Addiction to Rock n' Roll

[slh12280]

I clean a church and today I found an interesting book in the Pastor's office. It was called "Addiction: Rock n' Roll" I was like that's strange. Then I was like oh they wouldn't like my music collection even though I think it's not particularly offensive. Oh well. :)

[kpmom]

Oh good grief, the "rock 'n roll is evil" stuff has been around at least since Elvis. Can't they just give it a rest?

[ThisOlGirl]

When I was a kid, my then-fundie aunt had this book by James Dobson about the evils of Rock music that I read on a road trip. It was published in the early 80's, just in time for great "Satanic Panic", so the focus was mostly on early heavy metal bands like Dio and Black Sabbath. According to Mr. Dobson, the band 10CC got its' name from a dildo, AC/DC was a reference to bisexuality, and if I recall he said that the Bee Gees name was some sort of drug reference (not the phonetic spelling of B.G.'s for Brothers Gibb like I've always heard). Oh, and Pat Benatar was basically a big 'ol ho because she wore sexy clothing on stage. If you can think of a popular music act from the 70's or 80's, Dobson found something wrong with them. Actually, I'd like to thank James Dobson for writing that book. It made me go out and "discover" all kinds of artists that were kind of before my time, and I love them to this day. It also made me go out at 13 and find out what a dildo was, what BDSM was, and what the Plaster Casters were all about. Thanks, Mr. Dobson!

Now I feel like digging up my "Holy Diver" cd and...

[slh12280]

What of Christian rock? Is there not such a thing?

[emmyfair]

I was forced to watch the flic (on projector!) called "Hell's Bells" as a young teen, that stated that AC/DC stood for Anti-Christ Death Child. Yeah. Great memories.

[ThisOlGirl]

I was forced to watch the flic (on projector!) called "Hell's Bells" as a young teen, that stated that AC/DC stood for Anti-Christ Death Child. Yeah. Great memories.

Oooh, I'm gonna try to track that one down! I bet(hope) it has a real Reefer Madness feel to it. Your AC/DC reference made me remember-- KISS= Knights In Satan's Service.

[JenniferJuniper]

AC/DC was a reference to bisexuality, and if I recall he said that the Bee Gees name was some sort of drug reference (not the phonetic spelling of B.G.'s for Brothers Gibb like I've always heard).

Lord, fundies and their lies. The Bee Gees were just small children when they were named. Here's documentary proof starring the little lads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5taXY3hrOY

[emmyfair]

Oooh, I'm gonna try to track that one down! I bet(hope) it has a real Reefer Madness feel to it. Your AC/DC reference made me remember-- KISS= Knights In Satan's Service.

Please do! If "hell's bells" was right after all these years, well ... I'd still be pagan, but I'd be a surprised pagan, that's for sure!!! :)

[ThisOlGirl]

Please do! If "hell's bells" was right after all these years, well ... I'd still be pagan, but I'd be a surprised pagan, that's for sure!!! :)

It's for sale on Amazon--yessss! And that's not even the best part--there's a sequel! "Hell's Bells 2: The Power & Spirit of Popular Music". That sucker is 6 1/2 hours long. Apparently, it's not just metal that's of the devil--it's all music that isn't Christian. Adding to my Amazon wish list right now.

[emmyfair]

It's for sale on Amazon--yessss! And that's not even the best part--there's a sequel! "Hell's Bells 2: The Power & Spirit of Popular Music". That sucker is 6 1/2 hours long. Apparently, it's not just metal that's of the devil--it's all music that isn't Christian. Adding to my Amazon wish list right now.

Holy freaking cats! There's a part 2!?! I'll have to see that! :)

[lilwriter85]

I have heard about the Hell's Bells videos. Some churches and Christian organizations will always find anything that is mainstream entertainment and will try convince others that it is evil and sometimes they make up things about mainstream entertainment, bands, artists, TV shows etc. In the late 90's there was a Christian organization that produced documentaries on why boy bands and singers like Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears were evil and part of their campaign was for teens to listen to Christian artists rather bubblegum pop stars. I remember their approach was pretty weak because in the late 90's, Spears and Aguilera when first started out their music was pretty tame. Boy band music was also pretty tame as well.

[lilwriter85]

What of Christian rock? Is there not such a thing?

Some very conservative Christians and denominations dislike Christian rock. Chris Sligh, who was a contestant on American Idol season 6 was expelled from Bob Jones Univeristy for attending a Christian rock concert. I have heard of similar colleges and Christian high schools who are very anti-Christian rock.

[Oddeverything]

Oh man, in my insane journeys online I met some black metal musicians (of the church burning in Norway variety) who would make Dobson and the Hell's Bells dudes long for the relative purity and wholesomeness of WASP, KISS, ACDC and Ozzy Osbourne.

It's almost quaint, how worked up people got over gimmick rock acts. Alice Cooper was gonna eat live babies. Blackie Lawless was gonna rape girls on stage. The guys from Deicide were planning an en masse suicide. Glenn Benton has an upside down cross burned in his forehead and looks like a moron to everyone but high school dirtbags on their way to join the Army instead of going to jail on a petty drug charge. Will no one think of the children, who largely had no interest in any of this? Oh noes!

I was a teen in Dallas right when Dobson was taking off and I am with ThisOlGirl. With every stupid Dobson book and every moronic Bob Larson radio broadcast, I found more and more interesting and outre bands and ideas. I will not die happy unless I have seen the plaster cast of Hendrix's wang.

(I also feel the need to say that in my vast expertise of music, which is totally tongue-in-cheek, there has only ever been one good Christian rock song - "Fight the Good Fight" by Triumph. Some will tell you that Stryper was really rockin' with "To Hell with the Devil." They would be wrong. Someone suggested I listen to a band called Aftereight and it gave me diarrhea, it was so bad. Christian rock is... just not good, as a rule.)

[tehgoobster]

Christian rock is... just not good, as a rule.

I agree. Most of it is pretty cheesy. Whenever I think of Christian rock, though, I always think of the South Park episode "Christian Hard Rock." So wrong, but so hilarious! :lol:

[Lewis]

I remember a Wednesday night youth group meeting back in 1986 where they showed us a VHS of some dude (don't remember his name) explaining the evils of rock and roll. The two main things I remember him talking about were KISS = Kids in Satanic Service, going on and on about how they were trying to turn young people to satanism, and he claimed that Darryl Hall of Hall and Oates was a practicing satanist and had littered their records with intentional, backmasked satanic messages. He even tried to demonstrate one, but it just sounded like a bunch of garbled noise to me. I thought he was a nutjob. I didn't pay much attention to it. Maybe it would've ticked me off if he'd harped on a band or two I actually liked.

This particular church was the church of some friends my brother and I played basketball with, and we were just visiting with them. Wasn't a fundie church, but even a lot of mainstream churches bit into some of the fearmongering (eta: and still do).

[FaustianSlip]

Y'know, the Beatles are more popular than Jesus now... and probably for good reason. They've got way better lyrics, for one thing.

[darareaksmey]

I agree. Most of it is pretty cheesy. Whenever I think of Christian rock, though, I always think of the South Park episode "Christian Hard Rock." So wrong, but so hilarious! :lol:

So true. Our church has often tried to interest the youth in going to various Christian rock events that come to town, but the kids are like, what IS this crap? It's the one thing I side with the fundies on: Christian rock is an abomination. To me, rock is rock, and Christian music is Christian music, and never the twain shall meet. I love sacred music, and Ialways have, from childhood. I don't need walking bass and a drum kit to get the message of Christianity across to me, however, and I question whether young people really do. It's an insult to their intelligence. :banana-rock: :character-beavisbutthead:

Now if you'll excuse me I need to go turn up the volume on my NIrvana CD.

[mirele]

This "satanic music" thing isn't just limited to English or the 1980s. Just this past week, a friend of mine who lives in Sweden forwarded me a translated link to an article where the author (in Swedish) denounced the band Slayer and proceeded to tell a bunch of standard lies about them. Fans and friends of the band showed up to tell the guy he was out of his mind. I also found out that there can be health issues with headbanging, as Tom Araya of Slayer's had back problems of late due to his vigorous style of headbanging.

I will say that if you do want to get a bit creeped out, there is a documentary on "Norwegian Black Metal" that you can watch on the web. Some of those guys are, well, criminals, to put it bluntly.

As for me and my house, it's time to rock to some priest...Judas Priest.

:character-beavisbutthead:

[lilwriter85]

Y'know, the Beatles are more popular than Jesus now... and probably for good reason. They've got way better lyrics, for one thing.

:D

[Olivia]

Well, I loved me some Christian rock as a teen. And I also prefer my worship music to be rocked out rather than hymns, though I do love some old-timey hymns too.

But I was told that anything with a fast beat was questionable -- and we're not talking hard rock, we're talking pretty much anything but hymns and classical music. It was supposed to stir you up or something. My uber-fundie friend had to give a CD back to our VBS teacher because the female Christian vocalist on it was signing along to too much of a beat, but then she also had to give me back the astronomy book I gave her for her birthday due its mention of evil evolution (her mother wanted it burned, but they agreed to just return it to me).

[ThisOlGirl]

I will not die happy unless I have seen the plaster cast of Hendrix's wang.

WORD!!!

[masagoroll]

I was forced to watch the flic (on projector!) called "Hell's Bells" as a young teen, that stated that AC/DC stood for Anti-Christ Death Child. Yeah. Great memories.

I had to watch Hell's Bells at my school, too! I simultaneously thought it was creepy and dumb at the time.

It didn't influence my music habits, though. :-P

[Gizmola]

My father remembers once switching Perry Como with Jerry Lee Lewis at this very upscale and rich-people picnic when he was a kid in the '50s. All hell broke loose when "How Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" came on over the loudspeakers.

[SamuraiKatz]

Gizmola, your dad was awesome! I bet the "grown ups" were beside themselves!

[Gizmola]

Oh, he got in a LOT of trouble for that one.

I have to give mad props to my dad for introducing me to rock & roll. Elvis, the Beatles, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Ronettes, Del Shannon, Roy Orbison, the Eagles, etc. It counteracted the horror of my mom's Bob Dylan!! Though she did get us hooked on Aretha and the Mamas and the Papas. My parents were big on music - especially from the '60's. I didn't know KISS, Led Zepplin or anything like that. But I knew what Phil Spector's Wall of Sound was and I understood the brilliance of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds before I was 10.

I will admit that my first weekend in college I heard Nirvana for the first time and I was entranced. It was 1991 and I had never heard music like that. I can't really say that I love "Smells Like Teen Spirit" but I know and love the way it takes me back to feeling like a whole other world had opened up to me.

I now divide music into "listening for fun, background music at home," "sing-along music," and "good driving music." Listening for fun is my father's music. Sing along is everything from Christina Aguilera (not that I sound anything like her), musicals, ABBA (well, any disco) and Glee cover songs. Good driving music is AC/DC ("Shook Me All Night Long" is the best driving music for a summer night with the convertible top down), Nirvana, the Fratellis, Britney Spears (I know, I know!), great hits from the '80's like Madonna, Michael Jackson and Prince. Of course, Prince* is awesome make-out music as well.

My music collection, from Gene Pitney to Buck Cherry, would make a fundie head spin.

*please tell me I'm not the only one who finds Prince utterly sexy beyond belief? Even though he's supposedly a very strict Jehovah's Witness IRL. I would love for him to come aknockin' on my door. hee hee