http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=et9I11JCqgE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO_Phl9XCHg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQAPMRpNoe8&feature=related
Just thought I’d round out the thread with a couple of examples of what everyone seems to agree that they hate.
Except, evidently, me. I like it.
Nobody's saying they HATE that sort of music. "Hate" is way too strong a word. I personally dislike most pop melody because it is banal, dull, and repetitive. (Note that in the first cut you posted, the singer repeats the same descending and returning three-note major scale five or six times, relieved only by pausing on one of the notes for awhile. Q.E.D.)
But anybody is free to listen to anything they like on their own time. Lots of people like 'Christian Rock/Pop' and there's plenty of room in the musical world for different tastes.
The point here is that pop music, with its commercial associations, is wholly inappropriate for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Read Pope Benedict's essay for the reasons why.
And because of its commercial appeal and superficial 'hook', in some Catholic parishes it has completely shoved out the appropriate music, probably on a principle like that of Gresham's Law (bad money drives out good). Selling their birthright of beautiful and appropriate music for a mess of pottage.
A thought just occurred to me: This is not to say that pop music cannot form the basis of liturgical music. Listen, if you will, to this pair --
This is a popular tune of the fifteenth century - L'homme armé - The Armed Man. The words are a bit repetitive and so is the tune, although it's a little catchier than a three-note major scale -
The man, the man, the armed man,
The armed man
The armed man should be feared, should be feared.
Everywhere it has been proclaimed
That each man shall arm himself
With a coat of iron mail.
Composers of liturgical music took this popular tune and worked it into something quite beautiful. Probably the first one to do it was Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474) but it was used by lots of folks, including Palestrina.
Guillaume Dufay: Missa l'homme arme - Kyrie
If you listen carefully, you can hear the tune, but it's been transformed and glorified (at one point the tenors are singing it backwards). It's like the grain of wheat - being sowed a physical body, it becomes a spiritual body.