Some more thoughts on Christian Music

So I was reading the July/August issue of Relevant yesterday. Specifically the interview with Dustin Kensrue of the band Thrice. In the interview they ask him what his thoughts are on "contemporary Christian music." And like most bands who have made it a point to stay out of the "Christian" scene he goes on to bash all that the Christian music industry is. Now this got me thinking. A few days ago I wrote about how I was upset with some site that put bad comparisons of "Christian" bands to bands that were "bad." When in fact a lot of bands that are not Christians put out lots of very good music. Now I listen to lots of music, in fact now that I have my ipod I am rarely NOT listening to something. But Kensrue’s comments got me thinking, and my conclusion today, is that we are being too hard on the Christian market. There is a lot of really good stuff coming out there. And Bands like Me Without You are a prime example of a band on a Christian label (tooth and nail) who are original, thought provoking, and pretty well amazing. There is also something to be said about what we allow our minds to dwell on. Yes there is truth in the music that bands put out, but there is also a lot of crap in their lyrics, that frankly isn't healthy.... that said there are some pretty nasty cliché’s in some Christian music that doesn't do much for us either. I like what Derek Webb sings in his song A New Law "don’t teach me about truth and beauty just label my music" I believe this is true and we need to look at all music that is labeled. But to say that just because an album is labeled "Christian" it is somehow less good, less beautiful, less true, seems not only wrong, but also pretty stupid.

Along the lines of labeling stuff there is some bad news for us Narnia Fans, apparently Disney has postponed the release of Prince Caspian until December of 2008.... yup even longer to wait until we can enjoy another installment of Narnia. At least I have the books :D Speaking of movies with Christian themes there is a great article on the Relevant website about how Christian and family friendly are not the same thing. Check out the article here.