I like almost every kind of music except for jazz (sorry klaatu) and I do not like music that has violent lyrics that talk about killing, murder or torture. Anything else I really don't think God cares. But the lyrics can fill your mind with such horrible, hateful images. The actual music I do not think is evil if you took the words away. I have heard sermons about backward masking and stuff where if you play the song backwards the lyrics say "its fun to smoke marijuana" and other bad things. The idea is that this is supposed to be a subliminal message to your subconscious that you are not aware of at a conscious level. Not sure if I believe any of that. It hasn't worked with me or people I know if that was the case. I think some Pastor was trying to scare kids into not listening to rock music and made that message up. But I could be wrong. Maybe I listened to all the backward masking songs that told me to be rebellious......

when i was a kid i listened to a genre called 'speed metal', i believe it was called... groups like the forgotten rebels, no means no, snfu, and dri, just to name a few. lyrics like "gobs of flesh from rancid stiffs decaying on the deep blue sea/ my tax dollars paid their ransom would they do the same for me/ bomb the boats and feed their f*(&ing flesh to the fish!!"

my mom was great about it, too... she was onto the whole 'rebel' thing, and so she never made a big deal about it at all. i dyed my hair pink and spiked it and everything, and she was real nonchalant.

thats why i don't get too excited about the lyrics my kids are listening to. i know what they are, and i make sure that we discuss them, though, but i don't tell them what they should or shouldn't like or enjoy listening to.

right now my daughter is into a singer called 'verbalicious', and my son is into the classics... queen, def leppard, and love and rockets.

personally, i'm still a huge fan of 80's music!!!

Music doesn't always have to be religious. There are so many better things to write songs about. Don't call secular music secular because by doing that you are just putting it below religious music where it doesn't belong. In my oppinion, any song that isnt based on a religious idea is better than religious music because at least the artist is using his/her own ideas instead of the ideas of his/her ancestors.

Anybody can right a song about Jesus but not just anyone can write a song that captures the attention of many people dispite religion, race, gender, or any physical or cultural difference between humans.

I like a very wide variety of music. I'm not much into classical, dance or rap, but even there, I can make exceptions. Unfortunately, I have found a lot of self-proclaimed "Christian music" is shlocky and shallow, like one of those rhyming Hallmark cards. I'd much rather listen to the lyrics of a secular song that challenges my beliefs or makes me uncomfortable, but is real, than some piece of self-righteous fluff. However, I've got to enjoy the musicality of it or it's a no-go.

Hope nobody minds if I post some fun trivia?
Serena - "It's fun to smoke marijuana" is what you (kinda) hear when you play the chorus of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" backwards. The effect is called back-masking. Most back-masked messages are unintentional, especially on the rock scene. One of the most famous is a verse from "Stairway to Heaven" ("If there's a bushel in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now...") which when played backwards speaks of "a little toolshed where he made us suffer/ Oh sweet Satan". I'm done. : )

My favorite Zeppelin album was "Presence" which I liked to listen to
at the threshold of pain. But the most mystical lyrics I ever heard were
by a relatively obscure artist Tom Rapp of Pearls Before Swine, unlike
"Stairway to Heaven", they actually meant something. I was also a
disco victim for a while and obsessed with Bowie. Post-Modern to me
meant the group New Order and for all my sicknesses, The Cure. Of
course there was Madonna who I still adore as a goddess. I listen to a
lot of classical as well especially Bach, Beethoven and Shostakovich.
That's just some of it.

Oh ... my ... Gosh, Sigh!! The "Forgotten Rebels"!!!! I loved them.

Yeah ... I don't get too hung up on lyrics. If you've taught your kids to think for themselves, and don't get too freaked out about their music / clothes / hair / etc ... I think it'll all work itself out for the best.

Pick your battles.

I too am thankful for a mother that didn't panic with a daughter that would sit for hours, with her huge, ie swallow the head huge, headphones on, listening to alice cooper, jethro tull, cat stevens. Of couse, I also loved, Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and later, Pat Benatar, Parachute club -- I don't know, somehow, i survived, and in the process, discovered artists I appreciate to this day, such as Phil Ochs, Holly Near, sweet honey in the rock

The vastness of music generated over human history is a rich source of story-telling and our collective heritage--and all, gifts from God.

Fundamentalists will not tell me how to write my songs or what it should contain. Otherwise, music is no longer music but becomes cultural/religious propaganda for certain people with a particular preference of doctrinal interpretation or belief system.

As a Christian, I write songs from my God-given soul, heart, mind, and life. Am I prohibited from listening to my own music, if my songs do not contain the words "Jesus" or "God"? Am I prohibited from listening to other composer's and songwriter's music, if their songs speak of their human experiences?

As for me, I have a wide appreciation of various genres, styles and artists. I love Baroque (Bach), jazz/improv (Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson, Thelonius, etc.), pansori (Korean storytelling by 1 singer and 1 changgo player), choral music.. currently have Nelly Furtado and Coldplay in my CD player.. generally, prefer music live..

Serena,
What's so terrible about somebody saying, "It's fun to smoke marijuana"?
In Christian tradition, Jesus has nothing to say about marijuana, so it would seem that he didn't think it was important enough to rate a sermon or parable.

Marzo are you advocating that we should encourage young people to smoke marijuana? Are you seriously suggesting that we should encourage and make light of such a highly addictive drug that destroys lives? What IS wrong with that? You tell me.

It shouldn't really matter. I know people who only listen to Christian bands, but really... like it was said before, music is music.

There are so many fantastic bands who aren't Christian, and it is a breath of fresh air to get songs from different points of views. Hell, Queen practiced Zoroastrianism.

Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem - awesome.

As with all thing, there is good and bad. With music, much of that is personal choice.

We get many things these days labeled "Christian" and somehow that makes it what? more 'pure' or 'good' or something? Christian music, Christian dating services, Christian house cleaners, Christian appliance dealers (I kid you not) .

There is a lot of great Christian music, there is also a lot of crappy Christian music that promotes being crappy. There is a lot of secular music that is highly spiritual and I would argue far more inspired by God or towards God's vision for creation than much under the 'Christian' label.

If it speaks to you, if the message is good, then it is good. If not, it aint.