The Story: Like many other people on Facebook I comment on shows I watch on my friends walls or in a status... One particular night I was on Facebook while watching American Idol... A couple of friends started some "wall talk" that ended up getting seven others on on the conversation (both people I know and friends of theirs I don't know were included.) The live performance that night was "Right Round" by Flo Rida... A song which I had only heard a couple of times in stores to that point. I decided to post on my (married) friend, Chad Haymon's, wall. I typed "you spin my head right round, right round! Woo!" or something to that effect... Then I heard the next line in the performance... AAAAH! NOT WHAT I WAS TRYING TO SAY! I immediately wrote an explanation I hadn't listened to the whole song before and didn't realize why "you spin my head right round" had I realized what it was really about I would never have posted any part of that song... Embarrassing for me!
The Point: We need to ALWAYS listen to the lyrics of a song the first time we hear it and pass judgement on whether or not we "like" the song based on what the lyrics promote... Not just to avoid the kind of embarrassment I suffered in my experience but to protect our hearts and minds. We've all heard about subliminal advertising and why companies love commercial jingles: because even when you're not really paying attention your mind is absorbing processing and downloading the words as well as the beats in a song. Of course it's not the beats that I'm worried about, I don't believe Jesus only likes songs with a banjo and therefor anything else must be Satan music! But I am worried about what I believe and what I stand against in my walk, talk and action not lining up with what I take in through my ears...
The Opposite: When I was younger I listened to DC talk (even Rachel Lampa now that I'm thinking about it) and some members my family hated it because of the sound or beat. I would get totally frustrated because the lyrics exalted Christ so my defence (and a good one I might add) would always be to quote them the lyrics and that usually settled it. In my process I'm realizing "drop the beat principal" should be followed the opposite way as well... Don't judge a person by the beats they prefer, if it exalts God leave 'em alone, eh. (Thought I'd put a little "Canadian" in there to relax ya!)
The Moral: Forget about the sound or beat of the song (whether it's because you "like" it or "hate" it,) what do the lyrics speak? Are they against the things you believe, stand up for, honor or uphold? I have, more than once, said I "liked a song" because of sound alone but if I listened to the lyrics would have been shocked and embarrassed and would never have "liked" the song in the first place... Seriously, it's not just a good beat anymore, some (if not most) lyrics are disgusting and degrading to women in general... Whether you're Christian or not they are repulsive and shouldn't be supported. Listen, I'm not a feminist, I think those women who wanted to work full-time were nuts (vote yes, work booo! ha!) but the truth is I don't have the right to be angry at the eleven year old girls who are "letting it all hang out" and getting frisky in the back if I'm financially supporting the junk that encourages them to do just that. Another good gauge is music videos, I guarantee if you watched a video for most of the "good songs" that are out right now you would think twice before saying you like that artist or that song... The guys with the gold teeth and ugly faces having five beautiful women pretty much licking their face off in a video or the "lady" (and I use that term VERY loosely) artist you like so much that is just missing a pole (and maybe that's not even missing) will change your mind. In case you're still not convinced, try this question: would you want to be or better yet want your mother or daughter to be one of those video girls? I don't want my daughter (when I have one) growing up wanting to wear booty shorts and tassels to "cover" her body or for her to think she needs to let some guy "smack that" just get his attention (attention that is spread pretty thin in the first place between the other five girls he's makin') I want my daughter to know how to be an actual lady and that the guy she likes is only good enough to be on her cell phone if he's only interested in her and not interested in trying to get her morals to slip down to the floor.
No thanks big pimp daddy I won't be dropping anything low anytime soon... And if I don't live that, like to hear or see girls acting like that I won't be giving my support, finance or approval by listening to it either! Can I get an amen?
Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies! -Philippians 4:8
Drop the beat!
4 comments:
I think this is a great post! I totally agree! I have said this before. The music videos out there now a days are terrible!
Love the Picture! It suits the blog! I agree very very much with what you blogged about. It's extremely hard raising childeren with the crap they play on the music networks. Every other song you have to skip over or flip the channel. I know growing up, my teen years were very influenced by the music I was listening to. Awful awful music. But as a child I listened to country and now that is what I have chosen to raise my daughter on. It's the only reliable source of music that I enjoy and I don't find offensive. Country songs talk about everything from Cancer to Jesus and life lessons. I know that I cannot protect my daughter's ears forever but I do hope I can teach her exactly what you have wrote about.
i really enjoyed that. thank you
Awesome blog post! That's a notion that has weighed heavily on my heart lately, I've even written a couple of notes on my FB about it, though not as eloquently as this. :) Love the "Drop the Beat" tagline - Keep up the posts!
Post a Comment