Question about music for the "Old Timers"

[votivesoul]

If you've been in the faith 50+ years, or grew up around those saints who were saved back in the '50's and '60's, I would like to know something about the music of the era.

Growing up as a kid, we would sometimes listen to the "golden oldies", from that era, either with my mom and dad, or with friends. A lot of those songs today seem innocent, harmless, and even perhaps a touch pure, especially compared to the music of today.

My question is: What was the prevailing attitude of the church at the time that music was first being released?

I'm thinking about songs by the Four Tops, Dave Clark Five, the Righteous Brothers, The Drifters, Temptations, Elvis*, and etc.

Were the artists and their music looked upon at the time as worldly and carnal, the same way that many in the church look at secular music here and now?

What interests me is the passage of time, and how a song like "My Girl" can seem innocuous, and even "safe" to listen to, but how, perhaps when it was first released, it was looked at in a different light.

I'm not trying to make any claims for or against anything here. I'm just curious to hear the views and opinions of the much elder saints who were there when this music was first being released.

*I'm sure I can guess how Elvis was perceived, especially in his youth, (although he eventually sang and recorded many hymns later on in life that are now cherished).

[Esaias]

Not old enough to speak first hand, but my reading of older Christian (especially Holiness and Pentecostal) literature from the turn of the century onwards indicates many if not most 'conservative' Christians viewed all secular music as worldly and to generally be avoided (classical music perhaps excepted as most of it had no lyrics).

Years ago I knew a man, an old, 80 some odd year old black guy with one eye, played piano in his church. That church was an old fashioned sanctified Holy Ghost church. He recounted one day to me how once, many many years ago when he was young (this would have been almost 70 or 80 years ago, now, somewhere around the 40s or early 50s I believe), how one day he was playing the piano at the church, practicing. The pastor was there, and some others (choir members, etc) and he started playing a little bit of 'jazz', just goofing around.

He was sharply rebuked and told 'we don't need none of that jazz music, that's the devil's music!' Now, I imagine 'jazz' in a black country church in the 40s or 50s would probably be recognisable as big-band era boogie-woogie or blues piano improvisation.

[Amanah]

twenty years ago I was in an independent apostolic church, we weren't allow to fellowship with the UPC because they were worldly . we didn't have TVs, or see movies, ect ect. It was a set apart life. but we had red hot prayer meetings, fasting, prayer, red hot preaching and soul winning, and the power and anointing of God would fall in such a way that people would repent and receive the Holy Ghost like I'm not seeing it happen now. I mean it was every service we were seeing people filled with the spirit and getting baptized.

anyway, pastor preached against listening to Amy Grant because she compromised by making Christian and secular music.

[n david]

The assistant pastor at the church my father pastored once took my Carman, Commissioned and Christ Church Choir "Shakin' the House: Live" tape because a few songs sounded "too worldly." I was on a church trip as an adult chaperone and he still took it and kept it until after the trip. It wasn't a good trip.

[allstate1]

yep that 3/4 time is of the debil!!!

[Jito463]

My old pastor from man, many, many years ago - the earliest pastor that I can remember well - once was trying to make a point in church and sang a little ditty, "If you've got the money honey, I've got the time". I don't even recall what point he was trying to make now, just that little snippet of song he sang (goes to show how music sticks with you, even when you don't want it to). There were many in the church who got very upset with him for doing that from the pulpit. Frankly, I tend to agree with them, as I was just a kid when that happened, and I can still remember it.

[CC1]

Originally Posted by n david

The assistant pastor at the church my father pastored once took my Carman, Commissioned and Christ Church Choir "Shakin' the House: Live" tape because a few songs sounded "too worldly." I was on a church trip as an adult chaperone and he still took it and kept it until after the trip. It wasn't a good trip.

Wow! Must be the first time in history that a Christ Church Choir album was accused of being "too worldly" LOL!!!!

It is funny how perceptions change over time though. I was watching a live stream of a medium sized UPC church I was around a lot in the mid to late 1970's and even though it is still a fairly conservative church the electric guitar out front in the mix leading was something that would have never been accepted at that church 30+ years ago when I was around it because it would have been "rock & roll" and "secular".

[derAlte]

My memories don't go back that far, but I was rebuked once in the late 1970s by a then late sixty-ish sister for the sin of syncopation. "Sounds like a honky-tonk," she told me, which makes me wonder how the dear sister had acquired this specialized knowledge.

[Amanah]

Originally Posted by derAlte

My memories don't go back that far, but I was rebuked once in the late 1970s by a then late sixty-ish sister for the sin of syncopation. "Sounds like a honky-tonk," she told me, which makes me wonder how the dear sister had acquired this specialized knowledge.