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Featured Metallica vs. country

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by corndogggy, Jul 15, 2014.

  1. corndogggy

    corndogggy Active Member
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    This isn't music "ministry" so I didn't put it in that forum.

    Anyway, I have discovered Metallica way later than I should have, and when I study the songs, lots of questions pop up, mainly in terms of why so many church people label it as devil music, pure evil. When people find out I’m a fan nowadays I get very odd reactions. I mean, take 10 of their most popular songs that would be dismissed as pure evil, just some I randomly remember:


    Orion – just a pretty instrumental

    Justice for all - pointing out the effects that big money has on our court system and whatnot, causing widespread injustice

    holier than thou – I mean, it’s really no different than anything that is in the Bible. The song revolves around Matthew 7:1-5.

    For whom the bell tolls – highlights the futileness and meaningless of war… “For a hill, men would kill, why? On they fight, for they are right, yes, by who's to say?”

    Nothing else matters – a straight up love song about finding your best friend or soulmate, the subject is open to interpretation

    The memory remains – warning of the vain crash and burn Hollywood lifestyle, how so many will end up as has-beens who can’t let go

    King nothing – warning about worldly materialism

    master of puppets - warning of the dangers and evils of heroin.

    The god that failed – probably the worst sounding title, but it is warning about force feeding kids Christian Scientist beliefs and the repercussions with their health - no doctors, not being able to attend health classes, no physicals before football, etc. James Hetfield rejects the idea that it was an attack on religion or Christianity in general.

    Ride the lightining – questioning why it is ok for another person to dish out capital punishment

    actually I'll go beyond 10...
    "fuel" - about street racing cars, kind of warning about the dangers of it by comparing it to drug addiction, yeah it does have a couple cuss words, which is actually pretty rare for them on the more popular songs surprisingly

    fade to black - deals with depression and suicide. The band has received thousands of fan letters saying they found new hope and decided to not kill themselves after hearing it and being touched by it.

    creeping death - straight out of the Bible, from Exodus



    Also consider that James Hetfield speaks out against drinking and has been totally sober for quite awhile. However people tend to act like country is much more acceptable and don’t think twice about letting their kids listen. Let’s take the top 10 right now.


    1. Jake Owen, “beachin” – obviously glorifying lust, drinking, bars, smoking marijuana

    2. Kenny Chesney, “American kids” – glorifying whiskey, smoking marijuana, premarital sex, in a church parking lot no less

    3. Dierks Bentley, “drunk on a plane” – do I really have to break it down?

    4. Luke Bryan, “play it again” – pretty tame although pretty stupid, still has a drinking reference though

    5. Florida Georgia Line – refers to hard alcohol by the third line, while driving no less, firing guns in the air while drunk (rifle rounds can travel 3 miles), “light it up”, “burning down”, “rollin high”, “pass it around” probably refers to glorifying smoking marijuana,

    6. Miranda Lambert, “something bad” – heavy drinking at a bar and who knows where else in New Orleans to the point of having a bad hangover and memory loss, mentions picking up a girl and that would be considered kidnapping if caught so she was probably underage

    7. Lady antebellum, “bartender” – heavy drinking

    8. Joe Nichols, “yeah” – drinking, vague references to glorifying premarital sex

    9. Lee Brice, “I don’t dance” – wow, we had to get 9 songs in to find a pretty innocent song!

    10. Blake Shelton, “my eyes” – some serious lusting, reference to getting drunk by the 4th line


    going beyond 10...

    12. Tyler Farr, "whiskey in my water" - glorifying drunk driving

    13. Brad Paisley, "river bank" - gambling/lottery from the first line, drinking by the 4th line, tequila, telling their boss to "suck it"...

    14. Tim McGraw, "meanwhile back at mama's" - beer, whiskey, cigarettes,

    15. Billy Currington, "we are tonight" - riding around full speed with 24 beers in the truck

    17. Chase Rice, "ready set roll" - serious lusting, alcohol shots, smoking marijuana apparently while driving


    So which is more acceptable to listen to, Metallica or country radio? :BangHead:
     
    #1 corndogggy, Jul 15, 2014
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  2. ShagNappy

    ShagNappy Member

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    I don't think it stands that way anymore. However, in the past, people overlooked the awfulness of country because those same people put out albums full of hymns. Many got started in gospel groups and singing in churches.

    Country isn't country anymore, however. Country is now what we once called classic rock, and/or southern rock and they have lost the die hard country fans who have fled to southern gospel, bluegrass, and such.

    As for Metallica, in the past they, especially Lars, has had many not too nice things to say about Christianity. To be honest, most groups in that style of music have, at one time or another, trashed religion as a whole. It is strange though that some of them have ended up finding Christ.

    But mostly, it's the style of music. Search around and you will find people on this forum who will tell you CCM is satanic because of the inclusions of drums and the particular timing it uses.
     
  3. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    So you cherry pick songs and use them to compare genre's?
     
  4. corndogggy

    corndogggy Active Member
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    If I said heavy metal in general, that would be a genre. I didn't. As for country, that is VERY typical as for what is on the radio, straight off the Billboard top 20 country songs.

    http://www.billboard.com/charts/country-songs

    As for Metallica, I mentioned nearly every really popular song they had and some that were purposely mentioned because they were some of the most controversial that I could find. Taking some of the worst Metallica songs I could find and comparing it to the "best" country songs according to Billboard to show how Metallica isn't anywhere near as bad in terms of content as opposed to popular songs on the radio isn't cherry picking. :thumbsup:
     
    #4 corndogggy, Jul 15, 2014
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  5. corndogggy

    corndogggy Active Member
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    Let's go beyond the top 20 so I'm not cherry picking:

    21. "Small Town Throwdown" - beer, partying, lusting over short shorts

    22. "Hope You Get Lonely Tonight" - moonshine, premarital sex

    23. "Keep Them Kisses Comin" - drinking wine to the point of being buzzed, premarital sex

    24. "day drinking" - self explanatory



    etc., etc., etc. It's pretty ridiculous.


    Meanwhile in Metallica land...

    "the day that never comes" - bringing attention to abusive relationships

    "don't tread on me" - pretty much the exact sentiment of our country's forefathers, quoting multiple lines from them

    "leper messiah" - exposing false for-profit TV ministers
     
    #5 corndogggy, Jul 15, 2014
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  6. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    I've got a couple of Metallica CD's (Black Album and Load) and I mostly agree with you. I think it's the nature of the music: heavy, speed metal with yelling lyrics that get Christians thinking it's the devil's music. The other thing about them is that they DO have songs that are about depressing subject matters.

    You're correct in most of your lyrical interpretations, and some are hard to interpret. Just listening to "The God that Failed" you would never make the Christian Scientist connection, so it can be pretty offensive if you didn't know the background info on it.

    The newer stuff by Metallica is harder to defend. There's no polish or camouflage you can put on the meaning of the song "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", however. "Motorbreath" is about fast living, partying, and having fun at all costs. "St. Anger" is about guys that go out looking to get into gang fights. "The Judas Kiss" is about someone selling their soul to the Devil.

    So, old Metallica = OK (or at least not evil); new Metallica = bad, evil.
     
  7. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    "A Good Truck" - song about a truck

    Just A Cowboys Dream - song about rodeo

    Boots - song about home

    Carolina -song about home

    Home - song about home

    1
    You've Got to Stand for Something

    God Bless the U.S.A.

    A Long Line of Love

    Butterfly Kisses

    Go Rest High On That Mountain

    I Can Only Imagine song review

    He Walked on Water

    Home

    Daddy's Hands

    Coal Miner's Daughter

    Coat of Many Colors song review

    Down Home

    Love Can Build a Bridge

    Love Without End, Amen

    Some Gave All

    Song of the Patriot

    I Believe in America

    In America

    Amazing Grace


    All these country songs are abut God and family.


    See picking out your list of songs is not different then painting one race of people based on a cherry picked list of people who came out of jail. For every song about drinking or whatever there is another one about God, Jesus, and family in the country music genre.
     
  8. corndogggy

    corndogggy Active Member
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    Except that's simply not what is being played on popular country stations. Read the Billboard list, that list exactly what is being played constantly across most all popular country stations, except maybe for an hour or two on Sunday mornings, "outlaw hours" at night which is usually even worse, otherwise you'd have to find a specialty old school or religious specific station to hear the list you gave. Turn on a popular/modern country station at a random time during the week and I would bet good money that it is much more likely that you would be listening to a new song about booze rather than Amazing Grace or something written in the 1970's. That's what I don't get. Many of the same people who look down on Metallica let their kids listen to this and don't think a thing about it.

    I'm not comparing the heavy metal genre in general to the country genre in general. I'm specifically asking why the goody-goodies who think Metallica is devil music will turn on popular/modern country radio stations and not think anything about it, stations that don't exactly lean on your list for their primary programming, which is most all of them.
     
    #8 corndogggy, Jul 15, 2014
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  9. JohnDeereFan

    JohnDeereFan Well-Known Member
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    Metalica just isn't my thing. Every song sounds alike.

    I do like country though, although I don't consider any of the artists you listed country. But if you like them, I guess that's what's important.
     
  10. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    Do even listen to country music at all? Personally I don't give one iota about Metallica either way. When we have to bash something or someone else in order to defend something or someone else then we are not really sure about our own position.
     
  11. corndogggy

    corndogggy Active Member
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    Yes I listen to it all the time, mainly because many people I know like it plus it is played in public venues constantly as I live out in the sticks. If you think that the list I gave isn't played CONSTANTLY, well, do you even ever listen to country music at all? This past weekend I am pretty sure I heard "drunk on a plane" being played 6 times... within about an hour, or at least what seemed like that amount of time. Billboard didn't just make that list up, these songs are all over the airwaves. I am quite sure about this. You being defiant about this doesn't really change anything.

    If I wasn't real sure about my own position I wouldn't freely admit to everyone that I'm a fan. It really makes no sense to me.
     
    #11 corndogggy, Jul 15, 2014
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  12. JohnDeereFan

    JohnDeereFan Well-Known Member
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    I've noticed that. Even though I don't listen to modern "country", myself, I do live in a rural area where it's pretty ubiquitous. There have always been drinking songs in country music, but it seems like now, every song is about getting drunk and being a redneck.

    I was raised in Alabama, about as country as it gets, and we were always taught that being a redneck was a bad thing. Now, it seems that's all there is.

    Don't get me wrong, I know there were bad country songs then, too, but, as a genre, it used to be about hard work and celebrating the good things, not just pandering to the lowest denominator.

    Just looking at the first page of Willie's Roadhouse, the real country channel on Sirius, we see:

    Johnny Horton - "North To Alaska"
    Tammy Wynette - "I Don't Wanna Play House"
    Freddie Hart - "Easy Loving"
    Moe Bandy/Janie Frickie - "It's A Cheatin' Situation"
    Hank Williams - "Your Cheatin' Heart"
    Sonny James - "Running Bear"
    Emmylou Harris - "If I Could Only Win Your Love"
    Marty Robbins - "Devil Woman"
    Claude King - "Wolverton Mountain"
    Ernest Tubb - "Another Story, Another Time"
    John Anderson - "Would You Catch a Falling Star"
    Gene Watson - "Speak Softly (You're Talking To My Heart)"
    Eddy Arnold- "What's He Doing In My World"
    Vern Gosdin - "Slow Burning Memory"
    Brenda Lee - "Big Four Poster Bed"
    Waylon Jennings - "Ladies Love Outlaws"
    Webb Pierce - "Fallen Angel"
    Bill Anderson - "Walk Out Backwards"
    Oak Ridge Boys - "Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight"
    Cowboy Copas - "Flat Top Pickin'"
    Johnny Cash - "Ring of Fire"
    Buck Owens - "Together Again"
    Merle Haggard - "Misery And Gin"
    Billy Walker - "Matamoros"
    Glen Campbell - "Wichita Lineman"
    Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - "New San Antonio Rose"
    Ray Price - "Don't You Ever Get Tired (Of Hurting Me)"
    Barbara Mandrell - "Do Right Woman Do Right Man"
    Red Steagall - "Somewhere My Love"
    Charley Pride - "She's Just An Old Love Turned Memory"
    Jim Reeves - "Billy Bayou"
    Patsy Cline - "Sweet Dreams"
    Charlie Rich - "There Won't Be Anymore"
    Johnny Rodriguez - "Ridin' My Thumb To Mexico"
    Carl Smith - "Are You Teasing Me"
    Connie Smith - "Nobody But A Fool (Would Love You)"
    Faron Young - "Three Days"
    Roger Miller - "King Of The Road"
    Tom T. Hall - "Me And Jesus"
    Waylon Jennings - "I Ain't Livin' Long Like This"
    Willie Nelson - "I'm a Memory"
    Randy Travis - "He Walked On Water"
    Conway Twitty - "Next In Line"
    Johnny Cash - "Tennessee Flat Top Box"
    Jeannie Seely - "It's Only Love"
    Ray Charles - "Crying Time"

    Now, I recognize all but four of those songs and on that whole list, there are only two drinking songs (and, of those two, one of them isn't glorifying drinking, but showing the destructive effects of drinking).

    But now, it's all about alcohol.
     
  13. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    You are not sure but you are entitled to whatever opinion you want to draw based on that. It is highly doubtful you listent to it much.
     
  14. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    I went through a country music phase in the 90's, when it was still country music. I still tune in a couple of hours a week. Corndog is correct, country music is mostly southern rock nowadays. There are a LOT of drinking songs.
     
  15. Revmitchell

    Revmitchell Well-Known Member
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    [sigh] no he's not.
     
  16. JohnDeereFan

    JohnDeereFan Well-Known Member
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    He's not correct that it's Southern Rock, but he's certainly correct that it isn't country and that there are a lot of drinking songs.
     
  17. Gina B

    Gina B Active Member

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    Corndoggy, any type/genre of music can contain ideas and stories behind them which are contrary to a believer's walk. Even some classical music has quite interesting back story!
    The point is that if you are listening to something, what is your reason? What does it do for you and your state of mind? Your walk?
    If you want to listen to something for pure enjoyment and appreciation, go for it.
    If you want to listen to something that praises and glorifies your Maker, you will know what that is without other people's input. You know.
    The main thing is to strive towards the goal of infusing our lives with honorable things. That means that over time, our music choices, our desires, will turn towards more spiritually minded songs. Again, you will know what they are. It will be a blessing in your life, rather than a source of questioning and debate.
    Though many like to turn music into a debate. We were created to praise, with multiple instruments and lifting our voices. Don't let the joy of that be destroyed for arguing or trying to figure out if the heavens are more open to Brad Paisley or Led Zeppelin. That's kind of ridiculous. Just go do your thing and rejoice. :) (read a little about music in Psalms first to clear your mind)
     
  18. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
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    Yes he is.

    Just go here :
    http://m.billboard.com/entry/view/id/93293

    Then check the lyrics here :

    I'm just watchin' her blonde hair, sun burn, stare at them, white caps rollin' over
    Laid back in a thrift*store beach chair, droppin' limes in her Corona..

    We got 2-for-1s, we're at a margarita bar, whatever happens happens..

    Beachin'

    You got a margarita here in my hand, doin' a little drinking...

    Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/jake-owen/beachin-lyrics/#Cw1pIApADv2Tt6FZ.99

    Drunk on A Plane
    Now I've got empty mini bottles fillin' both our trays
    I'm getting drunk on a plane

    Buyin' drinks for everybody
    But the pilot, it's a party
    Got this 737 rocking like a G6
    Stewardess is somethin' sexy
    Leanin' pourin' Coke and whiskey...
    http://m.metrolyrics.com/drunk-on-a-plane-lyrics-dierks-bentley.html

    This is How We Roll
    The mix in our drink's a little stronger than you think
    So get a grip, take a sip of that feel right
    The truck's jacked up, flat bills flipped back
    Yeah you can find us where the party's at...
    http://m.metrolyrics.com/this-is-how-we-roll-lyrics-florida-georgia-line.html

    Etc. Etc.
     
  19. corndogggy

    corndogggy Active Member
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    Honestly, I have A.D.D., and adrenaline is actually soothing to people that have it. Hard rock is relaxing to me. I don't believe that to be inherently evil any more than mountain biking is, which provides the same effect. Lots of stuff from the Foo Fighters is just as hard as Metallica so I don't really subscribe to the idea that I listen to heavy metal devil music.
     
    #19 corndogggy, Jul 16, 2014
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  20. corndogggy

    corndogggy Active Member
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    So, we have multiple people here who agree that my assessment about modern country is correct, and you disagree because you can point out Loretta Lynn songs written in 1970? I listen to it all the time, it is fairly inescapable. The vast majority of radio stations in rural areas are country nowadays and most hit the modern stuff pretty hard. If you haven't heard "drunk on a plane" way too many times and you are questioning whether I listen to any modern country radio stations, then please go troll another thread because you simply don't know what you are talking about.
     
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