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Music for (and against) atheists.

As a popular music historian (of a sort), I am constantly banging head first into hit songs about people's imaginary friends. And, as such, I mourn for the nation and the world.

So ...

Question 1). Which are your most hated god-centric popular songs? (Mine are, in order, "God Bless The U.S.A." (Lee Greenwood), "Jesus Take The Wheel" (Carrie Underwood) and "Jesus Walks" (Kanye West).

Question 2). Do you have any god-centric popular songs that you rather like, despite their theme? (I'll only admit to "Spirit In The Sky" by Norman Greenbaum, though there are one or two others.)

Question 3). This one is going to be a stumper, I fear. Aside from "Imagine" by John Lennon, is there/are there another/other popular song(s) which are expressly atheistic/humanistic and specifically don't call upon an invisible friend? (I say "popular," in that there are probably many by a variety of indie artists, but those don't necessarily swim in the mainstream where everyone would have heard it on the radio.)

There are a million reasons why there wouldn't be -- not the least of which it's hard to sing about a negative of something (belief), but maybe I'm overlooking something.

Tags: Atheism, Culture, Music, Pop

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Permalink Reply by LoLo on July 8, 2008 at 6:11pm

I didn't know it was directed towards his mother, I've only recently started to listen to A Perfect Circle. The great thing about music is its up for interpretation... ;) I just like singing the "fuck your god" lyric while I'm driving to work. Hehehe......

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Permalink Reply by Saint on July 8, 2008 at 6:14pm

Not exactly mainstream, but Greydon Square is a good choice of musical artist. He's a very vocal atheist rapper who definitely knows his subject matter well.

As for a Thrash Metal choice: Exodus' most recent album, The Atrocity Exhibition, isn't too friendly to Abrahamic religion... Take for instance just the title of one song: Children Of A Worthless God.

I could list plenty of non-mainsteam bands...

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Permalink Reply by Brian Gregory Lopez on July 8, 2008 at 6:21pm

Greydon Square, eh? Dang, here I thought I was the only Atheist Hip Hop artist... Thanks for the info

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Permalink Reply by no0ne on May 11, 2009 at 9:45pm

man, i love greydon square, and i'm not even really into hiphop (found this post doing a search for him)

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Permalink Reply by Mike Grattan on July 8, 2008 at 6:41pm

How about a little Bad Religion? Greg Graffin, their lead singer, is also a Phd (Cornell University) who currently teaches life sciences at UCLA.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Zelnio on July 8, 2008 at 7:25pm

Thanks for the tip about greg gaffin! I was a bad religion fan as a teenie, now that I'm older I mellowed out into old tyme, bluegrass and americana (the message is still the same if the delivery isn't). I had no idea about his solo career! Downloading from iTunes as I write.

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Permalink Reply by IsThatLatin on July 9, 2008 at 8:06am

Big Bad Religion fan here. I think I heard them first when I was about 14 and haven't stopped actively listening to them since. I've got Graffin's dissertation but haven't had time to read it (dang you semester! *shakes fist*)

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Sell on July 17, 2008 at 9:21pm

I've considered Bad Religion my favorite band by far since I was 14...17 years ago.

Pennywise also has a lot of humanist lyrics in many of their songs.

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Permalink Reply by pounce on July 8, 2008 at 11:22pm

you guys beat me to it.

xtc, nin, and tool/perfect circle are all on my playlists for sure.

i just can't stomach most of the jesus-y music, too big of an intellectual turnoff for me to enjoy it most all of the time.

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Permalink Reply by Ben on July 8, 2008 at 11:35pm

Living in Nashville I hear "Jesus take the wheel" ALL the fricken time.

To tell you the truth the song cracks me up. I have this vision of the "buddy christ" showing up in the passenger seat and giving the driver the thumbs up with a sparkle to his smile (bing!) and his attempt to take control. Than the look of horror from the central character when Jesus's steering turns out to be terrible and he crashes them into a truck carrying manure. After all, the dude was supposed to be alive 2000 years ago... what makes us think he would know anything about driving a truck (I assume its a pickup as its country).

Probably the last person I'd want grabbing the wheel...

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Permalink Reply by Cliff on July 8, 2008 at 11:42pm

Now THAT'S the laugh I needed today!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Zelnio on July 8, 2008 at 11:50pm

How about Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadors "I Was Just Flipped Off by a Silver-Haired Old Lady With a Honk if You Love Jesus Sticker on the Bumper of Her Car" or John Prine's "Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore"