Beth and Ashely at Onward & Upward posted a fun little musical meme to add a little music to the party (my 1st party post). What a great idea! I love music and totally agree with them about a party is no party if there is no music.
HOWEVER! I could not choose my FAVORITE song for a bunch genres any more than you could tell me which child of yours is your favorite. You just don't. You just can't.
AND . . . all those 80's songs that were on the radio when I was growing up--I never heard. All those 90's songs that were on the radio when I was in high school--again, never heard. Let me tell you why . . .
Childhood
When I was a kid, I had all 6 Psalty the Singing Songbook tapes that were out at that time. I listened to one side of one tape each night to fall asleep (which started a music listening habit that didn't stop till I got to college and had roommates). Although I loved all 6 tapes, Kid's Praise 4 about being a servant and Kid's Praise 5 about a camping trip (casting our cares on the Lord) were played most often. I LOVED Psalty. These cassettes introduced me to worship and faith and showed me that praising God is a very real, everyday in everyway kind of thing.
I remember my parents listening to Keith Green and the Maranatha! Praise Team . . . these too had a powerful impact on my love of music and heart of worship. Psalty, Keith Green, and the Maranatha! Songs hold an incredibly special, tender place in my heart.
Teen Years
When I was in sixth grade, I woke up on Valentine's Day with a terrible case of chicken pox. It was a terrible catastrophe to me.
As a result, my mom and dad both sympathized and spoiled me. I clearly remember my dad buying me my very own bottle of Diet Pepsi--a glass bottle that was my very own to drink all by myself. (By the way, I kept that bottle till 2003, which I decopoged with stickers and filled with pennies). And, one day during my three weeks home from school, mom brought me a walking yellow helium doctor balloon and two cassette tapes--Michael W. Smith's The Big Picture and Twila Paris' For Every Heart.
Little did I know this was part of her great plan to help me "grow up" (not the chicken pox--the tapes). She had decided that I needed to "move past" Psalty. When we moved at the end of that year, she helped me to finally release my Psalty tapes into the world to bless someone else.
I spent my babysitting money and allowances on building a CD collection of contempary Christian pop music . . . in addition to Twila and Michael, I bought CDs from muscians like Steven Curtis Chapman, Point of Grace, Amy Grant, 4Him, and NewSong. I also had a several various praise and worship CDs.
College Years
I had built quite a collection of CDs by the time I entered college. And it had become an addiction of sorts . . . I needed to buy new music.
My first sememster at college, I realized I was addicted to buying music. Really--I was convicted. So, in 1997, I didn't buy any new music at all. I "fasted" from purchasing CDs (I'm not even sure my parents knew about this; at the time I only told my roommate LeAnn about it).
After that, I didn't really enjoy comtempary Christian music anymore. I listened to a lot of Dennis Jerrinagin, Don Moen, and the Passion worship leaders and bands. I longed for meaning and substance.
Now
Since I can now buy music with a single click anytime night or day, I still have to be careful because I have a serious weakness for buying music. I have thousands of songs stored on my external harddrive and enjoy enjoying them. (I do not, however, want to think about the fact that that means thousands of dollars spent.)
I also enjoy a variety of sounds and styles now too. In my post-college years, for the first time in my life, I started listening to "non-Christian music." I enjoy a little jazz or country now and then. I look for and enjoy many indie artists; I like listening to sounds that aren't quite so "polished." I also enjoy songs with meaningful lyrics--I like it when the singer is also the song writer. I also prefer bands over solo artists. Oh, and I also listen to music in Chinese.
My itunes and mini ipod most frequently play in "random shuffle" mode, but some of my current most played songs include songs by (in no particular order). . .
- Barlow Girl (love the song Enough),
- Building 429,
- The Swift,
- Tree 63,
- Bebo Norman,
- Third Day,
- Switchfoot,
- Ginny Owens,
- Todd Agnew (totally loved his Christmas album),
- Soverign Grace Ministries,
- David Crowder Band,
- Caedmon's Call,
- Sixpence None the Richer,
- Sarah Groves,
- Julian Drive,
- Telecast,
- Bethany Dillion,
- Kathyrn Scott (blog),
- Matt West,
- Charlie Hall,
- Brian Doerksen (great stuff!!!),
- Jim Brickman,
- Mercy Me, and
- several Taiwanese singers/groups.
I could type another 20 or even another 40 groups/singers 'cuz, well, I LOVE music. :) Nope . . . there is no way I could ever pick a favorite song or group.
How about you? Know a group I should try out?
Is music an important part of your life? Why or why not?
Psalty...lol...about 1-2 months ago, he got brought up over lunch with a friend or two while re-hashing childhood Christian loves. Before then...that was a name I hadn't heard of thought of in a LONG time. :)
Posted by: Kristy | Friday, March 09, 2007 at 01:57 PM
Amanda, great list (though my age makes my list slightly different). I suffered the same addiction in the early eighties, though mine were albums and cassettes. My options were not so vast back then. In those days we had Amy Grant, Keith Green, De Garmo & Key and a personal favorite, the much to everyone’s surprise Christian Kansas songs! Now as the father of ten, and serving as a missionary in Ukraine, there’s not much time for music. I do own an iPod and riding buses around Kyiv does provide some listening time. I remember the controversy back in the older days about “Christian devil music”. I got dragged into the argument more than a few times myself. I look back now in awe of how God has used Contemporary Christian music to reach so many who do not know him. I watch my older sons share the music of Switchfoot, Casting Crowns and many others, to the orphans we serve, explaining what the words are and they’re meaning. I am so glad that the music survived its church critics and has become such a powerful tool for worship, encouragement, and yes, evangelism! Praise God!
Posted by: Jeff Colker | Friday, March 09, 2007 at 04:13 PM
I love music too! And we had similar tastes at similar times. My children recently discovered Psalty's music and they love it too.
One that I didn't see that you might like is Casting Crowns. They rock!
Great list! :)
Posted by: Andrea | Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 02:23 AM
Oooh I really like how you did this!! I should have done it this way. :-) I LOVED Psalty when I was growing up! Did you have the one where they talked about missions? I think it was #6. We got that one right as my family moved overseas as missionaries, and my mom said it really helped to explain to us kids why we were moving! We had 9 tapes growing up, plus the Psalty Christmas one. Ah, good times. :-)
Posted by: Ashley | Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 04:16 AM
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this post. I am a huge music lover too (can see some of my favorites on my profile). As a missionary I can do without a lot of the niceties of life, but HAVE GOT TO HAVE MY MUSIC! It is one of the constants in my life and over the years have learned to truly appreciate all the different styles from all over the world ranging from classical to South American Andean and everything in between.
Posted by: Guy Muse | Sunday, March 11, 2007 at 04:27 AM
*****
Kristy: So, does that mean that a LONG time ago you listened to him too?
*****
Jeff: Thanks for your AWESOME comment. I can't wait to go check out your blog/site.
And, you are so right that music is a very powerful tool!! Thanks for taking the time to comment.
*****
Andrea: Thanks for the suggestion to check out Casting Crowns. I will.
*****
Ashley:
I am REALLY slow in responding to comments this week.
And, I did have number 6--it was the last one I bought so I didn't have it as long as the others.
I didn't know you were an MK. Where did your family serve? Are your parents still serving overseas?
You must me just a little younger than me . . . because there were only 6 tapes out by the time I got to 6th grade. I remember going into the store when I was in junior high and longing to buy 7 and 8 and 9 and 10 and my mom telling me no. :)
If God blesses me with children one day . . . they will be listening to Psalty for sure--well, at least as long as I get to choose the music. :)
*****
Guy: You are SO RIGHT! There are certain things I have no problem living without, but music would be one of the really difficult things to let go of.
Hope you all have a great weekend,
amanda :)
Posted by: amanda | Friday, March 16, 2007 at 08:08 AM