History Main / NotChristianRock

* The members of the Soul/Metal hybrid trio KingsX were all devout Christians, but explicitly resisted the Christian Rock tag. Despite that, the members religious beliefs and generally clean, vaguely spiritual lyrics led to them being treated as a Christian Rock band, and gaining a fairly large evangelical following. Then Doug Pinnick came out as being gay, and suddenly the band was being condemned from all quarters as heathens and betrayers of their Christian Rock fandom -- something they had never sought in the first place.

* The members of the Soul/Metal hybrid trio King's X were all devout Christians, but explicitly resisted the Christian Rock tag. Despite that, the members religious beliefs and generally clean, vaguely spiritual lyrics led to them being treated as a Christian Rock band, and gaining a fairly large evangelical following. Then Doug Pinnick came out as being gay, and suddenly the band was being condemned from all quarters as heathens and betrayers of their Christian Rock fandom -- something they had never sought in the first place.

* Metal band ''Music/BlindGuardian'' has a number of songs with obvious Christian influence. This is likely under the "Jesus as Muse" category given how many of their songs have scifi/fantasy influence as well. Even if one doesn't count an entire album dedicated to ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'', there are songs like "Precious Jerusalem" (about Christ's temptation in the desert), "Sadly Sings Destiny" (about the night before the crucifixion) and "The Martyr" (exactly what it sounds like). This is further exasperated by the fact that Hansi, in a 2005 interview, declared himself a "faithful but very critical Christian." A statement he retracted a few years later.

* A Christian radio station in Winnipeg actually tried to use this as their ''format'' for a period. They wanted to downplay their status to appeal to compete with the secular stations, so they promoted themselves as "FREQ 107, The New Rock Alternative", and [[LoopholeAbuse supposedly remained in compliance with the station's license actually requiring them to play religious music]], by defining the category broadly. It ended up being an [[AudienceAlienatingPremise advertiser-alienating premise]]; religious advertisers were turned off by their secular skew, while mainstream advertisers were [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating reluctant to advertise on a Christian station]]. Admitting defeat (especially after the CRTC denied them permission to reduce their religious music to 31% of its weekly programming), their new owner played the Total Abandonment card twice; first to a Christian format targeting a younger audience (as a sister to a now-sister station), and then to classical music.

* A Christian radio station in Winnipeg actually tried to use this as their ''format'' for a period. They wanted to downplay their status to appeal to mainstream advertisers and listeners, so they promoted themselves as "FREQ 107, Winnipeg's New Rock Alternative", and [[LoopholeAbuse supposedly remained in compliance with the station's license actually requiring them to play religious music, by justifying that their Not Christian Rock had religious themes.]] It ended up being an [[AudienceAlienatingPremise advertiser-alienating premise]]; religious advertisers were turned off by their secular skew, while mainstream advertisers were [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating reluctant to advertise on a Christian station]]. Admitting defeat (especially after the CRTC denied them permission to reduce their religious music to 31% of its weekly programming), their new owner played the Total Abandonment card twice; first to a Christian format targeting a younger audience (as a sister to an older-skewing counterpart), and then to classical music.

* Creator/JohnnyYongBosch's band Eyeshine arose partly from Johnny and a friend playing in a band for their church. Their song lyrics could be considered ambiguously romantic or religious for the most part, but rarely were overtly religious, the 2011 album "Xmas" notwithstanding. The intention was that the band's music would have the widest possible appeal. Notably, however, one instrumental track of theirs is titled "Selah". The name comes from a biblical term which shows up several times in the Psalms but is so obscure that it's not always translated. It's basically a call for the reader to pause and think about the passages preceding it.

* A Christian radio station in Winnipeg actually tried to use this as their ''format'' for a period. They wanted to downplay their status to appeal to mainstream advertisers and listeners, so they promoted themselves as "FREQ 107, Winnipeg's New Rock Alternative", and [[LoopholeAbuse supposedly remained in compliance with the station's license actually requiring them to play religious music, by justifying that their Not Christian Rock had religious themes.]] It ended up being an [[AudienceAlienatingPremise advertiser-alienating premise]]; religious advertisers were turned off by their secular skew, while mainstream advertisers were [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating reluctant to advertise on a Christian station]]. Admitting defeat, their new owner played the Total Abandonment card twice; first to a Christian format targeting a younger audience (as a sister to an older-skewing counterpart), and then to classical music.

* A Christian radio station in Winnipeg actually tried to use this as their ''format'' for a period. They wanted to downplay their status to appeal to mainstream advertisers and listeners, so they promoted themselves as "FREQ 107, Winnipeg's New Rock Alternative", and supposedly remained in compliance with [[ExecutiveMeddling the station's license actually requiring them to play religious music]], by justifying that their Not Christian Rock had religious themes. It ended up being an [[AudienceAlienatingPremise advertiser-alienating premise]]; religious advertisers were turned off by their secular skew, while mainstream advertisers were [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating reluctant to advertise on a Christian station]]. Admitting defeat, their new owner played the Total Abandonment card twice; first to a younger-skewing Christian format (as a sister to an older-skewing counterpart), and then to classical music.

These works are seldom about evangelizing. To these musicians, Jesus is like a muse more than someone they are trying to promote in their work. However, some of these have inspired actual Christian Rockers.

* Progressive metal band ''Music/{{Kamelot}}'' contains a lot of Christian themes in their music, especially in the {{Faust}}-inspired concept albums ''Epica'' and ''The Black Halo'', but they are not explicitly Christian. It is believed that religious friction, along with general creative differences, lead to the departure of longtime lead singer Roy Khan, who is a born-again Christian.

* The 1980s British indie rock band The Housemartins often seemed like a borderline Christian band. Lead singer Paul Heaton was a devout Christian, and his faith was readily apparent in many of his lyrics. But there were several things that kept the group as a strictly secular act. First was Heaton's famously biting wit; His lyrics were often just as scathingly satirical against Thatcherism or the British class system as they were religious. Heaton and his bandmates were also Marxists, and their politics were just as important to understanding his songwriting and their aesthetic as their Christianity was. Their debut album's liner notes even included the message "Take Jesus, take Marx, take hope" and later pressings added a song called "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iRcn-x0gBc I'll Be Your Shelter]]" which ends with gospel-style coda that praises both Jesus and Marx. Heaton would carry these traits, albeit with the religious aspects downplayed, to his next project Music/TheBeautifulSouth.

** They kept saying they weren't, because Stapp himself stated that Christian Rock usually follows some sort of agenda, which he said the band didn't have. Not to mention the fact that the song "What's This Life For" features the lyric 'Goddamn' in the outro section, which is something a Christian rock musician wouldn't use.

** They kept saying they weren't, because Stapp himself stated that Christian Rock usually follows some sort of agenda, which he said the band didn't have.

*** They also have a song about Cain and Abel ("Chapter 4", named for the chpter in Genesis which the story occours.)

* Music/TheOhHellos dance across the line between this and ChristianRock (even if they describe themselves as "eclectic folk-rock"). They frequently include references to TheBible and Creator/CSLewis in their music; many of their fans are Christian; however, they don't make their faith completely explicit. Instead, their songs use tropes like FaceYourFears and FightingFromTheInside. But the themes of redemption, sin, and grace are there for anyone who cares to find them.

* Melodic Hardcore band Being as an Ocean's frontman Joel Quartuccio is a Christian (to the point of even referring to himself on his Instagram as "God Filled. Hate Free.") and the band has ''many'' lyrics referring to God and spirituality, often quoting TheBible and even releasing an entire album called "Dear G-d", but have stated that they are not a Christian band and make their music for people of all beliefs. It's worth noting many of their songs also express some unorthodox theologies, one song is just a recording of a monologue by the non-Christian [[UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi Gandhi]] titled "On God" set to music, another seems to reject the concept of Hell and calls for universal salvation.

** The 2016 Creator/{{Fox}} version, ''The Passion'' similarly used trope examples such as "With Arms Wide Open" and "Bring Me to Life" (yes, ''that song''), "[[Music/ImagineDragons Demons]]", "[[Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome We Don't Need Another Hero]]" (performed by '''''Music/{{Seal}}'''''. Yes, they did change the lyric "...life beyond the Thunderdome") and "[[Music/KatyPerry Unconditionally]]" as the finale.

** The 2016 Creator/{{Fox}} version, ''The Passion'' similarly used trope examples such as "With Arms Wide Open" and "Bring Me to Life" (yes, ''that song''), "[[Music/ImagineDragons Demons]]", "[[Film/BeyondThunderdome We Don't Need Another Hero]]" (performed by '''''Music/{{Seal}}'''''.) and "[[Music/KatyPerry Unconditionally]]" as the finale.

* Subverted with the 2016 Creator/{{Fox}} live event ''Theatre/ThePassion'', which is a JukeboxMusical where the story of Easter is set to secular pop songs such as "With Arms Wide Open", "We Don't Need Another Hero" and "Unconditionally", thus [[TheCoverChangesTheMeaning changing the meaning]] of all of these songs to a Christian viewpoint.

** Robertson drew inspiration from his Martin guitar. Where is the C. F. Martin Co. headquartered? *Nazareth*, Pennsylvania.

** ''The Last Stand'' unsurprisingly, seeing as it's about the last stand of the Swiss Guards during the Sack of Rome in 1527, has a ''lot'' of religious imagery. The chorus can be easily mistaken for Christian rock, with lyrics like "For the grace, for the might of the Lord!/For the home of the holy!". [[PeripheryFandom Reading the comments on YouTube lyrics videos for "The Last Stand" makes it clear that the song is quite popular with]] [[RealMenLoveJesus a certain type of Christians.]]

* More than a few people think that Music/{{Genesis}} is a Christian band. This is somewhat understandable, especially during the Music/PeterGabriel era. [[SuppersReady "Supper's Ready"]] is largely about the Apocalypse, and ends with the Second Coming of Jesus. And that their first album was called "From Genesis to Revelation". They also did a song called "Jesus He Knows Me" (it's actually about shady TV evangelists, but still ...)

** Some people have taken to thinking of Mr. Mister as a sort of precursor to Music/{{Creed}}, since religious imagery is even more prominent in their body of work than the above title would suggest. ''All'' of their songs impart some sort of spiritual or philosophical message. You don't have to be Christian or even a believer in God, for instance, to feel tears come to your eyes when you hear the lyrics to "Stand and Deliver" (which, yes, was written for [[StandAndDeliver the movie of the same name]]): "I know in this life/You gotta stand up for what feels right/Each day, and every night."

* Most of the songs by {{Spiritualized}} use faith as a theme (as you would expect with this band name), and how the singer fails to be saved (notably from substance abuse). He sometimes resorts to begging to an unseen God. Their sound is orchestral and processional. Good examples are