As a missionary there are strict rules about listening to music, and my mission president was particularly concerned with rules. I had a CD of hymns that were performed by someone other than the Mormon Tabernacle choir (instrumental, if I remember correctly, give to me by my sister as a parting gift). Our region's conversion numbers were not good, which the president attributed to sin. An apostle had visited the mission earlier the year and promised if we were 100% obedient our numbers would double. They did not, ergo, there was a disobedience problem.
The president went on a tour of 1:1 interviews asking for confessions. I admitted to the CD which he asked me to destroy. I heard from missionaries in the next area he used that as an example of disobedience, lol.
Anyway, one exception to the music rule was that we could spend 1 hour a week perusing the I'm a Mormon Campaign, which we were using as a tool. This featured 5 minute clips of various Mormons, including Brandon Flowers. Every week I began that hour listening to his testimony to the tune of Crossfire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PF0h7oqUEQ
Earlier, when I was something like 12, one of the first songs I pirated was "Mr Brightside" which I would guiltily listen to (there were also strict mores about music at home). Panic at the Disco was another favorite. It's strange how, from the beginning, I gravitated to a particular Mormon rebellion. They spoke to me on a very deep level.
Still, even after leaving the Church, there are few songs that move me as much as Brandon Flower's adaptations of Mormonism. Part of this has come with experience. When leaving the Church it seems like all the world's problems are due to religion. Then you integrate into the world and find that most of the problems with Mormonism are in fact problems with humans and they have found a functional, if quixotic and bureaucratic, equilibrium.
As a missionary there are strict rules about listening to music, and my mission president was particularly concerned with rules. I had a CD of hymns that were performed by someone other than the Mormon Tabernacle choir (instrumental, if I remember correctly, give to me by my sister as a parting gift). Our region's conversion numbers were not good, which the president attributed to sin. An apostle had visited the mission earlier the year and promised if we were 100% obedient our numbers would double. They did not, ergo, there was a disobedience problem.
The president went on a tour of 1:1 interviews asking for confessions. I admitted to the CD which he asked me to destroy. I heard from missionaries in the next area he used that as an example of disobedience, lol.
Anyway, one exception to the music rule was that we could spend 1 hour a week perusing the I'm a Mormon Campaign, which we were using as a tool. This featured 5 minute clips of various Mormons, including Brandon Flowers. Every week I began that hour listening to his testimony to the tune of Crossfire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PF0h7oqUEQ
Earlier, when I was something like 12, one of the first songs I pirated was "Mr Brightside" which I would guiltily listen to (there were also strict mores about music at home). Panic at the Disco was another favorite. It's strange how, from the beginning, I gravitated to a particular Mormon rebellion. They spoke to me on a very deep level.
Still, even after leaving the Church, there are few songs that move me as much as Brandon Flower's adaptations of Mormonism. Part of this has come with experience. When leaving the Church it seems like all the world's problems are due to religion. Then you integrate into the world and find that most of the problems with Mormonism are in fact problems with humans and they have found a functional, if quixotic and bureaucratic, equilibrium.