I've idolized Alice Cooper and specially Mark Farner since childhood, I wanted to dress like him, to play like him, to BE HIM.

When I discovered they were christian, it was a big let down for me. Now whenever I listen to Grand Funk Railroad its not the same again, even tho I still think their music is awesome, I'm not as excited as I was before.

Do you guys feel the same, or is it just me?

So is the gimmick that you post opinions and news stories that are like 30 years late to the party? I could see some comedy potential there.

I'm not telling stories. I'm asking how you feel about that.

And why would you care? The music sounds like what it sounds like regardless of its creator(s)' personal belief system(s). If you only want to experience things by people who align with your viewpoint, good luck. That way lies madness. What're you going to do, personally vet the religious affiliations of every football player before you'll enjoy a football match?

Agree with the above. Open your mind! At least it shows that they have some structure to their lives. And have chosen a path that improves their lives. This reminds me of people who act the same way towards peoples political views, vegetarians and people who don't drink. It's the person and not the ideology or life-view, and in this case the music. Stop living in the dark, and except people as they are.

Excepting people as they are is mean and close-minded. Accepting people as they are is a pretty good way to go about living your life, though.

It all sounds great in theory, but can you really do that??

I mean, music does come with its player - And if you love one's compositions, which is my case with Mark Farner, but hate his lyrics and his philosophy, what are you to do? How can you separate music from its player?

I'm more inclined to accept that from Alice Cooper, since it seems he only changed his mind a decade ago or so, so I'll just accept him as senile or "affraid of getting old and dying" - Therefore his legacy is immaculated.

Now, let's make an exercise in patience for the sake of this topic: 1. Take your favorite musician. 2. Accept that he has got - but you didnt know up to now - Ideas that go exactly against everything you believe 3. Will you still listen to his music with the same excitement?

(this is mostly my case with Farner - Being listening to Grand Funk's music for about 20 years now, already knew Farner's wasnt any genius by reading his lyrics, but discovered about 5 years ago that not only he wasnt a genius, he was a devoted protestant that believes in the most ridiculous miracles and wrote and performed corny gospel songs)

Seriously guy? If it took you this long to realize he is a Christian then obviously his music isn't that religious in nature in the first place. Second you should be happy that he has found a path in life that pretty much equates living your life to be the best possible person you can be, and lastly who really cares if he loves Jesus? Is he sitting there saying "I love Jesus and you'll burn in hell if you don't too"? Cause that's the only reason I could see letting that affect your opinion of the music. And finally don't be so closed minded or you may just have to stop listening to music all together if you rule out bands by such trivial factors as religious orientation.

If you really think all musicians are what they potray in their music then i feel sorry for you.
Most of them use ''evil'' imagery only to appear as bad-asses and garner naive fans

Why does it matter what a musician believes?
Varg is a complete nutcase, but I still enjoy listening to Burzum, it doesn't make a damn difference.

i've never seen any correlation at all

anyway, i can sort of see where the op is coming from, while i might not share the view
i enjoy listening to arghoslent enormously, even tho' the band are a bunch of racist assholes... but i'd say an important thing there is that the lyrics aren't all that in-your-face, and the way they're growled, you can't make out most of them anyway

on the other hand, it also means that i won't want to buy any of their their merch or support the band, regardless of how much i like their music

I don't really see a point in judging a person by their personal beliefs. People are just people, and some of them believe in invisible powers and some of them don't. Their character and actions are what makes the difference.

DOes it really surprise you that Mark is a christian? We're talking about Grand Funk Railroad here!

Cool band by the way! Love them...at least the early albums...

Alice Cooper has a rather douchey personality if you ask me; that always bothered me more than his christianity. I think the guy has a kind of shitty attitude. I don't really like him much, but some of the early music is cool...the Killer album, for example, when Alice COoper was actually the name of a band instead of the name of "the artist"...

Who the hell cares? Both of these aren't even metal anyway. Shit thread.