Favorite Christian Music

[brittany k]

Casting crowns, newsboys, toby mac, mandiesa, tenth avenue north, britt nicole!

[NarniaQA Guy]

Abandon (whoot, whoot!) Capital Lights, Skillet, Narnia [yes, its a real band (no, its not mine)] Switchfoot, Toby Mac, Dc Talk, The old Newsboys, The Old Newsboys, Pillar, one thousand others....

[HannahJ.]

Okay there is so many bands I heart! Okay but there's one that beats them all. JESUS CULTURE! BEST BAND Ever. Of course I love so many singers/bands it's crazy. I've listened to Scream o, Rap(Lacrae and Toby Mac are epic) Rock,Rockish stuff,etc.. My dad is a Music Freak it rubbed off him to me

[ArnoldtheRubberDucky]

A teensy-bit of Newsboys, a teensy-bit of Skillet, a teensy-bit of Fee, a teensy-bit of Hillsong, and... CHRIS TOMLIN! That guy is EPIC! I have tried several Christian bands, including Group 1 Crew, Skillet, TobyMac, and a couple others, and I just have a few problems with modern Contemporary Christian music. I shall list them here:

1. Lack of Vocal Talent: Let's face it. These guys are not exactly Michael Jackson. Their voices may sound alright, but John Cooper's voice can get annoying fast in several of the Skillet tracks. And behind all the blinking bells and whistles, you can't really hear some of the singers much at all. They're not stretching themselves to their fullest vocal potential, and worse, they sound amateurish. Chris Tomlin is rather talented, and I believe he's a notch above the other Christian artists in nearly everything.

2. Lack of Inspiration in the Lyrics: I apologize if anyone thinks I am insulting God and the people who praise him, but I really am not intending to. Many Christian tracks are the same ol' message about God loving us and Him being amazing. This is, of course, true, but I think there are more subjects these people could cover. Their songs are like Psalms, though they are a bit less inspired. However, I am always open to new Christian bands, as I definitely don't have a prejudice against them yet, so if anyone knows of any good Christian bands with unique messages, let me know!

3. Lack of Musical Originality and Greatness: Christian music, (not lyrics, music) is, to put it concisely, nothing more than anyone else is doing. I would like to make it clear that this point is not about the lyrics or the vocals, but the music, the little background noises no one pays attention to except me. Skillet is just a Christian version of the old metal bands, and they don't even attempt to put out anything incredibly different or go out of their comfort zone in their music. I can admire them for trying to bring metal to Christian audiences, but I wish they had something the other secular rock bands didn't. Group 1 Crew and Newsboys sound just like a typical pop group, and the music in the background is irritating (To me, at least. I realize I have a different musical taste than most people, being into Indie and Garage Pop as well as Classical and Alternative) and could be conjured up by almost anyone. Once again, I am not an expert in the field of Christian music, so if this was all just a bunch of bogus, please tell me. :

Those are my reasons. But keep in mind I have different musical taste, and I may not understand why you like the artists and bands you like. I actually have a theory for why I don't find most of today's Christian music lackluster: there are less Christian bands than secular. Let's face it, some people with little talent can get by in the music biz. Look at Carly Rae Jepsen! And there are many, many secular artists that I passionately despise. But there are also many I like. Why is this? It's a bigger market. Secular music has more of a chance to be good and satisfy everyone, including strange people like me, because there are more people performing it. Contemporary Christian music just got started about 20 years ago, so there are less bands, and therefore, less of a chance for great artists to emerge. That's why I'm hoping a new, unique, inspired, talented Christian artist will come out and capture my ear's attention. Who knows? Maybe there's one already out there that I missed because I was ranting and raving about how mediocre the Christian music is today.

[Aaron Wiley]

I agree entirely with CT101, which is why nearly all of the Christian bands I listen to are those really small indie bands that don't give a hoot about the actual industry of music and simply make music that they like, and praise God with it. A few of these artists (for those you interested) are

Lovelite

An incredible indie/rock/80's synth pop/sometimes worship band that are very musically diverse, and have some really interesting voices to compliment their particularly creative style of music. I love to listen to these guys when I'm praying, partially because I love their music, but also because their lyrics go a lot deeper, and seem to have a lot more interesting meaning than a lot of other worship bands. Not all of their lyrics are entirely different from all we've heard before, but they're definitely the most diverse worship band I've ever heard. You can download their album for free here, as part of the label's way of promoting artists is to give away their music for free

80's type style sampler - http://www.comeandlive.com/CLD/Lovelite ... nsSampler/
Indie rock style full album - http://comeandlive.com/CLD/LoveliteNearness/
http://www.comeandlive.com/CLD/Lovelite/index.html


The Ember Days

Another worship type band, but significantly more simple than Lovelite. I love the passion a dn simple honesty in their lyrics, and of course, their voices are very interesting as well.

http://comeandlive.com/CLD/EmberDays-Emergency/



Future of Forestry

The band is already incredible to listen to, but when you find out that it's all written and arranged by one man, your mind gets blown all over again. Owyoungs soaring vocals float on top of a beautifully ambient river of harmonies and irregular rhythms. The lyrics in his "Traveler series" are an incredible encouragement to all Christians in their spiritual journeys, no matter where they are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m8JkPRyrSQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8o4NiyY ... re=related


Ruth

Dustin Ruth is probably the most honest, simple songwriter I've ever heard. When you listen to his music (especially this album "Anorak") you just feel closer to God, because it's so easy to relate to every word he sings. The simplicity of his worship just makes you want to drop everything and be a better Christian. And his voice! Angelic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1JRX-LU ... jBGFhsoMME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxA-STh1 ... jBGFhsoMME


There are others, but these are some of my favorites.

[GabrielleFandomGirl]

Well singers, would be: Chris Tomlin, and Maybe TobyMac, Candi Pearson Shelton, Kari Jobe

[Victoria]

The christian artist/band/singers and in parenthesis are my favorite songs by them

Matt Redman (Holy and 10,000 Reasons)
Family Force 5 (Zombie and Get On Outta Here)
Matt Kearney (Ships In the Night)
Owl City (basically any song!)


The list is longer than that, but I don't know the band/song names. Haha

[ArnoldtheRubberDucky]

I agree entirely with CT101, which is why nearly all of the Christian bands I listen to are those really small indie bands that don't give a hoot about the actual industry of music and simply make music that they like, and praise God with it. A few of these artists (for those you interested) are...

Hey, thanks Aaron! : I didn't really expect anyone to agree with me! I will definitely give all of those groups a try. Being a new fan of indie rock, I'm sure I'll love these.

[Liz'alike]

@ CT and Aaron: I agree with both of you totally! There are so few "good" Christian artists (in my opinion)! I am always looking for new artists that have more "meat" in their lyrics. I can't even listen to Christian radio without getting irritated at the lack of diversity and talent.

Thank you for sharing your favs Aaron! I liked Ruth .

@ CT, you might like Jimmy Needham. He is one of my all time favorites! His songs have a lot of depth, along with a unique and different sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6smGew7dGto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmz43Qe25yA

[godisawesomeness99]

my top 7 are

1. Come home by luminate

2. The redeemer by sanctus real

3. For your glory by decemberadio

4. Alive by pocket full of rocks

5. Ny2la by Press play

6. The proof of your love by for King and Country

7. Blink by Revive

These songs just really speak to my heart

[Nelson S.]

Updated:

My favorite singers are: tobyMac, Andy Kirk, Andy Mineo, Chris August, KB, PRo, Trip Lee, Lecrae, Tedashii and Owl City.

My favorite bands are: Skillet, Switchfoot, Royal Tailor, Group1Crew, Relient K, Red and Thousand Foot Krutch.

[God's little Artist]

Jesus Culture, Misty Edwards, Lecrae, Ginny Owens, Jimmy Needham, Shawn McDonald, Matthew West, Newsboys.
CD's from IHOP conferences (OneThing, Joy )

[Samantha14]

TOBY MAC!!!
Newsboys,Third Day,Barlow girl, Dc Talk, 10th Avenue North, And Pure NRG.

[ArnoldtheRubberDucky]

Oh, I like Switchfoot! I don't believe they are incredibly musically diverse, but their music is entertaining and it's kind of my style. But I didn't realize anyone counted them as Christian. I have three of their songs, and none of them seem to have outright spiritual lyrics.

[Samantha14]

I saw them in concert!
I forgot to mention them, Didn't I?

[ArnoldtheRubberDucky]

You saw them in concert? I would love to go to a concert sometime... I'm just not sure when I would have the time.

Aaron, I looked into Future of Forestry and Ruth, and I now love both of them! I shall be purchasing some of their songs soon. I thank you for putting up that list, as I think at this point in my life I really need Christian music, as my life is getting to be almost entirely dominated by secular things.

[Victoria]

Favorite song as of right now is "Kings and Queens" bye Audio Adrenalin.
I don't listen to them often, pretty much never, but Kaida showed me this song and I can't get enough!

[godisawesomeness99]

2 words..... Matthew west!

[Bethany Shepard]

DAVID PHELPS!! He has the range of a opera singer!

[Nelson S.]

Updated yet again:

My favorite singers are: tobyMac, Andy Kirk, Andy Mineo, B. Reith, Britt Nicole, Chris August, KB, PRo, Trip Lee, Lecrae, Tedashii and Owl City.

My favorite bands are: Capital Kings, Family Force 5, Falling Up, Skillet, Switchfoot, Royal Tailor, Group1Crew, Relient K, Red and Thousand Foot Krutch.