Bands That Shun The Label: "Christian Band"

In our society there are various individuals with various talents. Whether they are specialized in arts, music, or media, they each have their own views and their own values. Because of this difference in values, many times these talents are each separated into different categories. Music is not an exception. The two biggest music scenes are mainstream and Christian. Those who prefer mainstream music as a better tool for their everyday lives, usually do not listen to Christian music. Let us start by defining “Christian music”. Christian music is "music created by Christians and adapted for the Christian church." The definition is very self-explanatory. Artists, who wish to get signed by a Christian record label or are debuting in the Christian music scene, are to expect that they are only going to be performing in Christian events and churches. They would know that their albums would be released in Christian bookstores. However, those artists who are in the Christian music scene in order to evangelize aren’t going to expect many non-believers in their concerts. Simply because when it comes to Christian music, most non-believers cringe at the thought of it. Our society is quickly boycotting Christian artists, Christian music, or simply everything that has the word “Christian” in it. And some Christians have a sacrilegious attitude towards mainstream music. So we ask ourselves, “What about those artists who are Christians but wish to have nothing to do with the Christian music scene?” We find that today Christian artists are drawing away from the “Christian label” because of this reason. However, this is more frequent in rock bands. So what rock bands have been either shunning this title or have had problems with the Christian music scene?

One of the bands is Switchfoot. Founded in 1996 as “Chin Up”, this alternative rock band was enjoying their times of making music and surfing every morning at the beach. In 1997 they were contacted by Charlie Peacock, the founder of Re:think Records which is now a division of the famous Christian record label Sparrow Records. The guys were, as required, marketed in Christian realms only. However they never appreciated the term “Christian band.” Wanting to expand in audience, Switchfoot decided to sign with Columbia Records. With their debut mainstream album, The Beautiful Letdown, they reached a bigger and broader mainstream audience. This disappointed the Christian fans who thought that Switchfoot was no longer “singing for the Lord.” Switchfoot defended, “For us, it [Christianity] is 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.” This issue went on for awhile and caused a big commotion. Currently, the fans seem to understand this view but there are still a few who continue to judge Switchfoot about this issue. However Switchfoot does not prohibit Sparrow Records from marketing their albums in Christian bookstores.

Secondly, we have P.O.D. This San Diego rock band started as a jamming session between long life friends Marcos Curiel and Wuv Bernardo in the early 90’s. Sonny Sandoval was added to the band after his conversion to Christianity because of his mother’s death. His mother was a devout Christian. Traa and Daniels joined the band in 1994. Thus P.O.D was formed. P.O.D stands for Payable On Death, which the guys state is an acronym representing the crucifixion of Jesus. They were signed to a Christian record label called Rescue Records. They, after several changes in Christian record labels, became one of the most popular rock bands in the Christian music industry. After awhile they decided to go mainstream and had many incidents that left a sense of doubt for their Christian fans. Their Christians fans started to doubt their “Christianity” and consequently accused them of being devil worshippers. P.O.D defends that they approach the theme of Evangelism in their music and that just because they are Christians does not mean that they have to be obvious about Christianity in their music, thus shunning the label “Christian band.”

Another example is the band from New Orleans, MuteMath. The band was founded in 2003 and started as an exchange of demos and ideas between Paul Meany (vocalist) and Darren King (drummer). These two guys kept exchanging ideas and talked about a possible project which we know to be MuteMath. Later, guitarist Greg Hill and bassist Roy Mitchell-Cárdenas were added to the band. They headed to the studio and started creating the new wave electro “indie” sound that is MuteMath. Paul then showed some of their demos to long time friend and producer, Tedd T. Tedd immediately fell in love with this new sound and together with Paul founded the independent record label Telemprompt Records. Telemprompt then made a contract with Warner Brothers. Warner Bros. however did not appreciate their sound and the way they did things and subsequently refused to market their albums. Thus, MuteMath was forced to sell their albums in concerts. After this issue was over, Warner Bros. agreed to start marketing their albums. However, they violated their contract and started marketing MuteMath as a “Christian band.” MuteMath, outraged, sued the company for “negligent misrepresentation for marketing music to the Christian market.” Although MuteMath does not deny their faith in Jesus, they did not want their music marketed in the Christian market yet. They claimed that they wanted mainstream recognition first.

With so much changing in the music scene, will Christian music become extinct?

(FINALLY I HAD THE PATIENCE TO EDIT IT! hehe...)