Some Churches Should Act Like My Favorite Band from College
Last week, my favorite band from high school and college put out a new album.
Every time they release new music, I basically know what I’m getting:
some fun, bouncy pop-punk riffs,
and some middling-to-terrible lyrics.
The bad lyrics actually make me appreciate the band more, though.
Let me explain…
In 2014, one of New Found Glory’s guitar players was arrested and charged with possession of CP and lewd contact with a minor.
He was also the band’s primary lyricist.
NFG was never the most creative, interesting, or deep lyrically, but they had their moments.
“Two more hours until today burns this away, and it starts all over again.
The sky will never look the same again until you show me how it could be.”“Here’s to us fools that have no meaning,
I tip my glass to you.
Let’s toast the night away as friends and forget about tomorrow.”“I’m sick of clapping when I know I can do it better for myself.”
Again, not amazing, but solid. Fun. Decently creative.
After the charges against the guitarist/lyricist came out, NFG had a few options:
Break up the band
Keep going and hope everything blows over
Keep going but cut ties with the guitar player
Option 1 would make me sad, but I’d understand it. Evidently they thought about breaking up but decided to stay together.
Option 2 would probably be the easiest to manage, were the band to stay together. He was a quality guitar player who had been with the band since the beginning, and wrote all of their lyrics. He was the band’s Bernie Taupin, and a long-time friend. That’s a difficult role to replace.
Option 3 would not only be a headache, but could lead to lawsuits and such.
I’m glad that’s the option they picked.
Here’s the thing, though: after they booted him, the writing suffered.
This new album has a whole lot of lyrics that sound like they were ripped straight from motivational posters.
“Whether I'm at the top, or whether I'm broken down, my word is cement, I'm gonna give you one-hundred percent”
“Never forget the hills you climbed. You're braver than you think.”
“There will always be a finger pointing blame
They throw shade on your sunshine
You gotta try, do what it takes, to give yourself a break.”
ehhhhhhhhhhhhh
Since the loss of the original lyricist/guitarist, the band has made seven albums.
Two of them were solid front-to-back.
One of those was a Christmas album. Cheesy lyrics work fine on a Christmas album.
The other was Resurrection, their first album back together as a band. I think that's because every third lyric on that album is a “f— you” to their former bandmate.
The anger helped. Stellar album. Possibly their best.
Otherwise, album after album post-2014 featured their standard loud, bouncy riffs, and predominantly garbage lyrics.
1-2 bangers on each album, the rest are pretty mid.
You know what, though? The subpar lyrics make me like the band more.
I won’t listen to Listen Up! as much as I listened to their self-titled album or Sticks and Stones when I was in high school and college.
Listen Up! is a perfectly fine album. A 5 or 6 out of 10, maybe.
But even though it’s only okay, I’m glad they made it. I’m glad the band has stuck around.
The cheesy lyrics are a reminder that they sacrificed an integral part of their band to keep their integrity.
The sex offender wrote better lyrics.
But he was a sex offender.
His crimes involved minors
They found out and they booted him.
I respect it.
I wish a lot of churches with celebrity pastors who are found out to be criminals would act similarly.
The celebrity pastor probably preaches a killer sermon.
Sunday morning will probably be slightly less exciting with a different person on stage.
I still think it’d be worth it.
Even though Listen Up! is pretty mid, this opening track slaps. Great riff. Great hook. Super fun.
Agree with your thoughts on this. Not only churches but politics would learn a valuable lesson by kicking out the politician that sexually offends.
Solid. Thanks David