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Top 40 Religious Themed Songs that would never make on the radio today :)
- Thread starter SolidGold16
- Start date
has anyone mentioned "Why Me Lord" by Kris Kristofferson? That was a fairly big hit from 1972 on both the country and pop charts and got massive airplay on our local stations back in the day. The flip side of that 45 had the song "Help Me" which was covered by Elvis along with "Why Me" as well.
It's All Right...The Impressions
Song of Joy-Miguel Rios
Mighty Clouds of Joy-B.J. Thomas (who spent about 5 minutes as a Contemporary Christian singer)
Who Will Answer?-Ed Ames
Song of Joy-Miguel Rios
Mighty Clouds of Joy-B.J. Thomas (who spent about 5 minutes as a Contemporary Christian singer)
Who Will Answer?-Ed Ames
Re, "People Get Ready", Chambers Bros did a thrilling interpretation as well.cyberdad said:
Already mentioned.Kurt Toy said:
There was some Christian group that did a cover version of "People Get Ready" back around 1995 or 1996 or so (for the CCM market). I don't remember who it was, but it was a pretty good rendition of the song.
Yes, a remarkable run for this type of song. I believe his then-wife, singer Rita Coolidge, sang those moving backup vocals.flytrap said:
AMEN !!!Seltzer said:
"Religious Themed Songs that would never make (it) on the radio today"? Some, maybe. But one obvious exception was Jesus Take The Wheel, by Carrie Underwood.
Others rarely heard today: I Say A Little Prayer, Dionne Warwick, and I Don't Know How To Love Him, Yvonne Elliman. The latter tune of course was from the previously mentioned Rock Opera Jesus Christ Superstar.
Others rarely heard today: I Say A Little Prayer, Dionne Warwick, and I Don't Know How To Love Him, Yvonne Elliman. The latter tune of course was from the previously mentioned Rock Opera Jesus Christ Superstar.
Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart recorded an awesome version of "People Get Ready" in 1985. That's the first rendition of the song I ever heard, so it's the one I like best.
Wow, I've got enough for a box set instead of only one CD 
;D
You guys thought of more that didn't even come to my mind, but should have ("My Sweet Lord" is a prime example).
Now I just have to decide how to whittle the list down and I have my first self-made "theme" CD...not to be played at parties
...and I just noticed that I left the word "it" out of my thread title. Should have been Top 40 Religious Themed Songs that would never make it on the radio today.
Duh. My bad.
Thanks again for all the great suggestions!
;DYou guys thought of more that didn't even come to my mind, but should have ("My Sweet Lord" is a prime example).
Now I just have to decide how to whittle the list down and I have my first self-made "theme" CD...not to be played at parties
...and I just noticed that I left the word "it" out of my thread title. Should have been Top 40 Religious Themed Songs that would never make it on the radio today.
Duh. My bad.
Thanks again for all the great suggestions!
Rick B. said:
"Spirit In The Sky" always seemed like a song that a non-religious person could like. For some reason I got the feeling there was a chance he was mocking the subject matter he was singing about.
I just heard "Day By Day" for the first time on internet radio a few weeks ago and was in awe of how great it is. I also found a youtube clip where the cast sang it on the Today Show (for a young Barbara Walters). Today the song would be unacceptable because it's religious in a culture that enforces secularism. But 40 years ago the issue was that some Christians felt Godspell was too hippie and not genuinely religious.
I didn't read all the posts yet so I'm not sure if it was mentioned but in 1985 Amy Grant's "Find A Way" did cause some controversy...one lyric in particular about "my God" upset some athiest types IIRC.
It's worth noting that when those religious themed songs hit the pop chart there was no such thing as Contemporary Christian music. Today CCM is a popular format in many if not most radio markets. So plenty of listeners today are getting a Christian message in music and a steady diet of it.
Personally I prefer the old hits with a religious theme over CCM. A lot of the songs on CCM have that boring Daughtry/Hot AC sound that doesn't appeal to me. Songs like "Put Your Hand In The Hand" had a strong hook and were fun to listen to.
Personally I prefer the old hits with a religious theme over CCM. A lot of the songs on CCM have that boring Daughtry/Hot AC sound that doesn't appeal to me. Songs like "Put Your Hand In The Hand" had a strong hook and were fun to listen to.
Technically there was CCM even in the early 70s, it was known as "Jesus Rock" but the music only spread by word of mouth, and distribution was very spotty. I remember hearing nightly a half hour of it, believe it or not, on shortwave radio from HCJB in Ecuador. It wasn't all that welcome in a lot of churches at the time.
This was not in any way a "religious" song, and certainly not a Christian song. Just listen to the lyrics. I believe the Kendalls had a few more songs in a similar vein, but this was their best known. It creeped some folks out that a father-daughter duo would sing such "suggestive" songs.Tom Wells said:
How about Doobie Brothers-Jesus Is Just Alright With Me. I don't believe it was released as a single but I heard some Top 40 stations play it in the 70s.
A Christian website I visit calls this song Satanic mostly because of the title of the band. Here's the link, you will have to search for the Doobie Brothers because there is so much content.
I am not religious or Christian yet I find this site entertaining because it is so over the top and he covers every era and genre of music from classic rock/classic hits to current artists like Ke$ha and Selena Gomez.He even considers CCM Satanic!
www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils in America/devils_music.htm
A Christian website I visit calls this song Satanic mostly because of the title of the band. Here's the link, you will have to search for the Doobie Brothers because there is so much content.
I am not religious or Christian yet I find this site entertaining because it is so over the top and he covers every era and genre of music from classic rock/classic hits to current artists like Ke$ha and Selena Gomez.He even considers CCM Satanic!
www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils in America/devils_music.htm
firepoint525 said:
Quite right on all counts, but I thought of it in the first place simply because referring to "sin" as a matter for consideration
is not done these day.
Pop music tries pretty damn hard now to stay away from any deity or religion references.
People got creeped out by "Somethin Stupid" by Frank and Nancy Sinatra.
- Status