Man, I sure do. Family Force 5 music is such a mish-mash of styles. I’ll call it “Linkin Park meets Rob Zombie meets Marilyn Manson meets Flock of Seagulls. Crazy, right?
Truth is, it’s mostly hard, guitar heavy and screaming, but it’s sprinkled with breakdowns and segues reminiscent of Mr. Bungle, Queen and Fischerspooner.
I was actually looking for Christian Rock that a friend’s teenage son would like. I found stuff like Nevertheless, Kids In The Way, Skillet, Hawk Nelson and Family Force 5. My favorite from this group is FF5.
These guys are crazy, irreverent and look like they are having a great time. Their Wiki page says three of the members are brothers and call this type of music “crunk”. I guess it’s some sort of mix of rap and screaming…whatever.
As far as Christian content in their lyrics, you ‘re gonna have to listen with Christian ears. What I mean by that is that they are Christians, but it’s not worship music. Their worldview is a Christian one, so the lyrics are not going to be about sex and drugs and partying…well, maybe they do. P.O.D. is similar in this way…they don’t sing about Jesus, but they love Him.
Check out these lyrics from their song “Never Let Me Go”:
But time don’t phase me, not a bit
Cuz i give mine to you, all of it
Death can’t shake me, from ya hand
Me minus you equals, not a chance
It’s good to know that, when i go
You’ll never ever let me go[chorus]
I want some face to face
Just gimme that full embrace
What did i hear you say?
That you will never ever let me go
When it’s my time to go
I know one thing fo’ sho’
That you will never ever let me go
Lyrics from “Face Down”:
I’m on my face again
It’s where i should have been
Brings me back to where i found you
Where i first fell for you
No more depending on myself
It’s you and me and no one else
You stretch out your hand
And now it feels like i am falling into
Love, love, love
Can’t get enough of love[chorus]
Falling with my face down
Giving up me, myself, and i
A bitter sweet taste to swallow my pride now
Face down where i stay now
If you see me standing up again
Just knock me back down so i can live face down
Lyrics from “Love You To Death”:
I put my money where my mouth is
Sure i’d give it up, even the showbiz
Just to prove what you mean to me
Ur real to me, oww, oww, oww,
I love you to death
You know i’ll always love you the same
It’s true that’ll never change
Cause i’m ah a a a a a a a a allllll about ya
You know ill never live a second without ya
Lyrics from “Replace Me”:
Desperation
Needing U
Every last breath
I scream for you
Shatter me into a million pieces…Make me new
Crush me, tear me, break me, mold me
Make me what U want me to be
I am ur’s for U to use
Oh, Take and Replace me with U
Good stuff. Now, not all their lyrics are like these that I picked out, but the music is fun.
Maybe some day they’ll come to my town.
This video here is their music video for “Love Addict” which borders on secular, except it’s about “love” not “booty” or something crazy. It’s still cool music.
See ya.
jorge
Filed under: christian, cornerstone, family, jesus, music, review, rock | Tagged: christian, crunk, family force 5, jesus, love addict, rock
The Love addict video seems very suggestive sexually, with all the youth that are getting sucked into porn, why use such blant visual stlmlus. This seems as a very poor choice for hoping to change someones world view towards God.
If creativity just copies the world and its lust, i don’t think this is God heart. wow , how diappointing…
What am i missing here?
I agree, but it was the only high quality video I could find. The song itself is fairly suggestive too. Notice I did not quote any lyrics from that song.
I’m assuming they did this video in like manner of videos that are out there…I have no idea.
Here’s what one of them said in an interview for InsideVandy (http://www.insidevandy.com/drupal/node/3516):
Chapstick: As far as the clean stuff goes-we’re not a band that is aiming to do things in a very safe manner. We just do what we do and the fact of the matter is that it’s clean. So our goal isn’t to avoid stepping on toes, or to avoid offending anybody. We do FF5 and clean is an aspect of it. We strive to be like Christ as much as we can in our daily lives, but we know that we mess up just as much as anybody else.
“Doctor, Doctor, I’ve got an emergency
It seems I’m head over heels, a case of L-O-V-E
It’s like I’m glowing inside
Yeah, a light I can’t hide
And if this feeling is bad then I don’t wanna be right
What I’ve got in my soul gives me the highest delight
Oh yeah it’s better than drugs
In fact it’s sent from above, huh huh” — “Love Addict”
While I am not into the almost neo-1980’s look of the video, I rather thought the song was a good bit of fun. I checked out the lyrics, and thought them nothing to worry about. When taken in context of the first verse, it is pretty clear that they are singing about the love of Jesus. “A light I can’t hide” and “it’s sent from above” both allude to the love of God.
This is not to belittle comments about the scantily clad girls in the video itself, which I think are quite valid points. These points aside, I thought it was on alright song. Would I run out today and buy it? Probably not. But, an interesting song and certainly one worth talking about in terms of Christian music and the ethics that drives the marketing machine behind it.
I am not into the almost neo-1980’s look of the video, I rather thought the song was a good bit of fun. I checked out the lyrics, and thought them nothing to worry about. When taken in context of the first verse, it is pretty clear that they are singing about the love of Jesus 70-291 – 70-642