The case of secular music

[Ethan]

This has been something that has bothered me for quite awhile.
I am sort of new at journaling so I don't really trust what I may get in journaling because it is usually conflicting with itself, probably on account of much of my own anxieties get in the way.
But I am a very music influenced person, my music of choice is more guitar driven music.
There aren't many christian artists that really satisfy my particular taste in music as far as guitar and overall sound goes, although I do full on support the message.
I tend to listen to secular artists because they have the guitar riffs and music that I really do enjoy, although I do not really pay attention to the message whatsoever.
I honestly don't even know the lyrics to most of the stuff I listen to, I just listen to it for the instrumental aspect of it.
There is one band in particular that really clicks with me, I actually try to model a lot of the stuff that I come up with after these guys because they have impacted me so much on a musical level.
Problem is that this band is full of Atheists and I am not sure if there are any Christian members at all.
I have battled back and forth with settling on whether or not it is okay to listen to this band.
So what I am asking is if I can pull in a favor from someone and they could perhaps intercede for me in a way and ask The Lord what He thinks on the matter, or just tell me what they think?
I would like more opinions that just that of myself.
Biblically speaking the vision that Peter received about the Gentiles being dubbed 'clean' comes to mind when I think of this situation.
Especially when I accompany it with the fact that I only listen to the music itself and not the message.
But any help with this would be incredibly appreciated, I would really love to hear it straight from God, but I have trouble trusting my own feelings because they have been wrong numerous times before.

[digiscrapper]

I haven't journaled about it, but since I'm a trained musician, I thought I'd weigh in with my thoughts!

I'm a huge Beatles fan. Don't agree with a lot of things they did, but I love their music. There are other singers/groups I really enjoy along the same lines.
But now that I have young children who I catch singing the songs I play, I'm being much more careful of the music we listen to. We listen almost exclusively to Christian music now.
(can I ask what kind of music you do like? There are more and more Christian groups that are filling in those gaps that used to be exclusively secular bands)

I believe music does touch us at a level we may not realize at first. Even when we don't listen to the words, the music itself can influence us. The spirit behind the song can be very powerful. (I studied clarinet in college, so most of the music I played didn't have lyrics, but it can definitely affect you, one way or another) I think what I'd say is, look at how you feel immediately after hearing a song you like. Is it uplifting? Does it make you feel 'dirty' or angry?
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things." If the music fits into these things, I'd think it's okay. But if you walk away feeling guilty, dirty, or whatever, then it's probably time to find music that doesn't leave you feeling that way!

[Ethan]

I listen to mostly metal type of stuff.
To be more accurate its kind of what I call "guitar music".
If there is a guitar player in the band that really intrigues me and the riffs and such that he comes up with sounds cool, then I will usually start listening to them.
As far as mood during the song, its really hard to explain, the music itself fills me up with emotion because it sounds that amazing.
I do know some of the lyrics to some of the songs just because I have listened to them so much, and they do sing about some pretty bad stuff some times, but I am usually able to just cancel that out while I am listening.
I can actually listen to a few songs with feeling okay, but after awhile I start to think about it and then I end up going in circles of whether or not I should be listening or not.
I have really tried to apply what I have learned from Mark Virkler to everything I do. That being said I can imagine Jesus next to me, happy as a bird without feeling guilty while listening to it.
But again, I start to worry and makes me feel bad, problem is I do that with everything I do that isn't reading the bible or attempting to journal.