This thread and the posts remind me so much of what I experienced when I was growing up. Of course, I had seen those "anti secular rock videos" when I was a teenager, and I guess, to an extent, they did leave some impression on me. It was a combination of factors, but I didn't particularly like a lot bands when I was growing up, except for U2 and a maybe a handful of other artists. I had discovered them when I was in 5th grade, and there was a uniqueness to them that attracted me. I remember spending many afternoons listening to Under a Blood Red Sky, their live release from their concert at Red Rocks. That and The Unforgettable Fire. Huey Lewis and the News was another. Now, if you would have told my 12 or 13 year old self that I'd like metal, and count it as one of my favorite genres when I was a lot older, I would have thought you were nuts. How times change.
Anyway, where I'm going with this: I had a friend in my youth group who started to listen to the local Christian Radio station when we were in high school. I thought I'd follow her, and start listening to what I thought she was. I never could get into the CCM acts at the time. This was back in the early 90's, so the era of Michael W. Smith, Sandi Patti, and Amy Grant. Most of the other acts, for the most part, sounded bland, uninspired (on a musical composition level, as it was just some female or male, in some cases, singing over a backing track), and I didn't particularly like any of it, except for Petra.
Thinking about it now, I think I know why: I like music that utilizes actual musical instruments: guitar, drums, and bass, and most of the CCM at the time weren't actual bands, unlike like Needtobreathe and Casting Crowns for two examples. (Yes, I know about White Heart and Barren Cross and Stryper, but I never really got into them either.) What I will say is that of the more contemporary bands, one song that grabbed my attention the first time I ever heard it was "Oceans" by Hillsong United. It's one of my favorite songs right now.
After college, I saw the movie Almost Famous, and that, I think, was the turning point when my musical tastes diversified a lot more, and it was only 15 years ago that I really started to get into various subgenres of metal. Of course, I knew who Metallica was, but now I listen to everything from melodic death metal (and other subgenres of metal, including some black metal, like Immortal and Primordial (and even some Dimmu Borgir (*gasp* I know, I know, but some of their compositions are insanely catchy) to classical, to celtic, to trance.
My point is, there are certain musical styles that just "click" with certain people, and they're not really that interested in other genres. That's perfectly normal. I can't stand rap, hip hop, or country for the record, nor most pop music that's being produced today.
I think my strong sense of melody came from singing a lot of the old hymns. To this day, the melody for "Be Still My Soul" is one of my favorites. It's "Finlandia" by Sibelius. I also like the melody for "Be Thou My Vision".
Whenever I see these anti-CCM (and anti secular rock) pages on the internet, I just have to laugh now. There was a time when the song "Amazing Grace" *WAS* the CCM of its day, so I find the whole argument a bit amusing, and I don't really buy the idea that older = better.
So, to be frank, do I generally like a lot more secular music vs. CCM? Yeah, for the most part. Why? Because it's generally better on a purely artistic level. There are, of course, exceptions, in both genres. (As I pointed out in a paragraph above.)