[american colleen]

I can honestly say that I learnt more of the four last things (DEATH, JUDGEMENT, HEAVEN AND HELL) from the rock music of the period than I did from any of the "Christian formation" classes.

LOL! Me too! Graduated Catholic HS in '77. I know exactly what you mean (Stairway to Heaven, Don't fear the Reaper, Adam raised a Cain, Rock me on the water, The Pretender, etc. etc.).

[BlackVeil]

"Graduated Catholic HS in '77." Smile. I too finished school that year, although I was in the state system for the last two years. What an era, eh? Our elders trying to be in fashion, and only succeeding in making themselves look dated. All that "you are a special person" religious education texts. And the endless, endless list of liturgical changes. I thought it would stop in the 1980s, but it didn't. For me, the LAST STRAW was this 90s thing of putting the Blessed Sacrament to one side.

Great list of songs! I would add Lou Reed's Heroin - descent into hell - a touch of John Milton. "... a man cannot be free, of all the evils of this town, or of himself ... "

[Aquinasfan]

There's some bad stuff in there too.

Stairway to Heaven- "When all is one and one is all" is simple Hindu monism. OK, I like the song too.

Don't fear the Reaper- The symbol for Blue Oyster Cult is an upside down question mark with a slash through it. This is an occult symbol called "The Cross of Confusion" which represents the questioning of Jesus' divinity. Didn't like the song that much either.