Secular Music
Ah, secular music. It speaks to the soul, and tries to imagine that there is meaning to life, which is denied from the world by atheism... and some songs almost get it right! For example, Only Girl (by Rihanna), Firework (by Katy Perry), or Just the Way You Are (by Bruno Mars). To be honest, I am a big fan of many different types of music, regardless of which religion the musicians adhere to.
Unfortunately, secular music is a mixed bag, and some of it gets downright filthy. For example, the song Take it Off by Ke$ha practically sums up what's wrong with society. It has a great sound, it's catchy – hey, I even liked it at first! But the message is disgusting. Like everything sinful, this song looks exciting at first, but turns out to be vulgar.
Christian Contemporary Music
I ♥ contemporary Christian music! Why? Because it's great modern-day music without the filth of sin attached. Instead of glorifying sexual immorality and crime, it glorifies God! Well, at least most of it does. I'm going to "profile" some artists.
There's Tobymac, my favourite artist, who strives to let God shine through his work while at the same time producing outstanding music. He describes his music as a "blend of pop, hip hop & rock with Christ-centered lyrics."
Jars of Clay, Newsboys, Brit Nicole, and many other artists featured in WOW albums explicitly proclaim Christ as King. The Newsboys in particular I find very good, because they blur the line between the Christian Contemporary and Praise and Worship genres.
Stellar Kart is very straightforward about Christ. The result is sometimes inspirational and sometimes just cheesy.
Manafest is a good Canadian rock-rap band. Their song Bounce is among my all-time favourite songs!!
Thousand Foot Krutch (TFK) has some good hard rock, but sometimes they lose their Christian vision. Their line, "sometimes I feel like a monster, sometimes I feel like a saint," just about sums up their music. They have some good reflections, but they have also referred to God as a drug and a disease in their songs. The problem is that those words imply sin and decay, and are just disrespectful toward God. I still listen to them, but with caution because of their dubious theology. Oh, by the way, they're a Canadian band too!
Skillet is perhaps one of the best rock bands of the century! Ya, I'm a panhead. Their experiments with symphonic rock have been a great success, giving their band a very cool, unique sound. However, their latest album Awake ventures away from Christian themes and sounds very much like a secular album – that can be good or bad, depending on your point of view. Personally, I wish they wouldn't abandon Christian themes.
Some people say that rock music is evil, and thus there can't be Christian rock music. I completely disagree. Music is a method of communication – it all depends on what someone communicates through it. Most rock music does communicate evil stuff, but most Christian rock music does not!
Praise and Worship
Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. Psalm 33:2-3 NIV
Praise and worship is music in it's purest form – in other words, it is what God designed music to be. The verse above tells us how to praise God. It says to make music with a harp and ten-stringed lyre. Well, Psalms was written thousands of years ago, and those were the modern instruments back then. If it was written now, it would probably say, "Praise the Lord with the electric guitar, drums, bass, and synthesizer!" And it also says to sing a new song – not just the same, boring old hymns and Gregorian chants ;)
Imagine for a moment what it would be like if all music was made to glorify God... if Taio Cruz's song Dynamite was made to praise the Lord! It'd be dynamite! Or what about Maroon 5's Misery? That's a gr8 song – it would also become eternal.
