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Friday, August 27, 2010

Christian Pop Punk

For this post, I want to mainly talk about punk rock music and pop punk in particular. Before we can take a look at pop punk music of today, we first need to take a look at the roots of punk music. I won’t go too much into the history of punk rock, but I will give you a very quick overview.

Most believe the true origin of punk rock music is unknown, but they believe the genre did begin in the early 1970s. The first bands that did make punk music popular were groups like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and The Clash. These bands featured music that was fast, had short songs, used basic instruments like guitars, bass, and drums, and featured lyrics that were rebellious, political, and anti-establishment.

Over the last few decades, punk has evolved into many different styles and sub-genres. Many different genres came out of the punk revolution of the 70s including emo, hardcore, pop punk, Celtic punk, grunge rock, and the list goes on and on.

But for now, I want to stick with the sub-genre pop punk. About.com describes pop punk as, “being marked by a radio friendly sheen to their music, but it still retains much of the speed and attitude of classic punk rock.”

Pop punk did not gain commercial success until the 1990s with bands such as Blink 182 and Green Day. Since the 90s, pop punk has exploded with many secular bands finding mainstream success including bands like Simple Plan, New Found Glory, Fall Out Boy, Yellowcard, All American Rejects, and Good Charlotte.

When it comes to Christian pop punk, many secular musicians and artists disregard the thought of Christian punk. Christian punk features the musical qualities that made punk popular, but most Christian bands do not share the beliefs, or lyrical content of many of the early punk bands. Punk rock was founded on being rebellious and against established society, and since many Christian punk bands do not take this view, some musicians disregard this Christian genre. But, nonetheless, Christian punk is out there, and it is making waves in the Christian music scene.

Like many mainstream acts, Christian pop punk features upbeat and catchy rhythms but the one major difference is lyrical content. Most Christian pop punk bands choose to talk about issues of today and they also sing about Christian themes. Love songs also play a major part in Christian pop punk music. Most musicians do sing many songs about love and relationships. For this post, I want to share with you six bands that are making waves in the Christian pop punk scene.

The first band is Stellar Kart. They have released five albums since 2005, including a greatest hits album. Stellar Kart's sound has evolved over these past few years from being a straight pop punk band to releasing a pop worship album in 2010. This first song is off their debut album and it is called Life is Good. This song is a simple pop song talking about the beauty of heaven.




The next pop punk band is FM Static. This band is actually a side project of Trevor McNevan and Steve Augustine from the Christian hard rock band Thousand Foot Krutch. Over the past couple of years, FM Static has released three albums and they are planning to release their fourth in early 2011. The song I want to share with you is called Definitely Maybe off their debut album. This is probably their most recognized song to date. Like many other Christian pop punk songs, this is a love song.




The next group is Hawk Nelson. They are arguably one of the most popular groups in Christian music today. This Canadian band has released four albums on Tooth and Nail Records. This next music video is of the title track off their latest album Live Life Loud. At hearitfirst.com, bassist Daniel Biro described the song. “Live Life Loud is really about encouraging our fans to do just that. To live your life loud, to embrace all that life brings your way and experience every moment of it to the fullest extent.” The music video takes a comedic look at a competition between the members of Hawk Nelson and a group of older men.




The fourth group is Philmont. They are a relatively new band. They released their first EP and full length debut album last year in 2009. Both were released on Forefront Records, but the band is currently independent after their departure from the label. One thing this band is known for is their self-made music videos. They have made five videos for the songs: The Difference, Back Down, Another Name, I Can’t Stand to Fall, and My Hippocratic Oath. You can view the music video for the song The Difference on my blog post Top Ten Music Videos. The video I want to share with you is of the song Back Down. This song is about not giving up and not backing down. Once again, like all of their videos, this video is self-made by the members of the band.




This next group is an independent band called Eleventyseven. They have released three albums to date, including their last album, Adventures in Eville, which was released last year in 2009. Eleventyseven loves to talk about pop culture in their music. In some of their songs they sing about topics such as MySpace, Conan O’Brien, proms, and twelve step programs. This next song is called MySpace and it is about some of the pitfalls of social media.




The final group I want to share with you is by far the most popular group in the Christian pop punk genre. It is Relient K. Since their major label debut in 2000, Relient K has released six studio albums, two Christmas albums, a B-sides album, and four EPs. Relient K has three gold albums and they have currently sold over two million records. The song I want to share with you is off their fourth album, Mmhmm. The song is called Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been. The song is about a person who hates who they have been in the past and ultimately who they have become. In the song, Relient K is crying out for forgiveness and help to change their current and past lifestyles.




Once again, the main difference between secular punk bands and Christian punk bands is definitely the lyrical content. Musically, Christian pop punk bands are the same as secular bands, but lyrically Christian pop punk definitely has much more positive lyrics. These are not all the Christian pop punk bands out there. I just wanted to give you some of the most popular examples of this genre. If you would like to hear some music by other Christian pop punk bands you can check out these artists: Capital Lights, Amber Pacific, Last Tuesday, MXPX, Olivia the Band, Everyday Sunday, Run Kid Run, and Slick Shoes.

20 comments:

  1. Check out Christian Underground on live365.com

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  2. Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it! Thanks for the link! I will be sure and check it out.

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  3. This is EPIC! Thank you so much! I've been looking for a page like this for a long time!

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  4. Thanks for sharing with me! I am a huge fan of Christian punk music. I love FM Static and Relient K. I have quite a few other posts if you have time to check them out. I have other genre profiles, top ten lists, and artist interviews. Thanks for reading!

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  5. Some bands have Christian members but are considered mainstream (secular) punk or pop punk. Relient K is one of them, so is The Fray. Their lyrics tend to be less crass and softer although they don't directly reference God. This is how the wind up on albums like Now That's What I Call Music and Punk Goes... and therefore they can reach more audiences.

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    1. Thanks for reading! Absolutely, there are so many great Christian bands who do choose to play in the secular market. It doesn't matter which genre in Christian rock, there are always many musicians who are playing in both Christian and secular venues. Thanks for the comments!

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  6. Thank you for creating this page. I was looking for some new bands to listen to in my fave genre of music!

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    1. Thank you for your support. I'm glad that you were able to find some new bands to enjoy!

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  7. There are many christian bands that play music from the genre gospel or bluegrass but I was not aware that there are a few playing punk music as well especially because punk has rebellious lyrics.

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    1. Thanks for reading, and yes, there are quite a few Christian punk rock bands out there. I hope you will be able to find a few that you like.

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  8. Reliant K is one of my favorite bands ever! I am looking for more, as i really love the rebellious lyrics of emo-pop/rock and i need help finding some more!

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    1. Thanks for reading! I'm glad to hear of another fellow Relient K fan. Beyond these punk rock bands, there are some emo-pop groups that you could check out. Anberlin, Children 18:3, The Classic Crime, and Number One Gun might be some good places to start.

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  9. Skillet is also a good Christian Metal band.

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    1. At least to me, I probably wouldn't label Skillet as metal. I would put them more in the Modern Rock genre. But, I am a huge fan of Skillet. I love their music! Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  10. Hi, I'm looking for christian bands with a sound similar to 5SOS, All Time Low...similar sound but different lyrics..help? :)

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    1. Thanks for the question. All of the bands that I listed on this post are good places to start. If you like 5SOS and All Time Low, then, you should enjoy Hawk Nelson, Stellar Kart, Eleventyseven, FM Static, Relient K, and Philmont.

      Also, you can check out Children 18:3, Number One Gun, The Wedding, Run Kid Run, The Fold, and Nevertheless' debut album. I hope this helps, and you are able to enjoy some good Christian pop rock!

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  11. I know this is a super old post and hasn't been updated in forever. But, I'm wondering if maybe you can help me?
    There's a Christian band I'm trying to think of and I can't come up with the name.

    They were an early-mid 2000s band. I think they were considered punk? But I'm not sure... They had two singers: a singer and a screamer.
    The main singer had a big gap between his front top two teeth and the music video I'm thinking of they were singing in front of a warehouse and it was a big audience.
    They broke into the warehouse. I think.

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