An old onion article that REALLY HAPPENED to me

[M0ses]

Forgive me if this is old hat. Jesus Is My Friend by Sonseed - YouTube

It just seems....appropriate.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

I think it is kind of funny all this emphasis on christian vs non-christian. To be frank I do not think it was until we had bands like Slayer that there were mainstream (-ish) acts that were blatantly non-christian or anti-christian.
The hippies were counter-cultural sure. But that doesnt mean they threw out the Christianity anymore than they got rid of standard gender roles or gave up eating meat.
Listen to some CSN&Y or pretty much any of the "San Francisco sound" bands and you will hear many jesus and god references.
I hardly think Littel Richard, Chuck Berry or Jerry Lee Lewis would take kindly to anyone saying they are not christian either.
I think this "christian rock" thing is born out of some perception that mainstream rock is thoroughly corrupted by agents of satan, so to save the souls of the deluded youth ther has to be "decoy" bands to lure them away from the satanic tempters.
I know satanic people. Truth is they don't want to lure anyone away from the mainstream. Nor do they want to sacrifice anyone to anything. They are just all about being iconoclastic individualists. They really have almost nothing to do with the christian concept of satan. the only use it to show opprobrium towards mainstream society.

The other side of the "coin". Once I was buying some PA gear from this nice couple in South San Francisco. When they found out I play bass they wanted me to come play with them on a cruise they work on. They said the pay is very good. Room and board plus per diem too. Except....it was a christian cruise, and we would be playing christian music.
I said nope.

 

[Carlton4]

I am a Christian but I make a point of not playing in Christian Bands outside of church. I feel that playing "Christian Music" is limiting because then it is assumed that is all you will talk about. Sure some of the songs i write(or my bandmates write) have stuff about God in them, but I also write songs about girls and life and basically whatever I want to. I just feel like Christian music is limiting and is also setting myself up to come off as judgemental or be judged myself.

 

[dtripoli]

I ain't buying the OP's story either.
If in fact, after a month of being with this band, they were not playing "Christian" songs, preaching Christianity or claiming to be a Christian band then, the lead singer on stage was merely expressing his opinion and the OP suddenly got intolerant and indignant.
OR
They actually were doing all of the above except the OP turned a blind eye to it, in which case he was engage in cognitive dissonance.
Either way, it ain't the band that comes off as jerks.

But this OP was doing an Onion-like post anyway so kudos to him for stringing so many TB'ers along

 

[Rage1331]

ON THIS NOTE! If I were ever to be in a Christian band, it would have to be based on the really violent old testament stuff. Imagine such hits as, "Drown, Heathen, Drown," (a la Noah's Ark) or, "Birthing Pain," (a la Eve's punishment).

 

[fishdreams]

I think it is kind of funny all this emphasis on christian vs non-christian. To be frank I do not think it was until we had bands like Slayer that there were mainstream (-ish) acts that were blatantly non-christian or anti-christian.
.

Slayer is an interesting case...bassist/singer Tom Arraya being at the very least, inspired by Jesus. See the religion caption here. Invalid Link Removed

 

[whatiswhat]

Yeah, did you even meet the vocalist before your gig?

 

[ksandvik]

It could indeed sometimes be tricky like if you look at King's X lyrics or how many know that Ellerson and Mustaine are Christians nowadays... I don't personally care about someone's belief systems in bands and otherwise unless those cause grief and harm to others, then it's time to put a stop on it.

 

[treekiller]

Let's see. Maybe I'm not a Christian. Did that occur to you? They should have been up front with me from the get go and confirmed that I would be willing to play in a faith based band. I don't care whether they're Christians or not; I just don't want to play in a Christian band. And yes, I let them know at the intermission that I would finish the gig, and then that would be that.

You're really in no position to criticize the way I handled things. Might I suggest watching your tone with people in the future?

I agree, I'm a Christian and I wouldn't play in a "Christian/Praise band"!

 

[evanatch]

Some of the discussion is pretty interesting here, seeing as I'm a pretty big fan of "Christian Rock."

I don't really understand when people say it's a contradiction. Rock is a musical style, Christian is a belief system that, in musical terms, translates to the lyrics of a song. Its just music for people who are Christians and like rock music, nothing wrong with that.

I think what a lot of people don't realize about Christian Rock is there are different types as well. Some bands will have songs that are expressly about their beliefs while other will take more of a "Christians-in-a-band" approach and write songs about life in general from a Christian point of view without specifically being an evangelical band. A lot of bands will also replace "God" or "Jesus" with "you" in their songs to broaden their appeal.

It's natural for people to listen to music written by people who share their beliefs, and thankfully there is music in all sorts of genres written by people with all sorts of beliefs. That doesn't mean I don't like non-Christian music either, the majority of what I listen to is by non-Christian bands. It's just nice to hear something in a song and really agree with it or be encouraged by it.

On the other hand, I can see the OP's point of view on not being part of a band that stood for something he didn't. A band that has a message for something should make sure everyone in the band stands for it, that can only make their message stronger.

Just for fun, here's something for those who think Christianity and heavy music don't/can't mix:
How Great Thou Art - Becoming The Archetype ( Lyric Video ) - YouTube
Praise and Worship lyrics meets Death Metal music...

 

[Munjibunga]

So which is dumber: inadvertently taking the gig with the christian band, or the band hiring an atheist bassist?

I'm curious as to the name of the band, song titles and lyrical content or whether you showed up wearing a pentagrammed t-shirt or jewelry.

I didn't catch where the OP said he was an atheist. And what do pentagrams have to do with anything?

 

[Ben Noblit]

I can completely see how that happened, I can never understand my vocalist in practice either. Hilarious, and I love your on-mic response.

Christian rock is such a silly "genre" anyway, the only difference being lyrical content. Although, that could be pretty fun. Anyone care to guess the leading bands of "nonsensical California sex rock" or "cars, girls, and run-down towns rock?"

 

[Jon_H]

Christian rock is such a silly "genre" anyway, the only difference being lyrical content.

I tend to agree. And I bet if you asked 100 bands what type of music they do, 99.9 of them would answer with a musical style, not lyrical content. Like "we play heavy rock" or "we play prog" or "we play neo-alt psychadelic polka". Not "we sing songs about ponies and rainbows" nor "we sing songs about stickin' it to the man, man!" nor "we do songs about banging as many chicks as Viagra will allow" nor "our lyrics are mostly about peace and harmony, but with a slight anti-war bent".

However, as this thread indicates, if a Christian band isn't explicitly upfront about their lyrical content (or the content of their between song banter), they're considered devious, underhanded, manipulative lyers. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Jon

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Just for fun, here's something for those who think Christianity and heavy music don't/can't mix:
How Great Thou Art - Becoming The Archetype ( Lyric Video ) - YouTube
Praise and Worship lyrics meets Death Metal music...

I wouldnt call that death metal. More like hardcore with some metal influence.
Heck who even calls themselves Death Metal anymore? Seems like folks are still jumping on the black metal and post hardcore bandwagons, or just twisting up a spliff and playing stoner doom.

 

[Old Fart]

I can appreciate that.. I played very shortly with a christian band and even though I'm catholic, eventually left just because I didn't feel comfortable with playing music that projected a certain message, even if I agreed with that message..if that makes sense.

I'm Catholic too, and your position is easy to understand. Catholics are not demonstrative. Our faith is an intensely personal matter between us and Him.

 

[12bass]

However, as this thread indicates, if a Christian band isn't explicitly upfront about their lyrical content (or the content of their between song banter), they're considered devious, underhanded, manipulative lyers.

There is a significant difference.

Bands singing about fairies and other fictions are merely weaving fictional stories into their music - the lyrical content is basically inert. However, bands with a particular religious message in their lyrics are often actively proselytizing; in other words, the music has a ulterior agenda - to convert people. Quite reasonably, some of us would like to know that in advance.

 

[agreatheight]

When you start a thread on talk bass you frequently get feedback/comments about everything in the thread whether you ask for it or not.

Did any of the songs have any Christian references in the lyrics? Nobody mentioned their faith? Sorry, it's just hard to understand how they could hide the fact that they were hard core Christians for an entire month - not saying it couldn't happen, just trying to understand.

I didn't realize the first King's X record had christian themes until a couple of years later - I thought it was a sci-fi thing. Songs can be open to interpretation, or just simply misinterpreted. You know what? That first KX album is still a great record.

 

[12bass]

I didn't realize the first King's X record had christian themes until a couple of years later - I thought it was a sci-fi thing. Songs can be open to interpretation, or just simply misinterpreted. You know what? That first KX album is still a great record.

From what I gathered, the members of the band may have been Christians at the time, but did not think of themselves as a Christian band, nor want to promote that view.

 

[gnjpowell]

Are not Catholics also Christians?

 

[KingLucCole]

I ain't buying the OP's story either.
If in fact, after a month of being with this band, they were not playing "Christian" songs, preaching Christianity or claiming to be a Christian band then, the lead singer on stage was merely expressing his opinion and the OP suddenly got intolerant and indignant.
OR
They actually were doing all of the above except the OP turned a blind eye to it, in which case he was engage in cognitive dissonance.
Either way, it ain't the band that comes off as jerks.

But this OP was doing an Onion-like post anyway so kudos to him for stringing so many TB'ers along

You have absolutely ZERO familiarity with Christian metal, don't you? The lyrics are always very ambiguous, provided that you can even understand them through their screaming vocals.

And you're right. It's not the band that comes off as jerks. It's you. So you're welcome to apologize any time, son.