Smells Like Holy SpiritChristian rock on a par with the Beatles, Clapton, and Nirvana.

Reader Comments From The Fray:


[Notes from the Fray Editor: Some unexpected directions here. We knew there would be replies like Angry Catholic's: "Perhaps when you die you will go to hell, and what hell would that be? Soft-rock, Christian gospel played forever and ever and ever and ever." And that someone (in this case Joey Giraud, yes, apparently the one who writes so reasonably below) would tell Angry Catholic "Stop yer bitchin you Christian whiner." But we were most definitely not expecting the first line of Joe R's post, below. Ernie was inspired by another recent Culturebox to ask "Is there or has there ever been such a thing as Christian jazz?" We liked the way Tom R took it seriously--this post got an interesting thread going, getting onto the subject of Gregorian chant here. And History Guy has a hilarious new take on some old tricks here: singing Emily Dickinson to the tune of the Coke song…]


This may be fairly obvious, but the reasons why Christians like Christian rock/pop/hymnody is rather different than why teenagers may like Brittany Spears et al. Plotz asking why he should take this music seriously ignores the primary motivation of its listeners.

On the other hand, if he granted a primary spiritual motivation, and then asked why certain bands/singers/composers were better or worse, he may just come close to responsibly criticizing this one facet of our culture. Not that he would have to be Christian or even religious to be critically responsible here. Some of the best renditions of Bach's choral works are done in Japan by non-Christian performers. But they certainly recognize the context of the original in their work, just as we ought to critique Spears or day camp renditions of Fannie in their own contexts.

--Tom R

(To reply, click here.)


Christian rock and reggae and rap and suchlike can be compared to Christianized sodomy, homosexuality and prostitution. All are a contradiction in terms. The only obligation Christians have to the world is to preach the Gospel that the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ effected salvation from eternal destruction in hell's fires.

--Joe R

(To reply, click here.)


I have a few professional Evangelical musician friends who've written such songs as Jesus Christ is coming soon and Rapture take me now. I've listened to their trials and tribulations in developing these.

The biggest roadblock to writing a first rate Born Again type Christian song is the power of the emotional experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit makes any lyrical art fade by comparison. So the writer is reduced to platitude and repetition of the mantras that led to the writer's figurative rapture.

The better ones involve some sort of metaphor or word play, cleverly turning a common cliche into an effective sales pitch. (Sales pitch is what really sets Christianity apart from the others. Christianity is market aware. )

Another big problem is that the whole Biblical imagery field has been pretty well trodden over the past 2 millenia. There are few original thoughts left to express.

--Joey Giraud

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