Christian Guitar Hero/Rock Band

[DracoAzule† 0]

It has been what...3 years since the release of the first Guitar Hero. I've seen a few satanic songs in the series, and the only thing even remotely christian I've seen in the game is Steve Ouimette's metal rendition of We Three Kings as GH3 DLC for Christmas of 2007.

 

I'm sure there are a lot of people here going, "Well why can't there be more christian music in the game? There are a lot of christian bands who would work perfectly in a game like that." Well if they haven't put any of that music in by now, they probably aren't going to.

 

BUT...

 

Thanks to the diligence of a group of hackers, there are mods availible for each game that allow you to import and play any music you want. THis is where things get a bit tricky, because you have to have a console that can read burned games, since the game has to go on another DVD once you put new music in it. But here are a few examples of christian songs which have been imported into Guitar Hero:

 

 

 

If anyone wants to get their hands a little dirty with this, I'll be glad to help as much as possible ^.=.^

[HoboFawkes† 0]

Very nifty. There are probably a few (at least) Christian songs for the PC clone "Frets on Fire". Not to mention, I think Flyleaf (featured in Rock Band) is a Christian band.

[DracoAzule† 0]

Well yea, since I found enough christian Guitar Hero 2 customs to make my own christian Gh2 disc for 360, and FoF is cross compatible with GH2 songs

[topher-the-tiger† 0]

theres actually a game called guitar praise. its only available in the US atm though (im aussie)

the result of bored googling

[DeltaK9 0]

theres actually a game called guitar praise. its only available in the US atm though (im aussie)

the result of bored googling

 

Yeah, I heard that was buggy, glitchy and all around bad. XD

[HuskyDog† 0]

I never really was into the Christian cloning of mainstream products. I'm all for Christian-themed things, within reason, but often it's a lesser quality product, and surrounding yourself with things of this nature implies that mainstream products are "worse" or evil, because they aren't Christian-branded. In reality, mainstream products often are not satanic or evil like people assume them to be. Rock music especially, and given the example in this thread. People branded it as satanic when in reality, it was a reaction to the image and preconceptions. Some who didn't take it seriously ran with it, but in reality, I think that a lot of that reaction was just based on personal tastes and, in some cases, xenophobia. In that manner, I don't appreciate locking myself down to an inferior product simply because it's Christian-branded, as if it makes it inherently better, than the real deal, which isn't really as bad as people make it out to be.

 

But ultimately, while as a Christian we have a responsibility to avoid things that would cause us to sin and sinful behavior (and if we are properly formed, we should reject these things anyway), we also have a responsibility to live in the world and witness. Avoiding mainstream things for Christian-branded clones tends to be something that I've found to be related to an isolationist and sheltering attitude. Jesus didn't want us to isolate our relationships and exposure only to other Christians. That is counter-productive to witnessing. Part of being able to witness to others is being able to relate to them. Exposing ourselves to mainstream products and trends, and recognizing that just because it doesn't have Jesus on it that it doesn't make it bad, definitely helps to allow people to relate to us, and more importantly, for us to relate to them. It also gives common ground where you can enjoy each others' company due to common interests.

 

And, truthfully, while I like some Christian music, much of it really doesn't appeal to me. I love P.O.D. and I like Evanescence, and generally appreciate it when Christians allow their Christianity to bleed into their art, but the Christian rock genre feels very bland and, in many cases, as if they're trying to be "cool rockers", which never really pans out.

 

I don't mean that in offense. Ultimately, it's just personal taste. However, I tend to object to isolationism and xenophobia, which I see in these types of things.

[HuskyDog† 0]

I've heard some. My brother likes Switchfoot (which, incidentally, have also gone relatively mainstream), and he also really likes Relient K. Neither of those bands are really my thing. The other ones you mentioned I've not heard. However, I have heard Petra, which was ok, but not really a sound I got into (though, granted, it may have been the particular album I had). Fr. Stan Fortuna does rap, and I actually enjoy that, though I don't listen to it fairly regularly. Backyard Galaxy is another ok band though I don't listen to them a whole lot. And there are a myriad of others which I've been exposed to. None have really jumped out, though. I used to go to highschool retreats (Steubenville East) and music like this was sort of staple, there. It seems to me that the bands that are able to make it mainstream tend to have the quality of sound that allows them to do that, that they can appeal to an audience not just because they're Christian and are pretty good, but because they have genuine talent that puts them head and shoulders above the rest. And that's a good thing, because it opens them up to secular audiences for their message, because while people may harp on the secular media, I have found that they tend to be message-agnostic, so long as the music is really fun to listen to.

 

This really all may have been tempered by the fact that the music I often listen to is electronic dance music, which often doesn't have much in terms of lyrics anyway, so it's hard to make Christian-themed tracks (though sometimes they do sample preachers or the like for sound samples). But, like electronic dance music, which isn't quite as mainstream and has a lot of saccharine pop type tracks in rotation, you have to know how to sort through the mess and find the things you like, yourself. In the rock arena, it's less like that, but once you go into bands that are strictly Christian, you're back in the same situation. So, perhaps I've not been able to find the really "good" bands. But, I do find it unfortunate that the good bands are drowned out by the bland, generic, key of E (side observation made by my brother who plays guitar: Christian Rock tends to universally be played in the key of E, which probably contributes to the reason of why it sounds so bland) bands that get repeated play on Christian radio. In some ways, it feels like we've lowered our standards in allowing that kind of thing to happen.

 

EDIT: Just heard one of the things from Pillar on their Myspace page. It's not bad, and I could see them going mainstream. Though the band members look funny. They have anime hair!

[DracoAzule† 0]

Tbh I don't like most of todays christian music. It's too soft for my tastes. Even Demon Hunter and August Burns Red get bland every now and then. I'm more into classic rock. Like Van Halen. Luckily there are a few christian bands who are just about as good as Van Halen. Like Whitecross. Or Stryper, sortof. Not a fan of Strypers vocalist, but their guitarist is awesome. :cool:

 

Whitecross in action <3

 

 

Anyways, guys they actually have a few christian songs as official DLC for Rock Band 2. One of them from Kutless, two of them from Underoath.

[DracoAzule† 0]

Hawk Nelson

skillet

superchick

switchfoot

thousand foot krutch

kutless

the myriad

underoath

 

we could probably include Anberlin and flyleaf as well.

 

You forgot The Devil Wears Prada =P

[Harmonic Tremors† 0]

Evanescence isn't actually a Christian band...

Though she may HAVE been a Christian or one of the other members were, they are not Christian music...

I actually heard that, she requestred all Christian stores who had her albums on their shelves, take them off and stop selling them...

I don't know how true it is, but since I heard it, I haven't seen any of them in either Word or Koorong (both Christian stores in Australia)...

But P.O.D are great, so are Decyfer Down, Five Iron Frenzy, Pillar, Petra, Skillet etc...

[HuskyDog† 0]

Evanescence isn't actually a Christian band...

Though she may HAVE been a Christian or one of the other members were' date=' they are not Christian music...

I actually heard that, she requestred all Christian stores who had her albums on their shelves, take them off and stop selling them...

I don't know how true it is, but since I heard it, I haven't seen any of them in either Word or Koorong (both Christian stores in Australia)...

But P.O.D are great, so are Decyfer Down, Five Iron Frenzy, Pillar, Petra, Skillet etc...

[/quote']

 

I heard that about Evanescence. I haven't heard a lot of them (only got one album and that was just recently) and have heard it back and forth, so I felt like mentioning it just in case.

 

But I should probably check out more of Petra. It might just be that the album I have is a fluke (in fact, I don't even know where it is right now...).

[Harmonic Tremors† 0]

Yea Day of Fire is also an awesome band

And Apologetix... they're like a Christian version of Weird Al Yankovich

[HuskyDog† 0]

I've heard of Apologetix. I guess I never knew I needed a Christian version of Weird Al. But I don't listen to Weird Al that much anyways (though he does put out some awesome stuff). I didn't hear a lot of Apologetix though but from what I did hear, I guess I was expecting more.