"safe for the little ears"

I don't like Christian music. In fact, I pretty much hate it.

("WHAT!" they all say with disbelief)

[First of all, maybe I should restate the above statement as: I don't like CCM music. However, most people consider Christian music and CCM music to be one and the same, which is why I said "Christian" in my first statement.]

I have a variety of reasons for disliking "Christian music" and they range from personal bias to what I hope is reasonable. One of the reasons I hate it is because of the safe-ness of "Christian music".

Safe-ness. This quality is most frequently seen in radio singles; it basically entails a song that has absolutely no potential of offending or making anyone uncomfortable, and is basically uncreative in musical and lyrical style. Like pretty much all radio singles, they are developed to be pleasing to the public and the whims of the popular music critics (in the case of "Christian" radio singles that would be CCM Magazine, etc).

This type of music is widely listened to by Christian homeschooling (or Christian private schooling) families who want their children to be able to listen to popular music that is "fun for the kids" and not offensive to the parents' values.

I believe that parents are right in monitoring what their young children listen to--as parents they have the responsibility to protect their child from *cough* trash. However, this trend has caused a demand for more "family friendly" radio stations (google "family friendly radio stations" and see how many you find). Because of this demand there are now many many radio stations that are created or converted to making "family friendliness" their biggest promotional slogan. As I noted earlier, having stations for families with young children is not a bad thing at all; however, this demand has created the near absence of "Christian" stations that will play anything else. These "safe" stations are excellent for young children but for the most part I think they are leaving the teenagers excluded. Drawing from my own experience--which I realize is biased to some degree--I know that the very idea of listening to an hour of Casting Crowns, Chris Tomlin, Newsboys' worship tunes, Natalie Grant, and Matthew West gives me the strong impulse to play U2's rather looked-down-upon song "Get On Your Boots" from the top of my roof at the highest volume possible ("Satan loves a bomb scare but he won't scare you").

My point is that I believe that this accumulation of "safe" stations has/will cause many Christian teens who are growing up and trying to figure out who they are separate from their families to possibly be driven to rebel and turn the other direction [enter Eminem, Kanye West, Beyonce, and every other musician you really wouldn't want your kids listening to].

Obviously, it would be tragic for these teens to avoid any music with a Christian worldview, which is why I think it is important for there to be radio stations and artists who are willing to get out of the cliche box of radio formulas designed to gain popularity with parents and DJs who think their children can't handle anything more alternative than tobyMac's "Lose My Soul".

Until this happens in my area, "Christian" radio has my eternal scorn (I might even rate it as worse than country music)