These are my favorite bands. You tell me your favorite active bands and artists, then we can either high five or make fun of each other, let’s be friends like that. No ties, if I see any ties, you’re grounded.
1. Relient K
2. Emery
3. House of Heroes
4. The Classic Crime
5. Children 18:3
6. Anberlin
7. The Wedding
8. Ruth
9. Write This Down
10. Abandon Kansas
Here are my favourite 10 bands/artists:
1. Newsboys
2. MercyMe
3. Britt Nicole
4. Natalie Grant
5. Matthew West
6. Chris Tomlin
7. Tim Hughes
8. Third Day
9. Building 429
10. Meredith Andrews
5 that missed out:
Tenth Avenue North
Jeremy Camp
Kerrie Roberts
Steven Curtis Chapman
Francesca Battistelli
My favorite 10 bands:
1. Pillar
2. Sent By Ravens
3. Disciple
4. Decyfer Down
5. The Letter Black
6. Thousand Foot Krutch
7. Wolves At The Gate
8. Red
9. tobyMac
10. The Wedding
Nice list! Mine is very alike.TFK goes in 1st place though! :p
Don’t know how I missed Wolves at the Gate and Sent By Ravens! Fantastic bands. (just saw SBR live a couple nights ago and they were INCREDIBLE!)
Yeah, but they’re not REALLY active right now, are they? They’re supposed to be going on an extended hiatus after that tour, no?
The show I saw this weekend was their next to last so I guess they’re officially inactive. Sad days…had no idea how awesome they were until I saw them live and met them in person.
We could be friends with that list. Excellent choices.
Tyler, only one band on here was a surprise – I’ll let you guess which one. The rest you give regular praise to, so I believe you. But where’s the Px?
Jonathan, are you talking Tait Newsboys at #1 or any era Boys? Minus the earliest records of course, boys just shouldn’t have been boyz back then. Nobody likes those albums!
I’m talking about the era between step up to the microphone til in the hands of god- peter furler’s era is hard to beat!
tait’s newsboys is ok too- new genre and different focus altogether, yet powerful music too nonetheless. but my favourite newsboys era would be from 1998-2009!
Good call man! Tho I’d say Going Public and Leader should also be included. Go and In The Hands of God had some great single songs, but as a whole, those albums left me wanting.
I preferred Furler….Tait doesn’t fie in al2gether DCtalk was his thing!
Here’s my list:
MercyMe
Third Day
Switchfoot
Britt Nicole
Natalie Grant
Tenth Avenue North
Building 429
Matthew West
Chris Tomlin
Barlowgirl
5 that missed out:
Michael W Smith
Francesca Battistelli
Meredith Andrews
Matt Redman
Paul Baloche
1. Children 18:3
2. Falling Up
3. Leigh Nash/Sixpence
4. Run Kid Run
5. Wedding
6. House Of Heroes
7. Manafest
8. Toby Mac
9. Fireflight
10. Skillet
8 – 10 can easily be changed around with the following groups depending on the day….
Switchfoot
Family Force 5
Capital Lights
Owl City
Red
Thousand Foot Krutch
1. tenth avenue north
2. building 429
3. Third Day
4. For King and Country
5. Needtobreathe
6. Anberlin
7. Toby mac
8. Rhett walker band
9. owl city
10. switchfoot
Top 11 “Christian” bands:
Falling Up
Anberlin
Relient K
Showbread
The Classic Crime
Emery
Josh Garrels
Mutemath
House of Heroes
Secret & Whisper
Switchfoot
No CCM artists for me.
I guess needtobreathe would be up in my list as well, forgot about them
Fantastic list! Love everyone single one of those artists!
1. Anberlin (always and forever)
2. House of Heroes
3. Relient K
4. Switchfoot
5. David Crowder*Band
6. Flyleaf
7. Thrice
8. Caedmon’s Call
9. The Classic Crime
10. As Cities Burn
Also mewithoutYou would typically be #3 or #4 on the list but left them off since not everyone considers them Christian. Also would have put Nickel Creek, but they’ve been inactive for a while and weren’t ever covered much by Christian media for some reason.
Other honorable mentions: Mae, Emery, Oh, Sleeper, Gungor, Future of Forestry, SONS, Deas Vail, Falling Up, My Epic, The Chariot, Owl City, Brooke Fraser, Fair, and Copeland.
And when I DO listen to secular music: Mew, Circa Survive, Manchester Orchestra, Death Cab, Imogen Heap, and John Mayer. That pretty much covers my music.
Surprised to see someone list Caedmon’s Call. I love them, although their last album didn’t do it for me.
I grew up on Caedmon’s. As for their latest album I really love parts of it. A few of the songs reminded me so much of 40 Acres and their self-titled. (my two favorite albums by them) But a few of the songs were very forgettable, and I wasn’t huge on Danielle Young taking vocals for half the record.
Sigur Ros
The American Dollar
Blindside
Project 86
Thrice
The Appleseed Cast
The Rocketboys
Moving Mountains
Mae
Pianos Become the Teeth
However, if we are going with just “Christian” bands, the list look different.
Blindside
Project 86
Thrice
Mae
Watashi Wa / Lakes
The Classic Crime
John Mark McMillan
Disciple
Ashes Remain
Your Memorial
In no particular order and what my favorites are right now (they change a alot)
1.The Wedding
2.Wolves at the Gate
3.Phinehas
4.Relient K
5.Anberlin
6.Emery
7.Theocracy
8.Haste the Day (always will be)
9.The Classic Crime
10.Blood and Water
Your cool points doubled for liking Blood and Water !
Mine would be:
1. Blood and Water
2. Jenny and Tyler
3. All Sons and Daughters
4. The Homecoming
5. Great Awakening
6. Jay Tholen
7. For King and Country
8. Jonathan Jones
9. B. Reith
10. Standing Small
(after the first three it really isn’t in order)
love your list
1 Thousand Foot Krutch
2 Wolves At The Gate
3 Children 18:3
4 RED
5 Oh Sleeper
6 FF5
7 Ashes Remain
8 Skillet
9 Lecrae
10 tobymac
I thought a little more about it so here is my improved list
1 Thousand Foot Krutch
2 Wolves At The Gate
3 Children 18:3
4 RED
5 Oh Sleeper
6 FF5
7 Nine Lashes
8 Ashes Remain
9 Skillet
10 Write This Down
Bands that missed: UnderOath, The Overseer, tobyMac, Lecrae,The Letter Black, Manafest, P86, and To Speak of Wolves
1. Switchfoot
2. Red
3. Relient K
4. House of Heroes
5. Caedmon’s Call
6. Chevelle
7. Skillet
8. Jimmy Eat World
9. Thousand Foot Krutch
10. Anberlin
Missing the cut: Owl City, Lifehouse, Yellowcard
Really tough to narrow it down to 10
1. Anberlin
2. Needtobreathe
3. Mat Kearney
4. Lecrae
5. Run Kid Run
6. House of Heroes
7. Divided By Friday
8. Relient K
9. Mae (RIP)
10. This Beautiful Republic (RIP)
I realize it said “active” bands, but I loved those last two bands too much to not include them on my list.
If This Beautiful Republic were still making music, they would probably be in my top bands. They made some great music.
1. Emery
2. Sleep For Sleepers
3. Project 86
4. Future Of Forestry
5. Sleeping Giant
6. Gungor
7. P.O.D.
8. Owl City
9. Life In Your Way
10. MewithoutYou
These bands were close:
For Today
Aaron Gillespie
I Am Alpha And Omega
Vocal Few
Disciple
Waking Ashland
LOVE your list man, except maybe children 18:3.. I’d probably throw in Switchfoot because their live show has made me cry 2 of 2 times I’ve seen them, which was awesome. then I’d switch out Ruth (Just because I don’t listen to them much) and WTD for Sent By Ravens (tear) and SONS. I usually don’t consider a band to be a “favorite” if they only have one album, but SONS “Keep Quiet” IS SO FREAKING AMAZING. Oh, and DEAS VAIL.
SBR isn’t “active”, sadly :-/
SONS at least did have an EP before their album, so that is two releases
I really like deas vail, i just can’t listen to them very much because they put me to sleep w/ their lullabies
Agreed about Keep Quiet! It is still currently my favorite album of the year. And ironically SBR and SONS are also the only two bands I’ve heard live this year. Good choices!
I Don’t have ten but….
1. Demon Hunter
2. Thousand Foot Krutch
3. Skillet
4. The Classic Crime
5. Red
6. Flyleaf
only six? are you new to the scene or you didnt think anyone else belonged on a favorites list? stick around here long enough and maybe we can find four more for ya
I feel really bad because I forgot Disciple, they would be my 3rd or 4th. I’ve been into Christian rock/metal for about a year now, so I know many bands. I just need to be more adventurous. Plus I’m bad at making lists.
1. Disciple
2. TFK
3. The Protest
4. Red
5. Family Force 5
6. Write This Down
7. Project 86
8. Skillet
9. Nine Lashes
10. Sent By Ravens (Rip)
1. Hawk Nelson (surprised they aren’t on anyone else’s lists…)
2. Sanctus Real
3. Newsboys (the Peter Fuller era, only)
4. Skillet
5. Kutless
6. Relient K
7. Jason Dunn (formerly of Hawk Nelson)
8. Stellar Kart
9. Switchfoot (The Legend of Chin through Nothing Is Sound)
10. Mercy Me (their old stuff mostly, although some of their new stuff is pretty good. Especially their newest album.)
1. Thousand Foot Krutch
2. FM Static
3. Oddball
4. Manafest.
5. Hawk Nelson
Oh, seems that in my top 5 there are only Canadian bands
I only have 1 favorite band and it’s Thousand Foot Krutch, i don’t need any other band TFK fills all i need in life!
Good luck with that!!
I like TFK a lot, but girl you be missing out on some great music.
My top 10:
1.Relient K
2.Deas Vail
3.Switchfoot
4.Mae
5.Brad Paisley
6.Young the Giant
7.House of Heroes
8.The Classic Crime
9.Anberlin
10.Run Kid Run
My Top 10 would be:
1. Switchfoot
2. Sanctus Real
3. Relient K
4. NEEDTOBREATHE
5. House of Heroes
6. for King and Country
7.Jon Foreman
8. Hawk Nelson
9. Kari Jobe
10. Chris Tomlin
Close to the top 10: Casting Crowns, Hillsong, Desperation Band, Fiction Family, FM Static, The Fray, Leeland, Newsong, Jeremy Camp, Tenth Avenue North, Rush of Fools, Planetshakers, Kutless, Lifehouse, and MercyMe.
Narrowing down my list to only include active bands and expanding my list to include metal bands:
Rock:
1. Relient K
2. House of Heroes
3. The Classic Crime
4. Project 86
5. Anberlin
6. Five Iron Frenzy
7. Ruth
8. Children 18:3
9. Sent By Ravens
10. Future of Forestry
Metal:
1. Demon Hunter
2. War of Ages
3. Norma Jean
4. The Chariot
5. Oh, Sleeper
6. August Burns Red
7. Underoath
8. Living Sacrifice
9. For Today
10. Sleeping Giant
War of Ages as #2? I must say that’s surprising.
The band that introduced me to Christian music and christian metal. They hold a special place on that list for that reason alone, despite not being very innovative.
wow no showbread? your avatar has been that “fear of god” avatar forever ha I thought for sure they would have showed up in your lists
In no particular order:
1. Future of Forestry
2. Mat Kearney
3. Sara Groves
4. Jason Gray
5. Switchfoot
6. David Crowder Band
7. Matthew Perryman Jones
8. House of Heroes
9. Elenowen
10. Phil Wickham
11. Audrey Assad
12. Trent Dabbs
Honorable Mention: The Gloomcatchers, Amy Stroup, Group 1 Crew, The Hawk in Paris, The Civil Wars, Heath McNease, Kye Kye, Esterlyn, Plumb, Seabird, Sarah MacIntosh, Act of Congress, Falling Up, FF5, Canopy Climbers
Tyler, your list is rather unsurprising. I’ve not listened to much of the Wedding, but I think they’re pretty good. Ruth’s the only one I don’t know, and all of those others are bands I’d consider the better non-heavy bands I listen to.
I will be a bit upsetting to you by saying that of those (outside of Ruth), Relient K is the one I like least. I’ve liked a few songs here and there, but I’ve just not gotten deeply into listening to them.
Now my list, which will differ from everyone else, as it often does, haha:
1. Underoath
2. Wolves at the Gate
3. The Devil Wears Prada
4. The Classic Crime
5. Switchfoot
6. Memphis May Fire
7. Anberlin
8. Oh, Sleeper
9. Demon Hunter
10. Write this Down
If Haste the Day was active, they’d be #2/3, just saying…I miss them.
Also, I didn’t really put a deep amount of though into this. It would probably be a bit different, outside of the top-4, if I put an hour into it.
at first i read that as uninspiring haha…i was wondering what kind of list would be inspiring haha…but no, for anyone who has read CMZ closely for long they probably have a pretty good idea of what I like
You didn’t find my list inspiring, Tyler?
oh it was very perspiring! wait, what?
Yes it was, Tyler! I put A LOT of hard work into that list. Thank you for noticing!
This will be hard, but here I go….
1. Relient K
2.House of Heroes
3.Deas Vail
4. Emery
5. Anberlin
6.MUTEMATH
7. Switchfoot
8.Owl City.
9. Mae
10. Built to be Broken.
I know Mae isn’t active.
So, I’ll replace them with Write this Down, I guess.
Bands that didn’t make it: Copeland, Wesley Blaylock, Attack Cat, Anchor & Braille, Capital Lights, Sent By Ravens, The Fray, Skillet, A Rotterdam November.
Ok this is hard but here it goes…
1) Anberlin
2) House of Heroes
3) Needtobreathe
4) Relient K
5) Switchfoot
6) Rend Collective Experiement
7) Shane and Shane
8) Abandon Kansas
9) Young Oceans
10) Chris August
Honorable Mentions: Project 86, TobyMac, Audrey Assad, 10th Ave. North, Jars of Clay
1. Paper Route
2. The Classic Crime
3. Anberlin
4. House of Heroes
5. Josh Garrels
6. Falling Up/The River Empires
7. SONS/Aaron Newberry
8. The Wedding
9. Youth Lagoon/My Paper Camera/Your Friend, Peter Giles
10. AsOfLate
Narrowly missed this list:
Fair
Wavorly
Sleep for Sleepers
sosaveme
The Rocketboys
The Lighthouse and the Whaler
This is the best I can do so here goes….
1. Switchfoot
2. Relient K
3. Anberlin
4. Haste The Day
5. The Classic Crime
6. Emery
7. Blood And Water
8. Underoath
9. August Burns Red
10. Thrice
(11, 12, and 13 would’ve been House Of Heroes, Oh, Sleeper, As Cites Burn.)
The new comment system messed with me. I left a reply to yours below.
Well, it’s supposed to be active bands, so Haste the Day doesn’t count, even if I agree wit you that they’re great. I don’t know Blood and Water, and I guess Thrice isn’t supposed to count from a hiatus, but I’m not sure how strict these rules are.
Regardless, I think that this is my favorite list outside of my own.
I knew about the active bands rule but I chose to make a exception for Haste The Day.
Thrice is technically on hiatus but they still have yet to put out their farewell Anthology live record so their not done quite yet. Blood and Water is a awesome pop punk band on Slospeak Records. If your into Relient K, Children 18:3, or Run Kid Run you’d love this band. Their record In Character is in a class of its own. One of the most perfect records I’ve ever heard.
I’m not big on Relient K (like a few songs), I like Children 18:3, and I haven’t ever listened much to Run Kid Run.
I’m listening to a few of Blood and Water’s songs from In Character now, and it’s OK. I’m just not crazy about the vocals. They just seem a bit bland.
Bland?…are you sure your listening to the right In Character…LOL
There was just nothing distinct about his voice. I don’t know…
Sir…take the cotton out of thine ears…
1. Red
2. Nine Lashes
3. Skillet
4. Thousand Foot Krutch
5. Lecrae
6. 12 Stones
7. Demon Hunter
8. Switchfoot
9. tobyMac
10. P.O.D.