This is a question for those of you who came of age during the 1950s and 1960s. Many parents of that time saw rock 'n roll music as "n****r" or "devil" music that would corrupt their children. Many evangelical churches held bonfires and "crush" parties with earth moving equipment to destroy rock, heavy metal, rap and punk recordings well into the late 1980s and early 1990s. What was the LDS response to rock and the advent of the youth culture? How did you listen to music without being caught?

I was born in 1957, and all the music I liked was labeled "of the devil" by my parents. We argued about it, and my idiot parents told me they'd been warned by the authorities to shun rock and roll. I remember telling them that jazz used to be considered evil, and they said jazz was indeed evil. I have a theory that they were never young.

My two somewhat older sisters (in their teens) had a nice collection of Elvis and when it was deemed of Stan, they threw it down the neighbor's pit toilet in a fit of self-righteousness.

Being myself, I of course made sure all their friends (some not TBM) knew exactly what they'd done. If dirty looks could kill...

My LDS roommate and I listened to the Stylistics, OJay's, Gladys Knight and all the latest soul music in college in Utah. Our roommates had no idea what hit them.

Ironically, Gladys Knight is now TBM.

Ironic, isn't it. First a "devil" because of her music and now a "saint" because she's LDS.

Definitely ironic, but more like the typical Mormon double standard.

I'm not from that generation, but the music I was into as a teenager (late 90's) was certainly deemed 'of the devil'. I remember my parents having an intervention and going through each one of my cds one by one reading the lyrics in the covers across the kitchen table from me.

It was awkward as hell. Especially because I listened to stuff like Marilyn Manson, Nine inch nails, Tool, etc. and a bunch of black metal.

They let me take what was in good condition to rasputin records to sell them back for some pocket change, but forced me to smash the rest.

In middle school (mid 1990s) I saw people go to revivals and crush and then burn their records,cds,tapes,etc and proclaim their faith in Jesus.

I'm pretty sure TSCC started the rumor that Trent Reznor used to be Mormon (he wasn't). In order to deter the youth away by making him out to be an apostate.

I'd heard that repeatedly. I also heard he had died his garments black and tore up BOMs on stage...or maybe that was marilyn manson. I can't remember, but that would be awesome for me to see now!

With my TBM parents, this story alternated between Trent Reznor and Alice Cooper, depending on who I was listening to at the time.

They even had it narrowed down to the mission he supposedly served in (London, England) - for both of them.

The rumor itself makes me want to start a band and die my garments black (I kept a couple pair show to show my skeptical friends that mormons wear 'magic underwear')

My father found my tapes of Billy Joel and we went through a huge loud argument when he ripped them apart and called them "devil music." This one time mother paid me for the cost of the tapes because she was so embarrassed by my father's reaction. Only time she was on my side--- ever.

I was born in 1950, so I actually remember the birth of rock n' roll. Each generation listens to their kid's music and says it's evil while fondly listening to the music of their own youth that was said to be of the devil by their own parents.. ad infinitum.

Here in Idaho Falls for a long time a Heavy Metal Rock station: Kber 101.5 was owned by Bonneville Communications which was owned by the Mormon Church. Now it is owned by River Bend Communication, one of the prominent Eastern Idaho Tycoons, Frank Vandersloot, who happens to be not only a radical Right Wing Tea Party type and political activist, but also a staunch Mormon and cheapskate corperate dickhead.

I remember reading ETB book and he stated in it that the new rock/roll culture was going to be the doom of the youth. Ironic, it was the beginning of a new freedom....individuality and free thought.

I listen to many kinds of music, everything from highly pagan alternative music to classic rock, modern hard rock, heavy metal, black metal and death metal then back to some classical. I am pretty open to music as I am art, but I can't stand country western or most christian based music.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2013 10:21PM by dcgsage.

I am the one who got kicked out of TSCC for playing "Light My Fire" on the ward organ. I was the church organist at the time and for another few weeks.......then no more TSCC ever!
They HATED that music.

I would have loved to have witnessed that!

Interestingly, they probably would have booted you (at least as organist) if you had played Bach instead of approved LDS church "music".

I was the only one in my family to listen to pop music. Queen was a favourite, as were Status Quo and ACDC. Had to listen to it covertly and sometimes my dad would erase one of my tapes.

It didn't phase me, though and now I am the only exmo in the family. Guess the old man was right after all...

Looking back, I can't believe the silliness of it all.

That's fantastic! I learned to play Comfortably Numb on the piano during my mission. I always wanted to play that as prelude music for some meeting, but I never got up the nerve. Well, also it didn't work that well as prelude music. Everyone knew the song too, so I would have been busted immediately.

I'm sure that was the case with a well-known song like Light My Fire. How did people react when they recognize the song? Were there horrified looks? Did someone whisper to play something else? LOL.. the whole idea is just great.

Verilyverily,

LOL! I love your story! "Light My Fire," heh? Gawd ... I am laughing so hard right now.

At the time I bet you were humiliated and thought it was the worst thing that could happen to you.

But in hindsight it turned out well and it's a story you can pass down to your progeny.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2013 12:08PM by Senoritalamanita.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2013 12:14PM by Senoritalamanita.

I love rap and hip hop. My kids and grandson think it's hilarious that an old bag like grandma can get her groove on.

Beethoven's 9th, 4th movement, when played backwards says "Worship Satan" in Reformed Egyptian.

Oh snap!

I'm almost peeing in my pants laughing. These posts are so darn funny! Reformed Egyptian, ROFL.

OMgosh ... heeee heeeee.

After Moism I belonged to a liberal and very friendly Congregational Church in L.A.

They had the funniest dang organist. He was literally about 85 or 90 years old and had the longest bony fingers and wore black.

He would play the strangest music -- like the background music to horror movies, funeral dirges, scary shit.

He would go off into a tangent, really working up a froth, banging away with his Boris Karloff bony fingers.

And we would all sit there, stifling our laughter, including our female pastor.

I don't know how she kept a straight face all those years.

Fuzzy warm memories -- that one. Smile.

I started analyzing pop music etc when I was in my 20's. I feel that such music comes from artists who seek attention and thrive on getting a rise out of people, and making increasingly shocking artistic statements which boost their visibility, popularity, and ultimately their bank accounts. Such music rarely anymore resonates with the human truths within each of us, human truths that need to be nourished. Such music rather excites and invigorates and riles people up, taking us out of a place of nourishment.

Furthermore, these songs get stuck in our heads, playing in meaningless loops, monopolizing brain space that would be more awesomely used for higher endeavors! :-)

As for the devil? Meh, he's a fictional character that people blame for anything that rubs them wrong. Blaming things on a devil is a copout to oversimplify complexities of human nature.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/27/2013 11:08PM by lenina.

High school seminary, 1970, I was the only piano player in my class. I was asked to play something for a class devotional. Having been raised inactive until the previous year, I lacked the further light and knowledge of what was considered "acceptable" music for such an occasion. I played "House of the Rising Sun". No one said anything to me, so I had no indication I had done anything out of the ordinary. A few months later, I was asked to play again, this time I played the theme from M.A.S.H. The teacher asked me the name of that song, when I told him it was the theme from that movie he was obviously disturbed. We never had any more devotionals that year. It took several years of indoctrination and then an escape, for me to recognize what had happened . . I was the odd one, the newby, the one on the edge, the nonconformist, and the kids in that class avoided me. I hated seminary and dropped out a year later, telling everyone I had too busy of a schedule to add seminary. My favorite music back then - Jethro Tull, Creedence, Cream, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, ooooh, I was such a rebel. No wonder motab never moved me!

"House of the Rising Sun" at a ward talent program. My mother said something to another mother about how well they played. The other mother informed my mother of what the song was about. I am sure there was no backlash for my brother on that one.

My dad tried to keep my brother from listening to the Doors. I got ready for school every morning listening to things like "Riders on the Storm." I still love the Doors, though I didn't listen to anything but Carpenters and Bread until I discovered Billy Joel in my early 20s. When i was raising my kids, we listened to a lot of the music I never felt I could listen to. They still love the old music from the 60s and 70s.

What I found funny was that when I was a leader in YWs, one girl was chastising one of the leaders for letting her son listen to NIN. We got into a discussion and I found out her bishop dad listened to the Doors. Just because it was 20 years later, it seemed to be okay to him.

I was in the MTC in 1983 and one of the devotional speakers derogatorilly referred to rock music as "jungle beat". At the time I thought it was a weird and old-fashioned thing to say. Now I realize that it's a weird and racist thing to say.

Jungle beat??? WTF?

well, everything in moderation, unless u consider music your "idol" then it's - in general- not evil. But I tend to stay away from extreme stuff that gears toward serial killer type of music and just sounds bad to my enjoyment i just don't listen to. But I listen just about every type of music there is, I like Christmas music, but if I have to listen to it all day I'll be grumpy! It's just not my every day type of happy.

Remember well the burning of Beatles records(SoUtah) after their statement they were more popular than Jesus.

Meant we all had to buy new records later to replace those that were burned.

Our Stake Prez railed constantly about 'the beatles and the beatnicks' running down the nation. He was a big Ezra Taft Benson supporter who was involved in the political arena pushing Benson as VP with George Wallace for President. He was crushed when David O. McKay told Benson NO on the thing.

Now I know it was zee "devil music" that done did it to me. I listened to what I wanted when I wanted, except at church dances when censoring was goin' on. I never even heard of bon fires going on to burn records, and from the posts they were going on when I was young quite a few years ago .

As a teenager I listened to 'the worst of the worst' according to my parents:

Alice Cooper - They claim he was an exmo and apostate - he wasn't
KISS - They claim it stood for Knights in Satan's Service - it didn't
NIN - See above apostate claim - unfounded and false

It made for a rough few years.

There IS devil music. Absolutely. It includes certain LDS hymns like "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet" which glorifies JS, and "If we Could Hie to Kolob", which glorifies fake scripture.