Is Christian music real???

Before your sarcasm kicks in, I am not getting at the point of whether or not music made by Christians with a Christ-centric message exists.  We know it does as we all have quite the collection of it.

I was talking to a buddy of mine about Christian rock and metal.  He was listening to a band that I won't name, and he felt like the message of the song was placed on there simply to reach teenagers and was probably decided upon by the suits at the label.  He feels that a lot of our old classic bands were this way, and he has a hard time relating to it especially at our ages.  My friend felt that the message was good but felt artificial or forced.

That got me thinking about this topic.  Is Christian music real?  When I use the word "real", I mean does it connect with us simply because we are Christians, or is the message contrived as to be a marketing ploy?  Do Christian rock bands, for the most part, sing about real things happening like a kid in their town that died from cancer, or a drive-by shooting in their neighborhood, or you just had a sucky day at work and needed to vent?  Should it be this open, or does it need to stay at the level it is now where we preach Jesus but never open up our own messes to our audience?

I tried to do this with my D'Bare Bones Band stuff.  There was a song about a kid that was severely neglected.  I knew the kid and wanted to share her story.  I did a song about wanting to punch someone in the face after having a bad day at work where there was a particular individual who had made me quite angry.  While all the feelings were not mine as I went to Facebook to ask people what made them want to punch someone, the emotion was there when I took all those ideas and made a song out of it.

Now, I am not saying all that to promote myself.  If you think that, send me your address and I will send you a free CD.  I am asking if you feel like Christian music is honest, open, and real?  Is that really why secular music connects with people so much more is that they at least talk about their own sins and others either have been there or want to be there?  Maybe it is time for Christians to do the same and quit "preaching to the choir".  Constant worship music might be fine in Heaven, but I don't know anyone who is able to stop doing everything and worship the Lord non-stop.  Thus, I know the modern worship scene lacks depth and reality.

What are your thoughts on this?  Be honest.  If this starts to get out of hand, I will close the thread.  Be civil and share your heart.  If you vehemently disagree with someone, please just let it go.

I think over the years it has been pretty much everything.  I guess originally it was just a bunch of guys playing music they loved and singing praises to God, but as time went on and some labels realised there was a marketing angle where they could make money, then it was engineered to please people just to make some cash.  I don't really have a problem with that, as long as the message is there.  I'm constantly amazed at how many christian bands there were in the 80's.  Just a quick look on YouTube there's hundreds of bands that I'd previously never heard of.  Each of those were trying to reach the 'lost', and many knew that only a few bands would ever make any money from it.

I think there's space for every kind of christian rock, from the bands who just do it as an outreach, to those who do it just for the fans.  From those who are very open in their lyrics to those who are trying to tell a real life story and how daily struggles can be a real issue.

I think that the most important thing in all of this is 'where your heart is'.  If it's us trying to get closer to God, then that's key.

DUDES! Hey! Been a while.
I get what you're saying, Chris. I think there are more and more bands out there who are trying to sing from their personal experience. Brian Head Welch is one. Lust Control another (ugh, I don't like that band, but it serves a purpose). But, I think most creatives will just do what they feel at the moment of writing. If they didn't, THEN their work would be forced.
Most songs don't resonate with everyone, but if they resonate with just one person, then they have done their work. Just an example, I personally don't think the ES song "Kingdom" is an uplifting song and it certainly isn't about my own personal experience. It's a song about someone who is desperately searching for forgiveness and doesn't understand the nature or Christ's gift. Not exactly personal and uplifting, but we've had two emails from fans thanking us for the song and saying it helped them out of a hard place. Okaaaay. I can't understand it, but I'm not going to question that one, lol.
On the other side of the argument, my songs "Forgiven" and "Wicked Ways" were written with personal experience and spiritual need in mind (mine) and yet neither of those made much of a dent. I don't think WW connected with anyone (except me), lol. It was probably because, as you said about the genre, I didn't make it obvious in the lyrics, these are from me. I made them more generic because, well, I'm not brave enough to own it. 

I think some are sincere and it's from the heart, take a band like Rez Band, never shied away from reall life topics while always keeping the focus on God. Others probably let the record labels dictate what they sang hoping to move units. Either way, the gospel goes forward.

There really isn't any Christian or secular music.  Music is music.  Now there are songs about God, songs about Satan and songs about chicken, is the one about chicken, Chicken music?  Nope it's a song about chicken.

In today's professional music world it seems that everything is cookie cutter stamped for sale.  Songs are stale, sterile and monotonous.  It's a lot of regurgitated crap wrapped up to appear different.

In the Christian world you'll know them by their fruits.  If a band doesn't believe what they are saying, you can feel it.  It's forced.  I have no doubt Bloodgood loves Jesus.  It comes out in everything they do.  Their first 2 albums didn't have a weak song on them.  Their concerts were electric, even when they were the opener.

Songwriting is a whole different matter.  One can be a great musician but a terrible songwriter.

As far as subject matter, I think a lot of believers in music are afraid that they can't write about anything that isn't 100% positive.  Or it has to appear to glorify God.  On the flip side we have bands that try to stand in the light while appearing dark.  Nothing shows the love of Jesus like angry skulls and rotting flesh.

Sorry, this post jumps around a bit.

Great answers so far, everyone!  Keep 'em coming!

Some Christian music may be forced or contrived. But it doesn't matter. I read that Petra's Wake Up Call album was rushed. The song "Just Reach Out" would minister to me during a time when I really needed to hear it. As listeners, we're not carrying the same emotional baggage that the artist does, and that frres us up to hear it with a fresh set of ears.

That said, I also love praise and worship music. P&W isn't just what you hear on K-Love 24/7, though some of it is good (for me). I also listen to a lot of stuff from IHOP,  Bethel, and other churches. But there's also the rock and metal stuff, like Petra Praise, and Scandinavian Metal Praise.

If it connects with you then it is real. So Yes, Christian Music is real. 

If you go even deeper is west coast rap real? Like NWA? It may not be real to us but the things they rap about are real to them and some of the people who listen to it. 

No, I don't listen to it. Not a rap fan and the lyrics are explicit but I know some of the songs just from growing up with friends who liked it and listened to it 

Just as I grew up with other friends who listened to Striper and Barren Cross. All of that stuff was very real to us and still is. 

I'm sure some of them were not sincere but as long as the message clicks with someone then it's real.

I think therein is the shortest and best answer so far.  

I do believe that the industry as a whole could do a better job of trying to connect with more people, but I know every style isn't going to touch everyone.

"Chicken Music" Ha! You're hilarious Xid. Good point.
What you say about "bands that try to stand in the light while appearing dark," I actually think there is a place for these bands.  If a person loves and listens to bands with "angry skulls and rotting flesh" then that is where the ministry happens. In the UK there is a group (sorry, can't remember the name) of Goth Christians. They come together as Christians, yes, but it's the music that brought them there. They invite other Goths to the table and then minister along side "angry skulls and rotting flesh." Try getting a bouncy Bobby-Sue in pastel pants with pigtails to minister to a darker personality and you'd have zero success.

I definitely agree that being authentic is something to aspire to, but it's no guarantee of a connection. Last year at the NZ songwriting awards the winner was this seriously long song about the life of the singer, growing up in small town NZ. He laid all his dirty laundry on the table and it was definitely real, but I was bored to tears by the end of first minute. The music didn't speak to me. The singing was meh. The story was totally unrelatable (for me anyway). Clearly, I was outvoted. 

Xid wrote:

Nothing shows the love of Jesus like angry skulls and rotting flesh.

Might have to steal that for a sig line.

I agree with Jen to a point. It's no secret that the great majority of us don't care for extreme vox, and I've often wondered how a Christian death metal band ministers to others when you can't understand the words (?) being screamed/growled. I suppose one could read the lyrics or maybe they share their faith between songs or after the show. If it somehow moves a person closer to Jesus then I guess they succeeded and it's "real".

I haven't had an issue with bands that wrote "real" lyrics as long as they somehow pointed to the hope in Jesus. There are a few exceptions I can think of, but having a song on a "negative" topic without any hope in it seems generally pointless for a Christian band.

On the other hand, I sometimes wonder what persecuted Christians would think of some of our CCM/P&W songs.

Two artists that come to mind to me that had the realness of life while pointing to Christ were Mad At The World and Rose.  Their songs weren't always about happy things.  But, they always pointed to Jesus as a solution whether the listener chose that or not.

Rez was also great about intermixing faith in Jesus while telling stories of the broken lives around them and sometimes even their own failures.

I think Steve Rowe is a perfect example of reaching into the dark but always bringing light. Might not be your cup of tea vocally but it fit his audience.

Are any of you familiar with the First Heavy Metal Church of Christ? They're located in Dayton, Ohio, and they have a Facebook page if anyone is intrigued.

https://m.facebook.com/fhmcc1/

Ha! Those guys were one of my go-to services during lockdown here in NZ

It's one thing to have a style, it's quite another to slap a Christian tag on filth.  I'm going to pick on a couple of bands here and I'm not referring to talent, song content or whether or not I like the music.  I certainly do not know the hearts of the band members.

Demon Hunter:  They don't really hunt demons but because of the name, the use of an evil looking pic as their logo is acceptable.  Plus they get to be a Christian band with "demon" in their name.

Vomitorial Corpulance:  Vomitorial isn't even a word and corpulent is having a large, bulky body or obese.  So, their name means fatty puke?  Again, because of the name, evil looking artwork on the albums is acceptable.

Somewhere along the line, believers figured they had to look like the world to save the world.  Paul didn't go to Rome and start sacrificing to their gods in order to save them.  He preached the gospel.

He pointed to Jesus.

Xid wrote:

Somewhere along the line, believers figured they had to look like the world to save the world.  Paul didn't go to Rome and start sacrificing to their gods in order to save them.  He preached the gospel.

Paul also did what was reasonably necessary to reach various people.
To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 
To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

Let me think about this.
English is not my native language.

It means that I read the lyrics in the booklet to understand what the song means.
That makes it a little hard.

topshot rhit wrote:

Paul also did what was reasonably necessary to reach various people.

Album art depicting a man getting his skin peeled off while he's still alive isn't necessary let alone reasonably necessary.

rockerVu2 wrote:

Let me think about this.
English is not my native language.

It means that I read the lyrics in the booklet to understand what the song means.
That makes it a little hard.

English is my only language, and I still have a hard time understanding a lot of song lyrics.

Xid, so pictures of Jesus being crucified are too far? And truthfully, I find DH tame.

Demon Hunter is tame.  We're supposed to be children of the light.  So why make the skull of a demon the mascot?

Most pictures I've seen of Jesus being crucified are tame but still unnecessary.  Christ isn't on the cross.  He's alive and at the right hand of the Father.

I always thought Mortification had some awesome cover art. Graphic as it was, it was cool that Steve would lay out it's meaning with Scripture.

I've read that J.R.R. Tolkien didn't like C.S. Lewis' Chronicles, as he felt that it was too forced in the message. He felt that it should come natural in the telling. I love both the Chronicles and LOTR. I think what matters most is that their story telling is great. I feel the same with music. Lately I feel a discontent with Christian music because, it is either poorly produced or lyrically bad. And when I say bad, like they took no time to work on the lyrics. I feel like some of it becomes forced sounding.