Sometimes I stumble upon a random song on Spotify that has a catchy tune, so I save it into a playlist but don't really listen to it until later, and in really hearing the lyrics for the first time, sometimes I'll be like waiting a sec...is this about Jesus/God?
DC Talk - the album Jesus Freak is peak Christian Rock, but the earlier, hokey rap stuff was fun, too.
Five Iron Frenzy - ska band that I absolutely adored as a teen. Saw them live at a reunion tour a few years ago (as an atheist) and had a great time.
Audio Adrenaline - more Christian Rock, just a good all around band.
Relient K - really fun and melodic punk/alternative. Went more rock than punk over time, but always solid quality. They made one of the better Christmas albums on offer, too.
And just for fun, try singing Amazing Grace to the tune of Gilligan's Island!
You just described my teens. Also Jars of Clay (I went to one of their concerts once), The News Boys, and some more obscure ones like Pillar and Paul Ruben. I also loved P.O.D.. It's really weird to hear them on secular radio these days.
Now-a-days, all of that is only for when I'm wallowing in self pity. There have been times in my life when casually mentioning a secular song around my family would make the shit hit the fan.
My first concert was Newsboys and Supertones (Newsboys was the opener, it was pretty early for them). Saw FIF a year or two later. Saw Insyderz at a smaller event a few years after that. To this day I get to say I've seen the three "big" Christian ska bands live.
What a wild time. Jars is still on a regular rotation for me (Flood and Liquid are both bangers, and their Christmas album is one of my favorite holiday albums).
It's not technically a Christian band but Creed has a couple banger songs that are very clearly about God/religion.
If a song slaps a song slaps. I don't care if it slaps while it talkes about something I don't personally believe in. I still listen to all kinds of hardcore rap and I have never done any drugs harder than shrooms or shot anybody.
They still do, however, they refer to themselves as a entertainment focused band that loves Jesus and not a Christian focused band. Basically they defer to leaders in the church to actually teach and just promote that. You should listen to your pastor/priest and love Jesus! .To put it another way, all rectangles are parallelograms but not all parallelograms are rectangles sometimes it's a square.
I always respected that they refused to identify as a Christian rock band. From what I recall their response was something like "We're a rock band, that happens to be Christian."
NF got pretty big for a while, and pretty sure he never swore because of his religion and talked often about Christianity and his faith while promoting the Christian beliefs that are actually in the Bible and admitting his own struggles and overcoming them thru faith and hard work.
*That* is Christian music to me.
I mean, it's not even really debatable, he's signed to a label exclusively for Christian musical acts.
But music that is explicitly all about Jesus is usually just cashgrabs with zero meaning behind it. It's playing to the low denominator for things where "safe" is the most important part of music.
Came here to say that, man satellite is a banger of an album. I don't go out of my way to listen to them anymore, but when they pop up I'm not gonna skip it and the volume may get turned up a few notches.
MXPX started out as a Christian punk band, but the members grew out of the religion and kept making music. —Punk Rawk Show, I’m Ok/You’re Ok, Chick Magnet, Move to Bremerton. All bangers.\
Different vibe, but Pedro the Lion, same deal- started out Christian, then rethought his world view. Slowcore/90s emo. — Of Up and Coming Monarchs, Of Minor Prophets and Their Prostitute Wives, Big Trucks, Rapture, Backwoods Nation.
I’m still Christian and I adore both bands. David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) is recording some of the most theologically rich music of his career now, back under the Pedro name, as he’s come through his whole wrestling with faith. Not sure what he considers himself these days, but it’s clear that he’s never going to shake his Christian upbringing.
Like MxPx, their inclusion of faith in their lyrics became so much more honest and less forced once they left their Christian music label. They introduced me to punk.
If you're into heavier stuff, Christian metal is generally really fucking good.
As is the theme of the thread, a lot of these bands don't consider themselves "Christian bands", but hey.
August Burns Red - pretty popular, their music has a wide variety of influences in terms of sound but every album but their very first is very solid and consistent imo. Their drums and breakdowns kick ass; listen to "Defender" and "Bloodletter".
Devil Wears Prada - also relatively popular, their style changed a little bit in the more recent years but there are songs on almost every album of theirs that I enjoy. "Sassafras" is a good older song, "Salt" is a good new one.
Silent Planet - probably the most thought out and intentional lyrics you'll find in metal. A majority of their songs include footnotes to every line, indicating what historical event, biblical passage, or other artist's work they're referencing. "Panic Room" and "Northern Fires" are great examples of their sound and message.
Pedro the Lion (like *Priests And Paramedics* and *A Simple Plan*), the Sixpence None The Richer album This Beautiful Mess particularly *Love, Salvation, the Fear of Death*, some of Rich Mullins like much of A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band.
Black gospel music has often been the only Christian-oriented music that really did it for me. A lot of blues, soul, etc was created by folks who got their start in black gospel music, and used what they learned there in secular genres. Hugely influential in so many different types of music.
Amazing Grace is always a good one. The story behind it helps with the impact, IMO; it was written by a former slave trader who had an epiphany and realized just how irredeemably evil he was, and was doing his best to turn it around.
I'm also a big enjoyer of Simple Gifts. It's a Shaker song and I find it very soothing.
I seem to recall liking the Doctor and the Medics cover of that, even if my age could be counted on one hand when it was released.
The oft-stated did-you-know question being "Did you know the guy who originally wrote and sung it was Jewish?". Quite the surprise when I learned that one.
But to simultaneously bring this back around and buck the trend a little, *Shine, Jesus, Shine* used to slap as a hymn back when I dabbled in God-bothering.
And to buck things even more, *Hava Negila* kind of slaps too.
I'm less of a former Christian and more of a thinks-outside-the-box Christian, but I think Mat Kearney is pretty solid regardless of what you believe. Sufjan Stevens is awesome too, but a bit of an aquired taste.
Sufjan Stevens is pretty amazing, and definitely a unique sound. If you like that sort of thing, I would also recommend Shugo Tokumaru. Sort of similar energy, just in Japanese.
Learned about the band Jars of Clay when they were on MTV as a kid and thought they were pretty neat. Bought a couple albums ad a student. Still listen to them sometimes
I like *Flood* (more rock), *Sad Clown* (more chill), and *Boy on a String* (in between)
I love it when two things that I adore find each other out in nature and create some kind of apotheosis such as this. Truly, the fruit and flower of life.
There's always Calibretto 13 (I copied the name hence the large font). A Christian punk band. I've only heard a couple songs.
I just know of them because at least some of the members (including the guitarist/singer/songwriter aka the frontman) made another band:
Harley Poe
Pretty much the opposite of a Christian band, and I love it (used to be religious long ago). But it's pretty much peak folk/horror punk. Really great music. But like I said....the opposite of Christian music.
Would recommend (their version of) "the hearse song" or "transvestites can be cannibals too" (same album) or "Music for teenagers.
If you like 70s acoustic folk/rock, the first album from Lazarus has some great stuff. Their harmonies are amazing. "Warmth of Your Eyes" is my favorite.
Most older gospel is wonderful. Here's a song by an artist you've probably never heard of, because she only released this one single. She had a gorgeous, rich gospel voice, and the record company was all set to promote her as the next Janice Joplin. But she feared the music business would corrupt her soul, so pop music lost a brilliant voice. She's dead now. I like to imagine her cranking out great albums in heaven.
I listen to a lot of classical Music and Handel's Messiah is my favourite concert. You just have to ignore the lyrics. Their pretty propagana-y
Best rendition of it IMHO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR0cEOTpYSk&t=0
Lift to Experience, and meWithoutYou. I don't think either is really evangelizing but they're heavy on the biblical imagery and allusions. And they're both certified hood classics
It's popularity peaked before my time, but when Soeur Sourir (The Singing Nun) topped the charts with Dominique-nique-nique, it must have enjoyed significant secular popularity, perhaps in part because they didn't know French well enough to really understand the lyrics.
鴉PieFed
Sometimes I stumble upon a random song on Spotify that has a catchy tune, so I save it into a playlist but don't really listen to it until later, and in really hearing the lyrics for the first time, sometimes I'll be like waiting a sec...is this about Jesus/God?
Bach. Anything after that's pretty cheesy...
Addendum: https://youtu.be/KSTFKJqy9AQ
Bach rules.
I'm a former Christian, if that counts.
DC Talk - the album Jesus Freak is peak Christian Rock, but the earlier, hokey rap stuff was fun, too.
Five Iron Frenzy - ska band that I absolutely adored as a teen. Saw them live at a reunion tour a few years ago (as an atheist) and had a great time.
Audio Adrenaline - more Christian Rock, just a good all around band.
Relient K - really fun and melodic punk/alternative. Went more rock than punk over time, but always solid quality. They made one of the better Christmas albums on offer, too.
And just for fun, try singing Amazing Grace to the tune of Gilligan's Island!
You just described my teens. Also Jars of Clay (I went to one of their concerts once), The News Boys, and some more obscure ones like Pillar and Paul Ruben. I also loved P.O.D.. It's really weird to hear them on secular radio these days.
Now-a-days, all of that is only for when I'm wallowing in self pity. There have been times in my life when casually mentioning a secular song around my family would make the shit hit the fan.
My first concert was Newsboys and Supertones (Newsboys was the opener, it was pretty early for them). Saw FIF a year or two later. Saw Insyderz at a smaller event a few years after that. To this day I get to say I've seen the three "big" Christian ska bands live.
What a wild time. Jars is still on a regular rotation for me (Flood and Liquid are both bangers, and their Christmas album is one of my favorite holiday albums).
OC Supertones and the Insyderz??? I didn't even bother mentioning those, but hell yeah those were my absolute jam!
This also describes my teen years 😂 My first road trip after getting my license was driving to Orange County to see the OC Supertones.
Insyderz and Supertones were great, but FIF was on another level.
Jesus Freak is a true banger, coming from a life-long atheist.
Oh shit, I forgot about DC talk! I was a big fan in early middle school.
Five Iron Frenzy is awesome. Just about everything I've ever heard from them is great.
Five Iron Frenzy. Christian ska band.
What other band is going to write a song about Different Strokes? FIF is still part of my regular rotation.
Also, basing a love song on a reference to Gauntlet.
It's not technically a Christian band but Creed has a couple banger songs that are very clearly about God/religion.
If a song slaps a song slaps. I don't care if it slaps while it talkes about something I don't personally believe in. I still listen to all kinds of hardcore rap and I have never done any drugs harder than shrooms or shot anybody.
WITH AHHHHMS WIDE OPEN~
Can you take meeee hiiigherrrrr (banawanylanaoooo)
It's only possible to sing along to this song with your full chest.
Christian or not, Creed does not slap.
To each their own. I fuck with creed.
*Sister Christian* by Night Ranger. 😉
Ha
Is Skillet a Christian band? They've got a couple songs I like.
Monster, Hero...
They are not a Christian band but they are heavily themed on Christianity from what they said in an interview.
They sure did play a lot of Christian music festivals in the 90s.
They still do, however, they refer to themselves as a entertainment focused band that loves Jesus and not a Christian focused band. Basically they defer to leaders in the church to actually teach and just promote that. You should listen to your pastor/priest and love Jesus! .To put it another way, all rectangles are parallelograms but not all parallelograms are rectangles sometimes it's a square.
Ok, but when I think of Skillet, I think of this guys worship-gasm face:
Ok! 👌
"Spirit In The Sky" -by Norman Greenbaum (himself Jewish)
I used to get down with some Collective Soul.
I always respected that they refused to identify as a Christian rock band. From what I recall their response was something like "We're a rock band, that happens to be Christian."
They've got a lot of good material, glad to see them in this thread
Depends what you call Christian music
NF got pretty big for a while, and pretty sure he never swore because of his religion and talked often about Christianity and his faith while promoting the Christian beliefs that are actually in the Bible and admitting his own struggles and overcoming them thru faith and hard work.
*That* is Christian music to me.
I mean, it's not even really debatable, he's signed to a label exclusively for Christian musical acts.
But music that is explicitly all about Jesus is usually just cashgrabs with zero meaning behind it. It's playing to the low denominator for things where "safe" is the most important part of music.
So, TLDR:
NF
I hate cashgrab music. You can clearly tell the difference between it and Christian music written (much of it centuries old) out of passion and love
Did someone say 80s?
Kyrie, Mister Mister
https://youtu.be/9NDjt4FzFWY
Carol of the Bells
P.O.D. - Satellite and earlier albums.
Seeking the Wise still makes it onto my rock playlists.
Came here to say that, man satellite is a banger of an album. I don't go out of my way to listen to them anymore, but when they pop up I'm not gonna skip it and the volume may get turned up a few notches.
I too came here to mention P.O.D.
Youth of the Nation is definitely on the list of best songs ever made in my opinion.
I wasn't religious at this point but my brother in-law who listened to Skillet and 12 Stones and they had some catchy songs.
Quite a lot of folk hymnals absolutely slap.
Check the soundtrack for O Brother Where Art Thou?
https://youtu.be/FbwUSOw_7qU
August burns red
The devil wears prada
Underoath
Silent planet
Texas in july
Wolves at the gate
Memphis may fire (some lyrics are cringey though)
MXPX started out as a Christian punk band, but the members grew out of the religion and kept making music. —Punk Rawk Show, I’m Ok/You’re Ok, Chick Magnet, Move to Bremerton. All bangers.\
Different vibe, but Pedro the Lion, same deal- started out Christian, then rethought his world view. Slowcore/90s emo. — Of Up and Coming Monarchs, Of Minor Prophets and Their Prostitute Wives, Big Trucks, Rapture, Backwoods Nation.
I’m still Christian and I adore both bands. David Bazan (Pedro the Lion) is recording some of the most theologically rich music of his career now, back under the Pedro name, as he’s come through his whole wrestling with faith. Not sure what he considers himself these days, but it’s clear that he’s never going to shake his Christian upbringing.
Like MxPx, their inclusion of faith in their lyrics became so much more honest and less forced once they left their Christian music label. They introduced me to punk.
Not christian music per se, but I love Andre Antunes' metal renditions of evangelical preacher speeches. For example:
The Jericho Walls
I Demand with Kenneth Copeland
Unda di Blood
Bonus: Alex Jones and Rage Against The Vaccine
Starflyer 59!!
If you're into heavier stuff, Christian metal is generally really fucking good.
As is the theme of the thread, a lot of these bands don't consider themselves "Christian bands", but hey.
August Burns Red - pretty popular, their music has a wide variety of influences in terms of sound but every album but their very first is very solid and consistent imo. Their drums and breakdowns kick ass; listen to "Defender" and "Bloodletter".
Devil Wears Prada - also relatively popular, their style changed a little bit in the more recent years but there are songs on almost every album of theirs that I enjoy. "Sassafras" is a good older song, "Salt" is a good new one.
Silent Planet - probably the most thought out and intentional lyrics you'll find in metal. A majority of their songs include footnotes to every line, indicating what historical event, biblical passage, or other artist's work they're referencing. "Panic Room" and "Northern Fires" are great examples of their sound and message.
I like Becoming the Archetype and Death Therapy.
Also some Demon Hunter and Project86 is some good heavy stuff. Especially Project 86's final double album Omni.
And Destroy the Runner.
I'm somewhere between an Atheist and a pagan. Gregorian chanting is always cool and "Dies irae" is rad.
YouTube
Pedro the Lion (like *Priests And Paramedics* and *A Simple Plan*), the Sixpence None The Richer album This Beautiful Mess particularly *Love, Salvation, the Fear of Death*, some of Rich Mullins like much of A Liturgy, a Legacy, & a Ragamuffin Band.
Skillet has made some cool stuff, Future of Forestry has made some good Christmas music, and I guess Owl City counts as a Christian band now
Black gospel music has often been the only Christian-oriented music that really did it for me. A lot of blues, soul, etc was created by folks who got their start in black gospel music, and used what they learned there in secular genres. Hugely influential in so many different types of music.
Amazing Grace is always a good one. The story behind it helps with the impact, IMO; it was written by a former slave trader who had an epiphany and realized just how irredeemably evil he was, and was doing his best to turn it around.
I'm also a big enjoyer of Simple Gifts. It's a Shaker song and I find it very soothing.
Gonna answer my own question with "spirit in the sky"
I seem to recall liking the Doctor and the Medics cover of that, even if my age could be counted on one hand when it was released.
The oft-stated did-you-know question being "Did you know the guy who originally wrote and sung it was Jewish?". Quite the surprise when I learned that one.
But to simultaneously bring this back around and buck the trend a little, *Shine, Jesus, Shine* used to slap as a hymn back when I dabbled in God-bothering.
And to buck things even more, *Hava Negila* kind of slaps too.
Miserere mei, Deus is one of the most beautiful vocal pieces I've ever heard. That descant soprano part is insane.
Slayer, Demon Hunter, Celldweller.
"Collapsing" by Demon Hunter slaps. Thank you, Killing Floor 2, for introducing me.
Haha yep, same.
Just last night I was listening to Bach’s BWV 182 and wondering what non-Christian devotional music has such broad appeal.
Plain chanting is boring, but maybe there’s some Muslim or Buddhist polyphony I’ve been missing out on.
Extol's "Burial" is one of the greatest metal albums of all time, IMO
Antestor is another killer Christian metal band.
Extol is phenomenal.
'Good to Be Alive'
By Geoff Moore and the Distance
Gregorian chant can be very relaxing in the right moment.
A while back I found a cool song about space on Pandora that's apparently by a Christian band but that song didn't give any evidence of that
Doom 2016
I'm less of a former Christian and more of a thinks-outside-the-box Christian, but I think Mat Kearney is pretty solid regardless of what you believe. Sufjan Stevens is awesome too, but a bit of an aquired taste.
Sufjan Stevens is pretty amazing, and definitely a unique sound. If you like that sort of thing, I would also recommend Shugo Tokumaru. Sort of similar energy, just in Japanese.
Jesus is My Friend by Sonseed is such a banger!\
https://youtu.be/7-NOZU2iPA8
Learned about the band Jars of Clay when they were on MTV as a kid and thought they were pretty neat. Bought a couple albums ad a student. Still listen to them sometimes
I like *Flood* (more rock), *Sad Clown* (more chill), and *Boy on a String* (in between)
I think I read that Champion was explicitly Christian music which I didn't realize until I had already been listening to it.
Erica Campbell - I Luh God https://youtu.be/4G5BAQhLzMw
Plus, the entire gospel genre.
NF and TobyMac
Honestly some straight up hymns are amazing. The Icelandic Hear Me Smith of Heaven and Russian Do Not Reject Me In My Old Age are my favourites
https://youtu.be/ygr5AHufBN4
I love it when two things that I adore find each other out in nature and create some kind of apotheosis such as this. Truly, the fruit and flower of life.
The live version of Grey Stone Chapel by Cash almost makes me want to go to church everytime I hear it
I'm a Christian, but found this gem this evening
https://youtu.be/LcTT0o4bgX4
Here's a few:
The Creation - Haydn Requiem - Mozart Requiem - Verdi Messiah - Handel Stabat Mater - Pergolesi Gloria - Vivaldi Mass no. 3 in F minor - Bruckner St Matthew's Passion - Bach
Flyleaf and Super chick are great female-lead Christian poprock bands that I still can jam out to today.
Oh Holy Night is amazing.
Fall on your knees! Hear the angel voices!\
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother, and in his name all oppression shall cease!
Tracy Chapman’s version is truly excellent.
There's always Calibretto 13 (I copied the name hence the large font). A Christian punk band. I've only heard a couple songs.
I just know of them because at least some of the members (including the guitarist/singer/songwriter aka the frontman) made another band:
Harley Poe
Pretty much the opposite of a Christian band, and I love it (used to be religious long ago). But it's pretty much peak folk/horror punk. Really great music. But like I said....the opposite of Christian music.
Would recommend (their version of) "the hearse song" or "transvestites can be cannibals too" (same album) or "Music for teenagers.
Thousand Foot Krutch, Skillet.
Josh Garrels - Love & War & The Sea in Between
Does Rasta music count? Because that’s technically a Christian belief system.
If you like 70s acoustic folk/rock, the first album from Lazarus has some great stuff. Their harmonies are amazing. "Warmth of Your Eyes" is my favorite.
Oh, sleeper
https://youtu.be/O4A10teaSiQ
https://youtu.be/5yN5Xx35hnE
War of ages
https://youtu.be/Nv0iNoYqP0A
old gospel/soul and it's dope as hell.
Run Kid Run for some decent quality pop-punk. Some lyrics more obviously Christian than others.
Most older gospel is wonderful. Here's a song by an artist you've probably never heard of, because she only released this one single. She had a gorgeous, rich gospel voice, and the record company was all set to promote her as the next Janice Joplin. But she feared the music business would corrupt her soul, so pop music lost a brilliant voice. She's dead now. I like to imagine her cranking out great albums in heaven.
https://youtu.be/Q2G1F8urLtE
Pretty much all roots reggae, Wailing Souls, Culture, Buju Banton. Reggae answers the question "what if Christian Rock was cool"
I listen to a lot of classical Music and Handel's Messiah is my favourite concert. You just have to ignore the lyrics. Their pretty propagana-y Best rendition of it IMHO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR0cEOTpYSk&t=0
Lift to Experience, and meWithoutYou. I don't think either is really evangelizing but they're heavy on the biblical imagery and allusions. And they're both certified hood classics
This As I Lay Dying album https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nzZIYR7uePQRjKVrHkJiG9jU3pS5dnbg8&playnext=1&index=1
This Phinehas album https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe3UPCHpSqZli70WbgsAeSB5fdZ6VTWYQ
When I was younger I used to listen to Red they has some pretty catchy songs
I like many of the above, but I'll add a couple more
Project 86 The wedding Switchfoot
John Daker is my hero.
It's popularity peaked before my time, but when Soeur Sourir (The Singing Nun) topped the charts with Dominique-nique-nique, it must have enjoyed significant secular popularity, perhaps in part because they didn't know French well enough to really understand the lyrics.