Christian Rock

[EazyMack]

Alright, one of my favorite topics to discuss.

Who are your favorite bands/artists? How long have you been into Christian rock? Do you still listen to secular?

I just started listening to Christian rock about a year and a half ago. I had no idea what I was missing! It didn't take very long before I was no longer even interested in secular music anymore. I'm always looking for more stuff on the internet. And I'm always burning mix CDs for friends & co-workers, too. I love the music, as it ignites a passion in me to not only pursue a closer relationship with God, but also to reach out to others.

My first favorite band was actually a ska band, the O.C. Supertones. From there it branched out into all kinds of different bands. I think my order of preference currently looks like this:

Red
Anberlin
Skillet
Disciple
Five Iron Frenzy
O.C. Supertones
Stryper

 

[Sketcher]

http://www.last.fm/music/Mortification
http://www.last.fm/music/No+Innocent+Victim
http://www.last.fm/music/Living+Sacrifice
http://www.last.fm/music/P.O.D.
http://www.last.fm/music/Stavesacre

 

[crishmael]

I tend to listen to it when I'm around people who are playing it, or listening to it being performed during a worship service. I'm not a hater, I have a couple CDs that fall into that category, but I just haven't heard much I like.

 

[RyanW@K23]

I listen to it most of the time, with some secular artists of similar sound. I tend to favor milder rock sound, and especially ballads.

In no particular order:
Daughtry
Vertical Horizon
Josh Groban (maybe rock category at a stretch?)
Micheal W. Smith
Casting Crowns
Phillips, Craig and Dean

and a few secular artists/bands
U2
Nickelback
Journey

 

[WileyCoyote]

Not a big fan of Christian Rock, but don't believe it is wrong or "of the devil".

 

[RyanW@K23]

On second thought, what is the operative definition of "Christian rock" here? Is music in the range of Casting Crowns considered "rock" or "praise and worship" for the purposes of this thread? Vertical Horizon maybe?

Just wondering...

 

[Fed]

Used to listen to some, but it's kinda boring now. The only band I still listen to every once in a while is Blindside.

 

[EazyMack]

On second thought, what is the operative definition of "Christian rock" here? Is music in the range of Casting Crowns considered "rock" or "praise and worship" for the purposes of this thread? Vertical Horizon maybe?

I'd call it "worship rock." So yeah, it counts.

 

[fishin4christ]

I listen to christian rock and secular rock. Here's a few christian bands that I listen to.

Thousand Foot Krutch
Skillet
Red
Breaking the Silence
Pillar
flyleaf
fireflight

 

[genXer]

Red
Demon Hunter
Third Day
Casting Crowns
Whitecross
Stryper
Pillar
Disciple

.... really good God rockers.

 

[CCinoklahoma87]

Oh I love Christian rock! and I do still listen to secular music as well, due to I love variety when it comes to music. I'm a "jackie of all trades" if you like...LOL! trust me I can listen to country and folk one minute and be listening to grunge and hard rock the next. I'm not overly picky though I can say two genres I DON'T like are thrash metal and rap. blech! everything else is great

as for my fave christian artists I like:
Newsboys
Edison Glass
Jeremy Camp
Barlowgirl
Fireflight
Casting Crowns
Collective SOul
Creed
Sanctus Real
10th Avenure North
Kutless
Relient K
Disciple
Building 429
David crowder band
superchick
flyleaf
MercyMe
..and i think that's about it for my favorites, though I may have forgotten some..if you know me i have kind of a crappy memory but those are the ones that come to mine so they have to be my absolute faves.

 

[soccerdad66]

I voted it's all I listen too..

Many of the CR Bands mentioned above I have CD's of, so great Christian Rock out there.

 

[Marycita]

I voted for occasionally, but it's probably more like somewhere in between occasionally and most of the time..I always have some sort of music on, but I listen to stuff from basically every genre I've heard of...

 

[Qyöt27]

As far as I'm concerned, there is music I think is good and music I think is bad. I don't listen to music I think is bad. But my definition of 'bad' is not limited to any particular genre or segment, and the same goes for 'good' music. There's some Christian music I think is absolutely terrible, and I would never willingly subject myself to it. On the other hand, there's some that I listen to rather frequently. The vast majority of my music collection is still 'secular', though.

The Christian music I do listen to, though, is mostly of the Goth and Industrial sort (I'm also going to list bands which don't classify themselves as 'Christian music' but still have followings in the subculture, and get rotation on Christian outlets). There's some Synthpop in there, too.

Autumn's Descent
The Awakening
Ashton Nyte
The Last Dance
Aleixa
Laing (just Groove, really; Ashes was too nü-metal-ish for my tastes)
Under Midnight
Monolithic
Cult Of Jester
Time's Arrow
Torn Skin
Audio Paradox
Blind Faith & Envy
Delta-S
Null Factor
Circle Of Dust (I won't list Celldweller, due to the very clear distancing involved, even though I do listen to that material also)
Voxis (not counting Blue Stahli either, even though it's the same guy)
Klank
Level
Argyle Park
AP2
ThouShaltNot (the band whose song "If I Only Were A Goth" is frequently miscredited to Voltaire; "The Ocean Is Your Voice", "100 Generations", "G.L.M.", and the cover of NIN's "We're In This Together" are great cuts)
Dead Artist Syndrome
Mad At The World (their first two albums, from 1988 and 1989)
Regenerator
The Dignity of Labour
The Echoing Green
Deitiphobia
Code of Ethics
Mortal
The Peoples ("Sirens Over The Bridge" is the only song by them I've heard, but it's good enough to be worth mentioning)
Skillet (mainly Invincible and Alien Youth, although Hey You..., Collide, and Comatose have representation)
Newsboys (mainly restricted to the Steve Taylor-produced albums: Not Ashamed, Going Public, Take Me To Your Leader)

I also have Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant in playlists as well. Same goes for Anberlin and various other CCM-ish bands. Generally speaking, though, I don't listen to CCM or P&W, it's only the occasional song I get exposed to that might pop up somewhere (Sanctus Real's "Black Coal", Neon Horse's "Cuckoo!", Pillar's "Reckless Youth", some of the entries that were featured in the Project Trinity MEP, etc.)


Flaming Fish Music is a big resource (they've even released some stuff from their backcatalog under Creative Commons licenses), as well as ChristianIndustrial.net's streaming radio.

Many of those bands are available on iTunes (The Awakening is the one from South Africa; iTunes has material from another band of the same name and doesn't distinguish between the two - Ethereal Menace, The Fourth Seal Of Zeen, Darker Than Silence, and Razor Burn are the right band). Some, however, are only available through Amazon's Marketplace or eBay because the albums have been out of print for years - which is understandable, since more than a handful of those bands were only active during the 90s. Heck, Mortal, Under Midnight, and Deitiphobia were early 90s (and Jerome from Mortal is now in Switchfoot).

 

[Sketcher]

Aleixa

I haven't been able to find Aleixa's stuff anywhere.

 

[Luther073082]

Some of its good, but I'm not a huge fan of most of it.

I prefer more traditional hymns or contemporary Christian music (but not Rock)

 

[soccerdad66]

...

The Christian music I do listen to, though, is mostly of the Goth and Industrial sort (I'm also going to list bands which don't classify themselves as 'Christian music' but still have followings in the subculture, and get rotation on Christian outlets). There's some Synthpop in there, too.


Circle Of Dust (I won't list Celldweller, due to the very clear distancing involved, even though I do listen to that material also)
Mad At The World (their first two albums, from 1988 and 1989)
The Echoing Green
Deitiphobia
Code of Ethics
Mortal



Flaming Fish Music is a big resource (they've even released some stuff from their backcatalog under Creative Commons licenses), as well as ChristianIndustrial.net's streaming radio.

Many of those bands are available on iTunes (The Awakening is the one from South Africa; iTunes has material from another band of the same name and doesn't distinguish between the two - Ethereal Menace, The Fourth Seal Of Zeen, Darker Than Silence, and Razor Burn are the right band). Some, however, are only available through Amazon's Marketplace or eBay because the albums have been out of print for years - which is understandable, since more than a handful of those bands were only active during the 90s. Heck, Mortal, Under Midnight, and Deitiphobia were early 90s (and Jerome from Mortal is now in Switchfoot).

Wow, I still have Mortal's and Deitiphobia first CD, as well as those groups on CD.

I miss CPR (Christian Pirate Radio), that was the most awesome streaming internet station EVER!

 

[Thaeoles]

I listen to Christian rock about all the time, and very little secular music.
Here the list of Christian rock bands that I listen to:
Anberlin
As I Lay Dying
August Burns Red
Becoming The Archetype
Blessed By A Broken Heart
BlessTheFall
Demon Hunter
Destroy The Runner
Emery
Flyleaf
Haste The Day
He Is Legend
Inhale Exhale
Jars Of Clay
Jonah33
mewithoutyou
Once Nothing
Pillar
War Of Ages

 

[Niels]

Most of the time, I listen to secular music. Some of it is produced by Christian musicians in secular bands, like U2. I like music that happens to be made by Christians, but I'm not necessarily into the preachy stuff. As a result, I don't usually follow the Christian music scene. Admittedly, there's a lot that I haven't heard.

Mute Math seems pretty good. I also like Caedmon's Call, Newsboys, and Jars of Clay... although they might be considered Christian pop or folk, rather than straight-ahead rock.

 

[Sapphyre]

Not really rock, but I like MercyMe, Casting Crowns, Jeremy Camp, and Chris Tomlin the best in the Christian music domain. I'm not that into music in general, haha.