Questionable Music

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I would like to suggest two resources for you to use in evaluating music. The first is a book by Catholic author, Peter Kreeft. It is called, “The Best Things in Life”. Go to chapter 8 were “Socrates” has a discussion with a fictitous student, “Felicia Flake,” at Desperate State University regarding rock music. Peter Kreeft is great for helping you to get to the foundation of an issue. Obviously, I can’t put the whole chapter here, but here is a small quote: “Socrates: … A great variety of spirits come to us on the wings of music, into the deepest recesses of the soul. They come to places where the light of reason has never shone. They come gliding past the gatekeeper, Reason, the censor and judge which patrols the soul’s borders. Felicia: You mean music should be censored by reason? Socrates: Not what I think you mean by reason–sanity, seeing what is, conformity to Truth. This is the proper gatekeeper of the soul. Music slips past him more effectively than anything else. That is why my pupil Plato wanted the state to censor music.” The second source I would recommend was an article published in a Seton Home Study School Newsletter. You can read it on line by going to www.setonhome.org. Click on the “Site Map” at the top right of the page. Next, on the lower left, click on “About Seton”. When you see “Newsletters”, click on that. Type in “January 2004” and “download”. This will take you to the newsletter. Using the tabs on the side, go to page 3 and use the icons at the top to enlarge it. The article is entitled “The Moral Power of Music,” excepts from an article by Father Basil Nortz. It is excellent. The complete article was first published in Homiletic and Pastoral Review in April 2002 and can also be read at www.catholic.net/rcc/Periodicals/hom. That will help you with the “why’s”, but I haven’t any suggestions for the “how” end of it. Good luck!
 
The best way to ignite your child’s interest in a band is to ban the band. The solution? Listen with your children. Ask them what the songs are about. Sing along with them! (Imagine that!)
 
PS~Many CD’s have lyric inserts to help you sing along. If that fails, you can find lyrics online.
 
Thank you so much for posting these sites! This will be a big help for our youth group. God bless you!
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Edwin1961:
Believe it or not, there are some Heavy Metal Christian/Catholic Rock bands I.E. Reliant K, Switchfoot, Plain Jane=Catholic.
May I suggest this websites to learn more about these types of music:
www.sacredheartradio.net
www.omegarock.com

Go with God!
Edwin
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Kids are wearing shirts with “you are what you listen to” on them. If they like heavy metal, or pop or whatever there are Christian bands that play that kind of music and play it well. Just no references to sex, drugs, murders, put downs or anything like that. These bands while many do espouse Christian living are not the Jesus loves me type of lyrics.

Our youth have watched the Hells Bells video tapes and many DID go out and break their CDs!

PS tomorrow I am taking my son and some friends to a Christian rock concert - a big 4 day event (we are only going for 1 day to hear their favorite band) in Bushnell IL-pray for my sanity I’m 54 years old and there is supposed to be 15,000 people there:bigyikes: .
(I remember the days of Woodstock…not exactly Christian…and not exactly not a good thing…
blessings
 
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Lorik:
The next time he plays it in the house I would just take out the cd and snap in half. Sure he’ll be mad, but he’ll get over it. After he loses one or two cd’s I would bet he’d stop bringing them into the house.
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Be careful snapping cd’s in half. Make sure you’re not snapping it towards your face or his… the little shards that shoot off of the cd’s can injure your or him.

As for me, I listen to lots of music, i have over 6000 songs in my personal library from enya to megadeth. I tend to phase out the lyrics and focus mostly on the HEAVY GUITAR ROCKIN! Now, i know that some of the music i have isn’t questionalbe, it’s downright bad, but again, it’s not the lyrics… I have to admit though, that lately i have been listening more and more to catholic radio, the only problem is that I go to work early in the morning and come home early afternoon, this means that in my car I usually only hear the stations of the cross at 4:30 am and heart mind and strength at 1 pm. i’m not knocking the stations of the cross or anything but it’s hard to listen to on the drive to work when you’re dead tired and trying to stay awake. If i had my way i’d swap heart mind and strength with the doctor is in. Dr. Ray rules. But i always have Darcy Maher’s cd “Sancta Mater” in my cd player if i wanna listen to it. Her music is so beautiful, and i believe it has helped strengthen my faith. You can check out her cd at www.kyrieonline.com and hear some samples. I like her songs a lot.
 
Music is an interesting human endeavor. I beleive often at the level of creativity in our brain exists a darker side of us. Why God put it in us, I don’t know.
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I’m not so sure the dark part of us was God’s doing…it’s just an example of human imperfection.

Very interesting responses here, and it seems that most of you pay less attention to the lyrics and more attention to how it sounds. I thought I was the only one who didn’t understand what the lyrics were to most songs… 😃
Kids are wearing shirts with “you are what you listen to” on them.
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Yes, that seems to be the attitude with many people I know…the kids judge a person by what music he listens to. If someone listens to a certain type of music or a certain group, he can be thought more or less of it because of it. My solution to that? I just don’t listen to any music at all, and I don’t even own a cd player or any cds.
 
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Jeffrey:
Also, did you ever listen to Metallica’s Garage Days Re-Visited? They have a song on there with the lyrics:
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I’ll point out that this song is a cover, not one of their songs.

Metallica has a wide range of subject matter. Some songs are horrible and a terrible influence: Last Caress/Green Hell, the song mentioned above, is a good example. This is the one Metallica song that I don’t listen to, due to the lyrics. Some songs have great subject matter: Master of Puppets and Sad But True are both anti-drug songs. And they have lots in-between.

Marie Margaret, I am 31 and grew up mainly listening to heavy metal, especially Metallica. I always avoided the Satanic bands (Slayer). I would say that banning the music would not be helpful and will only drive him to it. I think about how I would have reacted if my Mom had done that and I don’t think that it would have been good. I agree that you need to talk to him - how he feels about it and why he listens to it makes all the difference. For a lot of screwed up kids, it’s indicative of other problems. For a lot of normal kids, it’s just a release - a non-violent way to release aggression.

You should be able to find the lyrics to any of their songs easily online. One of the things that I always liked about Metallica is that they rarely swear in their songs (although they seemed to move away from that in their last album). Now, they cover a lot of other band’s songs, and those songs are some of the worst that I have ever heard.

If you have any specific questions about Metallica, feel free to PM me. I have every CD and know all the lyrics. I would be happy to assist and give my (name removed by moderator)ut.

BTW, I am one of the people who are largely lyrics-driven. The vocals and lyrics are the focal point of music for me.

Since I’ve become Christian, I’ve been looking for more heavy Christian music for my collection. I have found a great, heavy Christian band called Theocracy. I have a thread about them here:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=5311

I have also found that I now listen to Catholic radio the majority of the time that I am in the car.
 
I really don’t see what the big deal is with this music…

My only concern would be is if these kids emerge themselves in these subcultures associated with these musical genres (death metal, etc.). That would be a point of concern, but otherwise I wouldn’t worry about it.

Music is art. The lyrics express feelings of the song’s writers. If you hold contemporary music to the same standard as the Bible, then actually the Bible is more perverse (incest, rape, murders, theft, etc.). Although the Bible is the Word of God, it’s not PG-material. So let’s have some common sense when approaching the so-called morality of music (eventhough the F-word is unnecessary and reeks of bad taste and uncreativity).

Music is generally benign, just don’t emerge yourselves in the culture of some genres like “gangster” (yea right) rap and death metal.
 
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Wampa:
Since I’ve become Christian, I’ve been looking for more heavy Christian music for my collection. I have found a great, heavy Christian band called Theocracy.
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Hey thanks :). I’ve been looking for a little harder rocking christian music. I’m getting a couple cd’s that are considered christian rock, but i’m more into hard rock, i’m gonna give Theocracy a listen.

I’m also an anime (japanese cartoons) fan, none of that hentai (japanese cartoon porn) stuff, but i have a large collection of anime music. Most of the time when i’m at my computer i listen to the anime music stuff. The soundtracks to the Naruto anime series are also especially good :). Sounds a lot like good video game music.
 
I think it’s unneccessary for a parent to be very restrictive with kids music. Of course there’s a place to draw the line, but music is a major way for teens to express themselves and find out who they are. When I was growing up my mom never put any limits what we listened to. (although we knew better to let her hear the really bad stuff, I specifically remember hiding NWA from her). But I knew kids that weren’t allowed to listen to secular music at all. Ya know what? They did it anyways. In fact they really rebelled and they both grew up with serious problems. (well their parents were way too strict all together, and last year the son killed himself). But the point is that being too restrictive doesn’t always protect them.

My sister and I listened to all kinds of music growing up. Much of it was bad and had offensive lyrics. But we also had a strong Catholic upbringing and were taught to love God and as we grew up we rejected the really bad music on our own out of love for God.

I personally don’t think Metallica is that bad. (of course I’m also a huge fan!). But there is a lot of other music out there that is a million times worse that you’d be better of focusing on that with your teens. Yes, Metallica has some questionable lyrics, but believe me it could be worse. I really would suggest if your son wants to listen to it to sit down with him, listen to the cd’s and read the lyrics and discuss it together. I think you’ll find that most of the lyrics are not bad. And besides, if your son wants to listen to Metallica, he will whether it’s with you or when your not around. Somebody here said in another thread that the lead singer converted to Catholicism after recovering from addictions. There’s a spiritual journey in his music that you’ll find. I know that his parents were Christian Scientists and a lot of his music was influenced by that struggle growing up. I also heard that one of his songs, “The God that Failed” was written because his Christian Scientist mother refused medical treatment which caused her death. So the lyrics may sound really bad, but when you know the story behind them it makes sense. Read the lyrics to the song and you’ll see what I mean.
 
Personally I believe in having Christian music and tons of it. I am 19 years old and its the only type of music I listen to. I gave up “regualr” music much to the chagrin of my family two years ago after World Youth Day 2002.

It has made my life better becasue it is more hopefull and less about human agonies. Before I gave up secular music I tried just listening to older music for a while, but I found it even more disgusting then current things becasue it was all about a) pre-marital sex b) drugs c)breakup of unheathy relationshio or d) all of the above.

But it was my personal choice. My mom still listens to oldies, my dad listens to rock, my brothers listen to punk and rap. Thats their choice.
Buy plenty of good Christian CD’s and make sure he has them handy to listen to. He probably won’t gravitate to them right away, but when the songs on the cd’s he like are boring he will have something better to replace it with insted of looking for something worse.
 
Margie:

I am a huge fan of Metal, then I got into punk, now hardcore. I have been in bands for the past 6 years. I always go to shows, and yes alot of it was bad. But anyway I am in a Catholic band now, called Seven Sorrows because there are NO catholic bands out there, yes, if you look for hours on the internet you can find about 10, but they are pretty awful (if you listen to normal music) because they just sound like christian music, not music you are used to listening to. We do have metal/hardcore songs on our site free for download.

As for people’s opinions on metallica, etc, most of them did not know what they are talking about. I was the biggest metallica fan ever (now they are mellow). But they have awesome lryics, lyrics teens can really relate to. One song “creeping death” tells the bible story about the angel of death coming for the first born male. The song “leper messiah” that one person wrote about is a great song about false teachers of the christian faith. They have songs about classic books like “for whom the bell tolls”. They did sing the song about “i got something to say, I raped your mother today” but it wasn’t there song, it is called “last caress” by the punk band the misfits. Metallica is NOT one band I would worry about.

As for slayer, they are not satanists, they have never proclaimed to be, but they do have pentagrams and such displayed.

My advice would be to try to relate to your child. See if they will talk to you about there favorite bands, and why they like them. Talk about the lryics and relate them to your faith. I rememember I just liked fast and hard music and didn’t care about the lyrics, so yeah I listened to some pretty bad stuff, but it was just because I couldn’t find anything good. Now there is tons and tons of good stuff.

He does need to obey you, but you don’t want to be overly strict or protective out of not knowing. Just talk to him and tell him the importance of following directions. Let him listen to the good stuff, but tell him why the band stuff can’t be in the house. If he brings the bad stuff to the house, then you can crack down.

You can email me with questions on bands, or your son can.
 
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masondoggy:
Somebody here said in another thread that the lead singer converted to Catholicism after recovering from addictions.
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I do not think that this is true. I read that too and then I did some pretty extensive Googling to verify. I could find NO verification. If anyone can find any verification, please let me know (I’d love to tell my metal friends that James was Catholic now!!!).
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masondoggy:
I also heard that one of his songs, “The God that Failed” was written because his Christian Scientist mother refused medical treatment which caused her death.
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I am not sure if that is the reason for that song, but it is true about his Mom. As I listened to their songs that are anti-religion, I always viewed it through this lenses - that as a kid, he had to want his Mom die from a treatable disease, because their religion would not allow her to be treated.
 
I would be wary of letting your kid listen to Metallica, especially their old stuff. But it could be just a phase he is going through. I listened to them for a while in high school, back when the Black album was released. Then I started paying close attention to their lyrics, and I decided to stop listening to them.

There are a wealth of other bands out there to listen to. As far as Christian bands go, P.O.D.'s “Alive” album and D.C. Talk’s “Jesus Freak” album come to mind.
 
A good compromise might be to research song lyrics and form an approved list. After you know what song’s you’re looking for, you might try purchasing them from one of the internet sites that sells mp3’s for $0.99 apiece. This way he can still listen to the music, and you can help control the content of the lyrics he is exposed to.

Peace
 
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Lorik:
I don’t think (but I do not know for sure) that Metallica is as bad as some of the stuff out there. Like Korn and others like them. Korn is very bad. The disobedience thing is trouble. The next time he plays it in the house I would just take out the cd and snap in half. Sure he’ll be mad, but he’ll get over it. After he loses one or two cd’s I would bet he’d stop bringing them into the house.
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It may stop him from bringing it into the house but it won’t stop him from listening to it.

I listened to Metallica(and still do actually) and other types of music with questionable lyrics as a teen. If you have laid a good moral foundation for your son I seriously doubt the lyrics will have an effect on him. Parents tend to take the words to music far more seriously then teens do.

If your son is attracted to heavier music with darker themes it would wise to discuss why he likes the music without being accusitory. Most of the time teens listen to music they feel they can relate to.

If a particular band bothers you look up the lyrics and discuss it with your son being open to his view on the matter. This is a tough age between childhood and adulthood and “because I say so” isn’t very effective anymore. If your son thinks you are genuinely listening to him and considering his feelings he’s much more likely to consider yours. Which in the end I think will produce a better result.
 
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Jeffrey:
Yea but…listening to bands like Metallica could lead to the other bands…like Slayer/Venom (Burn’m if he ever buys these).

Also, did you ever listen to Metallica’s Garage Days Re-Visited? They have a song on there with the lyrics:

I got something to say
I killed your baby today
Doens;t matter much to me
As long as its dead

I got something to say
I raped your mother today
It doesn’t matter much to me
As long as she spread

Here’s the link to thier lyrics for that album:

lyrics.rockmagic.net/lyrics/metallica/garage_days_re_revisited_1987.html
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Wow that brings back highschool. That is actually a remake of a Misfits song (and holy cow do they have some awful lyrics). I know ya’ll are gonna cringe but my hubby was a huge Misfits fan in highschool and I listened to their stuff all the time. Thankfully they sing so fast you can’t really understand what they’re saying. 😃 From what my hubby says alot of the MIsfits stuff is written about horror movies and I think some real crimes that have taken place in the past if I remember correctly.

I gaurantee my husband never thought it was ok to rape or kill or any of some of the other awful things in their lyrics. Both he and I had difficult home lives and we were both attracted to dark angry music. That’s why I mentioned discussing why your son is attracted to it.
 
The only Metallica song I deliberately don’t listen to is 'Fade to Black (a depressing song about suicide). I’ve heard everything on RTL, Puppets, …And Justice, and Black, and the rest is generally ok.

But yea, I do notice that Metallica doesn’t have any ‘happy’ songs.
 
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