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Is it hypocritcal to listen to both Christian music and death metal?

nuttynutskin

nuttynutskin

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May 15, 2011
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Making this short because I really want to see where this discussion leads with other members rather than me blathering on. Discuss!
 
I'm not a fan of either type of music but to me it's not hypocritical, as music is music.

I know and have met people who were into both types of music and listened to them.
 
I agree, I also am not into either, but music is art, I think it's extremely healthy to be interested in all sorts of it. To me the idea that if you listen to one type of music you can't listen to another is ridiculous and smacks of identifying with music for social status or grouping, like, "people who listen to ABC are this type of people and they don't like XYZ". Everyone is an individual, and is entitled to enjoy whatever they please. I like most types of music, I have heard Christian rock and death metal that I like, but for me it's rare in those groups, and I tend to like other types of music more. But I try not to ever say 'I don't like this type of music", rather more on a song-by-song basis.

I always said I hated country music, it was largely because of the culture I grew up in. It's not my favorite genre by far, but as I got older I decided to drop my prejudice and actually open my ears and mind, and there's plenty of country songs that are great, even if it's not what I tend to go to.
 
it's perfectly possible to listen to - and enjoy - music but not subscribe to its message or that of its creator. so it's not hypocritical at all.

alasdair
 
It could be hypocritical...maybe.
Hypocritical means espousing a certain ideology but then not "practicing what you preach".
So i guess if you say you are a christian, but listen to music that contradicts that ideology, yes it would be hypocritical.
I dont think the style of music has anything to do with it.
Christian music itself can be hypocritical, actually it is at highest risk.
 
I guess one thing is even tho I listen to bands like Deicide and other so called "satanic" bands sometimes I don't take the messages seriously. I just like brutal music and especially for death metal it seems like it just comes with the territory a lot of time. Even the more blatantly satanic bands seem to me to be more just a rebellion of Christianity or religion in general. I got more to say but I'm falling asleep here... More later.
 
I don't know, but I know Willow has grown up with Black Metal, so it has to have some kind of impact. :)
 
Is anybody familiar with CRadle of Filth? Their shtick is Christian imagery but it's turned into death metal. I suspect the band members are or were raised as strict, practicing Christians and are rebeling against their childhoods.

If it's hypocritical, it must depend on the person whose listening to it and how they look at it and react to it. If a teenager listens to it, and the music makes them act out and have behavioural and psychological problems, then it must be causing some internal conflict.
 
It's not just Death Metal that uses anti-Christian imagery. That's common in pop and rock music, as well, and in movies. In fact, all accross popular culture.
 
When I was a teen I used to listen various heavy stuff. I was always open to all forms of expression and I enjoyed the sounds. There was a clear boundary in my mind between expression, lifestyle, ideology, theatrics, etc and I'm a go with the flow type person so if a dj or a friend played some death/heavy/gore/whatever type metal I'd enjoy it and rock out to it. Artistically it's impressive.

My neighbor was friends with a guy who was in a death metal band so I spent some time at the fringe of the scene for a couple years. Apparently this one guy I got to know was in pretty deep and at one point showed me a shrine in his house where he would say who knows what and perform who knows what kind of rituals. That was a big turn off to me. He's a friend on Facebook and stuff but he's out in his own weird world and can't say I want much to do with him. He got arrested for a hate crime in his late teens for firing a BB gun near a synagogue, which was more stupidity than an act of hate, but when the cops investigated and saw his shrine, well, it didn't help sway perception. That whole art becomes life kinda thing can actually become a bit more real to the person than they care to admit to themselves. At some point you gotta say to yourself, "what am I doing." Any kind of ritualized music starts to get a bit strange to me after a while. Christian rock is one of those things I never understood or was attracted to. When people make it their whole thing to battle for posssession of your mind through artistic means, it gets creepy at some point. Like if you keep watching, say, the Jerry Springer show for ironic value and then find yourself going "woo woo woo" once too often when someone fails and then it become a kind of shtick and you realize one day you're a very part of the circus you were reacting to. I try to stay away from crowd phenomena of any sort cause they always seem to become stale cliches over and over again. Of course, easier said than done.
 
protovack said:
It could be hypocritical...maybe.
Hypocritical means espousing a certain ideology but then not "practicing what you preach".
So i guess if you say you are a christian, but listen to music that contradicts that ideology, yes it would be hypocritical.
I dont think the style of music has anything to do with it.
Christian music itself can be hypocritical, actually it is at highest risk.
Click to expand...

I kinda disagree with this. I think music can be appreciated as art without agreeing with the message. For example, various gangster rap of the 90s, and Eminem, often express views that go very much against what I believe in and how I think one should live their life. But I still enjoy and even love the music because art is art and you don't have to agree with it to appreciate it. You can listen to death metal that's about satanic themes even if you believe in peace and love, or Christianity, if you like the music. Saying that you're a hypocrite or you shouldn't listen to music that contradicts your beliefs with its lyrics is like saying you can't enjoy looking at a painting because the artist was a terrible father and husband, or you can't watch a movie that an actor is in because that actor is racist. When someone creates art, it goes beyond themselves, it goes beyond even their intentions and meaning for it. It becomes everyone's, and everyone is going to form their own relationship with it and derive their own meanings from it.
 
I think Death Metal goes a bit beyond art, though. It seems more like ministering, in a way. And many of these bands live it out in their lives. I believe it can be more like recruiting.
 
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Even if that's true in some cases, if the resulting music is something a person enjoys, they should be free to enjoy it without worrying about someone thinking they're a hypocrite. Like I said, art is art. Even if someone produces music with the intention of recruiting people to their cause, that's not what it has to mean to you.

All the metal people I know are really, really nice, normal dudes. A lot of them are into dungeons and dragons, or were as kids. For whatever reason that sort of music is what speaks to them, maybe it's a way to get out aggression, I don't know because it's not my thing. But I think the number of people who are actually trying to do something negative with it is in the extreme minority.
 
I agree, but how far does it go? In the US, there are cliques who listen to the same metal bands, dress and act like "metal heads," and go around saying "do drugs and worship satan," in a way they must think is ironic. Then in freshmen year at art school and to an extent at universities, there are bevies of students who dress in black, die their hair black, wear goth makeup and piercings and listen to the same music.
This one isn't exactly death metal, but it is an example of life imitating art. The performer Genesis Porridge and frontman for the band Psychic TV founded a New Age religion and wrote a "bible" based on the religion. The band was a way he spread his ideas and gathered people to perform rituals.
Ninae said:
I think Death Metal goes a bit beyond art, though. It seems more like ministering, in a way. And many of these bands live it out in their lives. I believe it can be more like recruiting.
Click to expand...
 
Far enough to burn down churches, for instance. I think it's one of the things that's actually more about the religion than the music. Of course not for most of the fans, but for the practitioners.
 
being human is hypocritical if you are christian, having desires, seeking self-pleasure/satisfaction, looking at an attractive person and ...being attracted to them. Wanting things which feel good (if you happen to like death metal it makes you feel good). The reason these bands are rejected by christians is that they promote things that make you feel good, like sex and drugs

everything ingrained in humans is hypocritical if you are christian...whose premise is that you should basically avoid anything at all that gives you pleasure...they teaching of "self-denial" which is big in catholicism.

all of these traits in us exist because they were essential to the survival of a species in the early times when it was brutal, only the most selfish of organisms prospered...and this is still the case today
 
Obviously. But indulging the lower self too much also isn't a good idea as it cuts you off from your source of happiness inside, the connection to your higher self. You don't end up in a good place if you live too hedonistically, I think, and I've certainly tried it out.

Also, Hedonism can be so dumb. Like someone who ends up a heroin addict or quits school and feel they're doing the right thing because it's what feels good. The instinctual nature is unintelligent. It only looks for short-term gratification which can work against your best interests in the long run.
 
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the long run goals and aspirations are just as hedonistic....striving for a goal to succeed and be satisfied. its just a longer way of going about it in my opinion
 
Ninae said:
Far enough to burn down churches, for instance. I think it's one of the things that's actually more about the religion than the music. Of course not for most of the fans, but for the practitioners.
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Can I be the annoying dude and insist that you draw a difference between black metal (i.e. church burnings) and death metal which are very different styles? ;) Personally, I never got into death metal but have been a fan of black metal for 20 years. You have to recall that the church burnings and brain-stabbings were perpetrated by stupid young men without any real satanic agenda. Besides someone like Varg Vikernes who is still a raving batshit fascist nutcase (though decidely not a satanist), most of that millieu are middle aged men who like metal. Fenriz of Darkthrone is both a postman and a council member of one of your constituencies. The guitarist and vocalist for the same band is a primary school teacher. :) These guys are not satanists nor religious or anything.

Of course, there are some bands that are serious but they are few and far between. Its music, dramatic and surreal in many ways, but not much else.

Nutty, I don't think its hypocritical at all. Bands like Deicide are ridiculously over the top with the vehement antichristianity. Remember, Glen Benton was meant to kill himself at 33 in some kind of homage to Satan, and he's pretty alive. For bands like that, and 90% of the black and death metal bands that use satanic imagery, its just to create an atmosphere. I think it can be done intelligently and tastefully (Behemoth and Deathspell Omega) but I've never really taken it seriously.

On the other hand, I pretty much refuse to listen to christian or religious music, it annoys the fuck out me, so who knows. I'm definitely a hypocrite.
 
protovack said:
Hypocritical means espousing a certain ideology but then not "practicing what you preach".
So i guess if you say you are a christian, but listen to music that contradicts that ideology, yes it would be hypocritical.
Click to expand...
why?

you're essentially saying that it's not possible to listen to something without agreeing with it. that's absurd.

alasdair
 
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