Firm Foundation
I grew up on Christian music. The sounds of my childhood are the sounds of artists like Petra, Whiteheart, Michael W. Smith, Jars of Clay, and the like. There were some mainstream songs I heard and liked, particularly if it was associated with a movie or TV show. But, by and large, the average "CD in the car" was Christian music.
It took awhile for me to develop my own music tastes, but as I grew into a teenager and young adult, I still found myself gravitating toward mostly Christian music. Now, I've broadened my horizons a bit over the past few years. Previously, 99% or so of my leisure music listening was Christian. It's probably closer to 80-90% nowadays. I've grown to see the merit in certain mainstream music. The problem comes in that I also am really aware of the rot. I've often admitted there are faults in much of Christian music. Reading testimonies of ex-Christians, it's often rooted in response to these negative aspects of Christian culture. While these criticisms may carry merit, one look at life in the mainstream shows that it suffers from the same problems, often on a greater scale.
Much of mainstream music reflects this. It's a trail of failed relationships, unhealthy addictions, bitter confusion, and harmful vice. I've come to like songs by bands like Nickelback when they sing about something that has meaning, even vague concepts like standing together or encouraging a friend going through a hard time. But then I hear other songs from this same band that glorify heavy drinking and careless sex, and it's off-putting. Add in heavy profanity and listening to mainstream music has become an exercise in overdosing on many of the ugliest corners of society. It's the same story with so many other artists.
Mainstream Vices
A big criticism of Christianity is everything Christianity says is sinful, the world wants to do anyway. Despite how Christianity may have bungled evangelization on these topics, and how many Christians fall way short of them, these behaviors will never be healthy. They produce, at best, a fleeting dopamine rush that offers diminishing returns. Not to mention that the mainstream comes with its own set of dogmas and "rules" that will get you ostracized the moment you even appear to dissent. (i.e. J.K. Rowling) All of the worst impulses of any segment of Christian culture are only amplified in the mainstream.
Circling back to music, I prefer Christian music to the mainstream for the same reasons I am a Christian to begin with. I value truth. Songs about brokenness and pain are important. Pain and brokenness are real and should be acknowledged. But the closest the mainstream ever gets to solving these problems seems to be just indulging in more of the same vices that created the pain to begin with--drowning out suffering with dopamine.
If I'm watching a movie in which none of the characters are particularly likable and I don't want to root for any of them, I don't tend to continue watching. While a good story will show characters with flaws and struggles, there needs to be something to care about, some effort at some point to overcome the flaws. Otherwise, the story just becomes an exercise in misery porn. I approach music in a similar way.
In music, if all I get is a lot of empty, angry lyrics, why am I listening? So I can commiserate? This mainstream world of bitterness, anger, depression, indulgence in fleeting pleasures, and pale attempts at assembling something resembling meaning from the pit of confusion, this is just not a place I care to spend much time. I am not enriched by hearing about how much this singer hopes her ex suffers for breaking her heart. Yes, heartbreak happens. It's real. It's okay to sing about it, but at some point, there needs to be a search for true healing. With the mainstream, they rarely seem to arrive at such a healing. It's so clear they're trying to fill a void with things that never will.
The Remedy
Christian music points to where real healing comes from. That means we have to acknowledge the pain, but it can't end there. Sometimes these truths are expressed poorly. Sometimes the singer of said lyrics may themselves be insincere. But that doesn't necessarily make what they say wrong. If a person tells me that alcoholism will kill me, that doesn't suddenly become untrue because they are a raging alcoholic in their personal life. Whether it's showing me that there is a way out of my struggles or challenging me to be better, or even just expressing a simple Biblical truth, Christian music actually nourishes me. It points to the truth. The best of mainstream music can do the same, precisely because it contains within it elements of Christian truth.
Benign songs about love or reaching your potential can still connect with me because, despite not explicitly tying these virtues to Christianity, they still reflect the same Christian truth that I believe in. Now, I don't know for sure if my favorite artists live what they sing behind the scenes. Perhaps they walk off stage and proceed to break all ten commandments with reckless abandon. If that were true, would that make the Gospel untrue? Would it mean that indulging all of the anger and vice prevalent in mainstream music would then make me happier? A better person? Hardly. It wouldn't even make me less of a hypocrite. I'd just be a hypocrite over different things. What I do know is that Jesus is not a hypocrite. He is still the way, the truth, and the life. Even if every other person on the planet turned away from him, that would still be true. That's the faith. I'm not in this to be part of the popular crowd, so I won't base my faith on the lives of singers behind the scenes. I can still take the art at its face value. In doing so, I find that it's mostly Christian music that edifies and encourages me. I come away from Christian music more satisfied.
Some songs offer biting theological and social commentary, others more straightforward encouragement and positive themes. Some songs are about how Christ loves us through our brokenness, others the love of a husband and wife. There's a lot of variety. This isn't to say none of this is possible with mainstream music. The more I listen to the mainstream, the more good I find. But I also find that the more I listen, the more garbage I find. Perhaps it all boils down to Peter's declaration to Christ in Scripture. "Where else shall I go?" Christ alone has the words of eternal life. The major faces of mainstream music, wallowing in anger, addiction, brokenness, meaningless pleasures, and vice? They certainly don't have those words. For all of the problems with Christianity, and by extension Christian music, it's the only source of true nourishment out there. I've come to find my musical tastes reflecting this longing for nourishment, and gravitate toward songs that fulfill that need. As Paul says in Philippians 4:8: "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."
J.J. Francesco is a longtime contributor to the NRT Staff. He's published the novel 'Because of Austin' and regularly seeks new ways to engage faith, life, and community. His new novel, 'When Miracles Can Dream,' is out NOW!
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