Christian punk

Template:Christian music Christian punk (or Christ punk as it is also called as a reference to crust 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 in their songs.

Christian punk bands that target a Christian audience explicitly state their beliefs and use overt 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 edginess of punk and some of its sub-genres, such as hardcore punk, many bands have been rejected by the Christian and CCM music industry.Template:Fact 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." Tooth & Nail Records, a major record label for Christian punk bands, distributes albums by their bands in Christian bookstores; several of their bands whose albums they distribute to Christian stores do not call themselves Christian bands, and some of these also have some members who do not identify themselves Christians. Tooth & Nail does not identify themselves as a Christian label , but since they have had openly Christian bands on their roster such as The O.C. Supertones, Project 86, and Thousand Foot Krutch, their other bands are also often distributed to Christian stores.

Related genres are Christian hardcore and metalcore, Christian rock, Christian alternative music and Christian metal.

History

Origins

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 1980's many bands performed at Chuck Smith's Calvary Chapel in Orange County California.Template:Fact A particularly popular group with a cult following was Undercover, who proclaimed that "God Rules" with a combination of rockabilly and hardcore elements.Template:Fact 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.Template:Fact

The Cornerstone Festival provided an important venue for Christian punk bands.

Growth of the scene

During the 1990s the underground scene grew as bands such as Officer Negative and Headnoise greatly influenced many of their peers.Template:Fact

Emergence into the mainstream

In the 21st century developments in Christian punk parallels broader punk, with pop punk bands such as Relient K, Hawk Nelson, FM Static and This Providence very popular with the mainstream crowd, but they started as Christian bands, playing at church groups and youth gatherings. Chicago-based Celtic punk band Flatfoot 56 has also recently started to gain popularity.

Other bands with Christian roots that have become very popular within their genres are Zao, As I Lay Dying, Still Remains, Norma Jean and Demon Hunter (metalcore), and Underoath and mewithoutYou (post-hardcore).

There are also secular bands that contain Christian songwriters who, despite the varying beliefs of the individual band members, sometimes write lyrics that have clear Christian themes (e.g. Thrice or Comeback Kid).

Chirstian punk record labels include Tooth & Nail Records and its subsidiaries Solid State Records and BEC Recordings; The Militia Group, which signs groups that straddle the boundary between Christian and secular music; Flicker Records, owned and operated by the members of Audio Adrenaline; Gotee Records, owned and operated by TobyMac of dc Talk; and up-and-comer Mono vs. Stereo.

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.Template:Fact Chi Rho is a popular symbol amongst more anarcho-Christian bands, such as The Psalters [1]. However, The Psalters are not considered, to the extent of the Christian Punk genre, to be a true "Christian Punk band."Template:Fact In Europe the most used symbol is the anarchy symbol, modified as it might become an A and Ω.Template:Fact 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 Template:Bibleverse. The symbol is a visual play on the anarchy symbol but with a different meaning and intent.

Christian and Punk

Christian punk and 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 against MTV ("Why Can't I Be on MTV?") and conformity ("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 established religion) 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 obey God's Word is his or her own decision to make, regardless of what others (including punks) would think of it.

Some Christians also do not agree with organized religion. They say that real Christianity is not 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 more old school Christian punk bands, such as Ninety Pound Wuss in their first two albums. They believe true Christianity is a relationship with Jesus, not a religion. Many Christian punks are against religion like other punks, yet they are 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.

Christian punk, anarchism, and politics

Although punk rock has strong ties to anarchism, Christian Punks are not a sub-culture of Marxism or a form of anarchy or communism. This belief was often held by extreme conservatives during the 1970s and 1980s, however, this was only used because of the clash between conservatives and the Jesus Movement. Evangelists such as Jimmy Swaggart used this term in order to associate the Jesus Movement as anti-Christian.

The vast majority of Christian punk bands do not 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, Slick Shoes, and MxPx, sing very few of their songs about political topics; others, most notably old school Christian punk bands, sing strongly political 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 Template:Fact, are an anarcho-punk band; some politicized Christian punk bands are liberals or 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. [2] Crashdog disbanded in the late 1990s to start Ballydowse, a more world music-influenced 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

• BEC Recordings
• Bettie Rocket
• Facedown Records
• Flicker Records
• Gotee Records
• Mono Vs Stereo
• Raging Storm Records
• Rescue Records
• Solid State Records
• Squint Entertainment
• Tooth & Nail Records

See also

• List of Christian punk bands
• Christian rock
• Christian socialism
• Christian communism
• Christian anarchism
• Liberation theology
• Christian feminism
• Religious communism
• Anarchism and religion
• Punk ideology
• Post Christian
• Taqwacore

External links

• ANTH-NET.com Christian music news, releases, and much more.
• God Save the Teens: Local Kids Seek a New Kind of Church Through Hardcore and Hip-Hop by Lauren Sandler in the Village Voice 30 May - 5 June 2001
• Hardcore/Punk Guide to Christianity - Why Christianity Has No Place in Punk Rock (criticism of Christian punk)
• http://www.christianpunks.com
• http://www.spotlightministries.org.uk/punk.htm
• Christian punk-rockers find acceptance on 'straight edge'