As I began researching the presence of religion in music, I wanted to find prominent examples of bands/artists in pop culture that really made an effort to leak religion into their work. The more I looked the more I came to feel that much of the religious influence we are exposed to in musical pop culture seems to be very subtle.
One example I came across was the band Switchfoot. This band has seen a lot of success. Their overall approach with their music has resulted in them being placed, by many, into the Christian rock genre. While their lyrics, their choice of market distribution (general and Christian) and even their album art provide subtle substance behind this placement, the band itself has philosophically disagreed with the label.
The band’s lead singer, Jon Foreman has said that "For us, it's a faith, not a genre. We've always been very open and honest about where the songs are coming from. For us, these songs are for everyone. Calling us 'Christian rock' tends to be a box that closes some people out and excludes them. And that's not what we're trying to do. Music has always opened my mind—and that's what we want".
The band gives evidence of this claim with the fact that their lyrics never really exclusively declare anything of Christian faith or even mention Jesus Christ. But they do focus a lot on being inspirational in their lyrics. The interesting thing is that they perform at many Christian festivals (video below) and still kind of cater to that crowd despite their neutral stance
While the band’s desired position was pretty clear, I find everything to be a little bit contradicting. Now none of this really matters in the industry. Bands obviously aren’t required to declare their status in a genre or expose all of their personal beliefs to as much of an extent as possible. Yet when reading about Switchfoot I started to wonder why they filter their beliefs so much, and still play a few Christian band cards. Besides the fact that much of it is probably business related, it seems that they just want to appeal to a much larger audience. They also might just want to connect with people in a ‘safe zone’ without going too far in terms of religion.
The interesting thing for me is that, despite knowing of them for a few years, I never realized that they’re a Christian band. Also, it seems like bands that have firm religious beliefs might be missing opportunities to connect with people on a deeper level. In this way I have come to the conclusion that the impact of religion and music in pop culture might not be recognized as much as religion is in other forms of media. This might be why specificity is avoided.
So the question...
Do religious references in the music of pop culture have as much of an impact as religious references portrayed through other forms of media? Yes or no, and why?
I think you made a really interesting point in saying that artists are not required to make there religion or even genre known. As with Switchfoot, I also did not know they were a Christian band until our class period. Now, when I hear their songs I can see it, but I had to be told in order to get that meaning from it.
ReplyDeleteI think that being a performer is just like any other job. We all live our lives not necessarily as full time missionaries every day, but when asked our religion or put in situations contrary to our religious beliefs, we make it known. I think artists can do the same thing. They can declare themselves "christian artists" or they can just go about doing what they are passionate about and when it comes to talk about Christianity, they are open about it.
As for your question, I don't think there are necessarily less religious artists in the music industry, I just think that those that are fully devoting their talents to religious genres are not as accepted as they are in other media. There are plenty of 'christian artists' out there, however, most of then popular ones are more passionate about their art form and do not seem to market themselves as 'christian artists'.
I think that music uses a much more subtle tactic than movies for example. There are many songs that have a religious meaning or message, but that message often goes unnoticed. Personally, I often don't think about the lyrics, good or bad, unless I have heard the song a number of times and someone has told me to listen to the words.
ReplyDeleteI think that individually each song has a limited impact on people. However, the number of songs showcasing religious material is growing constantly. Though we may not realize the effects it has, as a whole I think that religious messages in music have a large impact on society.
No, unless they're explicit. Music is a transitory medium - much more ethereal than a picture or a painting, and thus it may be harder to interpret the intended message immediately. Additionally, people often do not listen to lyrics or interpret them in a personal way. When bands become explicit with religious lyrics, this chance for misinterpretation diminishes and it becomes much easier for the listener to grasp what the musician is trying to communicate.
ReplyDeleteOr course, the band may want to leave to lyrics open to interpretation, so that each person may connect with the song in a personal way. I have read interviews with bands where such an intent was stated by the band. Such self-application is an important part of most religious worship.
On a last note, I find nothing contradictory with a band saying they are a Christian band but not making explicit references to religious figures in their lyrics. For example, the LDS hymn "Love on Another" does not include any names of Deity, but encourages a good message - and yet LDS people would still say it's a Christian song. Insofar as Christian bands explore positive themes in line with Christian values, then they are as Christian a band as any other.
Just like you said, I did not realize switchfoot was even a Christian band, although I have listened to their songs probably a hundered times. To me, my first thought was that this makes it obvious that Christian music in popculture may not have as large an impact as other forms of media may have. In music, religion is often very subtle, while on television or in print it is very obvious. In the latter to mediums, I am much more aware if a religious topic is discussed.
ReplyDeleteAlthough reilgion is more subtle in popular music, I think when realized it may have a large impact on people that I thought at the beginning. I think that when writing religious lyrics to a song, people see that the artists is more sincere. To me this would be more impactful than simply seeing a religious side theme in a television series. So once it is realized, I think that the impact and edification might be greater than the impact through other mediums.