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That one and John Lennon - Imagine, I think are the pinnacle of great atheist songs.
And the great, NIN - Heresy, but that's more of a Nietzsche type commentary, or rather a commentary about how God is dead because we all act like awful people to each other all the time. (Drowning in his own hypocrisy...)
Anything by Bad Religion?
Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet... while not exactly scathing, may be in this category.
That song from Life of Brian...
Probably lots of other good ones I'm forgetting.
Other than that, I guess a "humanist" song, is just one that encourages people to be good to each other. Lots of Bob Marley stuff, I guess! James Taylor, maybe?
I was always a big NIN fan...well, from the time my friend gave me a burned copy of 'Pretty Hate Machine' late in high school. 'The Downward Spiral' is even better...my favorite track off that album is 'The Becoming'. 'Heresy' and 'Mr Self Destruct' are the two songs on that album that come to mind in terms of containing anti-religious lyrics. You referenced a Trent Reznor interview upthread...when I was college-age, I'd scour the 'net for Trent interviews, because I found the guy extremely thoughtful, interesting, and often funny. NIN fell off after 'The Fragile' (it's likely not a coincidence that Trent got clean around that time...the drugs were likely helping to fuel both the angst and the creativity), but I'll always consider him/them one of my favorite bands.
I'll contribute songs I like with an atheistic/humanistic bent at a later time...half the catalog of The Flaming Lips might be a decent place to start, heh. Saw The Flaming Lips play a festival around this time last year, and as I looked around at the many non-fan festivalgoers around me (most of these people had passes for the entire weekend, whereas I'd bought a single-day ticket specifically to see The Flaming Lips close out the weekend), I thought to myself that I may have been the only one actually enjoying Wayne Coyne's brand of lyrical existentialism (I had my fair share of IPAs during their set, so my recall may not be the most reliable here, but I do not believe that they played their song 'Enthusiasm For Life Defeats Existential Fear', heh)
It would be negligent if I didn't edit this to add that 'Do You Realize?' by The Flaming Lips is the single greatest 'humanistic affirmation of life' song I've ever heard.
Last edited by Matt Marcinkiewicz; 09-14-2023 at 09:36 AM..
That one and John Lennon - Imagine, I think are the pinnacle of great atheist songs.
And the great, NIN - Heresy, but that's more of a Nietzsche type commentary, or rather a commentary about how God is dead because we all act like awful people to each other all the time. (Drowning in his own hypocrisy...)
Anything by Bad Religion?
Crash Test Dummies - God Shuffled His Feet... while not exactly scathing, may be in this category.
That song from Life of Brian...
Probably lots of other good ones I'm forgetting.
Other than that, I guess a "humanist" song, is just one that encourages people to be good to each other. Lots of Bob Marley stuff, I guess! James Taylor, maybe?
I looked up the original video for Dear God and it was awesome so thanks for reminding us of that song.
Opiate by Tool was a fun, extremely unsubtle song that I discovered via Napster or Kazaa when I was still a believer. It offended me a bit at the time (although it didn't detract from the overall sense of reverence I felt for Tool, who were probably my favorite band in late high school...it was between them and Alice In Chains), but I had no real way of foreseeing then that I'd be an atheist within a few years.
Opiate by Tool was a fun, extremely unsubtle song that I discovered via Napster or Kazaa when I was still a believer. It offended me a bit at the time (although it didn't detract from the overall sense of reverence I felt for Tool, who were probably my favorite band in late high school...it was between them and Alice In Chains), but I had no real way of foreseeing then that I'd be an atheist within a few years.
My buddy and I have tickets next month at the Tacoma Dome! So excited for that. Will be my first time seeing TOOL. I've been a big fan of them since that incredible album came out in 1996.
I was always a big NIN fan...well, from the time my friend gave me a burned copy of 'Pretty Hate Machine' late in high school. 'The Downward Spiral' is even better...my favorite track off that album is 'The Becoming'. 'Heresy' and 'Mr Self Destruct' are the two songs on that album that come to mind in terms of containing anti-religious lyrics. You referenced a Trent Reznor interview upthread...when I was college-age, I'd scour the 'net for Trent interviews, because I found the guy extremely thoughtful, interesting, and often funny. NIN fell off after 'The Fragile' (it's likely not a coincidence that Trent got clean around that time...the drugs were likely helping to fuel both the angst and the creativity), but I'll always consider him/them one of my favorite bands.
Completely agree. I've seen them 5 times over the course of the years and various tours. He's always been my personal hero of heroes of heroes.
I like all his new stuff since getting clean/healthy/relatively happy/married/father, but yes, it's not as good as the 1990's utter genius masterpieces of inner emotions that he meticulously crafted like no other can. I love his sense of melody and everything.
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