Contemporary Christian Music and Controversy
Traditional Christian music was initially constrained in terms of genre variety, but as Christianity has spread all over the globe various people have adopted Christian music into genres that pre-existed Christianity within their locales. Music is perhaps one among the most dynamic industries that has existed. Through its most developmental period of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s the industry has experienced increased diversity and growth-a period which experienced an evolution of new genres of contemporary music forms such as rock “n” roll, hip hop, blues, reggae, ragga, and rhythm-just to mention but a few. It is not strange to even find Christian music performed in traditional styles in various dialects across a continent such as Africa, where Christian music has been Africanized. Interestingly, all genres of music have some Christian songs, and as such Christian music is now not a genre as such, but a group of musical compositions which have Christian elements of worship, praise, veneration, penitence or lament-but they are all sang under different genres (Thompson 21).
Of particular interest in this paper shall be the controversy that surrounds some genres of Christian music such as rock “n” roll which is seemingly associated with ‘evil’ and ‘Satanism.’ The rock “n” roll genre of music has been surrounded in controversy for a long time now and this can all be traced back to its origin. Initially, rock “n” roll had nothing to do with Christianity, however; currently there are numerous rock “n” roll songs that are Christian by virtue of their message or rather lyrical content. The earlier image and meaning associated to rock “n” roll raises a number of concerns because the music was not readily acceptable as Christian. The genre has been characterized by musicians and music that seemingly portrays occult-like lyrics, costumes and much more in terms of videos that accompany the songs (Burriss & Barnet 121). The general display has shown evil elements within the genre and as such people do not readily accept Christian rock “n” roll, because it sounds more of an oxymoron connotatively.
Perhaps in order to understand the controversy it is good to look at the origin of the genre. Rock “n” roll music is said to have originated from a fusion of various genres of music including rhythm, country, blues and western kind of music. The genre was confusing and people did not know how to classify the music. According to Frederick (2007p. 19), Freed was perhaps the first person to express the confusion and offer a suggestion for a name and classification in his radio program. Freed coined the name from a term commonly used in “Black ghettos” for pre-marital sex- rock “n” roll-this was mainly because of the response he had gotten from listeners about the strange and almost bizarre reactions that children used to display upon listening to rock “n” roll music. Clearly, the origin of genre is totally un-Christian and more so it has “evil” origins-a fact that would already make it least acceptable among staunch Christians.
The worst part, which makes it abhorring to Christians mainly originates from the later developments upon which the genre took. Rock “n” roll became more and more associated with orgies, occult sounding lyrics, occult attires as well as audio-visual music formats with occullt displays. Interestingly, people leaning towards Satanism such as Antony Szander Lavey and Aleister Crowley (Crowley is associated to the famous Beetles of whom some seemed to like his ideals) had expressed an interest in the music. Some rock “n” roll songs have also been associated with out rightly satanic or occult lyrics. It is because of such displays that this kind of music has not found ready acceptance among Christians and the Christian faith.
Both historians and musicologists do agree that jazz, rhythm and blues were parents to rock “n” roll, and as such the genre was born from these earlier genres. These genres are well known for their incorporation of drums and other African musical accompaniments that found their way into America as slaves were brought in. These musical instruments and African musical styles that led to the development of these genres were characteristic of Voo Doo music which has its origin in Africa. The use of drums in these genres is particularly African and as such it is associated with Voo Doo. This historical perspective also adds on to the list of factors that are put forth in a bid to show that rock “n” roll indeed originated from ‘evil’ roots and as such it does not befit Christianity (Frederick 19, 25).
In the past, rock “n” roll music concerts have been associated with evil elements and happenings such as bizarre orgies, extreme use of drugs, violence and occult attire including clothing, ornaments and so much more that the music totally looks distanced from the Christian ideals. Far reaching research finding claims have been made about rock “n” roll music, with some researchers claiming the genre causes emotional and psychological disturbance as well as negative health effects. This research serves to reinforce the demonic origin allegations. Therefore, leading some to ask: How could a genre that has demonic or evil origin, and which displays negative effects serve as a form of Christian music? Indeed this makes Christian rock “n” roll sound like an oxymoron-and if asked as a Christian I would say that, that is indeed true (Burriss & Barnet 91)
This is because historically, the music can be traced to genres that have evil origins in traditional Voo Doo music. Secondly, these groups display back drops, symbols and images that are reminiscent of evil and occult materials. Perhaps the best example is hexagram. The hexagram which is a satanic symbol appears in most music videos from rock “n” roll music groups. The attires that the musicians and even fans wear show occult symbols and are suggestive of orgies. This is further compounded by occult lyrics that are suggestive of evil things. Finally, some of these groups use names that are suggestive of evil such as “White Zombie (Burriss & Barnet 92).” After a look at all this many do wonder whether a thing that is utterly evil in origin and display van become Christianized by merely inserting the name Christ in front of it to get Christian rock “n” roll (Thompson 42).
Conclusively, the rock “n” roll genre has questionable origins and it connotes and denotes something evil and as such it cannot be linked to Christianity. The Christian rock “n” roll bands may put up Christian lyrics and show a Christian look, but the music was long tainted at its conception and accepting would be akin to taking a dirty vessel and putting some fine wine or milk into it and claiming that indeed it is fit for consumption despite the dirt on the vessel.
Works Cited
Burriss, L. L. and Barnet, D. R. Controversies of the music industry, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001: Print
Frederick, W. Christian Rock Music; Wolf or Sheep? A Theological Analysis. Lulu.com. 2007: Print
Thompson, J. J. Raised by wolves: the story of Christian rock & roll, ECW Press, 2000: Print
Is this your assignment or some part of it?
We can do it for you! Click to Order!
