the “devil’s” music
did any of you who grew up in a really conservative church ever have to watch these videos about how satanic rock music is? where they’d play records backwards to prove that they were satanic, or talk so much about how all the music was about sex or drugs or murder? they’d basically try to scare the hell out of you and convince you that all of that music is horrible - have any of you seen these? my husband and i, who grew up in entirely different cities, distinctly remember being shown these videos in junior high youth group.
the beatles, who many of the above video-makers might not even consider harmful, had people who used to burn their albums in protest of this horrible rock & roll music. nowadays, i realize and recognize the importance of the beatles, and highly respect what they did for the face of modern music, but when i listen to them, realize that they were quite simplistic in style and presentation in comparison to current music. i mean, they just stood there, a la the “that thing you do” movie, and sung. and girls SCREAMED. did the same with the beach boys. what?!?
even tipper gore once headed a group against this “crazy” music called “rock & roll”! anyway…
i spent my life growing up listening to contemporary Christian music - 4him, steven curtis chapman, dctalk, newsboys, audio adrenaline, etc. i used to get all self-righteous that this music was “just as good” as the stuff my friends listened to, but this music was less likely to get me put straight in hell.
THEN, when i went to college (a christian college, actually), i was given a CD player for graduation, and went and got my first CDs: alanis “jagged little pill”, the cranberries, and a couple others. as someone who enjoys listening to various types of music, and sees the values in many styles (seriously, i’ll listen to anything from gangsta rap to bubble-gum pop to jazz to folk), i realized that i had been living in a musical bubble. sure, not everything alanis sang about went smoothly in with my belief system, but what she said resonated with me. and i began to realize these artists were simply describing how and what they were dealing with in life, and it RESONATED with people. i was one of those people. it was a dumbfounding realization.
after learning more about the history of music over the course of today, it’s become clear, from the mouths of great artists, that they write largely as an outlet for what they think, feel, are discovering, wondering, etc. good grief, that’s the way music has been FOREVER. even david, the psalmist, wrote for this reason. that is what music IS. it’s poetry, or prayers, or thoughts, or journaling, set to music. sometimes with words, sometimes without.
so what i’ve realized is, i grew up in this bubble of not even knowing what people thought. “people” meaning those who didn’t come from my closed-off conservative way of being. it was astounding to realize what “real” people were going through and thinking, and what they related to. so no, maybe not all this music is exactly uplifting, or does it set a great example, or does it encourage people to do good things. but rather than being taught discernment when i was in junior high and high school, i was just sequestered from the “real world”. even now, there is music that i will refuse to listen to because it’s message is not one of positivity, and i have enough negativity being thrown at me than to absorb more in the form of musical poetry.
and oddly, nowadays, i don’t think i have ANY “contemporary christian music” on any playlist on my ipod. most of it doesn’t speak to me anymore. they all seem to sound the same and say the same thing. or they sound like ripoffs of non-christian music. i just think there had to have been a different way for me to learn this discernment at a younger age, no?
