History Main / NotChristianRock

** mewithoutYou is a particularly interesting example, as they have no issues being blatantly religious and spiritual in both their lyrics and their interviews, but not in the way most Christians are comfortable with, taking influences not only from the Bible and Christianity, but also Jewish mythology, Sufi Islamic Poets and even secular philosophers. The Members are avowed Christians, but view their faith as part of a broader context than the traditional evangelical subculture, making them relatively controversial (especially the song "Allah, Allah, Allah").
** Also, other songs like "Tourniquet", throwing around the words salvation, deleverience, and Jesus Christ, makes this confusion understandable.

* Dispite some of their songs, KISS is not religious rock. They are all religious (for instance, Gene Simmons is a fairly serious Jew), but that isn't the focus of their music. The above song was a cover of an Argent song. It's a song about rock and roll, not God.

** In fact, KISS was once actually rumored to be a *Satanic* band. '''''K'''nights '''I'''n '''S'''atan's '''S'''ervice'', remember?

** Until you listen to the lyrics of Operation Spirit (The Tyranny of Tradition): "Heard a lot of talk about this Jesus / A man of love, a man of strength / But what a man was two thousand years ago / Means nothing at all to me today"

** The song was an adaptation of the Londonderry Air. There are many different sets of lyrics that have been set to Londonderry Air, including about a dozen Christian hymns. The oldest lyrics (Confessions of Devorgilla) and the most famous lyrics (Danny Boy) as well as many of the others contain at least a few explicit references to Christianity as well. Christian lyrics were "taken out" in the sense that the lyrics written for the new version of the melody were not religious (but even then, Josh Groban had nothing to do with it, since he didn't write the lyrics ''or'' the melody).

** mewithoutYou is a particularly interesting example, as they have no issues being blatantly religious and spiritual in both their lyrics and their interviews, but not in the way most Christians are comfortable with, taking influences not only from the Bible and Christianity, but also Jewish mythology, Sufi Islamic Poets and even secular philosophers. The Members are avowed Christians, but view their faith as part of a broader context than the traditional Christian subculture, making them relatively controversial (especially the song "Allah, Allah, Allah").

* This troper's Christian mother took a shine to the {{Black Eyed Peas}} after hearing the single "Where is the Love", which includes the line, "Father Father Father help us, send some guidance from above." Later singles such as "My Humps" left her less impressed.

* This troper's Christian mother took a shine to the Black Eyed Peas after hearing the single "Where is the Love", which includes the line, "Father Father Father help us, send some guidance from above." Later singles such as "My Humps" left her less impressed.

* Switchfoot frequently gets the Christian Rock label, but the band itself views itself as being this trope.

* '80s pop/rock band The Hooters wrote several very spiritual-sounding songs, the most notable of which is their minor hit "All You Zombies", which deals specifically about people rejecting God's authority and salvation and how they are the "zombies" references in the song's title. One might think that they're Christian based on that, but Hooters songwriters Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (who would later also write the Christian-sounding "One Of Us" [as in, "What if God was one of us?"] for Joan Osborne in the '90s) were both Jewish.

* The InsaneClownPosse. The Joker's Card cycle of albums are an allegory for judgement day, Shangri-La for Heaven, Hell's Pit... well, you get the idea. The song "Thy Unveiling" smacks their fans over the face with the fact that yes, they've been listening to guerrilla Christian rap for a while, complete with the chanted declaration "We're not sorry if we tricked you."

* {{Evanescence}}'s song "Bring Me to Life" topped some Christian singles charts when it was released... only it wasn't. Until the band explicitly denied it, a lot of people thought they were Christian. The band seems to be part of a sub-genre of pop-metal bands with vaguely spiritual lyrics and comprised of entirely Christian members who spend the entirety of every interview they do denying that they're Christian rock. Among these are {{Flyleaf}}, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Anberlin, The Juliana Theory and mewithoutYou. This kind of denial is so common that in 1999, a Christian band named Joy Electric released an album called "[=ChristianSongs=]" explicitly to subvert the trend.

** Of note: "Silent Scream" (the movie) is fairly obscure outside of evangelical and Catholic anti-abortion circles (this troper is only familiar with it due to having grown up [[JesusCamp Jesus Camped]]). Tom Araya (who penned the lyrics) is actually a [[http://www.themetalinquisition.com/2008/01/tom-araya-is-catholic-kerry-king-is.html rather devout Catholic]]. SoYeah.

* AvengedSevenfold has a lot of Christian imagery in some of their songs (referencing the Book of Revelations, and a song called Dear God, along with others like it). However if you listen to (and watch the videos for) songs like Beast and the Harlot, Bat Country, and ironically, A Little Piece of Heaven, ...yeah...

* Hirax, an American [[ThrashMetal Thrash Metal]] band, has been called Christian for songs like "Demon's Evil Forces" where their singer plays God, so to speak with the lines "You will go down, down to the demons, and when you get there, you'll be in Hell" and "You must believe in me my son, I am the Lord God, the Holy One"... So yeah. They have since denied direct involvement in the Christian music scene, though some of their members are indeed Christian.

* {{Evanescence}}'s song "Bring Me to Life" topped some Christian singles charts when it was released... only it wasn't. Until the band explicitly denied it, a lot of people thought they were Christian.
** {{Evanescence}} have kicked off a sub-genre of pop-metal bands with vaguely spiritual lyric and comprised of entirely Christian members who spend the entirety of every interview they do denying that they're Christian rock. Among these are {{Flyleaf}}, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Anberlin, The Juliana Theory and mewithoutYou.
***Evanescence kicked off The Juliana Theory? I think you have your years mixed up.
*** They may have added to the popularity of the whole "We're not a Christian band" trope, but as early as 1999, long before anyone had even heard of Evanescence, a Christian band named Joy Electric released an album called "[=ChristianSongs=]" explicitly to subvert the already existing trend of bands doing this. It's been brewing for a while...
***Good luck shedding the "Christian Rock" label when you're published by Tooth & Nail or BEC.

* The Goo Goo Dolls' 2006 hit ''Better Days'' starts out talking about what the singer wants for Christmas ("just a chance that maybe we'll find better days"), and later explicitly references "one poor child who saved this world" and "tonight's the night the world begins again." Their breakout hit ''Iris'' also caused some confusion over whether it was supposed to communicate Christian messages, but the song ''was'' written for [[CityOfAngels a movie about angels]] and closely parallels the experiences of the movie's angel protagonist. Interestingly, as of 2010 the Goo Goo Dolls are touring with legitimately-Christian group Switchfoot.
** People seem to forget that Switchfoot are a crossover band at the very mention of Christian Rock. Most of Switchfoot's fans are secular, actually. Their smash-through multi-platinum album ''The Beautiful Letdown'' is often thought to be their first; It's their fourth. It's just that their previous albums didn't sell as well. The same has happened with any other Crossover-Christian band you care to name of (P.O.D., Anberlin, MxPx...)