As a JW Did other Witnesses Annoy you by Condemning " Worldly Music" ?

flipper

I know I got bothered by all the self righteous music police who would condemn me or others for our awesome record collections from early years as a teenager . I remember my elder dad looking at me listening on headphones to Led Zeppelin and him wondering what the lyrics were !

Several experiences were really quite odd . One brother came up to me saying I was wrong to listen to the Moody Blues " Nights in White Satin "! I asked him , " What ? That's a pretty mellow song ! What's wrong with that ? " He said, " Well- Don't you get it ? It's titled " Knights in White Satin" then it says " never reaching the end ! It's encouraging homosexuality ! " I said, " Oh, brother . You are spelling it wrong ! "

Another time driving to a baseball game an elder told me and another brother that the song " Radar Love " was bad because it said, " when I get LOADED and I'm sure I've had enough , she sends the comfort coming in from above . " He continued , " It's about DRUGS because he says he's getting LOADED ! " I said, " Time out,wait ! The words are " when I get LONELY and I'm sure I've had enough ! " It's not about drugs at all ! It's about a guy being lonely wanting his lady ! " Jesus .

Then in 1982 the WT came out with an article talking about Satanic symbols on record albums - and many people in my congregation went nuts throwing out ANY record albums which might contain spiritistic pictures on the albums ! Paranoid freaks. My then JW wife and I were at a couples house and the brother and sister had an Earth, Wind, & Fire album with a 2 sided pyramid on it . The brother freaked out and said to his wife , " Aida , Satan's been doing a rain dance in our house !! We've gotta throw this Earth, Wind, & Fire album in the fireplace ! " And he did just THAT ! Right in front of us ! Perfectly good vinyl ! What a waste.

So did any of you in your JW experience get hassled by the " music police " ? Or did you see witnesses be superstitious and show fear of "worldly music " ? As always I look forward to your experiences. Should be fun. Thanks, Peace out to all, Mr. Flipper

freedomisntfree

my parents are afraid of rap music but isnt evreyone over 40? jk jk but yea I had my mother throw sublime and doors albums out on me in my young teenage years.What i thought was funny about the sublime album is she took it all the way across down to the downtown area a half an hour from our home to throw it away.did she think it would walk home to me? lol

OUTLAW

Flipper..Constantley..It keeps JW`s away fom bigger issues.. .........OUTLAW

flipper

FREEDOMISNTFREE- Your mother threw out Sublime and DOORS albums ? How sacrilege ! You would think your mom would have liked the Doors music ! Most of us in our 40's and , er , 50's liked the Doors. A half hour from your house she threw them out ? She was really paranoid, eh ?

OUTLAW- So true. If the elders and witnesses can intrude into THAT part of your life ( music ) then they can get anywhere intruding. Hell- they take away witnesses sex lives ! Why not music as well ? Peace out, Mr. Flipper

bluecanary

In a group of witnesses, I mentioned that I liked the music of Elton John. An elderly sister practically shrieks at me, "Well that's your opinion and it's NOT MINE!" I've never understood witnesses who eschew listening to someone's music because they're gay--but don't care about musicians who practice fornication, do drugs or celebrate holidays. Either listen to only JW made music or judge a song on its own merits, just make up your damn minds!

When I was planning music for my graduation party, every song had to be ok'd by my stepfather. Many songs were unable to pass the test. For instance, I couldn't have Mariah Carey's Dream Lover because it talked about a lover.

A teenage friend wasn't allowed to listen to the song Too Close by Next (about dancing close enough to feel an erection) but her parents would giggle and dance to it in the livingroom.

WTWizard

When I first got dragged in, they wanted all of my records thrown away on the argument that Jehovah would destroy my apartment otherwise. They first told me to get rid of anything by Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, Van Halen, Simon & Garfunkel, and Journey. When I looked back at what I had to throw away on that round alone, I realize that Led Zeppelin's music was not all that bad objectively (I only had D'yer Maker on my playlist back then, and that was not that dirty). Van Halen had a few "dirty" songs, but I could not see any problem whatsoever with I'll Wait or Panama (and Why Can't This Be Love and Jump only had "problems" if taken wrong). Simon & Garfunkel had Mrs Robinson, but I could see nothing wrong with their other songs. Journey didn't even have a high percentage of bad songs, nor did they have any outstandingly dirty songs.

Later, it was Michael Jackson (disassociated, but much of his music would have passed if it were anonymous), Culture Club (Boy George took horse, and they felt that I would come under the influence by listening to their music), Prince (true, Purple Rain and 1999 had some dirty songs, but the song Pop Life condemns drug use), and Madonna (Like A Virgin had a few "dirty" songs, but other Madonna albums had songs that were actually quite clean). However, they felt that one dirty song rendered everything that artist did "dirty".

Soon in, they had someone come in for a "recording session". The pretext was to borrow my albums to record tapes of their own for personal use, and they went through quite a few of my albums (fortunately, some of them were bought used and the titles were not legible unless you knew where they were). I had a Twisted Sister LP with the song We're Not Gonna Take It Any More. They wanted that tossed. I have since objectlvely analyzed that song, only to find it about the world's own corruption and everything one does is what one is told to do. Nothing bad about it--still, they would not look past the Twisted Sister name.

And I have had the hounders suggest that I just listen to Kingdumb s*** only. I bought a complete set of the records (back then, it was on 15 records and cost $15 for the set), and I did not find even one single song that was entertaining on that whole set! Yet they insisted that I start phasing out real music in favor of that s***--I knew the end product, so why bother going through the steps only to find out that none are acceptable. Needless to say, I no longer have any recordings of any Kingdumb Maladies that I know about--the records were "lost" in a move, any tape copies were erased, and I never bothered to order the CDs.

Also, I was seeking the individual songs as full orchestra versions back then (like they used to play at the Grand Boasting Session). They either had piano versions on the records, piano versions as cassette singles, or full orchestra versions as medleys that frequently segued several songs back and forth (none were satisfactory, complete, or in order--there were 8 cassettes of this s***). And yet they wanted me to forgo real music--sure makes sense to not have the versions I wanted available in any form, and yet they wanted me to give up listening to what was available at the record store.

Albert Einstein

Oh Flipper, what a subject!

1) At a District convention it was said in my country (1992): "A young brother decided before his baptism to destroy his complete collection of Beatles records, after learning their songs were composed under drug influnece and thus under influence of demons. Isnt that a fine example for us dear brothers and sisters....???" Aplaudisment...

2) When Michael Jackson was having a concert in my country, my friend a zealous pioneer MS brother called me from Germany "Imagine, Helmut from our hall goes to se MJs concert to your town ... (Me: Whats the point???) Well, isnt MJ disfellowsiped ??.... (Me: I dont know, it was never announced...) Well, anyways, I announced that Helmut goes to see MJ to the elders, its my duty... They will deal with that!

((So I just hope, Helmut didnt speak to MJ and didnt have a meal with MJ at the concert, that would get him in troubles...))

3) Of course Queen shouldnt be listened to, since they are gays, heard so many times since I am a big fan of them ...

4) Elders talk in my hall: "Brothers, we are cautious about modern music the young ones listen to... but we must be concerned about satans influence in any music ... For example, do you thing it is proper for a christian to listen to "Ave Maria" from Johan Sebastian Bach? Of course not! It promotes false religion! (Iam not making this up!!!)

Albert

wha happened?

I threw away so much because of this fucking paranoia about music. I was recording and active when I was studying and I was so pressured to quit "For Jehovah". Yea counsled for having a Prince tape. This piece of shit excuse for a religion stifles creativity

flipper

BLUECANARY- It is amazing how judgmental older people in congregations were towards younger people's music. Pissed me off sometimes. Sounds about right- parents not wanting you to dance to romantic music- but they dance to it themselves. Always a double set of standards.

WT WIZARD- I think we all got the kingdom songs crammed down our throats all the time. I hated it when some witnesses would start singing them out in service. The elders told you to get rid of all your Zeppelin albums and other rock music ? I think I would have drawn the line in the sand by that point. It sounds like the " music police " were just harassing you horribly ! I hope you listen to what you want now

BloominMarvellous

Condemning worldly music!

My study conductor went through my CD collection and made a pile of what I had to get rid of!

And being a good girl- I did!

Trying to remember what I got rid of so I can get it all back

Bloomin x

As a JW Did other Witnesses Annoy you by Condemning " Worldly Music" ?

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