I had never heard of Alice Cooper before, but I looked him up online and he actually had a pretty interesting life. The song Sister Sara that you put up and some of his other songs like Sweet Dreams that I'm listening to have, like you said, some pretty deep and emotional lyrics. His songs do have more of a story to them than alot of modern songs which just.........idk sometimes tend to be kind of shallow I guess.
I don't get really into the dark, screamo/heavy metal too much, but I do listen to it sometimes. I know some Christians say that some of those types of music are demonic and everything, but.....idk. I do really like P.O.D. I just have found that after a while of listening to the dark stuff I start feeling down and depressed, but I do know of people who absolutely love to listen to heavy metal or whatever all the time because it makes them feel better. That's neat you like music from the 60's and 70's though. I always find it interesting to listen to older music because the beats and styles were different then. I always liked music from the 90's like N Sync.
But yeah I'm kind of at a loss for words because I'm not really sure where I stand on alot of religious issues. I do believe in God, but................idk it's kind of complicated. I have tried to reject God in the past, but I always came back. I just could never honestly say that I didn't believe in God. So yeah I'm still trying to figure alot of stuff out in that area.
I don't mean to be nosy or anything, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to; but what happened and what things caused you to have so much anger?
Anyways, you've been really cool to talk to
Cooper didnt write Sweet Dreams. It was first performed by The Eurythmics in the 80s and then Manson made it popular again in the 90s with his cover version. Cooper shared the stage with Manson in 2007 during a performance of the song..which was kind of a legendary moment. Two completely different generations of shock rock legends sharing the stage...Amazing performance!
Yeah the music I was referring to from the 90s was definately different than maybe what you were thinking lol. I wasnt talking about bands like Nsync, Backstreet Boys, Britny Spears, etc... I meant bands like KoRn, Rob Zombie, Disturbed, Dope, NIN, Tool, Manson, Slipknot, etc.. I should have said 90s style rock/industrial. Not really pop.
I think there is a difference between "dark music" and "depressing" music. I don't like sad songs either. I realy don't understand why anyone would want to listen to it. I've actually kind of feel that way about some christians songs...it's not up beat and fun sounding, more about humility, meek, and sacrifice. I like self-empowering songs...I.E. "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister
About your religious problems...As I said, I sort of am the same way. I'll answer your question in the next paragraph, but right now I just wanted to ask/acknowledge something you said. And please, don't take this as being disrespectful, it's simply a question to maybe open your mind and view this topic in a different way. So here is my comment: You said you always ended up coming back to "God" knowing that he exists even when you tried to disbelieve in him. How are you certain it's the christian God? There has been a lot of "God's" throughout history. You've come to a point where you are certain something exists beyond us (humans), but why make the leap to Christianity? Had you been born in Iraq, there is a good chance you could have been raised Muslim. In which case that would be the religion you would be confused about. Anyway. My point was just that you should study your confusion away maybe? Read about everything. Don't settle on the one religion that was simply exposed to you from childhood. I'm about to buy the Book of Mormon just out of curiosity and interest in what mormons believe. I find religion fascinating. Which perhaps leads into what you asked me:
"I don't mean to be nosy or anything, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to; but what happened and what things caused you to have so much anger? "
Just out of curiosity, what did I say that lead you to believe that I have anger? Or that I am angry about anything? I don't lose sleep over anything
...Oh nevermind. I see the quote that you must be referring to. I said a few posts back that I used to have "pent up anger/hatred"
Well, I don't anymore. I mean, I still get frusterated and annoyed by certain aspects of Christianity. All religion actually. Not really one particular religion.
I was sort of abused and bullied by everyone in my christian grade school (including teachers). But I was really shy and naive back then and didnt really realize how badly mistreated I was. It was a small school and it was really all I ever known. I thought it was normal. Then I went to public highschool and had the time of my life! People treated me with respect. People were nice. I didnt do anything to deserve the way I was treated in grade school. It might sound kind of stupid, but bullying can REALLY have a major affect on children. They don't realize at the time how much inpact it can make on the victims life. But my life is forever changed. I have sort of an anxiety about school. It's actually quite sad. I really love learning. But I HATE school. They really screwed me up.
I could sit here and write pages and pages of stories....I could write a book on my life. I've had a really interesting one so far. But I won't take all your time up with that. So anyway, knowing what I said above, it's not unreasonable to see how a young teen would really rebel and just hate everything associated with these terrible people. Including religion. Most teens go through a rebellous phase. Nothing strange there.
BUT. Then I had an intelligence awakening. I researched A LOT of information on a lot of religions. I pretty much find them all to be a bit crazy. I see that no one can agree. And everyone thinks THEY are right. So much to the point of pretentiousness and...most religions promote the idea of peace, but they all kind of secretely, unconsciously hate eachother.
I'm generalizing of course. Not ALL religious people are bad. The ones that are don't even really know it. It's subconscious as I said....Even on this site, I notice the one thread on "Are Muslims Evil"? or something of that nature. A lot of christians hate muslims. And Jews. And every other religion because it does not lead to "Jesus Christ the Lord (insert more rehearsed memorized biblical phrases here)
Joseph Smith of the Mormons is the same way. And you have Mohammed. And countless of other ones.
Religious people tend to be so brainwashed by their own "morality" that they want to force feed it on others. Like the abortion debate. It's one thing to not believe in doing something...or if something is against your personal morals. That's fine. But what about people that disagree with you? Why force your opinion on other people?
Abortion, Stem Cell Research, etc... Again, this is not singling out christians...all relgions want to force it on other people...it's in the job description. You need to save as many souls as possible.
What about strip clubs? most religions think that is offensive or wrong. So lets shut down all the pornography sites and places. What is morality and where does it come from? Is it universal or is it subjective?
Of course it's subjective!!! Everyone had different standards of right and wrong anyway and no one can agree anyway, not to mention the effects of the times. Yesterdays bad guys are tomorrows hero's and vice versa.
I just think everyone is really confused and brainwashed and no one is educated. I really admire one who looks into multiple things. But most religious people are only of that faith because that is how they were raised and they never bothered to question it.
I see mass delusion and paranoia. I see superstition that of almost of middle ages standards! People saying avoid Halloween like the plague because it's evil! C'mon! You can make ANYTHING evil. Christmas is evil. What if some lunatic goes around killing people on christmas? You can make anything a bad thing, or a good thing. But there is a certain mass delusion as I said with many religious folk.
Muslims making women dress how they do. Snake charmers.
Some kid died in Japan not long ago from a failed exorcisms. They thought he was possessed and accidentally killed him! Religion has done a lot of sick things and it prevents the continuation of science. They think things like genetic engineering is of the devil. and cloning/etc...
I just notice a lot of insanity. WHen you really think abotu it all, it all defies rational thought and logic.
I'm not saying I have all the answers. I don't pretend to know how we got here. But I don't make up childrens fairy tale stories to describe how the universe started. I don't have to invent some creator, just because I don't have all the information yet to explain it. And maybe there is a creator? Ok...well, which one is right? Maybe we all have it wrong. There is just no proof of anything. Everyone is insane. I don't know what I believe. But I'm not naive anymore and I don't just believe something because someone says it's true. You have to look into everything. You can't blindly accept.
The last thing I'll say is just one more thing about bullying: I hope everyone who reads this listens. Don't pick on other kids. I don't care if you think they are weird. What makes you right? You have things that are weird about you too. Don't be mean to the "freaky kid" The one that you don't understand why he or she dresses the way they dress...believes what they believe....listens to music and watches different movies than you....Don't make fun of them. You could really ruin their lives. You could cause them all sorts of problems. Everyone is different and it's just really sad what happened to me.
I understand why the kids at the Columbine tragedy shot up the school. Honestly I was at a point where I almost did the same thing. I fantasized about it. I get it, ya know? Those boys were picked on every day. The kids they shot had it coming to them. I'm not saying that is right at all. Obviously, I never took my imagination to those levels or reality...But I know where they were coming from. If you are abused SOOO bad every day of your life and no one listens...and you beg them to stop and they just laugh at you. You come to a point where you just want to use force on them.
Don't make other peoples lives miserable just because of your own weaknesses, jealousies, and insecurities. I hate bullies. You don't have to like everyone. But just leave them alone then. Some people are really ignorant and really hurt people.