Is Rock Music Evil?

Here's a fun opener. Is rock music evil? Is any music evil? I never thought I'd actually be considering this question seriously. This is a question that inevitably comes up if you are hanging out in any Christian circles. It doesn't usually get debated for long. Christians have invented their own cultural alternative to what they call "secular music." They call it "Christian music." My husband calls it "gay Christian music" (GCM) (no offence meant to anyone who is gay). I would have to say that music cannot be catagorized in this way. I think it is all spiritual. Now back to the question: is any of it evil? I don't think that "evil" is the right word to describe it, I prefer to use "dysfunctional." Yes, a lot of it is dysfunctional. Here's my favourite example, it's from Amanda Marshall's If I Didn't Have You

I'd give up my sight just to see you
I'd beg, I would borrow and steal
I'd cut off my hands just to touch you
And tear out my heart so you'd know how I feel
There's nowhere that I wouldn't follow
There's nothing that I wouldn't do
'Cause I wouldn't wanna be me
If I didn't have you

Yikes! I sure wouldn't want to be in a relationship with her! Nor do I want to even sing along. That is desperate! I'm sure I could find some dysfunctional lyrics in "Christian" songs too, if I listened to enough of it. I work in an environment that plays music in the background. I don't get to choose what I listen to. It's amazing how we sing along because we like a tune or a catch phrase. The DJ plays these songs in my head when I'm falling asleep at night and when I wake up in the morning and doesn't take requests. As Blues Traveller puts it, "the hook brings you back." Hearing them over and over again does have the power to imprint my brain with the lie that these dysfunctional relationships are normal. So are these lyrics evil? I suppose we'd have to define evil first. If evil is something that sneeks into your subconscious to destroy your relationships with others and with yourself by lying to you, then I'd have to say that some songs do have evil lyrics. I suppose it is a symptom of the dysfunction in our culture. We are dysfunctional people in dysfunctional relationships writing dysfunctional songs about our dysfunctional lives while on the inside longing for wholeness.