CROSSOVER CHR/INSPIRATIONAL SONGS YOU COULD GET AWAY WITH ON A RELIGOUS STATION!

I can't confirm but I have heard Creed is considered a Christian act, even though they were played on secular stations.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Judds song "I Know Where I'm Going" got Christian airplay. "Love Can Build a Bridge" would seem to be a good candidate too.

Hello. I have not heard Thy Will Be Done on a secular station. I guess you would not hear it there. LOL So a question on The Fray, are they a Christian band? I'm not judging them or anything. The line in How To Save A Life that got Christian radio is "I pray to God he hears you." The only 3 Christian stations I have personally heard it on is the Joy FM in Tampa, Spirit FM in Tampa and the promise in Jacksonville. Also i do remember you found me taking off on Christian radio as well. For some reason, this stuff really interests me. LOL I still say it's too bad that a lot of the Christian community dismissed Michael Jackson. His songs have really deep meanings behind them. I mean yes I know about MJ and what he was accused of. I get it.

The Fray's How To Save A Life is in my playlist. Jesus Radio Selma has played it some. The song is catchy and I like it.

Dan <><

I'm sure this is mentioned already but how about God Bless The Broken Road? I love that song. Prefer the Rascal Flatts version. Another one is changed by Rascal Flatts. Yes that one has been spun on Christian radio. The Joy FM in Tampa played that. Not sure if they still do. How about Love Lifted Me by Kenny Rogers.

Was looking on youtube and I noticed that Kiss had redone God Gave Rock And Roll To you. But they added an II on the end. Had no idea they did it. Petra has 2 versions. One they did in 1977 or so then another in 1984 which is more well known. I don't think a lot of people would spin the Kiss version though. LOL Wonder how many people that programmed CCM passed on a lot of the life houses and the frays of the world? Even to this day I still hear How To Save A life and You And Me on ccm stations. I can't lie to you, I dig both of those tracks and play them on my PT 15 FM.

According to Wikipedia the original version of God Gave Rock & Roll to You was done by Argent in 1971 and released in 1973. Petra's first version was in 1977, and their second version was in 1984. Kiss's version was from 1991 and was in the movie Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey. I had never heard about Kiss's version until recent years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Gave_Rock_and_Roll_to_You

I was at Lake Junaluska last week. I could watch what was happening in the auditorium on TV. As retired pastors were introduced someone played "My Way" on a piano. This makes no sense.

Later, delegates from Western North Carolina voted on their choices for General Conference, meaning the entire country. I heard "Greatest Love of All" and "One Moment in Time". If they were playing Whitney Houston's greatest hits, I know of one of her early ones they could never have gotten away with. So would these two fit on Christian radio?

vchimpanzee said:

I was at Lake Junaluska last week. I could watch what was happening in the auditorium on TV. As retired pastors were introduced someone played "My Way" on a piano. This makes no sense.

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That definitely doesn't fit. There is no Christian message there.

Later, delegates from Western North Carolina voted on their choices for General Conference, meaning the entire country. I heard "Greatest Love of All" and "One Moment in Time". If they were playing Whitney Houston's greatest hits, I know of one of her early ones they could never have gotten away with. So would these two fit on Christian radio?

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Personally I would say no unless the lyrics were reworked. But it reminded me of how in the Baptist church I grew up in that a girl once sang Bette Midler's Wind Beneath my Wings in a church service, which didn't make sense to me because this was more of a love song. But they were very narrow in what CCM they allowed, no matter how Christ centered the lyrics were.

anotherguy said:

That definitely doesn't fit. There is no Christian message there.



Personally I would say no unless the lyrics were reworked. But it reminded me of how in the Baptist church I grew up in that a girl once sang Bette Midler's Wind Beneath my Wings in a church service, which didn't make sense to me because this was more of a love song. But they were very narrow in what CCM they allowed, no matter how Christ centered the lyrics were.

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That isn't much different from "You Say.".

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semoochie said:

That isn't much different from "You Say.".

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At least that's a song written by a Christian artist from a Christian perspective, even though it might be considered a love song as well. I guess if it's done the right way The greatest Love of All and Wind Beneath my Wings might could be done from a Christian perspective. With One Moment in Time I can't remember the lyrics, but it just doesn't seem like what could be considered a "Christian" song. That doesn't make it bad, just not a song that would fit in a CHristian format. With My Way though, probably not. It's too self centered, and not Christ centered.

I ate lunch at Arby's yesterday. I was hearing what sounded like some female empowerment song with lyrics about how you, or we, can change the world. The next song made it clear what was going on. Some variation of the words "Jesus, thank you for the cross" was repeated over and over. So wherever that music was coming from, they were not shying away from the message.

I did like that restaurant better when they had nice easygoing oldies.

XTC - "Dear God"

And my local (non-K-Love) CCM station often plays pop songs from artists and groups who they deem to be "good, God-fearing Christians", regardless if they have any religious message to the lyrics or not. For example, Daughtry, Kris Allen, Owl City, Echosmith, Sixpence None The Richer, etc. But they wouldn't be caught dead playing Amy Grant because she got a divorce, or Bette Midler because she likes the gays.

kevtronics said:

XTC - "Dear God"

And my local (non-K-Love) CCM station often plays pop songs from artists and groups who they deem to be "good, God-fearing Christians", regardless if they have any religious message to the lyrics or not. For example, Daughtry, Kris Allen, Owl City, Echosmith, Sixpence None The Richer, etc. But they wouldn't be caught dead playing Amy Grant because she got a divorce, or Bette Midler because she likes the gays.

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K-LOVE has gone back to playing Amy Grant, especially during Christmas, but most of her more recent music has been more inspo and really doesn't fit into an AC CCM format now except for possibly some of her more recent Christmas music.

Bette Midler doesn't even pretend to be a Christian and the only song that I can think of that some people might think of as having anything close to a Christian message is From a Distance because of the line "God is watching us." But even if this was to be considered a Christian song, her version is closer to easy listening and definitely not CCM, so I can see why K-LOVE wouldn't play it. But then that song came out around 1990 and I really never got to hear K-LOVE until they came in to Memphis in 1999. But to me it has never sounded like a song that would fit a CCM format.

Old topic, but a compelling topic, and I felt compelled to add my two cents after reading through.

Re: Whitney Houston - "Greatest Love of All" does get some airtime on Urban Gospel formats. So does the title song from her final album, "I Look to You." Gospel formats also spin some of the tracks from "The Preacher's Wife" soundtrack. And she did "Jesus Loves Me" on "The Bodyguard" soundtrack as well, though I can't remember ever hearing that one on the radio.

Some other secular R&B artists with songs I've heard played on Urban Gospel stations include Patti LaBelle ("When You've Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven)"), The Commodores ("Jesus Is Love"), and Lauryn Hill ("His Eye Is On the Sparrow" and "Joyful, Joyful" from "Sister Act 2"). "Joyful, Joyful" even features a brief interpolation of Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done for Me Lately" with reworked lyrics.

If you can get past Michael Jackson's image, "Heal the World" is another song that would fit very easily. Possibly "Will You Be There" as well (especially with the gospel choir). So would the title song from Mary J. Blige's "My Life" album.

Foreigner's "I Want to Know What Love Is" was mentioned. The New Jersey Mass Choir, who sang on Foreigner's version, also released their own version shortly after Foreigner's was a hit.

Remember the CBS show "Touched by an Angel"? It had a soundtrack album released in 1998, featuring some CCM artists, but also a number of secular artists in both pop and country genres. The Kinleys' "Somebody's Out There Watching" was the album's single release and became a moderate country hit. The Judds were previously mentioned as having some spiritually themed country hits... Wynonna Judd, a guest star in several episodes, had two songs on the TbaA soundtrack, "Testify to Love" (later a huge hit for Avalon) and "You Were Loved" (previously done by Whitney Houston in "The Preacher's Wife"). Delilah gave "Testify to Love" some airplay along with star Della Reese's extended version of the show's theme tune, "Walk With You." Celine Dion's "Love Can Move Mountains" and Shawn Colvin's "I Don't Know Why" had both been minor hits some years earlier, and Amanda Marshall's "Believe in You" was a huge hit in Canada. Any of those could easily fit a "positive secular music" format.

While the group Ocean are well remembered for "Put Your Hand in the Hand" (also done by another Canadian artist, Anne Murray), it's interesting that one of their later singles, about a year later, was a song that could be considered the atheist national anthem: "One More Chance." It's a complete 180 from "Put Your Hand in the Hand," with the lyrics demanding that God must not exist because there's so much suffering in the world and challenging Him to prove that He really does exist.

As for CCM stations not wanting to support non-evangelical artists... Matt Maher is Catholic. So is Kathy Troccoli.