The Master List – Need Suggestions!
I’m putting together a list of modern songs that mention Jesus, God or Biblical themes. They have to be by artists who release their work in the secular music world (ie not songs that you can only buy at your local Christian bookshop). The aim is to have one big list that people can go to when looking for secular songs about Jesus etc. It’s also one big list of article ideas for me. The song doesn’t have to revolve around Jesus – a single mention will do.
Here’s what I’ve got so far:
Jesus
- Tori Amos – Mrs Jesus
- Black Grape – Kelly’s Heroes
- Cake – Jesus Wrote A Blank Check
- Leonard Cohen – Suzanne
- Depeche Mode – Personal Jesus
- Eve 6 – Jesus Nitelite
- Everlast – Black Jesus
- Ben Folds – Jesusland
- Ben Folds – Not the Same
- Frenzal Rhomb – Jesus
- Fuel – Jesus or a Gun
- Greenday – Jesus of Suburbia
- Incubus – Megalomaniac
- Kanye West – Jesus Walks
- The Killers – When You Were Young
- King Missile – Jesus Was Way Cool
- MGF – Summer
- Smashing Pumpkins – Bullet With Butterfly Wings
- Ray Stevens – Would Jesus Wear a Rolex
- System of a Down – Chop Suey
- TISM – Honk If You Love Fred Durst
- Tool – Muhammad My Friend
- Tool – Sober
- Velvet Underground – Jesus
God
- Bon Jovi – God
- David Bowie – Modern Love
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Into My Arms
- Alice Cooper – Disgrace Land
- Alice Cooper – I Just Wanna Be God
- Alice Cooper – It’s Much Too Late
- Cowboy Mouth – God Makes The Rain
- Crash Test Dummies – God Shuffled His Feet
- Janis Joplin – Mercedes Benz
- KISS – God Gave Rock and Roll To You
- Randy Newman – God’s Song (That’s Why I Love Mankind)
- Nine Inch Nails – Capital G
- Joan Osborne – What If God Was One Of Us?
- Pink – God is a DJ
- Prince – My Name Is Prince
- Smashing Pumpkins – Zero
- TISM – Honk If You Love Fred Durst
- XTC – Dear God
Biblical Themes
- ACDC – Hells Bells
- Bryan Adams – Heaven
- Alanis Morrissette – Forgiven
- Bad Religion – Better Off Dead
- Belinda Carlisle – Heaven is a Place on Earth
- Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah
- Alice Cooper – Brutal Planet
- Alice Cooper – Cleansed by Fire
- Alice Cooper – Gimme
- Alice Cooper – Nothing’s Free
- Alice Cooper – Vengeance Is Mine
- Alice Cooper – You’re My Temptation
- The Beatles – Let It Be
- Blue Beats – In Heaven There Is No Beer
- Cake – Sheep Go To Heaven
- Crash Test Dummies – MMM MMM MMM MMM
- Green Day – Church on Sunday
- Hooters – All You Zombies
- Billy Joel – Only The Good Die Young
- K’s Choice – Something’s Wrong
- John Lennon – Imagine
- Living End – Raise The Alarm
- Madonna – Like A Prayer
- Mamas & The Papas – California Dreamin’
- Matisyahu – Refuge
- MC Lars – The Roommate From Hell
- Meatloaf – Original Sin
- Mighty Mighty Bosstones – Holy Smoke
- NOFX – Happy Guy
- NOFX – No Fun in Fundamentalism
- Heather Nova & Graeme Revell – Believe In Angels
- The Offspring – Mission From God
- OPM – Heaven Is A Half Pipe
- Pixies – Monkeys Gone To Heaven
- Smashing Pumpkins – Cherub Rock
- Smashing Pumpkins – Today
- Stabbing Westward – Save Yourself
- TISM – !UOY SEVOL NATAS
- U2 – Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
- U2 – The Wanderer
- Ugly Kid Joe – Goddamn Devil
- Urthboy – Hellsong
- Vandals – People That Are Going To Hell
Pop Culture Christ 
Jesus:
Ben Folds – Jesusland
Black Grape – Kelly’s Heroes
Leonard Cohen – Suzanne
Ray Stevens – Would Jesus Wear a Rolex?
God-
Cowboy Mouth – God makes the Rain
David Bowie – Modern Love
Randy Newman – God’s Song (that’s why I love mankind)
XTC-Dear God
Biblical Themes
Alanis Morrissette – Forgiven
Billy Joel – Only the Good Die Young
Green Day – Church on Sunday
Leonard Cohen – Halleluiah
Mighty Mighty Bosstones – Holy Smoke
NOFX – Happy Guy
Thanks Dreadful Rauw. I’ve only heard of a couple of them. I’ve got me some listening to do.
I’m surprised you don’t have more U2 on that list;
40, Pride, In God’s Country, Peace on Earth, and about half the songs on the album Pop.
INXS did God’s Top Ten and Devil Inside. There was a song on their album Shabooh Shabbah that might make your list, but I’m away from my CD collection right now.
Tori Amos has a song titled God. Then there’s Oh Happy Day, which has been performed by various people.
John Coltrane’s album A Love Supreme is entirely about God, but it doesn’t have lyrics, so nothing is mentioned explicitly. I don’t know if you would want that on your list or not. It is one of the great jazz albums of all time, known and available all over the secular music world, yet overtly spiritual.
Johnny Cash has too many God songs to list, but here’s a place to start: http://tinyurl.com/o5qkab
Thanks Alamanach.
I’m not a huge U2 fan, so most of those songs missed me completely.
I’ll have a look at them all and add them to the list.