ARTICLE: Are Christian Bands Losing Their Credibility?

I was reading through the Cue section in our local paper The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, yesterday, when I came across a listing for the (in)famous ‘Family Values Tour.’ Despite its name, the ensemble of alternative and metal rockers contains anything but family-friendly fair. Korn and Deftones headline the concert (which runs all-day long today, at the local Alpine Valley Music Theatre), flanked by nine other brazen staple-marks of the harsh genre. But I looked closer and noticed another band that I wasn’t expecting to see in the midst of the dark and zombie-toting acts: Flyleaf. And it wasn’t because the name included something other than ‘dead’ or ‘bullets’ in its name.

Flyleaf is a self-proclaimed Christian band which falls under the label ‘alternative.’ Lead singer Lacey Mosley explains that their songs are “personal messages that provide a few moments of clarity before the story begins.” They go the way of the typical Christian cross-over group by refraining to mention the name of God (except for a couple times, including on the song “Cassie;” a reference to the Columbine massacre), and their lyrics tend to wallow in misery, as one might guess by the title of their debut album’s lead single: “I’m So Sick.”

The justification for Christian bands such as these has always been that their songs do not just dwell in pain and despair, but offer hope, as well. But many questions fuel the ongoing debate between the two Christian camps that are constantly debating for and against contemporary Christian music. […read more]

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