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longtime comedy bluegrass band, whose famous song is Jesus Loves Me, but He Can't Stand You! Visit their website at http://www.austinlizards.com/ |
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longtime comedy bluegrass band, whose famous song is Jesus Loves Me, but He Can't Stand You! Visit their website at http://www.austinlizards.com/ |
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The Bad Samaritans are a long-standing L.A. Punk
Band. Humorous and hardcore since 1988, guitarist Horhay, singer
Eric, bassist Adam, and recently added drummer Jody Kern have become "an
ugly fixture in the wall of the mainstream punk rock community."
Visit their website at: http://www.badsamaritans.com/ |
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Dr. Stephen Baird and the Opossums Of Truth
Bluegrass never sounded so intellectual! These folks
They have two CDs, Ain't Gonna Be No Judgment
Visit Dr. Baird at http://www.scientificgospel.com/ |
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Freedom From Religion Foundation is, among other things, a gifted pianist and song writer. His songs range from irreverent anti-gospel to popish pop. Nearly all feature Dan's solo piano playing and singing. Some of his songs are classics... like the title track from his two CD set. Visit the FFRF website at http://www.ffrf.org/ Click here to download MP3 excerpt of (I'm Your) Friendly Neighborhood Atheist |
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rapping requires an appreciation of sex and school -- the major topics of his mixes of geeky, dark humor. His clever wordsmith extends beyond humorous rapping to word puzzles in Games Magazine and doodles featured in New York Times Book Review and Screw Magazine. Find out what this rapper is up to on his website: http://www.mcpaulbarman.com/ |
| Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827) was raised
Catholic but quit the church and adopted Goethe's Pantheism -- the belief that "god" is the same as the forces and laws of nature. Although a lifelong atheist, on his death bed, he yielded to Catholic friends and let a priest administer the sacraments. When the priest left, Beethoven quoted the Latin words from the ancient Roman theater, "Applaud, my friends, the comedy is over." |
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Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) the French composer
wrote much church music and is claimed as a follower by the Catholic Encyclopaedia. Yet, Berloiz often stated in his letters that he was an atheist. G. K. Boult (Life of Berlioz, 1903, p. 298) reproduced a letter written by Berloiz shortly before his death in which he states with regard to religion, "I believe nothing." Celebrate Berloiz's 200th birthday on 11 December 2003!
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| Alexandre Cesar Leopold "Georges" Bizet (1838
- 1875)
best known as the composer of opera Carmen. Set in Spain and dealing with the exotic culture of the Gypsies, the plot explores sexual desire, moral ambiguity and a brutal murder. Bizet's career was cut short by his early death. His letters, published after his death by L. Ganderax (1908), show much skepticism. In one he writes, "I have always read the ancient pagans with infinite pleasure while in Christian writers I find only system, egoism, intolerance, and a complete lack of artistic taste." |
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who specializes in creating ethereal moods that draws listeners deeply to an intimate, near mystical, experience. Her music ranges from angelic to fallen angelic in a contrasting mix of orchestra, electronics, dance beat with harps, music boxes, and, of course, that wonderful voice! This avant-pop artist's show at Chicago's Civic Opera House, sold out -- 3,500 tickets -- in 10 minutes. Her website is as trippy as her music and well worth the visit. With Björk's encouragement, some of her fans create remixes of her songs and these are also posted on the internet. Visit Björk at: http://www.bjork.com/unity/ |
| Pierre Boulez, the modern classical music conductor was the winner of the 2002 Grammy for best orchestral performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Born in Montbrison, France, March 26, 1925, he was chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1971-1974) and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (1971-1978). Boulez cites Schoenberg and Stockhausen as two major influences. Perhaps his quotes best describe his musical aims: "I think that music must be hysteria and collective spells, violently of the present." ~ "More and more I find that in order to create effectively one has to consider delirium and, yes, organize it." ~ "I like works that resist easy comprehension." |  |
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Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) the famous German
composer wrote the German Requiem for the Protestant church. His letters to Hersogenberg (Letters of J. Brahms: the Hersogenberg Correspondence, English translation 1909) reveal that he was a complete agnostic. The words from the first of his Four Serious Songs, written the year before he died, reject the idea of personal immortality. |
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instruments for the long-established, three man, indie rock band, REM. Ya gotta love their song
Visit REM's website at: http://www.remhq.com/ |
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Vic Chesnutt is a folk, rock singing,
guitarist and song writer who broke his neck following a drunk driving accident when he was age 18. Thoughtful, funny, and sad -- his folk songs are poetic like Dylan and story telling like John Prine, but with a unique style and sound. He formed the group brute. by joining the members of Wide Spread Panic and released the album Nine High a Pallet. Vic has numerous albums and other collaborations. His fans have websites. |
| Chumbawamba is a UK band that adds a modern edge
and socio-political commentary to disco pop. Their most famous song,
Tubthumping
(1997), has the chorus: "I get knocked down... but I get up again... You're
never gonna keep me down." The groups has no love for religion, government,
or multi-national corporations and their lyrics reflect this while at the
same time cover a wide range of musical genres.
Visit their website at http://www.chumba.com/ |
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Justin Currie is lead singer, songwriter and bass
player for the Scottish pop-rock band Del Amitri. Their 2002
release Just Before You Leave includes, I'm an Unbeliever
, with the refrain:
"She came by,
Visit Del Amitri's website at: http://www.delamitri.co.uk/ |
| Julia Darling is a folk rock musician who grew
up
in New Plymouth, New Zealand. Her song Bulletproof Belief (Divine Intervention) from her 1999 debut album, Figure 8, shares these thoughts: "Can't buy the potion
"There is no divine intervention here...." Her official website is: http://www.juliadarling.com . |
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The Dead Kennedys were a popular hardcore punk
band that formed in San Francisco in 1978 and spread shock and humor till
they disbanded in 1986. Although band members came from Jewish upbringing,
their song "Religious vomit" on their In God we trust, Inc. and
Plastic Surgery Disaster albums is quite straight and to the point:
Chorus
Visit: http://www.deadkennedys.com/ |
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Deicide is a "Deathmetal Rock Band" whose sole
mission is to destroy Christianity In a 1996 interview with Rock Out Censorship, the band members clearly spell out their atheist and satanic views. Their music is attractive both to those experimenting with the "supernatural" that Christians fear and to those who doubt the supernatural exists. They're just what you'd expect from a group named
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| Fritz Theodor Albert "Frederick" Delius (1862-1934)
was a British composer who wrote songs, small-scale instrumental pieces, orchestral pieces and operas. Delius wrote, "The whole tradition Christian concept of life is false. Throw those great Christian blinkers away and look around you, stand on your own two feet and be a man. Sex plays an tremendous part in life. It's terrible to think we come into this world through some despicable act. Don't believe all the tommy-rot the priests tell you; learn and prove everything by your own experience." Learn more at: http://www.delius.org.uk/ |
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Ani DiFranco is a most gifted singer, musician,
composer, and the founder of Righteous Babe Records. Listed by MS. Magazine as one of the 21 most influential women for the 21st century, Ani DiFranco has recorded 18 albums. In her song What if No One's Watching, she sings: what if no one's watching
Visit her website at: http://www.righteousbabe.com/ |
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Micky Dolenz is best known for his
role as the singing drummer in the TV show / band The Monkees popular in the late 1960s. It also regained a cult popularity in the late 1980s on MTV. |
| Paul Draper is the lead singer, chief songwriter,
rhythm
guitarist and part-time pianist of the UK alternative rock band Mansun. Visit them at: http://mansun.net/ and http://mansun.org/ |
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Danny Elfman, is probably best known now for his
orchestral scores for Batman, Mission Impossible, Men in Black and
the upcoming Superman Lives. He also wrote the opening theme for the Simpsons
television series.
"You know, if there is a Heaven and a Hell, I hope that involves the Russian plan. I've always loved the Russian version of Hell, where all the writers and the interesting people are gonna spend their time gathering. It's just like this big house in like the middle of somewhere. If there is a Christian version of Heaven, I know I don't want to go there. Awful bad. Jews don't have Heaven and Hell. It's not really part of that way of thinking. If there is any kind of Hell, I would like to think it's along the lines as presented in Master Margarita, a Russian novel, and that nails it for me." ---
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| Brian Eno -- musician and producer, artist, professor
and thinker is known for his sculpted music and musical collaborations
since the 1960s. He has written ambient music for a number
of films such as Trainspotting, Heat, and Traffic.
I think his best work (from an atheist perspective) is his (1981) My
Life in the Bush of Ghosts done with David Byrne
in which they use electronics and tape looping with sampled radio broadcasts
of preachers and faith healers for some interesting results!
Find out more on the unofficial Eno website: http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/ |
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Extreme -- Patrick Badger, Nuno Bettencourt, Gary
Cherone, and Mike Mangini formed a band that blended influences from Queen,
Van Halen, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and the Beatles. What I consider
their best (but not their biggest selling) album is Waiting for the
Punchline (1995). The opening song, "There
is no god," says it all with virtuoso rock musicianship!
Cherone, a devout Christian, said of this song, "In ‘There Is No God’, there’s, ‘You gather information as much as you can and, if you’re humble enough to realise that you don’t have all the answers you take the leap of faith’, whether it’s in God or in science or whatever..." ref Unfortunately, they disbanded in 1996. Gary Cherone went on to sing for Van Halen. Nuno Bettencourt went on to release a solo album, Schizophonic, and help form the band Mourning Windows |
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Filter is a popular "neoindustrialist" heavy metal
band.
When a fan asked how God had influenced their music, band members replied "...we respect people's spirituality. Just don't come up to my f---ing face and tell me about God, because for thousands of years organized religion has done nothing more than f--- up science and, in general, any kind of scholastics." And, "I don't believe in some old man with a beard, telling me I can't have sex with my girlfriend because I'm not married and I'm condemned to Hell for the rest of eternity." And Hollywood Jesus likes them! (PLEASE don't tell him
their atheist!) see: http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/filter-titleofR.htm
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is a virtuoso heavy metal guitar player! Visit Randy's site at:
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Kinky Friedman -- singer, songwriter and author
-- is the Texas Jewboy who is well renounced for his ballad, "They
ain't making Jews like Jesus anymore." The "Kingster" has
been heard by many on radio with New York's Don
Imus. Although edgy and controversial, at the Utopia
Animal Rescue Ranch, Kinky is known as "the pound mutts best friend."
"Well, as Jesus said to the Mexicans:
http://www.kinkyfriedman.com
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