Christian punk

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Christian music
Stylistic origins
A variety of genres evolving from Jesus music.
Cultural origins
Typical instruments
Mainstream popularity Continuous from 1990s
Subgenres
Christian alternative rock · Christian bubblegum pop · Christian electronic music · Christian hardcore · Christian hip hop · Christian metal · Unblack metal · Christian punk · Christian rock · Christian soft rock
Other topics
Christian entertainment industry · Contemporary worship music

Christian punk (or Christ punk) is a form of Christian music and a subgenre of punk rock with some degree of Christian lyrical content. Much disagreement persists about the boundaries of the subgenre, and the extent that their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies among bands. For example, the seminal band The Crucified explicitly rejected the classification of "Christian punk" while staying within the Christian music industry.[1] Christian punk bands that target a Christian audience explicitly state their beliefs and use Christian imagery in their lyrics may be considered a part of the contemporary Christian music (CCM) industry; some observers would consider this music to fall outside the scope of Christian punk.

Given the nature of punk and some of its subgenres, such as hardcore punk, many bands have been rejected by the Christian and CCM music industry. Some bands generally avoid specific mention of God or Jesus; likewise some bands may specifically reject the CCM label or express disdain for that niche of the music industry. For example, Ninety Pound Wuss vocalist Jeff Suffering said about the breakup of the band in 2000, "...[N]obody wanted to continue playing in [the] "Christian" music industry." [2]

Christian punk record labels include Tooth & Nail Records and its subsidiary Solid State Records; The Militia Group, which signs groups that straddle the boundary between Christian and secular music; Facedown Records, a California label founded by No Innocent Victim drummer Jason Dunn; and up-and-comer Mono Vs Stereo, a subsidiary of Gotee Records, which is owned and operated by TobyMac of dc Talk;.

Contents

[edit] History

Christian punk's origins during the wider 1980s punk rock scene are somewhat obscure. As the Jesus Movement gave rise to cultural institutions such as Jesus People USA (JPUSA), these served as an incubator for various Christian subcultures including punk, in part through JPUSA's label Grrr Records. Crashdog is one characteristically punk band that was rooted in JPUSA.[3]

In the 1980s, many bands performed at Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel in Orange County California. A particularly popular group with a cult following was Undercover, who proclaimed that "God Rules" with a combination of rockabilly and hardcore elements. Another early influential group were the Altar Boys. The Crucified and (to a lesser extent) Circle of Dust and Under Midnight were major players in proto Christian Punk. The Cornerstone Festival provided an important venue for not only Christian punk bands, but Christian bands in general. Scaterd Few also gained popularity during the early 1980s. They played at Cornerstone Festival but also toured with secular bands such as Bad Brains (who later became involved with the Rastafari movement). They ran into trouble when they played at Earth First, an explicitly non-Christian event and also in 1991, when their vocalist admitted to smoking marijuana. During the 1990s, the underground scene grew as bands such as MxPx, Ghoti Hook, Squad Five-O, The Huntingtons, Dogwood, Pocket Change, and Headnoise greatly influenced many of their peers and paved the way for many bands to follow. Scaterd Few is generally considered the first American Christian punk band.

In the 21st century, developments in Christian punk parallels broader punk, with pop punk bands such as Relient K, Hawk Nelson, FM Static, Flatfoot 56, Stellar Kart, and This Providence are popular with mainstream audiences.[citation needed] Other bands with Christian roots that have become very popular within their own genres are As I Lay Dying, Still Remains, Norma Jean and Demon Hunter (metalcore), and Underoath and mewithoutYou (post-hardcore). While Zao is not a Christian band anymore, they did begin as one and still contain Christian imagery.[citation needed] There are also secular bands outside and within the punk subculture that contain Christian songwriters who, despite the varying beliefs of the individual band members, sometimes write lyrics that have clear Christian themes such as Comeback Kid, U2, and Hyde.

[edit] Fashion

Fashion is similar to normal punk fashion, but also includes the Christian Ichthys, the cross, a crown of thorns, the JCHC symbol, and similar symbols. Chi Rho is a popular symbol amongst more anarcho-Christian bands, such as The Psalters [1]. In Europe the most used symbol is the anarchy symbol, modified as it might become an A and Ω. This is the Greek alphabet symbol for "Alpha" & "Omega" (the English equivalent is "A" and "Z"); which in Christian symbology means that God is the omnipresent, such as seen in Revelation 1:8. The symbol is a visual play on the anarchy symbol but with a different, yet similar, meaning and intent.

[edit] Religion

Acceptance of Christian punk is at times challenged both amongst members of the punk subculture and in some Christian churches. There are strong elements of anti-authoritarianism in both, such as challenging the uncritical acceptance of social norms in the church and the world. One Bad Pig's demo, A Christian Banned, drew its name from the band's struggle to gain acceptance in Christian circles because of their punk sound and image. One illustration of this is seen in the concept of "anticonformity", which can be seen in Christian punk music, including the song "Anticonformity" by Krystal Meyers. Within this perspective, the Christian's view of anticonformity is different from the punk view. The Christian's reason for anticonformity is found in the Biblical Epistle to the Romans: "Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed." Popular culture is also commented on and/or satirized by Christian punk bands. One of Relient K's most popular songs from their self-titled debut album, "My Girlfriend", contained the line, "Marilyn Manson ate my girlfriend." Calibretto 13 wrote songs critical of MTV, such as "Why Can't I Be on MTV?" and conformity, as in "Sheep of the USA." The Deadlines, likewise, parodied horror film themes on their album The Death and Life Of....

Some may still argue that punk is anti-religious and thus in opposition to Christianity. Their argument is generally that the practice of Christianity (or any religion, established or not) is, by definition, conformity to rules set forth by someone other than the individual for him or herself. One response to this claim is that punk rock encourages people to think for themselves, and that a Christian's choice to be a Christian is his or her own decision to make, regardless of what others, including punks, would think of it.

Some Christian Punks also do not agree with or are very critical of organized religion. They say that real Christianity is not just a religion because it's not supposed to be about rituals and rules; attacking these notions of legalism is a common theme in Christian punk lyrics, especially with older Christian punk bands, such as Ninety Pound Wuss, Scaterd Few, and One Bad Pig. They believe true Christianity is a relationship with Jesus Christ, not necessarily a religion. Many Christian punks are against religion like other punks, yet they are strongly in support of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, separate from rules and tradition. This idea gave rise to Christian punk's term "JCHC", meaning "Jesus Christ Hard Core", which draws its name from an Officer Negative song of the same name.

[edit] Politics

Although punk rock has strong ties to anarchism, Christian Punks are not a subculture of Marxism or a form of anarchy or communism, instead, it is a subculture with both Christian and Punk affiliations. This belief was often held by extreme conservatives during the 1970s and 1980s, however, this was primarily used because of the clash between the King-James-Only Movement and the Jesus Movement. Evangelists such as Jimmy Swaggart associated the Jesus Movement and Christian Rock in general as anti-Christian.

The vast majority of Christian punk bands do not advocate anarchy or communism; Officer Negative's logo is a parody of the Circle-A commonly associated with anarchism. Many Christian punk bands, especially pop-punk bands such as Relient K, FM Static, and MxPx, have very few songs about political topics; others, most notably older bands, contain strongly political lyrics in many of their songs. Political Christian punk bands come from a variety of areas on the political spectrum. The Psalters, who openly advocate the ideas of Karl Marx and the Christian anarchist Leo Tolstoy. Some politicized Christian punk bands are also socialists. Crashdog operated a section of their website devoted to political issues and candidates that they supported, such as former United States Green Party Presidential candidate Ralph Nader and various human rights causes. [4] Crashdog disbanded in the late 1990s to start Ballydowse, a more political band which also took strong stances on human rights issues.[5]

Other Christian punk bands take more conservative stances. Calibretto 13's song "America", from their album Adventures in Tokyo, expressed the band's displeasure with America's moral decline. Christian punk bands are also often vocal against abortion in their songs. Rock for Life categorizes bands based on their advocacy for or against abortion; they include many Christian punk bands, such as Dogwood, Flatfoot 56, Relient K, and One-21, on their list of pro-life bands.[6].


[edit] Record labels

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ I'm Not a Christian Punk. The Crucified Page. Retrieved on 2006-10-19.
  2. ^ Ninety Pound Wuss - Raft of Dead Monkeys: Jeff Suffering. SHZine (2000-06). Retrieved on 2006-10-19.
  3. ^ Mehr, Bob. "Giving the God Squad a Fair Shake", Chicago Reader. Retrieved on 2006-10-19. 
  4. ^ Crashdog's political stances
  5. ^ Ballydowse's website
  6. ^ Rock For Life's list of pro-life bands
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