Everything about Christian Punk totally explained
Christian punk (or
Christ punk) is a form of
Christian alternative music and a
subgenre of
punk rock with some degree of
Christian lyrical content. Much disagreement persists about the boundaries of the subgenre, and the extent that their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies among bands. For example, the seminal band
The Crucified explicitly rejected the classification of "Christian punk" while staying within the Christian music industry. Christian punk bands that target a Christian audience explicitly state their
beliefs and use Christian imagery in their lyrics may be considered a part of the
contemporary Christian music (CCM) industry; some observers would consider this music to fall outside the scope of Christian punk.
Given the nature of punk and some of its subgenres, such as
hardcore punk, many bands have been rejected by the Christian and CCM music industry. Some bands generally avoid specific mention of
God or
Jesus; likewise some bands may specifically reject the CCM label or express disdain for that niche of the music industry. For example,
Ninety Pound Wuss vocalist Jeff Suffering said about the breakup of the band in 2000, "...[N]obody wanted to continue playing in [the] "Christian" music industry."
Christian punk record labels include
Tooth & Nail Records and its subsidiary
Solid State Records;
The Militia Group, which signs groups that straddle the boundary between Christian and secular music;
Facedown Records, a California label founded by
No Innocent Victim drummer Jason Dunn; and up-and-comer
Mono Vs Stereo, a subsidiary of
Gotee Records, which is owned and operated by
TobyMac of
dc Talk;.
History
Christian punk's origins during the wider 1980s punk rock scene are somewhat obscure. As the
Jesus Movement gave rise to cultural institutions such as
Jesus People USA (JPUSA), these served as an incubator for various Christian
subcultures including
punk, in part through JPUSA's label Grrr Records.
Crashdog is one characteristically punk band that was rooted in JPUSA.
In the 1980s, many bands performed at
Chuck Smith's
Calvary Chapel in Orange County California. A particularly popular group with a cult following was
Undercover, who proclaimed that "God Rules" with a combination of rockabilly and hardcore elements. Another early influential group were the
Altar Boys.
The Crucified and (to a lesser extent)
Circle of Dust and Under Midnight were major players in proto Christian Punk. The
Cornerstone Festival provided an important venue for not only Christian punk bands, but Christian bands in general.
Scaterd Few also gained popularity during the early 1980s. They played at
Cornerstone Festival but also toured with secular bands such as
Bad Brains (who later became involved with the
Rastafari movement). They ran into trouble when they played at
Earth First, an explicitly non-Christian event and also in 1991, when their vocalist admitted to smoking marijuana. During the 1990s, the underground scene grew as bands such as
MxPx,
Ghoti Hook,
Squad Five-O,
The Huntingtons,
Dogwood,
Pocket Change, and
Headnoise greatly influenced many of their peers and paved the way for many bands to follow.
Scaterd Few is generally considered the first American Christian punk band.
In the 21st century, developments in Christian punk parallels broader punk, with
pop punk bands such as
Relient K,
Hawk Nelson,
FM Static,
Flatfoot 56,
Stellar Kart, and
This Providence are popular with mainstream audiences. Other bands with Christian roots that have become very popular within their own genres are
As I Lay Dying,
Still Remains,
Norma Jean and
Demon Hunter (
metalcore), and
Underoath and
mewithoutYou (
post-hardcore). While
Zao isn't a Christian band anymore, they did begin as one and still contain Christian imagery. There are also
secular bands outside and within the punk
subculture that contain Christian songwriters who, despite the varying beliefs of the individual band members, sometimes write lyrics that have clear Christian themes such as
Comeback Kid,
U2, and
Hyde.
Fashion
Fashion is similar to normal
punk fashion, but also includes the Christian
Ichthys, the
cross, a
crown of thorns, the JCHC symbol, and similar symbols.
Chi Rho is a popular symbol amongst more
anarcho-Christian bands, such as The Psalters
(External Link
). In
Europe the most used symbol is the
anarchy symbol, modified as it might become an
A and
Ω. This is the Greek alphabet symbol for "Alpha" & "Omega" (the English equivalent is "A" and "Z"); which in Christian symbology means that God is the omnipresent, such as seen in . The symbol is a visual play on the
anarchy symbol but with a different, yet similar, meaning and intent.
Religion
Acceptance of Christian punk is at times challenged both amongst members of the
punk subculture and in some Christian churches. There are strong elements of
anti-authoritarianism in both, such as challenging the uncritical acceptance of
social norms in the church and the world.
One Bad Pig's demo,
A Christian Banned, drew its name from the band's struggle to gain acceptance in Christian circles because of their punk sound and image. One illustration of this is seen in the concept of "anticonformity", which can be seen in Christian punk music, including the song "Anticonformity" by
Krystal Meyers. Within this perspective, the Christian's view of anticonformity is different from the punk view. The Christian's reason for anticonformity is found in the Biblical
Epistle to the Romans: "Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed."
Popular culture is also commented on and/or satirized by Christian punk bands. One of Relient K's most popular songs from their self-titled debut album, "
My Girlfriend", contained the line, "
Marilyn Manson ate my girlfriend."
Calibretto 13 wrote songs critical of
MTV, such as "Why Can't I Be on MTV?" and conformity, as in "Sheep of the USA."
The Deadlines, likewise, parodied
horror film themes on their album
The Death and Life Of....
Some may still argue that punk is anti-religious and thus in opposition to Christianity. Their argument is generally that the practice of Christianity (or any religion, established or not) is, by definition, conformity to rules set forth by someone other than the individual for him or herself. One response to this claim is that punk rock encourages people to think for themselves, and that a Christian's choice to be a Christian is his or her own decision to make, regardless of what others, including punks, would think of it.
Some Christian Punks also don't agree with or are very critical of organized religion. They say that real Christianity isn't just a religion because it's not supposed to be about rituals and rules; attacking these notions of
legalism is a common theme in Christian punk lyrics, especially with older Christian punk bands, such as
Ninety Pound Wuss,
Scaterd Few, and
One Bad Pig. They believe true Christianity is a relationship with
Jesus Christ, not necessarily a religion. Many Christian punks are against religion like other punks, yet they're strongly in support of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, separate from rules and tradition. This idea gave rise to Christian punk's term "JCHC", meaning "Jesus Christ Hard Core", which draws its name from an Officer Negative song of the same name.
Politics
Although
punk rock has strong ties to
anarchism, Christian Punks are not a subculture of
Marxism or a form of
anarchy or
communism, instead, it's a subculture with both Christian and Punk affiliations. This belief was often held by extreme
conservatives during the 1970s and 1980s, however, this was primarily used because of the clash between the
King-James-Only Movement and the
Jesus Movement. Evangelists such as
Jimmy Swaggart associated the
Jesus Movement and
Christian Rock in general as anti-Christian.
The vast majority of Christian punk bands don't advocate anarchy or communism; Officer Negative's logo is a parody of the
Circle-A commonly associated with anarchism. Many Christian punk bands, especially pop-punk bands such as
Relient K,
FM Static, and
MxPx, have very few songs about political topics; others, most notably older bands, contain strongly political lyrics in many of their songs. Political Christian punk bands come from a variety of areas on the
political spectrum. The Psalters, who openly advocate the ideas of
Karl Marx and the
Christian anarchist Leo Tolstoy. Some politicized Christian punk bands are also socialists.
Crashdog operated a section of their website devoted to political issues and candidates that they supported, such as former United States
Green Party Presidential candidate
Ralph Nader and various
human rights causes. Crashdog disbanded in the late 1990s to start
Ballydowse, a more political band which also took strong stances on human rights issues.
Other Christian punk bands take more conservative stances.
Calibretto 13's song "America", from their album
Adventures in Tokyo, expressed the band's displeasure with America's moral decline. Christian punk bands are also often vocal against
abortion in their songs.
Rock for Life categorizes bands based on their advocacy for or against abortion; they include many Christian punk bands, such as
Dogwood,
Flatfoot 56,
Relient K, and One-21, on their list of pro-life bands..
Record labels
Further Information
Get more info on 'Christian Punk'.
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