Conflicted
Is it ok to completely LOVE a band even if the members are a bunch of schmucks? Adam Duritz (Counting Crows) is a fairly poisonous individual, but I can't help thinking he's written a lot of the bests songs of the 90's. I put Morrisey and Jack White in this category as well. It seems to me that when you listen over and over to music a person has written, there's a substantive one-way influence. Is it a good idea to give someone who is personally unworthy that sort of leverage? What about really good music that glorifies bad stuff? Bad stuff like sex, drugs and rock n' roll, of course.
I gave up on Christian pop* as a genre when I was about 16. Having the "right" (see: hackneyed, cliched) subject matter is no excuse for putting out sucky God pap. On the other hand, should I restrict my listening to artists who stick to tame subjects and lyrics? I have always thought that was a lot like refusing to watch R-rated movies.
* Christian pop is music you can only buy at your local Zondervan bookstore, or in the special Gospel section at Tower Records...
posted by Theis @ 11:54 AM
2 Comments:
"i'd rather watch r-rated truth over a g-rated lie any day." - ken gire
i think "listen" can be substituted for "watch" in this quote easily enough. i really love this quote.
i'm not a fan of exclusivity: i don't reject all "secular" music, nor do i reject all "christian" music. either way, i'd be missing out on something. i rather enjoy the fact that my alphabetically arranged cd collection has "eminem" just before my "enter the worship circle" cds.
it's not what goes in, but what comes out. i think that as long as we can keep in mind that honesty does not always equal Truth, we can stay in pretty good shape. discernment is key.
they're talking about music over at arnold's site lately. -rachel
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