The objective was to try to get religion to appeal to youth. I knew some young 20's guys in a band who were into it circa 1998.

When I was a preacher I did a sermon based on that episode. It's such an accurate picture of a teenager finding a social group that happened to be at church. And Hank accurately calls out how shallow that kind of social faith is.

At the end of the episode, Hank pulls out a box of crap from fads Bobby had been into and talked about how he didn't want Bobby's spirituality to end up in that box.

For millions of people, church is basically a club where they meet with their friends, and since the church is still the most racially segregated place in America, that's a problem.

The "Christian Club" mentality is what allowed the rise of the religious right, when churches should be vocal about justice for the the sick, the poor, and the foreigners.

well so Jars of Clay was weirdly popular for a christian rock group. like i didn't even think about them as a christian rock group until their second, maybe third album? but they got radio play on mainstream stations.

Despite we having our share of weirdos, most Europeans have no clue as to how mind bogglingly insane religion has become in the US (and how normal most US people think it is).

Both are corpo-sanitized.

it’s horrid, empty, fake,…

Just like Christianity itself 🙂

It's like if an Multi level marker made pop music.

I'm also a little irritated that pop music is so formulaic that ai kinda nails the imitation.

Catchy but stupid.

...And not the fun kind of stupid either.

What about that one Skillet song that's good? And I want to say switchfoot?

cries in Fireflight

the key ingredient is they don't only sing about Jesus. See also: Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. Mainstream audiences don't generally mind christian themes so long as that band is being true to themselves rather than making common denominator slop.

i mean… look at all the music that came from Motown records before 1985. not all of those musicians and acts were devoutly christian, but a lot of them were

Creed is an honorary Christian rock band, which is 1000x worse than a normal one.

That's one of those where they became so mainstream that they don't want to name it, but they definitely make Christian rock.

Apparently, Higher is about lucid dreaming, but he's also dreaming of biblical Heaven:

Can you take me higher
To a place where blind men see
(Isaiah 29:18-19)
Can you take me higher
To a place with golden streets
(Revelations 21:21)

"My Sacrifice" is about Scott's struggle with alcoholism, but speaks of a person who gave him love and who he implies he repeatedly reunites with "in their mind." That's Jesus bro.

"One Last Breath" drops a capital-H "His grace" referring to God, "With Arms Wide Open" mentions praying, "What If" references Matthew 7:16-17, etc.

It seems quite a few of their songs are "actually" about something else, but totally allegorical to Christian belief. And idk what that makes you other than a Christian rock band.

Alter Bridge is better

I also like some religious music, I think the key is that the music needs to be interesting with zero pandering.
At the risk of turning this into a "not religious, but..." music recommendation thread: I've enjoyed mewithoutYou for a long time now. They have a subdued art-rock sound, and I even enjoy a lot of their more overtly religious songs like "In a Sweater Poorly Knit" and "The King Beetle On A Coconut Estate."
Mewithoutyou - "Cattail Down"

Creepy though.

When I die and they lay me to rest,
I'm going to go to the place that's the best.

As someone that grew up in a Christian household and wasn't allowed to listen to non-Christian music, I listened to a LOT of Skillet as a teenager. It was one of the few bands I could listen to that I actually liked. I also liked DC Talk as a kid.

One of the more tolerable experiences. I didn't even know that they were a Christian rock band until i was well into my 20's