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AnonymousFor those who just barely left the church and are used to listening to Christian music on the radio….. AND have young children…. do you still listen to Christian music, especially when you are driving? i still don’t mind Air 1 music and my kids rock out to artist like Toby Mac, which I don’t mind at all. I love the regular rock stations (not Christian) but I don’t want my kids listening to it because of the Ads and most of the lyrics of course.
To give some background I was not ever allowed to listen to secular music until I got to college. Even at that, I still listened to Christian rock because i wanted to. Now, I am starting to listen again to some of the rock music that i secretly liked but never really listened to (except for on the school bus).
Music, like all art, creates spaces for reflection, motivation and worship. Those are all different spaces. My children are grown, but I now see the impact of music on my grandchildren. I want them to know about all those spaces. My own children figured that out before I did.
Kellie, in my opinion if something is truly Christian then it doesn’t need to have a label “christian.”
We don’t listen to “christian” music because most of it is banal. IMHO.
Not sure that you asked for this but there is great music out here that it fantastic for reflection, motivation, worship and it doesn’t have a Jesus label. Listen to Bruce Cockburn, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Shawn Colvin, Fugazi, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, U2, Florence and the Machine, Emmylou Harris, Everlast, Etta James, Regina Specktor, Ray LeMontagne and the list goes on and on and on. All of life is sacred. All of it. Music that points out all of life is life giving.. Many folks here at TLS can point out some great songs… @David Hayward, @Richard Harty and I bet they don’t listen to christian music.
I find most Christian music nauseating at this point in my life. Worship music especially. Although, I’ll still crank the odd Stryper tune from time to time, just for old times sake.
I went through 2 phases of Christian music: in my teens, when everyone listened (and we were terrified out of listening to secular music by watching the documentary “Hell’s Bells”) and about 8 years ago when we started attending a conservative Baptist church. I finally gave up because so much of it is crap (or has crappy theology). While there are some songs/artists I like, I prefer other stuff. We don’t do the radio in the car. We have a CD player, and I made some CDs of the stories from the StoryNory podcast. We also have several mix CDs and some other music the kids like (they both love Weird Al, my son likes jazz, and my daughter likes classical). For the last 7 years, I’ve purchased MP3s of the songs they’ve danced to in their recitals, which I put on a CD and also on their MP3 players. We don’t listen to radio at home, either–we put on Pandora of Last FM and choose channels that are appropriate for the kids.
Anonymousthanks! I just now saw these responses. I was mainly asking because my kids still really enjoy Christian music since it’s all they have ever known. I don’t mind some of it but I wasn’t sure what else to put on for them in the car. They don’t like classical or oldies music. What are some kid-friendly singers/groups that adults like as well? ( I know this is very subjective). My kids are 8 and 9 so I am still very cautious about lyrics. I do have a CD player in the car, of course. It’s just a matter of what to spend money on.
I’ve left Christian music off to the side for now. Makes about a third of the music on my phone useless, unfortunately. :-/ But since it espouses the same theology I object to in church, I’d just end up throwing my phone across the office And That Would Not Be Helpful.
But I’ve always embraced popular music I’ve liked, no matter the topic. And well-produced stuff! Which tends to mean pop, although not always. My “goto” albums for mindless music tend to be Kylie Minogue, Avril Lavigne or Jean Michel Jarre (early stuff only). However, my current taste in music is K-pop. Since I have to resort to downloading clips off Youtube, I have just 34 songs that I listen to so much I can start to sing along… and I don’t actually speak Korean.
Wade.
@Kellie – I suppose my response on this would be that you need to find other artists who have a musical style not unlike the songs your kids like, and get them listening to those as well. And then try to engage with them on the lyrics, which might well be positive and encouraging, or challenging! “Safe” music usually means bland, but if you can find artists who give out a positive vibe then it might work out well – they will learn that there are good, positive artists, with positive music outside the Christian scene, which will help them as they grow older.
I am currently listening to Bat for Lashes, who has a stunning voice, and generally seems to be uplifting lyrically ( although the album art might prove interesting on her latest ). I also think Emilie Sande tends to do positive lyrics, although in the UK we have been overdosed by her. It might also be worth looking into more obscure artists like Sigur Ros – a definite acquired taste, but because they don’t use “lyrics”, you shouldn’t have so much of a problem. Daft Punks new album is also brilliant, and uplifting, although there might be a few interesting questions if they listen to it all the way through.
If you want to push things a little further, there is a lot of trance music, and further, a whole lot of club songs that are uplifting, positive, and actually give a more positive message about life than a whole pile of Christian music does.
I think it is a challenge, but there is a lot of really good, spiritually uplifting music around that has a positive, Christian message, but does not consider itself Christian. There is also vast swathes of “Christian music” that is lyrically or musically drivel. I do not listen to anything identifying itself as “Christian music” these days, because it represents a style that I have come to loathe, because it is musically bland and lyrically trite. At the same time, I like to listen to music that helps my spiritual growth, whatever genre it sits in. I also like to enjoy the stuff I listen to, and not just feel it is a “good thing to do”.
@Kellie my kids like a lot of the stuff that’s on Radio Disney. They like older stuff too, like Raven and Hannah Montana. They love Weird Al, and there are really only a couple of his songs that are questionable (the one about the postal workers and the Jerry Springer one come to mind). Also, Wee Sing is good–lots of typical “kid” songs that I only find annoying if I have to hear them on repeat. Other artists my kids like:
The Beach Boys
The Beatles
Michael Jackson
Frank Sinatra
Elvis
Pete Seeger
Billy Joel
Cyndi Lauper
Aretha FranklinWe’ve found very little our kids won’t listen to. We have a couple of those CDs that are “best of” collections from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s which we all enjoy. We also like movie soundtracks. Hope that helps.
Anonymousthanks, Amy! Those are some good ideas. I just hesitate to try something new unless I check it out on You Tube first. I do enjoy most of the singers on your list. The only problem is my kids never really cared for oldies music. I”m sure most of the 80’s stuff is still clean though. As far as finding stuff that is similar, yes, it would have to be similar music with safe lyrics. They are actually too old now for Disney and Wee music but they used to enjoy those.
AnonymousI know they do enjoy Daughtrey and most of his music is safe. They also don’t mind Evanascence on occasion.
AnonymousI’m listening with new ears to Christian music and it amazes me how much of it is lecturing and legalistic and you’re not good enough, must change, etc. etc. Not to mention very pop-ish.
We don’t listen to much Christian music. Plenty of other better music to fill our ears with.
i’m going out on a limb with the music thread, i think.
yes, i don’t listen to much christian music these days, even on the radio. i can’t stand the ads that go with it, the bland selling of faith as candy sort of ideal. i just can’t do it. that said, i try to reserve my ultra hard music for coding and earphones. *however* we’ve listened to some of it with the kids and they like it. we watch lyrics, but there’s still room.
i have no idea how… american? is that offensive to say? your musical tastes are, but there’s some great options outside that culture.
some of our favorites:
Kekele
alpha blondy
ladysmith black mambazo
deep forest
manu chao
geoffrey oryema
gipsy kings
oliver mtukudzi
then there’s:
innocence mission
over the rhine (maybe, not everyone likes this. our kids differ on which albums)
they might be giants (not the kids’ but the regular stuff).music is for me something very special, and i refuse to be dictated as to what and how i can listen. it’s been fun to explore more and more americana/rock music lately, especially the nirvana side of things.
AnonymousThanks, everyone. Shadow, I have never heard of any of those groups. shows you how sheltered I was, I guess. I ended up googling safe music for kids and got some good ideas there as well.
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