7 ms·

Hillsong music is simple, catchy, and easy to play. If a teenager can pick up a guitar and lead their friends to sing along with easy lyrics, it'll be a hit. A

Hillsong music is simple, catchy, and easy to play. If a teenager can pick up a guitar and lead their friends to sing along with easy lyrics, it'll be a hit. A satirical take on this is How to Write a Worship Song (In 5 Minutes or Less). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhYuA0Cz8ls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhYuA0Cz8ls Translations of Hillsong music into other languages are also popular. 約書亞樂團 Joshuaband translate some songs into Chinese, and it was a huge help for me learning Mandarin. I also know about illegal translations of a lot more songs, in Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hungarian. It's illegal because CCLI doesn't operate in those countries, so there's no way to license the song translations officially. Email me if you want to know where to get the chords/PPT/OpenSong/sheet music/MP3s. For other languages, there's Hillsong Global Project for German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian, Swedish, Korean, Indonesian, French, and Chinese.

pluma 8y ago
I always have to smile when I hear "Spirit in the Sky" used in a religious context as if it's a genuine worship song.
- sjcsjc 8y ago
  Your comment reminds me of Johnny Cash covering Personal Jesus.
  - jacobush 8y ago
    Totally owning it.
  - pluma 8y ago
    Well, at least "Personal Jesus" kinda works in a gospel context if you read it as aspirational (think "WWJD"). "Spirit in the sky" on the other hand is New Age at best and cynical parody at worst -- the entire idea behind that song was "gospel songs seem easy to write, I bet I could do that". I guess it's the musical equivalent of Poe's law: it's over the top and a bit insencere but the medium it mimics is already so over the top it fits right in and nobody bats an eye.
wbl 8y ago
I am not a Christian, but I feel like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ffg4mU7FNE&t=2s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ffg4mU7FNE&t=2s is far more divine sounding then someone with a guitar as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io2WOQ-3aVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io2WOQ-3aVs . Sadly my faith tradition is stuck with Debbie Freedman.
- explorigin 8y ago
  It's all about culture. If you were influenced by a high-church growing up, you're more likely appreciate hymns. People that converted without a high-church context gravitate toward a more modern style of worship. The downside of so much hillsong influence is that it dominates a culture and drowns out other modern styles. I feel like all hillsong songs sound the same.
  - bartread 8y ago
    Tend to agree. Most Christian music sounds very samey to me and simply doesn't stir my soul. I realise this is a very personal perspective, but I find a lot of "secular" music better for worship: Hendrix, Led Zep, Guns 'N' Roses, Soundgarden, Hybrid, She, Pendulum, and of course plenty of orchestral and ensemble music from earlier eras. This stuff stirs my soul. I'm honestly not trying to be edgy here, and I'm well aware that this isn't going to be everyone's (or even the majority's) bag, and I'm definitely not suggesting that Christian music needs to change for my benefit (it really doesn't). That's all totally OK: it's just me saying that after 22 years of being a Christian I know who I am.
    - redbeard0x0a 8y ago
      > I'm honestly not trying to be edgy here, and I'm well aware that this isn't going to be everyone's (or even the majority's) bag We forget that people are extremely varied, there is room for everybody. An infinite God probably doesn't create only ~3 "right" ways of worshipping, living, serving, teaching, etc.
    - taborj 8y ago
paulcarroty 8y ago
> Hillsong music is simple, catchy, and easy to play I provided the example [above](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18283308 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18283308) of popular non-(simple, catchy, and easy to play) tracks.
netcan 8y ago
Couple of points on this.. it's interesting how ideological context perculates (and reverse perculate) through a movement. (A) Catholic (an example, for contrast) music tends to be institutional: choirs, organs... Formal. You don't just play the organ for fun, it's a scheduled, authorized activity. It's not something that spreads or something that exists outside of its preallocated box. (B) Hillsong's kind of music is also accessible. You don't need much exposure to play or appreciate it. This isn't exotic tribal music, for and by some specific culture of people (think of Jewish kleizmer for example). It's pop, the stuff anyone can listen to or play. Ie, you can tell from the music that Hillsong is new/modern, youth oriented, and mainstream-oriented and international/multicultural. You can tell from catholic music that it's tradition and institution oriented. You can tell from Jewish music that it's tribally oriented. All ideological linchpins of those communities.
- moftz 8y ago
  I knew someone that would play Catholic organ music for fun. She'd stream herself at the church she played at after hours. She wasn't Catholic or even Christian but she was good at it and got a gig playing it. She would play classical and her own compositions as well. She would also pull her boobs out and smoke meth on stream too. I think she ended up getting doxxed and kicked out of her parents house.
  - justtopost 8y ago
    Whoever she is, she has an honorary spot in my punk band. Anyone got a link, or am I about to go down a weird internet hole?
    - peterburkimsher 8y ago
      Punk with an organ? Link, please! I like the cultural crossovers that are made in all the sub-genres of rock (whether it's Christian rock, Mongolian throat singing metal, or Taiwanese post-punk). If it's got four chords, count me in.
- dreix 8y ago

pluma 8y ago

I always have to smile when I hear "Spirit in the Sky" used in a religious context as if it's a genuine worship song.

sjcsjc 8y ago
Your comment reminds me of Johnny Cash covering Personal Jesus.
- jacobush 8y ago
  Totally owning it.
- pluma 8y ago
  Well, at least "Personal Jesus" kinda works in a gospel context if you read it as aspirational (think "WWJD"). "Spirit in the sky" on the other hand is New Age at best and cynical parody at worst -- the entire idea behind that song was "gospel songs seem easy to write, I bet I could do that". I guess it's the musical equivalent of Poe's law: it's over the top and a bit insencere but the medium it mimics is already so over the top it fits right in and nobody bats an eye.

wbl 8y ago

I am not a Christian, but I feel like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ffg4mU7FNE&t=2s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ffg4mU7FNE&t=2s is far more divine sounding then someone with a guitar as in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io2WOQ-3aVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io2WOQ-3aVs . Sadly my faith tradition is stuck with Debbie Freedman.

explorigin 8y ago
It's all about culture. If you were influenced by a high-church growing up, you're more likely appreciate hymns. People that converted without a high-church context gravitate toward a more modern style of worship. The downside of so much hillsong influence is that it dominates a culture and drowns out other modern styles. I feel like all hillsong songs sound the same.
- bartread 8y ago
  Tend to agree. Most Christian music sounds very samey to me and simply doesn't stir my soul. I realise this is a very personal perspective, but I find a lot of "secular" music better for worship: Hendrix, Led Zep, Guns 'N' Roses, Soundgarden, Hybrid, She, Pendulum, and of course plenty of orchestral and ensemble music from earlier eras. This stuff stirs my soul. I'm honestly not trying to be edgy here, and I'm well aware that this isn't going to be everyone's (or even the majority's) bag, and I'm definitely not suggesting that Christian music needs to change for my benefit (it really doesn't). That's all totally OK: it's just me saying that after 22 years of being a Christian I know who I am.
  - redbeard0x0a 8y ago
    > I'm honestly not trying to be edgy here, and I'm well aware that this isn't going to be everyone's (or even the majority's) bag We forget that people are extremely varied, there is room for everybody. An infinite God probably doesn't create only ~3 "right" ways of worshipping, living, serving, teaching, etc.
  - taborj 8y ago

paulcarroty 8y ago

> Hillsong music is simple, catchy, and easy to play I provided the example [above](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18283308 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18283308) of popular non-(simple, catchy, and easy to play) tracks.

netcan 8y ago

Couple of points on this.. it's interesting how ideological context perculates (and reverse perculate) through a movement. (A) Catholic (an example, for contrast) music tends to be institutional: choirs, organs... Formal. You don't just play the organ for fun, it's a scheduled, authorized activity. It's not something that spreads or something that exists outside of its preallocated box. (B) Hillsong's kind of music is also accessible. You don't need much exposure to play or appreciate it. This isn't exotic tribal music, for and by some specific culture of people (think of Jewish kleizmer for example). It's pop, the stuff anyone can listen to or play. Ie, you can tell from the music that Hillsong is new/modern, youth oriented, and mainstream-oriented and international/multicultural. You can tell from catholic music that it's tradition and institution oriented. You can tell from Jewish music that it's tribally oriented. All ideological linchpins of those communities.

moftz 8y ago
I knew someone that would play Catholic organ music for fun. She'd stream herself at the church she played at after hours. She wasn't Catholic or even Christian but she was good at it and got a gig playing it. She would play classical and her own compositions as well. She would also pull her boobs out and smoke meth on stream too. I think she ended up getting doxxed and kicked out of her parents house.
- justtopost 8y ago
  Whoever she is, she has an honorary spot in my punk band. Anyone got a link, or am I about to go down a weird internet hole?
  - peterburkimsher 8y ago
    Punk with an organ? Link, please! I like the cultural crossovers that are made in all the sub-genres of rock (whether it's Christian rock, Mongolian throat singing metal, or Taiwanese post-punk). If it's got four chords, count me in.
dreix 8y ago