All this GASLIGHT ANTHEM talk...

[Guest falloutcollapse]

[Guest genericinsight]

I look at it like this...Glenn Danzig is an openly racist dude. But I love the Misfits and I'm completely against racism.

TGA dudes are openly Christians, and I don't believe in fairly tales. I like TGA, even though I think the CONSTANT line/harmony stealing/references get old and get annoying quite quickly...but I think what they do musically is pretty cool and after seeing them live, Brian has a cool/goofy stage presence that I like how he makes their songs different in that setting.

I'm pretty sure Brian is the only guy that's Christian, unless I'm missing something. Even if they were, it's not like their music is preachy.

[xfedaykinx]

brian is the only christian in the band. benny and alex l. are jewish [by birth only] and alex r is just alex. thank you, now you can all forget about it. jesus. it shouldnt matter what they believe in. you either like the music or you dont. who cares?

[Guest genericinsight]

brian is the only christian in the band. benny and alex l. are jewish [by birth only] and alex r is just alex. thank you, now you can all forget about it. jesus. it shouldnt matter what they believe in. you either like the music or you dont. who cares?

*applause*

[jhamm212]

Yeah man, Thrice is way Christian and that fact has been pretty prevalent in their music. I'm an atheist and I still consider them one of my favorite bands. I like Gaslight a lot, too. Whatever.

[rtw88]

It's totally punx to alienate people with different religious beliefs. Up the punx jihad.

[kirbypuckett]

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[¯\_(ツ)_/¯]

this thread is punk

[tripitup]

brian is the only christian in the band. benny and alex l. are jewish [by birth only] and alex r is just alex. thank you, now you can all forget about it. jesus. it shouldnt matter what they believe in. you either like the music or you dont. who cares?

It should matter what a band believes in, i refuse to listen to skrewdriver or any white power band, no matter how "good" there songs are. I even have trouble listening to the bad brains.

[xfedaykinx]

theres a difference between someone taking personal offense to someone else's personal beliefs that dont even show in the lyrical content of the music and someone promoting hate and violence in their music. are you serious right now?

[dante3000]

theres a difference between someone taking personal offense to someone else's personal beliefs that dont even show in the lyrical content of the music and someone promoting hate and violence in their music. are you serious right now?

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/06/25/winner-4/

[xfedaykinx]

im not entirely sure what youre trying to say with that, but it doesnt really matter anyway. better to use someone else's words to express what youre thinking, amirite?

[dante3000]

im not entirely sure what youre trying to say with that, but it doesnt really matter anyway. better to use someone else's words to express what youre thinking, amirite?

It's the general, "Take anything remotely close and make it as huge as possible". Bush is Hitler, Gaslight Anthem is like Skrewdriver.

And in case anyone says anything, YES I have made disparaging comments about Bad Brains. However, they are part of a religion that has fundamental basis in homophobia and it's a religion they push openly in their music. When Brian writes a song, "Blue Jeans and gold crosses" that contains lyrics about how homos are evil, then I'll reconsider.

[tripitup]

theres a difference between someone taking personal offense to someone else's personal beliefs that dont even show in the lyrical content of the music and someone promoting hate and violence in their music. are you serious right now?

Alright, an extreme comparison indeed, but I just don't think Christianity has any place in punk music. I don't listen to Gaslight Anthem and someone said they were "openly christian". I was under the wrong impression. Thanking Jesus/God does bother me, and I probably won't give them a listen. My 2 cents.

[Guest genericinsight]

theres a difference between someone taking personal offense to someone else's personal beliefs that dont even show in the lyrical content of the music and someone promoting hate and violence in their music. are you serious right now?

Alright, an extreme comparison indeed, but I just don't think Christianity has any place in punk music. I don't listen to Gaslight Anthem and someone said they were "openly christian". I was under the wrong impression. Thanking Jesus/God does bother me, and I probably won't give them a listen. My 2 cents.

Wow, you're very broad-minded. It's ONE member that thanks Jesus, not the whole band. It doesn't reflect in the band's lyrics AT ALL.

Granted, it's one thing if you legitimately are just not interested in hearing what the band sounds like, but because one member thanks a higher being in his personal thank you list? Sheesh.

[dirtyvibes]

theres a difference between someone taking personal offense to someone else's personal beliefs that dont even show in the lyrical content of the music and someone promoting hate and violence in their music. are you serious right now?

Alright, an extreme comparison indeed, but I just don't think Christianity has any place in punk music. I don't listen to Gaslight Anthem and someone said they were "openly christian". I was under the wrong impression. Thanking Jesus/God does bother me, and I probably won't give them a listen. My 2 cents.

Who cares if they like Jesus? I'm pretty sure at least one of them (Benny) is jewish. Alex Levine could be too but I'm 80% sure Benny is. Who cares?

Do they make good music? If they do, listen to them. If they don't, find someone else. Who cares what it says in the liner notes. It's about the music, not about God.

"I just don't think Christianity has any place in punk music." Who cares?! Some people hit points in their lives and turn to religion. It helps them get through things. Maybe your favorite musician turned to religion at one point and wants to thank the thing that helped him to get to where he is. He has every right to do that regardless or music genre.

You need some education, sir. Let people be who they are. It's about the music not their beliefs off-stage

[Guest aniadrift]

It just seems like you know you like them but do not want to admit it and are using that liner note idea as an excuse because they have indeed blown up quite a bit and they certainly deserve it.

[706union]

Alright, an extreme comparison indeed, but I just don't think Christianity has any place in punk music. I don't listen to Gaslight Anthem and someone said they were "openly christian". I was under the wrong impression. Thanking Jesus/God does bother me, and I probably won't give them a listen. My 2 cents.

Wow, you're very broad-minded. It's ONE member that thanks Jesus, not the whole band. It doesn't reflect in the band's lyrics AT ALL.

Granted, it's one thing if you legitimately are just not interested in hearing what the band sounds like, but because one member thanks a higher being in his personal thank you list? Sheesh.

Actually, it´s two people who thank Jesus/God. And yes, I think that religion has nothing to do with punk. Even more, they´re counterparts. Punk always was against masters. Sorry, but if you grew up on stuff like Born Against, Avail and stuff like that it IS an issue whether a band has religious input or not. Everyone seriously interested in the origin of punk rock and it´s history should be aware of that. I don´t have problems with religious people but I don´t want it in my punk rock music. If you want it in yours that´s fine but it might be smart to not call it punk then...

[ps]

Actually, it´s two people who thank Jesus/God. And yes, I think that religion has nothing to do with punk. Even more, they´re counterparts. Punk always was against masters. Sorry, but if you grew up on stuff like Born Against, Avail and stuff like that it IS an issue whether a band has religious input or not. Everyone seriously interested in the origin of punk rock and it´s history should be aware of that. I don´t have problems with religious people but I don´t want it in my punk rock music. If you want it in yours that´s fine but it might be smart to not call it punk then...

706union.... you keep bringing up Avail... you remember the lyrics to "5th Wheel"??

I'm tired of always changing

I'm tired of being seen

the path is leading homeward bound

only god knows where I've been

Tim's not thanking anybody but he certainly does reference a higher being.... just sayin'

[lokithelion]

Wow, you're very broad-minded. It's ONE member that thanks Jesus, not the whole band. It doesn't reflect in the band's lyrics AT ALL.

Granted, it's one thing if you legitimately are just not interested in hearing what the band sounds like, but because one member thanks a higher being in his personal thank you list? Sheesh.

Actually, it´s two people who thank Jesus/God. And yes, I think that religion has nothing to do with punk. Even more, they´re counterparts. Punk always was against masters. Sorry, but if you grew up on stuff like Born Against, Avail and stuff like that it IS an issue whether a band has religious input or not. Everyone seriously interested in the origin of punk rock and it´s history should be aware of that. I don´t have problems with religious people but I don´t want it in my punk rock music. If you want it in yours that´s fine but it might be smart to not call it punk then...

I've also seen Tim cover Amazing Grace and Swing Low is on one of their records.

[cadetapplesauce]

i'm pretty sure fred durst is a christian, too.

[blackjaw]

I read this thread and I just have a couple points to make about my opinion.

1. This isn't punk. When I think of punk, I think of The Casualties and The Exploited, stupid bands who hate everything that they are told to hate without providing any solution for the problems. The Gaslight Anthem is genre defying music that happens to be enjoyed by open minded people who also enjoy punk. People who like many types of music could get into them, they just happened to gain popularity from people who liked punk bands. And as we can see from this thread, "true" punks hate them because they believe in God and don't scream their lyrics, so therefore they aren't punk.

2. I had no idea they believed in God until those liner notes, so it definitely doesn't affect their music. It helps them get by in order to make it, but they make no religious reference or try to force anything upon the listener in their songs, so who cares?

3. There is no mention of Christianity or actual religion. Religion is bad, spirituality is not. No negativity can come from being positive about the afterlife, it just comes from wasting time at church, killing people for believing differently, fearing hell, etc. As far as we know, these members believe in something greater than them, but may not attend church, read the bible, or anything like that. Jesus taught how to be a good person, it's people today that have stretched it into some bullshit (in my opinion) religious story about him being God's son. There is nothing wrong with using his lessons to become a better person. Perhaps the members of this band believe that as well and don't believe in the religious propaganda, but by saying they want to thank Jesus they mean only as becoming good people. By thanking God, they could mean some inanimate ethereal blob floating out there that happens to hold the universe together, rather than the one who murders people, causes natural disasters, refuses to show himself, and makes people who lie suffer for eternity. There's a difference between spiritualism and religion.

4. It's not like they are hypocritical and make music about hating religion or worshiping satan, then turn around and thank God in the liner notes. I connect Christianity with hypocrisy most of the time, but not here. That's a good thing.

5. Music is music. Listen to it if you like it, don't listen to it if you don't like it. But don't let the beliefs of half the group influence your decision if you still find the music listenable, or else you're wasting the opportunity to enjoy a good band.

6. By hating someone or a group of people for innocently believing in something that you don't, you become just as bad as any religious person who condemns you to hell for every little thing you do. If you truly want to be better than them, the best way to do so is to let them do what they want and let them find out the truth in their own way.

[xfedaykinx]

+1 sir. well said.

[lydiawesome]

Damn Blackjaw, you keep those fools in check!

[706union]

6. By hating someone or a group of people for innocently believing in something that you don't, you become just as bad as any religious person who condemns you to hell for every little thing you do. If you truly want to be better than them, the best way to do so is to let them do what they want and let them find out the truth in their own way.

I don´t hate them & I don´t want to be better then them. I simply said I believe that certain things don´t belong together. And I certainly don´t want to tell anyone what to believe and what not. Some of you need to read the posts more carefully.