Atheist Inspired Music

Atheism (especially in America) is often labeled as angry. It seems to be hinted that beauty and poetry stem from other (perhaps more "spiritual") ways of living.

I can appreciate the culture expressed through the ages that can be attributed to the passion of people inspired by their belief in things beyond themselves and their lives, as Dawkins says "Cultural Christianity".

However, in writing music I have found atheism a very rich source to draw upon for inspiration. My own personal musical preferences and writing style have lent themselves to a somewhat aggressive sound. If you're interested in hearing what I mean I can link you to a sample: (Excuse the poor quality of youtube's compression.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYzC1GVf7bA

I suppose I am wondering if anyone knows of other music artists that do, or have, specifically drawn on atheistic inspiration? I am wondering if they tend to be more aggressive or if there are some who express the beauty that does exist within it?

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Comment by Nate on March 27, 2011 at 6:45pm: a couple great and talented bands that either have atheist band member or atheist related lyrics are

Karnivool(newer band from Australia, dont know what to label them as, very unique and refreshing)

Protest The Hero(quite a few songs with atheist related lyrics, progressive metal band/tech metal)

Rush(greatest trio of all time, prog rock)

Pain Of Salvation(singer is agnostic/atheist, one of the greatest singers in the music biz, prog rock/metal)

cant think of much more off the top of my head

Comment by BadHandshakers on March 27, 2011 at 10:49pm: While I do enjoy listening to hardcore/heavy metal, in fact it was all I'd listen to 3/4 years ago, particularly, thrash metal. Two of the founders of that genre are fairly catholic Christians: Metallica, and Megadeath as opposed to Slayer and Anthrax. Megadeath' front man, Dave Mustaine, speaks many of the conspiracies and armageddon teller signs in his lyrics, and while Metallica do point the evils of religion they don't quite attribute it to the God but rather to its followers of religious leaders, and terrorists.

So, I would say, that it's a wide misconception that most heavy music talks about atheism, or that even most atheist music is heavy, at least not in that particular genre, it isn't. I now listen to genres like indie rock/post punk/electro rock, and the various end points of their spectrums. I was done composing a song recently, which I've decided is going to be vaguely about the concept of freewill.

And rather that we live by the will of our minds, as an entity of its own, as opposed to a written predetermined scripture or a journal of god, and that it has set itself on certain things from neurological/psychological prospectives. That are inherited to us through genes, and adheres to us through the surrounding environment, encounters, and habits of our first few years as infants, and then toddlers, that our likes and dislikes are shaped, and we go through the rest of our lives trying to figure out what those are.

My current band, called The Weirdos, is supposed to be playing a set of covers and one of our originals about psychopathy, perhaps also the one I mentioned above, if it all came together on time. I'd be glad to post footage of the concert up if it did end up happening, and if not, I'll be working on recording it and eventually posting it on my page anyway, I'll make sure to give a shout out about it on here... somewhere, later.

I checked your song and liked it,

Cheers =]

Comment by Walter Maki on March 28, 2011 at 1:13am: Good song Kai :)

I tend to like the aggressive styles. I like Metallica, Korn, Godsmack... well you get the idea.

Comment by Gregor Basić on March 28, 2011 at 8:04am: Bjork, Andy McKee, maybe Rush

Comment by Kai on March 28, 2011 at 11:36am: Thanks for the comments, everyone.

It does seem there's quite a few artists out there who use atheism as a source of their inspiration. Though I suppose it doesn't make sense to label someone an "Atheist band/artist" since there really is no need for it.

I just get a little annoyed sometimes by "Christian Bands" some of whom have very well written music, but their lyrics can just be sickening.

Anyway, thanks all for the suggestions. Some I knew, some I didn't. I'll check them out.

Comment by Allen Gilbert on March 28, 2011 at 2:05pm: Tim Minchin has written a few songs about the ludicrous claims of religion. Many of them tend to be a bit Not Safe For Work in their lyrics, however they are very cleverly written. He's actually pretty popular in the skepticism community, from what I've seen.