In my opinion, Christian music is not what it used to be as it was in the late 90's to the early 2000's. Bands such as Plankeye, Sometime Sunday, Travail, Zao, Ninety Pound Wuss, Spoken, Seven Day Jesus, The Prayer Chain, Danielson Family, and so many more, were those bands that were out there outspoken about their faith in their lyrics.
Even though some of these bands are still around and they still do talk about their faith in their music, todays Christian music has been brought to simplistic lyrics and simplistic melodies that can be created by anyone. Even some of the music over on secular radio stations could be construed as Christian due to their lyrics. Not every band, but a handful I would say.
I miss the days of bands out there doing ministry, talking to kids about Christ, showing them that in fact there is another way to live but sadly and in my opinion, that now has been done away with due to corporate greed due to the fact that today, no one wants to hear a sermon at a concert and even some Christians out there, I feel, wouldnt want to hear a sermon at a rock show either, but I would. Tell the crowds about the freedom found in Christ, tell them about the Savior, tell them about eternal life, etc.
While there are some bands out there that do indeed do this within the Christian market, they are few and far between and we never hear about these bands on the radio because their lyrics are not radio friendly and the stations do not want to alienate their audiences, so why not just play some music that always talks about how great their life is in Christ etc when the reality out there is not everything is always cheery in the Christian world.
Bands like Poor Old Lu, who did sing about their own trials with issues that people face, created a controversy with their album Sin due to the topics it dealt with and at that time, no one wanted to hear about struggles with sexual sins, depression, suicide, etc. People didnt want to hear about those struggles but rather wanted to hear about only the good things in life.
Today even, I do not listen to Christian radio stations or even secular stations. What I listen to are the bands that I listened to after becoming a Christian at age 16 - fell away for 20 years, but thanks be to Christ, that now I am back due to Him drawing me back with His spirit, but the music I listen to today are those bands that did indeed challenge me, called me to question my own motives, etc. I think all of us are guilty of promoting Christ as a way to have complete happiness, joy, etc. Even though He does give us those things and so much more, but even there are days of depression, unhappiness, no joy etc and what are we to do with those days that we have?
Another band that I can think of is Bride. They were a heavy metal/hard rock band that came out and within their albums they talked about Christ. On their lyric sheet for the album Snakes In The Playground, most if not all the lyrics had a corresponding Bible verse for those who wanted to go in more depth in what they were singing about. They never rose to the status as some Christian bands do today but they indeed challenged the listener through their lyrics and sadly bands like that are few and far between.
Its almost becoming, if not has already come, hip in the music world to be considered a Christian band. While some bands that are out there that are indeed Christian and do appear on secular radio, their lyrics are sometimes filled with things alluding to Christ but they dont want to alienate their audience with more bolder lyrics, so that is the route that they do indeed take. While on the Christian spectrum in todays music, even Christian bands sometimes do the same thing. State they dont want to alienate their audience due to bolder lyrics but yet, never point the listener to Christ.
Sorry for the rant or opinion piece, but I just see a lot of issues within today's Christian music and my prayer is that God will indeed wake up those out there that are more concerned with having sell out crowds than more concerned with letting people know about the hope that is within them
Christ is everything. He is alive in me today
