So. Delirious. Who? What? More importantly, why? Well – this is rock for Christians: rock with roll, sex and drugs removed using surgical precision. Music to speak in tongues to.
If you switch your head off (not that I’m making any judgements on Christians generally *cough*) this band are okay. Good tunes, great vocals and lord knows they put spirit into it (a ha ha ha ha)…
The problem is, it’s really, really hard to look at it from that angle, because the religious message is so brutally hurled at you. They rammed it into my head so violently I had to keep touching my face to see if there was blood on it. I’m listening to it now and I literally can’t fit any more annoyance into my body. For an atheist, it’s immensely angry-making.
There are so many aspects to it that illustrate the point that I stopped making a list after track two. God Is Smiling – I mean, how do they know? God-cam? Lyrics like ‘when hearts are broken, love unites’ display a twee discordance that reveals incredible naivety, setting the scene for what is a highly vomit-inducing album.
However, Christians really get off on this stuff. What do you think? Is God smiling? Personally, I think he’s making sick-noises.
I chose the song above because it’s on this album, but as a whole their videos are very well-watched, revealing a surprisingly large Young Christian community. Just think. These people are everywhere. They could be your friends, your cousins… Either way, they’re going to be crushed when they find out that Delirious are planning on splitting up at the end of this year. Personally I’m thinking of hosting a small party, which may or may not involve goat-blood pentagrams, drug-taking, condoms and self-harm.
I digress. For your amusement/horror, here are some of the comments about Delirious that are splattered across various disgustingly earnest YouTube videos:
I love this song! its so beatifuL! I luv Delirous! There AWESOME! And AMAZING!
Niomefive
this is a very good song i luv it if you keep doing this God is going to be very happy with you GOOD JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
feedfrenzy
WOW. I cant stop jumpin for God. RAIN DOWN ON ME
rubenramirezsuarez
And so concludeth the lesson.
27 Comments
Sounds like mid 90s U2. I don’t mind it actually. I don’t identify with the lyrics (I’m a humanist type} but that doesn’t mean much. I don’t identify with Where The Streets Have No Name either and that’s a tune.
why on Earth do these bands exist? I mean, it’s fine to have those beliefs, but why write every single song about them? Even Morbid Angel have the odd tune about going to the shops and such. Personally, I always loved Chicago Doomsters Trouble. They were Christians, but their songs weren’t. Now’t wrong with a bit of faith, but religion, as usual, spoils EVERYTHING.
Leonard Cohen
Belle and Sebastian
William Blake
The entire history of pre-20th century Western classical music
Gospel music
The blues
Architectural conventions of European churches
…oh sorry, yeah – stupid twats!
Yeah, you’re pretty right, that’s quite a good list of stupid twats. Congrats.
Leonard Cohen-very boring
William Blake- that isn’t God in ‘Urizen’, you know that right?
Gospel music/The blues – the devil’s music if certain crossroads tales are to be beleived, although it actually traces its diatonic roots to African tribal music, forced to cross pollinate with western religious music as it was banned by slave owners.It’s roots have nowt to do with God and plenty to do with expression.
The entire history of pre-20th century Western classical music/Architectural conventions of European churches – These boil down to money. religion is a controlling influence, ideal for keeping the superstitious and ill-educated where they are, a precursor to the military industrial complex. Churches were constantly made grander and larger as architects attempted to bolster the ego’s of their rich patrons, thus ensuring more work-and perhaps a kind of immortality-think of them as a continuation of the Pharoah’s Pyramid. Pre-20th century classical is a case in point for this control system, music was deliberately made hard to understand-hence the European convention of referring to hemi-semi-demi-quavers instead of ‘32nd notes’. Likewise the presence of convoluted devices such as the double sharp, and the altered pitch writing needed for different instruments. You’d need to be highly educated (EG: rich)to learn all this. Likewise, several pieces of church music were banned from ever leaving the Vatican-only getting out when a young Mozart managed to remember the whole bloody thing, a poke in the eye for religion.
And Belle and Sebastian can fuck right off.
What he said.
so why are the band splitting up? Is one a bit more Baptist, whils the others are 7th day eventists and they can’t agree over which Word of the Lord is the real one?
I personally think that Jesus was cool. He said some things about, you know, love your brother and all that, that i agree with and in fact, am influenced on a day to day basis by (But I dont’ believe he was the son of ‘God’ who I think is just a figment of Mans imagination)
But why do modern Christians either a) forget this message “And God will rain fire and brimstone on those that don’t worship his son and drop a hundred bucks onto the collection plate!!!”
or
b) relay it with such wanky misty eyed madness that you’d run a mile for fear of being brainwashed into some crazy arsed cult?
Personally I have hated every piece of Christian Rock I’ve ever heard. It’s toss
The debil may reputedly have the best tunes, but in my experience neither Christian rock nor Satanist metal is ever any good, ever.
Mind you, this Christian take on “secular rock music” is pretty bad too.
The great (Rev) Al Green, Morrissey (my girlfriend was never in a coma but..) and that “bachelor boy” Cliff Richards and his Wired For Sound …no that doesn’t quite work.
Anyways who listens to lyrics anyway?
Usually I find it easy to ignore the lyrics if the tune’s good – but with this band it’s almost impossible. Literally every other word has something to do with god/religion. It’s like drowning in jesus-treacle.
Meh,jesus seemed quite cool,the kind of bloke who’d buy you a cheeseburger and a martini,and hey,maybe there is a god,up there doing his beardy mischief,but he doesn’t care what we’re upto.that would be like having an annoying landord.anyway,what about borknagar-they’re quite good.good piece isntit
Don’t you think you’ve heard this song before?
Jesus Christ was knocking at my door
Kinda like the way he wears his hair.
Kinda like the way he walks on air.
“Jesus cool”
What about John the Baptists?
Hi, I thought of loads more:
Neutral Milk Hotel
Silver Jews
Klezmer
Bill Hicks
Soren Kierkegaard
The Sistine Chapel
TS Eliot
Isaac Newton
Beck
Graham Greene
What’s that a list of, GC? Talented religious folk?
Nick – I listen to lyrics, as it happens.
not Bill Hicks! I fucking hate Bill Hicks, with his “ooohh, I’m Smoking” Oooh ooh, doesn’t that blow your mind middle America” Ooooh, he’s a genius poet. No he fucking isn’t, fuck off Bill Hicks.
*sits back and opens can of worms*…
A thin summation of a talented and thought provoking performer, but you’re entitled to your opinion, however poorly researched it may be.
Swines – great things as a direct result of religion.
Lots of people dying. That happens as a direct result of religion.
But I suppose you have to weigh it up. You know, millions of people dying on one hand, Bill Hicks on the other.
I glance SH, but only pay attention when they’re exceptional. The usual “I love you/ you love me” Tends to wash over me.
Tom Waites and Elvis Costello do it for me lyrically.
I like Matisyahu, fantastic music but the words do nothing for me. All too Hasidic for my tastes
He was quite talented, unfortunately his truly thought provoking material was only seen by about 4 people. The rest of it involved Americans assuming he was a rebel because he smoked, which is the most outrageous thing you’ve ever seen/heard if you come from Pig City, Utah. Hmmm…strong religious influence out there…anyway, does anyone else think that the singer is terrible? Music-wise, yeah it’s alright isn’t it? Not ground breaking though, but chart-bothering in a bland way. You’d need a gimmick to sell it really.
Now Tom Waites IS a talented and versatile performer-good call NT
GC – your list doesn’t hold water, does it? Beck’s lost all vitality since scientology, for a start.
Interceptor – I’m not keen on Hicks either, despite devouring his stuff in my teens. Undoubtedly talented and commanding over his followers, his tone leaves me cold. Too much of the ‘I’m your leader’ attitude. And a mullet.
I’ve had this conversation a million times before…
GC – ‘ang on – so you mean great things as a reaction to religion, in addition to things inspired by religion?
That’s a weird way of looking at it.
True – if there were nothing to protest about there’d be no protest songs – but I reckon the Vietnamese in the 60s would sacrifice Blowin’ In The Wind if it meant keeping their national identity from the wrath of Communism and having vast numbers of their people killed in the subsequent imperialist American invasion.
Is that what I mean? I didn’t think I meant that, but I suppose some folk on the list struggle with and ask questions of their religion. Doesn’t seem that weird to me.
…Or they don’t have a religion. I think we’re slowly evolving into a species that doesn’t require it. The training wheels are coming off. A good song is a good song, irregardless of what inspired it.
Delirious use repetitive language about god, but in retrospect, repetitive language can be annoying no matter what the subject matter. The fact that nu-Christians are sanctimonious, patronising brats doesn’t help.