The 1980s War Between Christianity and Rock & Roll

[southernhybrid]

This nonsense started in the 50s. I know because as a child of the 50s,

Buddy Holly's mother told him he was playing "jungle music," a possible racist epithet on her part. It seems to me that those who hate rock & roll tend to hate people.

I wasn't permitted to listen to that evil rock and roll.

One morning I woke up to discover that my mother had burnt my rock & roll LPs along with my record player. She was screaming that they were "Satanic" and forbid me to ever listen to rock & roll again.

So, when I got my first transistor radio, I would listen to it at night, while holding the tiny radio up to my ear and listen to soul or rock. Back then, the radio stations played rock, soul and even some light jazz as pop music.

After my mother's "auto de fe" (burning a heretic as an act of faith in Christ), I managed to scrape up some money and bought a cassette player and some tapes along with an earphone. I would go out into the woods to listen to my tapes or sit in the bathroom using the earphone.

Our church was Baptist and I'm sure you all know the old joke.....
"Why don't Baptists have sex standing up? People might think they are dancing."

Kinky!

I used to sneak out with my Catholic friends to attend the dances anyway without telling my mom where I was going. She mellowed out as she got older.

So did my mother once she realized that she just couldn't go around destroying people's property to destroy their enjoying life. She was miserable and hated the idea of anybody being happy.

So that's religion for you. It attracts people who want to use it as a justification for their hating people and wanting to hurt people. Rock & roll is far from perfect, but at least nobody ever burned a record in the name of rock & roll and nobody ever burned a person in the name of rock & roll.

My mother wasn't at all hateful, nor was she trying to hurt anyone purposely. She never destroyed my radio or my little 45 vinyl collection of rock and roll, which I listened to in my bedroom. She was simply a victim of brainwashing, by a nasty fundamentalist Baptist church in New Jersey, that she started attending when I was about 4. Character is more important than beliefs. it's the extremist Christians who want a Christian theocracy that present a danger to our country. Despite their declining numbers, they have too many of their own in powerful positions. Baptists used to be big supporters of the separation of church and state, but that's not the case these days, with the exception of the declining number of liberal Baptists.

As far as rock and roll and soul go, I've made countless CD mixes for people, many who claim to be conservative Christians. They've all told me they enjoy the music I've mixed for them, so apparently something has changed when it comes to rock and roll and conservative Christians, at least those in my generation. I'm sure that some of today's music would offend them, but some of today's music is also offensive to me, as it's often sexist with violent imagery, unlike much of the music that was popular back in the day. Apparently, rock and roll or whatever we are calling today's pop music won. I agree that the Christian church often incorporates aspects of rock into their own music. Since I've been an atheist for over 45 years, I'm not interested nor am I familiar with their contemporary music. I'm old school.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

My mother wasn't at all hateful, nor was she trying to hurt anyone purposely. She never destroyed my radio or my little 45 vinyl collection of rock and roll, which I listened to in my bedroom.

You're lucky there. I wish I could say that.

She was simply a victim of brainwashing, by a nasty fundamentalist Baptist church in New Jersey, that she started attending when I was about 4.

It is possible to get free of that brainwashing with some effort, but I can understand how some people would incur a lot of damage to their lives if they left their religion. It's possible your mother feared losing her religious friends if she left.

Character is more important than beliefs. it's the extremist Christians who want a Christian theocracy that present a danger to our country. Despite their declining numbers, they have too many of their own in powerful positions. Baptists used to be big supporters of the separation of church and state, but that's not the case these days, with the exception of the declining number of liberal Baptists.

I'd say that any Christian who really believes that there's a God in the sky or a Devil below is potentially dangerous to themselves, others, or both. Other Christians can be dangerous if they use their religion to swindle people out of money or as you say attain political power.

As far as rock and roll and soul go, I've made countless CD mixes for people, many who claim to be conservative Christians. They've all told me they enjoy the music I've mixed for them, so apparently something has changed when it comes to rock and roll and conservative Christians, at least those in my generation. I'm sure that some of today's music would offend them, but some of today's music is also offensive to me, as it's often sexist with violent imagery, unlike much of the music that was popular back in the day. Apparently, rock and roll or whatever we are calling today's pop music won. I agree that the Christian church often incorporates aspects of rock into their own music. Since I've been an atheist for over 45 years, I'm not interested nor am I familiar with their contemporary music. I'm old school.

I've noticed that shock rock has lost much of its shock. We've got Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne living in Beverley Hills making sitcoms. The days of preachers raging against Satanism in rock is a thing of the past. It's good to know that we're becoming more civilized.

 

[excreationist]

This builds on what I said in post #16.


That is about Robert Johnson "the father of rock and roll". It says he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for guitar playing abilities and fame. 4:58 - "And I said "Hello Satan, I believe it's time to go.... Me and the Devil was walkin' side by side"

 

[Learner]

If I formed a band now, I'd name it: Pete and the prophets. Sunshine-blues, sky-blues or something along those lines, as a derivative category of blues - 'cos the lyrics ain't gonna be about being gloomy.

 

[excreationist]

If I formed a band now, I'd name it: Pete and the prophets. Sunshine-blues, sky-blues or something along those lines, as a derivative category of blues - 'cos the lyrics ain't gonna be about being gloomy.

I'd call it EXODOS - which can be spelt using the PlayStation symbols:

which means "A final scene or departure in a play, especially a tragedy"
My friend didn't like it because it sounds too much like the Biblical term "Exodus".

 

[bilby]

If I formed a band now, I'd name it: Pete and the prophets. Sunshine-blues, sky-blues or something along those lines, as a derivative category of blues - 'cos the lyrics ain't gonna be about being gloomy.

I'd call it EXODOS - which can be spelt using the PlayStation symbols:
View attachment 43282
which means "A final scene or departure in a play, especially a tragedy"
My friend didn't like it because it sounds too much like the Biblical term "Exodus".

EXODOS should be the name of the PlayStation operating system.