They sold their Souls for rock and roll.....

I'm a member of a message board about escatology and this video series came up again as a topic. Immediatly people started in about how it was holier than thou and that is bashed all music yadda yadda blah blah blah. Clearly these people are just regurgitating what they heard someone else say, because watching it, you KNOW it doesn't say anything like that. Its about the influences in artists lives, and just being aware of the things you blast away in your home when little impressionable minds are listening. To imply that any music that is not hymn must be satanic is just absurd and its the misguided Christians who rail about that sort of thing that make the rest of us look like total nutters. Since when is it a bad thing to educated yourself on the worldview of the entertainment you are partaking in? When watching Ben Hur, you know its going to have a more christian slant, when you watch Kill Bill, you know its going to be about blood lust right? So whats the big deal educating yourself on the worldviews of the bands you are popping into your CD player? Its not a big deal unless someone feels guilt IMO. LOL.
So about the video series itself, "They Sold Their Soul for Rock and Roll" I can tell you my point of view on it.
We have the whole 10 hour shebang. I've watched it all, and the older kids watched it too. there are some disturbing scenes on abortion in the first disc, so if you are going to have your kids sit in, be aware these are coming and have them close their eyes. My husband cried, I couldn't watch.
It kind of threw me off kilter for the remainder of watching the series. I was thinking "WHY have such graphic scenes of infantcide on a documentary of the dark side of rock 'n roll?" Finally it occured to my thick skulled self that the two were very much intertwined. Satan doesn't care if you worship him, as long as you are NOT worshipping God. If he can't get you to kill the unborn, then he is going to try to get them through any way possible including popular music. More often than not the chart toppers over the last several decades are about little more than rebellion against authority. Be it rebellion against sexual morality, the "man", really anything that our society was suposed to be respectful of. Doesn't make them individually evil, but it's interesting to look at the idea of a cumulative effect it could have on a persons world view. Individuals are wonderfully created different, so it would be a facinating study (but I digress). Music is an amazing creation. How many of us can listen to a song and have it carry us back 20, 30, for my mom, 50 years ago in our memory? We can recall who we were with, what we were doing, the smells, the ideas, the joys the sorrows all from a relatively small musical riff coming across the radio. Thats a pretty incredible tool in our minds that appears to be hard wired from birth. My 18 month old daughter has been dancing from the moment she figured out she was in controll of her arms and legs. Waving in time, bouncing up and down to a rythm. It was not something taught, it was just IN her little brain that dancing goes with music. Music calms the savage beast......how long has that saying been around?
So if you are listening to music that does not draw your mind, heart, your whole attention to the Lord, then what is it you are listening to? If our minds are so finely attuned to music and rhythm to the point it can trigger stunning memory recalls, what type of music are you hard wiring into your memory?

Like I said, I did watch the whole 10 hours over a few days. I honestly do not recall it ever saying all rock music is bad, or that any one fashion of sound was wrong. What it DID say over and over was to be aware of the influences in the artists lives. What is the fruit of their work? We all, every single one of us, have a personal agenda while alive. We have beliefs we truely honestly and earnestly want to teach to others. For Christians its supposed to be to spread the gospel, for the world at large(satan's domain eh?) its to get people's attention on anything BUT the gospel.
If you have a global audiance and you really believe (for example) socialism would benefit everyone on the planet, would you not put that message in your body of work? Its your point of view, it would be all over your work sometimes subtlely, sometimes overtly. What if you really believed there was no God and Carpe Diem? (sieze the day, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die, ect). Its not that all artists who are not Christian are baby munching satanists, lets keep reality in check people. It was not a witch hunt done on rock and roll, or jazz, or rap, or hip hop, or reggae. It was a video montage on specfic musicians who, in their own words (usually on a video clip to keep it in context of the interviewer's questions) talked about how they knew they were undermining the Christian values that they thought needed to go. Parents have no right to brainwash their kids in ethics of judeo Chistianity. Some of them truely think they are enlightening the younger generations out of the out dated religion of their parents. MTV happily states that "we do not just teach your 14 years olds, but we own them" on one interesting clip. How fascinating that most muscians will NOT even let their own children watch tv or listen to just any music. They recoginize the huge influence it weilds.

Over all, its a good video series. No ministry is ever perfect, after all its run by humans. Some people have this silly idea that Christians think they are perfect, when its the exact opposite. We recoginize we are far from perfect and absolutely require our creators help in everything we do. Ahhhhh pride, what a tricky bugger you are....but another digression, sorry. Back to topic: A few people on the message board even flat out said that the producers lied to make points. I have no idea what the "lies" would be? Every time they stated something about anyone, they just quoted the person themselves going to lengths to keep the quote in context. But then I've found in real life as well as message boards, people who bash things with blanket statements rarely have any real or specific events to back up their comments with. For the love of sanity, if you are going to say a ministry is lying, at least point out what the lies are. To say "I don't have time to list them" is a spineless cop out.
The series used actual tv interviews, magazine interviews with the publishind date and title so you could look for yourself and as much as I didn't care for the style/dated presentation, the information itself was well researched and thorough.
This was NOT a blanket "all rock music is bad" series at all, it was a series about being aware of the influences in all the music you listen to, just like you should be aware of authors whose books you read, television shows you watch, ect.

It did not condemn people who listened to rock music any more than it said only big band southern swing was the only holy music ever so neener neener.

Relax people, its just about paying attention.