Atheist Songs?

[Haruko]

I hope nobody finds this topic offensive in any reasonable way. o.o

Before submitting this post, I used the search feature and the words "atheist" and "music" to search for similar topics (and found a few interesting, but unrelated topics as I skimmed through several pages of search results). I didn't find a topic exactly like this already made. As I skimmed through the search results, I also found evidence (in the form of several music-related topics) to support my assumption that inquiries about music would best be posted here.

Anyways...

I was wondering if anyone here knows of any atheist or songs seemingly atheist or heretical. =/

Here are a few I've listened to:

A Perfect Circle; Judith (Remix)
Nine Inch Nails; Heresy
Muse; Thoughts of a Dying Atheist

By the way, I really like the first two listed. ^.^
Sounds awesome. Maybe other here think they're stupid. o.o Oh, well. To each their own, or something like that.

[Darth Wong]

Most religious offender songs are not atheist so much as angry or defiant about the religious beliefs in question. Instead of singing about how God is a silly superstition, they typically sing that God is a bastard.

[Joe]

Heresy has never struck me as a particularly nuanced, intelligent rumination on atheism. Fun though, I guess.

[Haruko]

Most religious offender songs are not atheist so much as angry or defiant about the religious beliefs in question. Instead of singing about how God is a silly superstition, they typically sing that God is a bastard.

Yeah -- those too. I mean, can anyone suggest such songs as those, as well?

[Zaia]

I also found evidence (in the form of several music-related topics) to support my assumption that inquiries about music would best be posted here.

Pity the Art, Music and Photos forum would disagree with you on that.

*moves thread*



Tori Amos writes mischeviously disrespectful lyrics about religion, which tend to get the faithful's panties in a bit of a knot, but she isn't exactly mainstream so no one gets too pissed off at her, but some that know her say they expect better than this from a minister's daughter:

Muhammed my friend
It's time to tell the world
We both know it was a girl
Back in Bethlehem
And on that fateful day
When she was crucified
She wore Shiseido Red
And we drank tea by her side

But I can't think of anything of hers that speak of athiesm. It's all more with that attitude:

God sometimes you just don't come through
God sometimes you just don't come through
Do you need a woman to look after you?
God sometimes you just don't come through

[Stormbringer]

Billy Joel - Shades of Grey


Really, a lot of his stuff as he got older is a rumination on that.

[Haruko]

Pity the Art, Music and Photos forum would disagree with you on that.

Aw, man. I'm sorry. I should have checked with a moderator first. >.< I hadn't realized that there was already a forum named in a way that makes it blatantly obvious that music belongs in it. ^^;

I wonder what genre Tori Amos is. I'll check her out.

Stormbringer: I have listened to Billy Joel a long time ago, but I don't think I ever listened to that song. I'll check it out.

[The Dark]

I see Shades of Grey as more an attack on absolutism...

Save us all from arrogant men
And all the causes they're for
I won't be righteous again
I'm not that sure any more

is about as close as that song gets to attacking religion. Well, there is also the line about "my faith is falling away." Then again, that's the same album with River of Dreams on it, which is agnostic in nature. And then there's Two Thousand Years, with its "prophets and angels," so I'm not sure exactly where Joel falls along the religious spectrum.

[edit] Haruko, all three songs I mention are from the River of Dreams album.

[Darth Wong]

"Selling skin, selling God ...
The numbers are the same on their credit cards ..."

Revolution Calling - Queensryche. I love that song.

[Zaia]

I wonder what genre Tori Amos is. I'll check her out.

I personally classify her as "Piano chick rock" but the popular vote would probably go to the all-inclusive "alternative."

The first song I mentioned, "Muhammed My Friend" is off of the album "Boys for Pele, and the other, "God," is off of the album "Under the Pink." Just so y'know, they're both incredibly good albums (and Pele has a few absolutely ROCKIN' harpsichord songs--you think it sounds awful, I'll bet, but no! So very good!).

But yeah, definitely check her out.

[Stormbringer]

I see Shades of Grey as more an attack on absolutism...

Save us all from arrogant men
And all the causes they're for
I won't be righteous again
I'm not that sure any more

is about as close as that song gets to attacking religion. Well, there is also the line about "my faith is falling away."

Oh, I know the lines, I've even had it in my sig here. I've listen to the song many times. It's language is definitely not a direct take on religion but he's said that was part of the experience that produced the albumn.

Then again, that's the same album with River of Dreams on it, which is agnostic in nature. And then there's Two Thousand Years, with its "prophets and angels," so I'm not sure exactly where Joel falls along the religious spectrum.

The references aren't quite as religious as you'd think. He's not one of those atheists/agnostics that shies away from using the language of religion; he's a song writer first and foremost and uses the language evocatively. It was more in the historical and figurative senses respectively that he used those terms.

Not to mention he's made no real secret of being agnostic/borderling atheist for most of his life. So that rather clears it up.

[Julhelm]

I could recommend the following:

Death - Crystal Mountain (From the album "Symbolic")
Vader - Wings (From "Litany")
Dying Fetus - Praise The Lord (From "Destroy The Opposition")

[Rye]

Deicide and Slayer have decades of the stuff. Every single Deicide song is about why christianity sucks. Most of Vital Remains' stuff is about war with God and forever unbelieving. In fact, most death and black metal is extremely blasphemous, though there are occasional bands like Nile that stay away from the cliche "god sux" songs.

Fucking Hostile by Pantera is a decent "free thinking" song.

Godless by Nile is atheistic from an ancient egyptian point of view.

Gary Numan's The Angel Wars is atheistic then goes towards blasphemy, though perhaps the use of god near the end is metaphorical.

One of my favourite atheistic songs is Ressurection by Fear Factory. Another song by the same band is Pisschrist

Eyehategod are atheistic and nihilistic, they hate everyone's god, i.e. anything people revere.

I can't tell if Hatebreed are for god or not.

Marilyn Manson's got some good godless stuff.

[Julhelm]

Might as well add Sepultura and the entire "Arise" album while we're at it.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Heresy has never struck me as a particularly nuanced, intelligent rumination on atheism. Fun though, I guess.

No it hasn't, but it's still goodfun

Judith's |\|||/| Remix is fucking haunting; I definitely like it!

[Pick]

"God Thinks" by Voltaire. Seriously, it's like my atheist themesong.

[Darth Wong]

Of course, by far the most popular anti-religious song of my generation was AC/DC's "Highway to Hell". It does not present a nuanced critique of Christianity; it simply showers its principal bogeyman with mockery. What better way to annoy a fire-and-brimstone Bible thumper than to respond to his dire warnings of hellfire by grinning and saying "my friends are gonna be there too"?

[Darth Garden Gnome]

Dying Fetus

Every time I see the name of this band I just think it's the greatest thing I've ever heard.

Keep on tranglin', Dying Fetus.

[General Zod]

"God Thinks" by Voltaire. Seriously, it's like my atheist themesong.

I have to second Volaire. Most of his stuff is so satirical it's hilarious, yet well done at the same time. One of my personal favorites being "When you're evil." I'd imagine most fundamentalist christians would shit their pants on hearing that one.

[Plekhanov]

"God only knows" by James is pretty good not quite sure if it's explicitly atheist or simply anti organised religion, I like it either way though.

[Keevan_Colton]

Well, there's always some stuff by Momus such as

Once upon a time there was a man called Saul
Who persecuted Christians until he saw
The work was bearing fruit for the Christians
So the man changed his opinions and his Christian name to Paul

And he wrote important chapters in the Bible
But the blood on his writing hand reeked to high heaven
And Paul resolved to die

So he wrote to friends in Rome
A senator who owed him a favour
Asking for an executioner
So Paul could make his exit as a martyr
The senator sent this answer:

He said "Should you be so lucky like St Sebastian
Preferring the ache to the aspirin
Swooning as they shoot the arrows
Through your narrow chest
Stripping naked in the Circus Maximus
With a martyr-eating lioness
Bartering with flesh for a little pain
Scenes like this give sadomasochism a bad name"

Once there was a man who loved a woman too much
To give up hope when he saw she wouldn't touch him with a barge pole
He spent his whole life in the Inferno
He composed in thirty-four cantos
O Dante though I'm anti such romantic speculation
I'm your hypocrite reader in the same situation
I'm your double, oh me I'm your brother in pain

But Alighieri if you'll listen there's a difference
Between your Beatrice and my Paula
She's anonymous and now a waitress
- It's comic but not divine
The tragedy is no-one's dying!

Should I be so lucky like St Sebastian
Going out with a bang, just hear me
Whimpering with joy as Mr Death receives his blue-eyed boy
Surrender unto Caesar or to God, it makes no odds
There's just one thing the martyr wants to say:
He says "Tell me, Mrs Lincoln, did you enjoy the play?"

For seventeen days we've lived in this cave
Overlooking the plain with the ruined remains of Gomorra
When the brimstone was sent we were exempt
But the daughters of Salt are tempting

The lesson of Sodom according to God:
You spoil the child if you spare the rod
But we had a problem, me and my girls
I was the only man in the world
The lesson of Sodom according to Lot:
If a bottle of wine is all you've got
Between the salt in your wounds and Lot, girls
The lesson of Sodom is:
"I forgot"

Is it my drunkenness or my first-born's kiss
That makes my second-born's hips sway like there is no tomorrow?
You know drink is a curse and lust is the worst
But the daughters of Salt are thirsting!

The lesson of Sodom according to God:
You spoil the child if you spare the rod
But we had a problem, me and my girls
I was the only man in the world
The lesson of Sodom according to Lot:
If a bottle of wine is all you've got
Between the salt in your wounds and Lot, girls
The lesson of Sodom is:
"I forgot"

With these alibis, a pair of closed eyes and a head full of wine
There's no need to die for your pleasure
Me, I'm getting the best of both worlds in incest
The daughters of Salt - they insist!

The lesson of Sodom according to God:
You spoil the child if you spare the rod
But we had a problem, me and my girls
I was the only man in the world
To put my girls in the way of the world
The lesson of Sodom according to Lot:
If a bottle of wine is all you've got
Between the salt in your wounds and Lot, girls
The lesson of Sodom is:
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink?
No!
No, no, no, no, no, no, the lesson of Sodom is: A bird in the hand is worth two in the -
No!
Oh, no, no, no, the lesson of Sodom is .....
The lesson of Sodom according to Lot
The lesson of Sodom is .....
I forgot!

No decoration
No more piss Christs
Or donkey shit virgins
In the next life
No more tax on hard-working citizens
To finance such abominations

Oh, the shakers from Shakerville are here
Quakers and puritans appear
Smiting Sodomites with a mighty rod
Bringing Protestant art direct from God

A gallery like a church
Woods of pine and birch
A protestant artist at work
Improving minds
And through the wood
An icy wind whistles through the pines

The lord is coming down now, we must show
How we've been investing, if we've reached his goals
You never know tomorrow may be your tax control
The Lord is an accountant, an accountant of souls
Don't practice deceit, keep your receipts, keep your receipts

For the shakers from Shakerville are here
Quakers and puritans appear
Smiting Sodomites with a mighty rod
Bringing Protestant art direct from God

The seamstress is making a little girl's dress
She stitches the seams with little grey threads
Frigid and severe, she sits and sighs
She's got a grey room, she's got grey eyes

Oh, the shakers from Shakerville are here
Quakers and puritans appear
With a righteous heart they go before
To bring Sodomites and art within God's law

Oh, the shakers from Shakerville are here
Quakers and puritans appear
Spouting gibberish at Sodomites they meet
Righteous with the arrogance of the meek

Are you justified, are you qualified
What's your salary and will you pass the gates of God's great art gallery when you've died
I've seen what's in your diary
Can you honestly tell me you are perfectly normal?

The lord is coming down now but I don't care
You'll never break my spirit, you'll never raise my hair
Human creativity is all right by me
Ron Athey, Chris Offili, Karen Finlay

But the shakers from Shakerville are here
Quakers and puritans appear
Invincible for God is at their side
Their maker, art critic and guide

Oh the puritans are marching bravely on
Keeping America strong
Smiting Sodomites with a mighty rod
Bringing Protestant art direct from God

Invincible for God is at their side
Their maker, art critic and guide

And so much more, he makes an absolute mockery of religion in huge numbers of his songs.

[Manus Celer Dei]

Motorhead have done loads of songs like this.

I am the one, Orgasmatron, the outstretched grasping hand
My image is of agony, my servants rape the land
Obsequious and arrogant, clandestine and vain
Two thousand years of misery, of torture in my name
Hypocrisy made paramount, paranoia the law
My name is called religion, sadistic, sacred whore.

Thou who wouldst make us devils
Thou shalt not poison me
The world hath been persuaded to believe thy heresy

I spit in the eye of Satan
And I will spit in thine
The devils that surround thee
Liveth only in thine eye

Bad Religion, Bad Religion
I need no gods or devils, I need no pagan rights
Bad religion, Bad religion
I need no burning crosses to illuminate my nights
HEY, HEY, You hear me now
You hear me now
HEY, HEY, For thou art Judas
The mark of Cain be on thy brow
Evangelistic Nazis, you cannot frighten me
The name you take in vain shall judge you for eternity

I spit in the eye of Satan
Spit right in your eye too
You are the spooks you´re chasing
You know not what you do

Bad religion, Bad religion
I know you lie, I know you lie
Bad religion, Bad religion
Thieves and liars
Cross my heart I hope you die

If there be such a being
Then thou art Anti-christ
Turn men against their children
Turn beauty into vice
I say thy God shall smite thee
He will perceive thy lust
His wrath shall fall upon thee
Thou that betray his thrust

Bad religion, Bad religion
I say that thou art liars, Thy souls shall not be saved
Bad religion, Bad religion
Here are the days of thunder, The days that thou hast made

HEY, HEY
Base seducers, I see thy greed
HEY, HEY
I am more fit for glory, Than any ten of thee

Why do they not believe
I have not lied, even for this,
Now no-one can conceive
The lie becomes the loving kiss,
But I would not,
Fall in love,
Like this.

The woman stiches the shrouds,
The children murder all the world,
If only you believe,
Then only you will die,
How can you not,
See the stars,
In your eyes.

Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice,
Sacrifice, pay the price, blood like ice, sacrifice.

The pain is on you now,
Do not consider flight for gain,
In you the poison breeds,
Crawling with the mark of Cain,
And no-one shall,
Set you free,
Again.

Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice,
Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice

Sacrifice is also one of my all time favourite songs.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

An old Jethro Tull song comes to mind. While not exactly critical of religion, per se, it does blast its followers.

Oh father high in heaven -- smile down upon your son
whose busy with his money games -- his women and his gun.
Oh Jesus save me!
And the unsung Western hero killed an Indian or three
and made his name in Hollywood
to set the white man free.
Oh Jesus save me!
If Jesus saves -- well, He'd better save Himself
from the gory glory seekers who use His name in death.
Oh Jesus save me!
I saw him in the city and on the mountains of the moon --
His cross was rather bloody --
He could hardly roll His stone.
Oh Jesus save me!

[General Zod]

Just so people can get an idea of how nifty the song "When you're evil" is. . .

Artist: Voltaire
Song: When You'Re Evil
Album:
[" " CD]

When the Devil is too busy
And Death's a bit too much
They call on me by name you see,
For my special touch.
To the Gentlemen I'm Miss Fortune
To the Ladies I'm Sir Prize
But call me by any name
Any way it's all the same

I'm the fly in your soup
I'm the pebble in your shoe
I'm the pea beneath your bed
I'm a bump on every head
I'm the peel on which you slip
I'm a pin in every hip
I'm the thorn in your side
Makes you wriggle and writhe
And it's so easy when you're evil
This is the life, you see
The Devil tips his hat to me
I do it all because I'm evil
And I do it all for free
Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need

While there's children to make sad
While there's candy to be had
while there's pockets left to pick
While there's grannies to trip down the stairs
I'll be there, I'll be waiting round the corner
It's a game. I'm glad I'm in it
'Cause there's one born every minute

I pledge my allegiance, to all things dark
And I promise on my damned soul
To do as I am told, Lord Beelxebub
Has never seen a soldier quite like me
Not only does his job, but does it happily.

I'm the fear that keeps you awake
I'm the shadows on the wall
I'm the monsters they become
I'm the nightmare in your skull
I'm a dagger in your back
An extra turn on the rack
I'm the quivering of your heart
A stabbing pain, a sudden start.

And it's so easy when you're evil
This is the life, you see
The Devil tips his hat to me
I do it all because I'm evil
And I do it all for free
Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need
And I do it all for free
Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need
And I do it all for free
Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need

It gets so lonley being evil
What I'd do to see a smile
Even for a little while
And no one loves you when you're evil
I'm lying though my teeth!
Your tears are all the company I need

[The Dark]

Genesis' "Jesus He Knows Me" would probably technically count too. It's an attack on the Bakers, and darn funny.

You see the face on the TV screen
coming at you every Sunday
see that face on the billboard
that man is me

On the cover of the magazine
there's no question why I'm smiling
you buy a piece of paradise
you buy a piece of me

I'll get you everything you wanted
I'll get you everything you need
don't need to believe in hereafter
just believe in me

Cos Jesus he knows me
and he knows I'm right
I've been talking to Jesus all my life
oh yes he knows me
and he knows I'm right
and he's been telling me
everything is alright

I believe in the family
with my ever loving wife beside me
but she don't know about my girlfriend
or the man I met last night

Do you believe in God
cos that's what I'm selling
and if you wanna get to heaven
I'll see you right

You won't even have to leave your house
or get outta your chair
you don't even have to touch that dial
cos I'm everywhere

And Jesus he knows me
and he knows I'm right
I've been talking to Jesus all my life
oh yes he knows me
and he knows I'm right
well he's been telling me
everything's gonna be alright

Won't find me practising what I'm preaching
won't find me making no sacrifice
but I can get you a pocketful of miracles
if you promise to be good, try to be nice
God will take good care of you
just do as I say, don't do as I do

I'm counting my blessings,
I've found true happiness
cos I'm getting richer, day by day
you can find me in the phone book,
just call my toll free number
you can do it anyway you want
just do it right away

There'll be no doubt in your mind
you'll believe everything I'm saying
if you wanna get closer to him
get on your knees and start paying

Cos Jesus he knows me
and he knows I'm right
I've been talking to Jesus all my life
oh yes he knows me
and he knows I'm right
well he's been telling me
everything's gonna be alright, alright

Jesus he knows me
Jesus he knows me, you know...

I still have to laugh sometimes, because I tend to like most of the songs listed above better than anything written by a "Christian" musician. "Highway to Hell" is a song my first roommate introduced me to, and one of the few AC/DC songs I really like (they're not quite my style usually).