Who really has the truth REALLY?
Ξ March 24th, 2008 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Music |
I’m frustrated.
I’m frustrated with Christian music. Not so much because of the music itself, but because of the attitude that unfortunately goes with it. One would think that worship music would be the place where you could go to get authenticity and depth and ultimately the truth. More and more I am seeing less and less of this. Ideas and sounds are being copied over and over again. No one seems to be willing to allow worship in churches to depart all that far from only a tiny selection of styles and forms. Sadly the variety God built into the human race (and therefor the musicians) does not always seem to finds it’s way to our Church music teams. There are a lot of factors that determine why that is.
Here’s the thought that really kind of irked me when I thought it on my way home from a gig the other night. In some ways I have been tought by the church that the only REAL truth, or perhaps the only truth that matters can ONLY be found through faith in God. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a Christian. I believe in the power of God and the fact that my life can be enriched by engaging in a relationship with Him. I do subscribe to that, but I also allow myself to challenge this idea (among many others) that I have just be brought up to simply accept.
All of this was sparked when I was listening to a CD from a band called “Population 1″. This is a generally unknown band. In fact, the band doesn’t even exist any more. They are now called the “Dramagods”. The guitarist and lead singer is Nuno Bettencourt from the former hard rocking spandex band called Extreme. I’ve been an Extreme fan for years. Nuno is one of the most talented guitarists I’ve heard. Not only can he play, but he can also write. For his hard rocking style, he is not afraid to employ some very a-typical chord and song structures. I was struck by this fact once again as I listened to Population 1 on my way home. This CD is one of the best CDs I’ve heard in a long time. The ideas are original and creative. There are intelligent melodies and killer harmonies throughout. The grand slam factor for me though was the honesty. The material on this CD is SO honest. I realised that it has been a very long time since I’ve heard something that has as much honesty as this. The writers have obviously freed themselves to say exactly what they want and mean to say and nothing more or less. They aren’t trying to channel everything through something like their religion in order to give the thing some validation.
The bottom line is that human experience is all valid. You don’t need to say stuff about God in every song to be considered a Christian artist. A Christian can write about love or joy or a sin or a desire without betraying their beliefs - at least I believe they can - but forsome odd reason, the permission just isn’t granted in the Christian world. The scary thing is that there actually might be more truth and honesty to be found in the work of non-christian writers than in that of Christian writers.
Well, rebuke the idea that Christian song writers have to write about things that are clearly Christian. I’m experiencing the same world as non-christians and I have a right to write about this world - even if the topics don’t bring up God all that readily. From now on, I’m going to write what I want regardless of whether or not the church will see it as being Christian or not. If it’s an angry song, it will have angry ideas and lyrics. If it’s a song about love, there might be sex in the song. I might even write about forbidden pleasures and ugly things, just becasue they are a part of this world. Like them or not, we are all faced with them from time to time. Sometimes we take part in the forbidden or the ugly, and other times we choose to steer clear. Either way, I refuse to consider these things as off limits as a Christian songwriter.
I’m going to aim for something authentic and true - nothing more and nothing less.
