the lyrics for my taste, but they still remain at the top of my favorite secular bands list.

If it's metal you want to know about, I'd have to say Iron Maiden. I'm very careful about the songs I listen to; I won't just buy an Iron Maiden CD for the sake of having it, and I'd never go to a concert. But sound-wise I think they are pretty much the best metal band. IMO, that is.

I'm a huge Journey fan. I first heard of them after Escape was released. I had a girlfriend at the time who loved that album so much she bought a copy for me as well.
I was also a big a Iron Maiden & Judas Priest fan back in the day.

Journey was great in the 80s, and Journey is still pretty darn good with their newer singer who sounds like Steve. They are a timeless band, even my kids (20 and 25) both love Journey.

Deep Purple, Boston, Uriah Heep

My faves back in the day were Twisted Sister, Motley Crue, and AC/DC.  I hope to bring that Twisted Sister influence to some newer music of Mission Of One in the future.  I don't listen to these bands anymore.  Motley Crue and AC/DC were very "sexed up" lyrically.  I can live without that.

It really is a shame that the "world" has nothing but their base instincts to sing about, when there's so much in life that's positive and happy that could be the subject of songs.
Really, would Van Halen have been as popular in their early days had they used different lyrics to the same songs ? 
Clearly these secular bands are full of talent, but would they have been so widely liked if they toned down the words to not be so explicit ?  I'd like to think they could have been. I'd like to think ZZTop could have been just as popular if their songs sounded exactly the same, but weren't so sexually charged.
Face it, many teens aren't paying attention to lyrics when they first get an album anyways - they like it cuz it rocks ! Lyrics don't have to be squeaky clean, but if they were toned down a lot, I honestly don't believe it would affect a secular band's sales at all.
I guess, unless they had a gimmick like Crue... even then, lyrics like "In goes the knife, out goes the life, consider that bastard dead" were completely uneccessary....
Am I making sense here ? Do you think the songs we grew up with would have, could have been just as popular if they had more innocuous lyrics ?

Take Rush (ok, I'm obsessed with them right now!)… who sang about anything and everything. From mythology and dystopia, to songs about chemistry, to deep emotions, to "grace under pressure", they wrote about a lot of stuff and it was interesting and well thought.

Good point. Rush had a lot of popular songs that had "harmless" lyrics.

However, they never explained some of their questionable cover art though. They've always had an obsession with the pentagram, and I've wondered the significance of the Christian martyr on Moving Pictures. Strange concepts for their cover art...

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I have heard that Geddy Lee is an atheist.  And the main character at the end of 2112 commits suicide because the priests reject him and what he finds.  Musically, the album is a masterpiece.

Geddy Lee said in 2011: " I'm kind of a Jewish atheist: I bathe in the racial beauty of Judaism, but I don’t really see what that has to do with a belief in God. The only time I pray is on the tennis court."
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On a side note, I think you bring up an interesting point, g/f.  I remember having some ZZ Top and it took me over a year to find out what La Grange is actually about...

I think the martyr on Moving Pictures (funny, I have the CD right next to me as I type) is a reference to Witch Hunt.

Liked to listen to Rush and Toto. 
And some older rock bands.

Guilty/Forgiven wrote:

It really is a shame that the "world" has nothing but their base instincts to sing about, when there's so much in life that's positive and happy that could be the subject of songs.
Really, would Van Halen have been as popular in their early days had they used different lyrics to the same songs ? 
Clearly these secular bands are full of talent, but would they have been so widely liked if they toned down the words to not be so explicit ?  I'd like to think they could have been. I'd like to think ZZTop could have been just as popular if their songs sounded exactly the same, but weren't so sexually charged.
Face it, many teens aren't paying attention to lyrics when they first get an album anyways - they like it cuz it rocks ! Lyrics don't have to be squeaky clean, but if they were toned down a lot, I honestly don't believe it would affect a secular band's sales at all.
I guess, unless they had a gimmick like Crue... even then, lyrics like "In goes the knife, out goes the life, consider that bastard dead" were completely uneccessary....
Am I making sense here ? Do you think the songs we grew up with would have, could have been just as popular if they had more innocuous lyrics ?

I gotta be honest with you, if Cherry Pie comes on in the car with my kid sitting there, once I start thinking about it, it really bothers me. 
 
I agree it was over the top ...
but I do know that a lot of the kids thought the music was cool BECAUSE of what they were singing about. So I tend to think they would not have been as successful with clean lyrics. Remember, rebellion is a key to alluring kids to rock, and nothing more rebellious than singing about satan, sex, drugs and alcohol.

My musical rebellion was with Dio and Venom...the "evil" side versus my church upbringing.