Thursday, July 23, 2009

Christian Radio - Just Venting A Little

The CD player doesn't work in one of our cars and we ALWAYS forget to grab CD's for our other car so when the kids are in tow we listen to a lot of Christian Radio.  It is "family friendly" but it absolutely drives us crazy sometimes.

For example, the other day Areyna told me 3 songs in a row, "we already heard this one mommy".  Then, when we do hear a "new" song it was a #1 hit when I was in like middle school!  I just don't know if I can take another remake of "Here I Am To Worship" or "Lord I Lift Your Name On High".

Something else that drives me crazy...

Have you ever heard of Bluetree?  I bet many of you have not.  Let's try the song "God of this City"?  I'm sure many of you have.  The sad thing is you probably thought Chris Tomlin wrote it, along with "Indescribable" which Laura Story actually wrote.  

Now, don't misunderstand this post.  This is not a bash on Christian artists who remake songs (we did Jeremy Riddle's, Sweetly Broken on our last album) or against Chris Tomlin or anything of this nature (he's a very talented musician and songwriter).  It is just a pet peve of mine to turn on the radio and hear the cheesiest version EVER of Hillsong's "From The Inside Out" by Big Daddy Weave or something when you NEVER hear the original Hillsong version.  Or Lincoln Brewster's "Everlasting God" sung by Phillips Craig and Dean.

Josh and I were absolutely floored when we actually heard Hillsong on the radio on Sunday morning.  We'd LOVE to hear more Hillsong, Bluetree, Gateway Worship...you know, the originals.  Such powerful Christian music.

I'm just saying...

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

We listen to this radio station out of Grand Rapids Michigan on the computer. http://www.wcsg.org/

Jim

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh ... "family friendly" radio is the bane of my existence! I hate the dumb commercials!! They don't have anything to do with anything! They'll just have a lady talking for about 30 seconds about taking your kids swimming or riding a bike and "ahhh ... that's summer ... and this is (call letters), your station for family friendly hits all summer long." WHA??

And I TOTALLY agree with you about how they don't play the original artists, but play 15 other people singing the same song! Oh, when Phillips Craig and Dean decided to become a cover band, it was the downfall of "Christian Radio".

And another thing that bothers me is how obvious it is that the whole thing is obviously marketed to moms. Which just overlaps another annoyance of mine with how the church in general is so emasculated, it's not even funny.

Hmm ... guess this post hit a nerve with me! :) Sorry for the rant(s).

Hatchee said...

Tash, I completely agree!!

This spring I went on a retreat with our campus life kids...who are no Christians. Our van was christian cd-less so ended up flipping endlessly through secular stations to find songs that were at least somewhat acceptable, rather than be embarrassed at the corny awefullness of christians stations.

I think there deff has to be a problem when you're afraid to let your non-christian friends listen to your radio station...because let's be honest, nobody is going to appreciate Michael W. Smith's "my place in this world" which they STILL play!!

sorry. this is one of my soapboxes. I just know how important music can be, and what it says about a culture. If you took K-love as a sample of Christianity we would seem to be uncreative (coping off everyone else) and stuck in the mid-nineties!! Am i right?

Jennifer Hambrick said...

Ha...Jeremiah and I talk about this frequently as well. It's either cd's for us or talk radio =)

Leslie said...

I couldn't agree more! Great post!

Dan said...

Hey Tasha!!

I love Christian radio, because it is all new to me, but I sure agree with you about all the different covers. When I hear a song that I like, and go to itunes so I can purchase it and learn the guitar parts, and then see anywhere from 10 - 20 artists covering the same song, it is confusing. Not to mention the fact that they are recorded in different keys. I usually have to google the song name to find out who the original artist is.

I never had this trouble with AC/DC!! LOL

Anonymous said...

Hey Tasha,

I just read an article on Bluetree and the work that they are doing to help end child slavery. They are an amazing group of guys.

Dan