Question about "Bad Music"

  • Thread starter Thread starter natedagw824
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
N

natedagw824

Guest
Hi all,

I have a question about music that the church calls evil. First off, let me say that I listen to all kinds of music: heavy metal, rap, classical, alternative, and Christian music.
I was talking to a priest once and I told him that I listen to heavy metal and he said, “That kind of music will lead u straight to hell!” Why is it that the Church takes a stance like this? A priest that my dad knew once said that “All musical bands have to sell their soul to the devil to gain fame in this world.” The priest also said they must sell their soul, literally, to a satanic priest.
Where is the proof?
Are some bands Satanic and some bands not satanic? Does it depend on the genre of music?
I know of a band called “Slayer”; I know for a fact that they are satanic because they talk about satan in their lyrics.
Another band called Metallica talks about death and disease and political violence.
My point is this: where do we draw the line??? Is Christian music the only type of music I should listen to? What about Eric Clapton and the Beatles??

When I listen to music, I dont pay any attention to the lyrics; I just listen to the “musical part.”

If you could give me some feedback on this, I would really appreciate it.
Also, Im not trying to defend any kind of music here, I just want ur opinions on this matter.

Thank you and God bless you all,

Nathan:)
 
Hello,

This doesn’t answer all your questions, but it might help:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=16612&highlight=music

Something I do (this is just me, one person, not the official position of the Church or anything like that) is think about how I feel or what I am thinking after listening to a questionable song. Am I thinking, “Wow, what a catchy tune and talented artist!” or am I thinking, “Yea, love stinks!” ? There’s enough in life to bring us down, we don’t need our music selection to add to our despair. I’m not saying I don’t listen to any sad songs. “Crying Time” by Ray Charles, for instance, is sad but beautiful, to me.
 
natedagw824 said:
Hi all,

II was talking to a priest once and I told him that I listen to heavy metal and he said, “That kind of music will lead u straight to hell!” Why is it that the Church takes a stance like this? A priest that my dad knew once said that “All musical bands have to sell their soul to the devil to gain fame in this world.” The priest also said they must sell their soul, literally, to a satanic priest.
Click to expand...
one or two priests offering their opinion and critique of music is not the same as “the Church takes this stance.” watch your phraseology. The Church has no particular teaching on music at all except as it pertains to liturgy, unless those engaged in producing or performing the music are actually engaged in immoral actions. Then the criticism is on the sinful acts, not the music itself, which is neutral. Music does not sin, people do.
 
natedagw824 said:
Hi all,

I have a question about music that the church calls evil. First off, let me say that I listen to all kinds of music: heavy metal, rap, classical, alternative, and Christian music.
I was talking to a priest once and I told him that I listen to heavy metal and he said, “That kind of music will lead u straight to hell!” Why is it that the Church takes a stance like this? A priest that my dad knew once said that “All musical bands have to sell their soul to the devil to gain fame in this world.” The priest also said they must sell their soul, literally, to a satanic priest.
Where is the proof?
Are some bands Satanic and some bands not satanic? Does it depend on the genre of music?
I know of a band called “Slayer”; I know for a fact that they are satanic because they talk about satan in their lyrics.
Another band called Metallica talks about death and disease and political violence.
My point is this: where do we draw the line??? Is Christian music the only type of music I should listen to? What about Eric Clapton and the Beatles??

When I listen to music, I dont pay any attention to the lyrics; I just listen to the “musical part.”

If you could give me some feedback on this, I would really appreciate it.
Also, Im not trying to defend any kind of music here, I just want ur opinions on this matter.

Thank you and God bless you all,

Nathan:)
Click to expand...
I’ve seen metallica 3 times, had some slayer, used to listen to judas priest, iron maiden…junk it!!! One day I threw away all my cds,tapes and albums. Think about it. Who and what is it pushing on you. I played this stuff on guitar for 20 years, but I had to make a choice. I still listen to some beatles and some others, but you got to be careful with what your putting in your head. Tim
 
Thanks for ur responses. Sorry about my “phraseology.”
Im not the best at writing. lol

Thanks,

Nathan
 
any music, tunes, lyrics or performance, that tempts an individual to sin is an occassion of sin for that person, and must be avoided. That can be Gregorian chant for someone tempted to a sin of pride, or satanic lyrics for someone who believes what the words say, or polka music played loud by the people downstairs deliberately to annoy their neighbors. If the music you listen to predisposes you for sinful thoughts and desires, or puts you in situations where you are tempted to sin, for you it is wrong and it is immoral to listen or play.
 
buffalo said:
Positive Music Alternatives
Click to expand...
:rotfl:

Sorry, but I have taste. The few alternatives–I notice they didn’t list one for the man himself, Alice Cooper–they had for decent music indicates just how artistically dead Christian music is. Should have said “music”.

If you like serious rock, Christian “music” ain’t gonna cut it. With very few exceptions (Newsboys comes to mind, but punk is the lowest form of rock), Christian “rock” is complaint rock with simplistic theology thrown in.

There’s variety of songs in secular music. Anthems, love songs, gonna-kick-your-teeth-in songs (think Pat Benatar)–can Christian rock do any of them, or does it only write bad hymns? Maybe I, being sentient, like to have the melancholy romance of “Bed of Roses” before the almost despairing defiance of “Blaze of Glory,” both Bon Jovi songs, and then the semi-mystical hope of “Winds of Change” and “Send me an Angel,” by Scorpions, and then a little menace from “Enter Sandman” followed up by the deep regret and bitterness of “Unforgiven,” both by Metallica. The paradoxical dangers of lust bound up with love are summed up better by Alice Cooper’s “Poison” than by any song Christian “musicians” could write if their lives depended on it.

The reason to be a Catholic, and not something else, is that only the Catholic Church (and real, taught-by-your-family-for-eons paganism) address the whole of human life. There is room in Catholicism for soldiers–there is none in Quakerism. There is room for artists–there is none in Puritanism. There is room for every human type and mood, which no other religion gives. And there is only room for one mood in Christian rock–a vapid, ill-expressed “good feeling” for some dude named Jesus. That garbage is not the music you write for the woman you love, let alone the entity you worship. It’s the music you write for the deodorant company that hired you.

To conclude what is essentially a rant, Christian music is unworthy of Christ. The world is not worthy of the best of secular music.
 
Hastrman said:
:rotfl:

Sorry, but I have taste. The few alternatives–I notice they didn’t list one for the man himself, Alice Cooper–they had for decent music indicates just how artistically dead Christian music is. Should have said “music”.

If you like serious rock, Christian “music” ain’t gonna cut it. With very few exceptions (Newsboys comes to mind, but punk is the lowest form of rock), Christian “rock” is complaint rock with simplistic theology thrown in.

There’s variety of songs in secular music. Anthems, love songs, gonna-kick-your-teeth-in songs (think Pat Benatar)–can Christian rock do any of them, or does it only write bad hymns? Maybe I, being sentient, like to have the melancholy romance of “Bed of Roses” before the almost despairing defiance of “Blaze of Glory,” both Bon Jovi songs, and then the semi-mystical hope of “Winds of Change” and “Send me an Angel,” by Scorpions, and then a little menace from “Enter Sandman” followed up by the deep regret and bitterness of “Unforgiven,” both by Metallica. The paradoxical dangers of lust bound up with love are summed up better by Alice Cooper’s “Poison” than by any song Christian “musicians” could write if their lives depended on it.

The reason to be a Catholic, and not something else, is that only the Catholic Church (and real, taught-by-your-family-for-eons paganism) address the whole of human life. There is room in Catholicism for soldiers–there is none in Quakerism. There is room for artists–there is none in Puritanism. There is room for every human type and mood, which no other religion gives. And there is only room for one mood in Christian rock–a vapid, ill-expressed “good feeling” for some dude named Jesus. That garbage is not the music you write for the woman you love, let alone the entity you worship. It’s the music you write for the deodorant company that hired you.

To conclude what is essentially a rant, Christian music is unworthy of Christ. The world is not worthy of the best of secular music.
Click to expand...
One should strive to listen to music that is uplifting and with a positive message. I would deduce your taste does not include this definition. If it doesn’t why would you support negativity?
 
I don’t have much time right now, but I agree with Hastrman. Most Christian rock is very bad.

"Why would you celebrate negativity?’

King Lear. MacBeth, Antigone, The Mission, Anna Karenina, Flannery O’Connor, Bosch’s paintings, Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales, Madame Bovary, many of the Psalms. There are thousands of great works that are tragic. Tragedy is just as much a part of human life as comedy.

Is all rage and sorrow prohibited from expression, artistically?
 
buffalo said:
One should strive to listen to music that is uplifting and with a positive message. I would deduce your taste does not include this definition. If it doesn’t why would you support negativity?
Click to expand...
Not all of the above is negative, Kemosabe. The two Scorpions songs and one of the Bon Jovi songs aren’t (Bed of Roses is the sweetest, most masculinely romantic song in the history of human music–I defy you not to get at least a little misty hearing it).

And there are sad, angry, and resentful songs because we, Catholics I mean, don’t cut pieces out of the human heart. We direct each piece to its rightful end.

My point was, there’s actual variety of genre, style, and content in secular music. There’s nothing but a sort of emasculated cheerleading for a weakling, feel-good Christ in Christian rock.

And the lyrics are just plain awful. Compare the outright poetry of even a bad Bon Jovi song (“Someday I’ll Be Saturday Night” ain’t good, brother) to the best of Christian songwriting, and you’ll side with the secular every time. That’s because real rock, in the 80s, created its own trends, on the basis of what sounded good. Christian music is a product of the 90s, and the music of that execrable decade (with some exceptions, like Alice Cooper’s later work), secular or Christian, lost all touch with aesthetics or art or originality.
 
problem with Christian music is that those making it tend to believe that human emotion is bad or vain (at least any emotions that aren’t speicifically about and limited to worship). That’s why you’ll never hear a Christian song about how much you love your wife because it’s all the “vanity of the world” and “man glorifying himself” etc

When you take the emotional content out of music you’re left with…nothing.
 
buffalo said:
Positive Music Alternatives
Click to expand...
Frankly that website is ridiculous.
For example, what on earth is evil about Celine Dion. How would listening to her singing move someone to commit a sin. That’s just plain silly.
She has one of the best singing voices around. I’ve got all her cd’s. Its her voice and the sound that I like. Nobody else can reproduce that. Same goes for many artists on the “negative” list.
If a person likes a particular artist why would they stop listening to that artist to change to another. The other would have a different voice.
I really don’t know who dreams up stuff like that.
 
natedagw824 said:
When I listen to music, I dont pay any attention to the lyrics; I just listen to the “musical part.”
Click to expand...
Would it be alright to say that one can listen to the song with all cursing in it but he does not listen to the lyrics but the music alone?
  • I don’t think so.
You can’t just say you are listening to the music only. The words still get to you. Even if you are not listening but you are welcoming the temptation. Evil really likes to take any chance to get you thinking on the words you are listening.
 
When listening to music, I feel there are two categories in which you must judge it: the artistic quality of the music, and the decency of the lyrics. That doesn’t mean the lyrics or music have to be uplifting or upbeat, sometimes a sad song is a better song than a happy song. Unfortuneately the vast majority of ‘christian’ music I’ve encountered didn’t beat my music quality check despite the wonderful wholesomeness of the lyrics (and I refuse to listen to bad music for the lyrics). On the other hand, there are some songs that, while I like the music to them and would enjoy them on the radio, I would never buy the music since the lyrics are so far off from what is right.

One reason I, personally, like Metallica a lot is that the lyrics aren’t unwholesome (with some exceptions) and it’s good, hardcore rock that get’s me pumped about doing stuff. Now there is some decent christian music out there, although it takes some work to find, and I would suggest adding that to your collection, but I don’t feel that secular rock is going to condemn you to hell.

Cheers!
 
Wow, they have Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on their “bad” list.:nope:

I love that group! Fun music!
 
natedagw824 said:
What about Eric Clapton and the Beatles??

When I listen to music, I dont pay any attention to the lyrics; I just listen to the “musical part.”
Click to expand...
I’m a Catholic and I can’t stand the Beatles. I also love the Indigo Girls and James Taylor. What does that mean? Nothing.

I’m careful about the lyrics I listen to, because I know that any words set with rhythm and melody stick to the brain almost instantly. You gotta start paying attention to the lyrics, Nate, because your subconscious is getting them even if you’re not aware of it.

As for the state of Christian music, it’s embarassing. Still, that doesn’t mean one has to listen to music that extols sex, drugs, and violence.
 
natedagw824 said:
When I listen to music, I dont pay any attention to the lyrics; I just listen to the “musical part.”
Click to expand...
I know I’ve felt the same way for many years, often listening to some questionable stuff, but I’ve got to tell you, lately I am rethinking this. I’ve been turning off the volume on the radio or the CD player in my car, because sometimes I become aware of just what those lyrics are saying. I’m starting to think that those lyrics might really have a negative impact.
 
Lissla_Lissar said:
I don’t have much time right now, but I agree with Hastrman. Most Christian rock is very bad.
Click to expand...
Most rock is very bad. I suggest that the proportion of Christian rock that is good, is equal to the proportion of all rock that is good…the difference being there are more general rock bands than Christian rock bands…so in the end…there is less good Christian rock than general rock.

Anyway…Even songs that deal with the “uglier” parts of life have much that is worthy to say. Yeah, there’s junk out there, but there is good stuff too, sift the wheat from the chaff.

During tough times…industrial and metal have served me equally well as “godly” music. I listen to both on a daily basis. Sometimes I just need to yell it all out.

cheddar
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top