List of albums censored by Christian bookstores

This is a list of albums censored by Christian bookstores due to specific instances of censorship based on the content of the album. Christian bookstores censor material for various reasons, ranging from doctrine (Lifeway Christian Resources is associated with the Southern Baptist Convention) to a perceived need to protect their reputation or "atmosphere" by not carrying certain products. One critic has described a particular chain as being "extremely pro-censorship."^[1]

Some albums, especially those experiencing issues with cover art, are reissued with new covers for Christian book stores.

This list includes albums where censorship occurred while the album was in the Christian retail chain, either at the distributor or retail point. Is not meant to include:

• Albums that never made it into the Christian music market. Stryper's 1990 release Against the Law was not carried in Christian bookstores, as their label made the decision not to distribute to that market segment.^[2]
• Albums pulled solely because the artist was involved with a scandal or other incident, such as Sandi Patti, Michael English, Amy Grant, or Raze.
• Albums from an era in which artistic styles were less accepted in Christian music, unless a specific instance of censorship can be shown. Petra, for instance, had trouble getting Christian bookstores to take products until the 1980s, but this was primarily due to limited distribution rather than the specific content of their albums.^[3]

Albums

Band	Album	Year	Offending Company	Reason
Bon Voyage	Bon Voyage	1998	Parable Christian Stores	Lyrical content, particularly the song Kiss My Lips
Evanescence	Fallen	2003	own record label	Lyrical content, scandal[Note]	[4]
Every Day Life	Disgruntled	1996		Cover art, topical and lyrical content	[5]
Every Day Life	American Standard	1997		Topical content	[5]
Jerusalem	Dancing on the Head of the Serpent	1987	stores in Sweden	Cover art	[6]
Lust Control	This Is A Condom Nation	1988	Spring Arbor	sexually explicit lyrics	[7]
Mortification	Mortification	1991		Cover art	[8]
P.O.D	The Fundamental Elements of Southtown	1999		Cover art	[9]
P.O.D	Payable on Death	2003	LifeWay	Cover art[Note]	[9]
The Predators [UK]	Social Decay	1983	Scripture Union	Cover art	[10]
Ruby Joe	Sinking the Eight Ball	1998		Topical content	[11]
Saviour Machine	Saviour Machine I	1993		Lyrics	[12]
Scaterd Few	Sin Disease	1990		Topical content, plus scandal	[13]
The Showdown	Temptation Come My Way	2007	LifeWay & Family Christian	Title and lyrics of the song "Fanatics & Whores"
Sixteen Horsepower	Low Estate	1997	Family Christian	Sexually explicit lyrics on "Hang My Teeth on Your Door"	[14]
Squad Five-O	What I Believe	1997		Lyrics	[15]
Taylor SteveSteve Taylor	I Predict 1990	1987		Cover art, lyrics of "I Blew Up The Clinic Real Good"	[16]
Stretch Arm Strong	Rituals of Life	1999		Lyric content, hidden track cover of Modern English's "I Melt with You" removed from albums sold in Christian stores
Training for Utopia	Plastic Soul Impalement	1998		Cover art	[17]
Twelve Stones	Potter's Field	2004	LifeWay	Brief use of profanity written in the album's liner notes	[18]
Various Artists	Live at the Strand	1997		Parody cover of AC/DC's "Back in Black", performed by members of Piltdown Man and Luxury	[19]
Vengeance Rising	Human Sacrifice	1989		Cover art, musical style	[20]
Vengeance Rising	Once Dead	1990		Cover art, musical style	[21]
Vigilantes of Love	Slow Dark Train	1997	Family Christian	Sexually explicit lyrics on "Love Cocoon"[Note]	[22]
Welch BrianBrian Welch	Save Me from Myself	2008		Music video for "Flush"[Note]	[23]
Ws TheThe W's	Fourth from the Last	1998	LifeWay	Lyrics[Note]	[24]
Zao	Liberate Te Ex Inferis	1999		Cover art[Note]	[25]

Notes

• ^Evanescence: Their debut album was initially distributed to the Christian market, and its lead single received airplay on Christian radio. Its label pulled the album out of the Christian market, with lead singer Amy Lee commenting "I guarantee that if the Christian bookstore owners listened to some of those songs, they wouldn't sell the CD."^[4]

• ^P.O.D.: The cover artist for Payable On Death was Daniel Martin Diaz. Upon the ban he commented "It's quite ironic that throughout my art career, I have been censored by a reputable art publication and denied inclusion into art exhibitions because my work is too religious. Now my work is being censored by religious outlets. Some folks need to enlighten themselves with art history."^[9]

The controversy also caused some stores to pull the January / February 2004 issue of HM Magazine because P.O.D. was featured on its cover (issue #105).^[26] The issue featured additional artwork by Diaz.

• ^Vigilantes of Love: "Love Cocoon" was included on Slow Dark Train over the objection of the band. On the topic, frontman Bill Mallonee told CCM "I do stand behind the song intellectually and theologically... I would have loved it if Slow Dark Train was the first album in the Christian bookstore market to have a parental advisory sticker on it."^[27]

• ^Brian Welch: The music video for "Flush" was designed around the personal experiences of its author. At the time the album was pulled, Brian Welch released a statement about the visual content of the video, relating its symbolism to his personal experiences of addiction and redemption. He also issued the following statement: "The video for 'Flush' is about crystal meth addiction and the crazy things anyone addicted to meth will do while they're high or to get their fix. Everything the models were doing in the video is what I was wrapped up in while I was addicted to meth... I believe I would be dead right now if I continued using meth, but instead, I chose to surrender my life to Christ and die to myself so He could share His resurrection with me... Taking my CDs off the shelves because of a music video (that isn't being sold with the CD) is a bit too extreme! There is a huge message of hope on my CD and I believe those retailers that are pulling the CD from their shelves are robbing someone spiritually by taking it off of the shelves."^[23]

• ^The W's: LifeWay pulled the album over what one critic describes as "the verboten use of words like 'suck' and 'butt'."^[24]

• ^Zao: The original cover of Liberate Te Ex Inferis was a photo of the band, on which drummer Jesse Smith's tattoos were visible. The content of the bodyart in question pictured pin-up girls, which some Christians could interpret as pornography,^[28] but for others, the tattoos alone would be enough to cause issues.^[29] The album was pulled by the Christian distributor before going to market, and the copies in question released to the general market. However, fallout for the band continued to be felt throughout the year 2000, as the band experienced canceled shows and festival appearances due to the controversy.^[25]

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Powell, Mark Allan (2002). Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (First printing ed.). Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 1-56563-679-1. .