As I shared on the page about rock music, I still love hard rock music, but my musical tastes have changed a lot since I’ve joined the recovery movement. Or is it really because I’m an old man now, as my kids continuously remind me?
Recovery sets you on a journey. You never really get there, but it’s an interesting ride. And a lot more fun than the ride on which active addiction takes you. Once the program of Narcotics Anonymous allowed me to take my “reality blinders” off, I wanted to experience new things in my life. I wanted to know the truth, and was not afraid to listen to different opinions and beliefs until I found it.
My quest for knowledge an truth took me to Church. I met a lot of good people there, and I wanted to totally fit in, but I just could not get into the music. I would listen to preaching on the radio and enjoy it, but when they started singing, it would make the hair on back of my neck stand up. I just couldn’t develop a taste for it.
Then I discovered Christian Rock. Christian Rock has really advanced in the last few years, and has started to sound like the members of some of my favorite bands had gotten saved, and kept jammin’. I started buying it up, and reading magazines like Heaven’s Metal, 7 Ball Magazine and Contemporary Christian Music. I could hear a lot of recovery in their music, as demonstrated in the following lyrics from a very hard rocking song entitled “Drown”, on Grammatrain’s “Lonely House” CD...
“My spirits take me to another place.
I never have to know my real face.
In my brown bag I know I cannot die.
My sour breath to you will testify.
Hey, man, do you wanna drown?
While your bottle drinks you down.
(I hear you say) save me, save me,
Hey man do you wanna drown?
My treasured poison, you control my days.
You spin my life while I forget my name.
I’m in a prison of my own demise.
See no escaping through my red-lined eyes.”
I soon discovered that I had entered no man’s land. Christians didn’t like Christian Rock because it’s Rock, and the Rockers didn’t like it because the lyrics are Christian. I couldn’t understand how EVERYONE could dislike something that’s main subject was God. It was an interesting question, but one that I would have to make a decision about for myself. Once again, I was dazed and confused. At the risk of worldwide catastrophe, I started thinking...
If we could hear music from two thousand years ago, would it sound unusual to us? If we could hear music from six hundred years ago, would it sound unusual to us? How will the music that we love so dearly today sound to people two thousand years from now (if the human race lasts that long)? After meditating and praying about it, I came to the belief that a guitar, a collection of wood, plastic, and metal, could be no more inherently evil than any other musical instrument. It’s all in what you do with it. If I use a knife to cut a piece of rope, is the knife evil? If I use a knife to cut a human being, is the knife evil? The answer to both questions is obvious.
I also looked at organized religion’s attitude toward technology. Take the Holy Scriptures, for example. From scrolls, to handwritten books, to the printing press, to today’s electronic mass production of Bibles, the Church has stayed in the forefront of technology. From the pulpit, to the radio, to television; when it comes to preaching the Word, the Church has stayed in the forefront of technology. In the Church’s attitude towards music, the most technologically advanced musical instruments have always been used to praise God. From the harp, to the trumpet, to the piano, to the electronic organ, and to the electronic sound systems and speakers that saturate today’s Churches with music, the Church has stayed in the forefront of technology. But all that stopped at the electric guitar.
Why does the electric guitar leave such a bad taste in the mouth of organized religion? I believe there are several reasons. First, when the electric guitar really exploded onto the American scene, it was in the hands of Jimi Hendrix, a drug crazed black person who was playing music unlike anything that anyone on this Earth had ever heard before. Had to be from the devil. Not a good role model. Then there was Elvis the Pelvis, with girls taking off their bras and panties and throwing them at him. Not a good role model. He had to be from the devil, too. And ironically, look at all the Christians that love Elvis today.
Second, after Elvis, bands like Black Sabbath and AC/DC started using the electric guitar to play “Devil Worshipin’ Music”. Here, I agree with the Church, but I blame the bands, not the guitars. I still love AC/DC’s music, but I can no longer listen to songs like “Hells Bells”, or “In C.O.D.”, which they identify in the lyrics as standing for “In care of the devil”. To me, I just feel very uneasy when I hear those songs. They no longer sound "cool", and I will not listen to them.
Third, I think that the religious leaders of today, being the older members of our society, prefer the music of their generation like most other humans do. The electric guitar was in it’s infancy back then, and it’s popularity just hadn’t progressed to the point that it has today.
In my humble opinion, if the Church was sincere in it’s efforts to purge the world of evil music, it’s primary target would be COUNTRY MUSIC!!! Country music bands use the “inherently evil six string”; and, if it weren’t for alcoholism and adultery, country music would be TOTALLY INSTRUMENTAL! No lyrics whatsoever! Why doesn’t organized religion go after country music? Because a lot of their money is derived from people who like it. Too hot to touch...
The fact is that GOD NEVER CHANGES, in spite of the fact that we do. Our most modern technology is as a child’s ten piece jigsaw puzzle to Him. It doesn’t matter what technology we use to praise Him, as long as we do it with an honest motive and a sincere heart.
I believe that as long as I work my program, my personal tastes in music will never sidetrack my recovery.
To find out more about individual Christian Rock Bands, click here.
Check out the following Christian Rock Links...
Christian Rock
Defense Index
ChristianRock.Net
Christian Metal Resource
Website
To go to the Rock Music Link, click here.
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