Check out my friend WesJanson's site for an extremely representative example of postmodern music.  (Watch the whole video clip.)

Western music progressed from the stately, ordered music of the chants, Baroque, and Classical, through the wild and reactionary Romantic era (as the "Enlightenment" philosophers increasingly rejected God in favor of autonomous humanism), to the even wilder and more reactionary Modern era (as the philosophers began to despair in the dark bleakness of atheism).   After the second World War and the Holocaust, as the shaken elite of the musical world began to try to react against Modernism and its sterile atonicity, there was only one direction to move (since without a transcendent foundation no positive statement of any kind could be formulated) -- ridicule of everything that came before.

Hence postmodern music seeks to elicit a response from its audience through novelty alone.  Novel sounds, novel instruments, using traditional instruments in novel ways... always trying to do the unexpected.  Making fun of everything that has come before.  'Everything is meaningless,' postmodernism claims.

(but that's only the 'under the sun' perspective...  willfully unaware of Him...)

How do you decide what is "good" music, worth listening to?  (or, opening the can of worms even more, how do you decide about "good art" or "good movies", etc?)  Do you have any principles, or do you just listen uncritically to whatever you "like"?

I am not an expert at this, though I'd like to become more discerning.   I tend to enjoy listening to most types of music, from classical to rock to rap and lots in between (though not so much "modernist"/atonal music, jazz, and some related foreign music - I am somewhat irritated by them, maybe by the false worldviews underlying them).  The only type of music I typically buy though (as opposed to e.g. receiving as Christmas gifts) is classical,... because there's just so much to choose from in the rock / ccm spectrum and I have a hard time just picking out a few best ones to buy.

I created a list of a few questions to ask about music before listening to it... (those of you who were in my sunday school class might find this list familiar..   This list is pretty basic and needs revision and/or expansion...  any thoughts?  What Scriptures are helpful to you?  (for movies/art also..?)

Does this song honor God and His ways?  I Corinthians 10:31
Does this song help me think about what is right and true?  Philippians 4:8, Romans 14:22-23
Does this song approve what God condemns, or condemn what God approves?  Proverbs 19:27
Do my parents approve of this song?  Colossians 3:20
Can I worship God with my mind and my understanding through this song?  I Corinthians 14:15
Will listening to this song be beneficial to the people around me as well as myself?  I Corinthians 8
Will listening to this song grieve the Holy Spirit who lives in me?  I Corinthians 6:19-20
Can I listen to this song in the name of the Lord Jesus?  Do the words of this song please Him?  Colossians 3:17, Ephesians 4:29
In a long conversation last night with a friend, I was attempting to delineate three axes or dimensions along which music can be rated - skill, lyric 'truthfulness', and the life example of the artist.  Any music that rates well in all of these areas can then be chosen based on personal taste...

Skill is pretty self-explanatory - is this a three-year old banging on the piano or a Jimi Hendrix or Paganini performing?  (or somewhere in between).

The life-example of the artist/composer is another interesting way to discern.  Would I refuse to support a Hendrix or a Benjamin Britten by buying their music, simply because of their lifestyle?  Or could that be separated / turned into a teaching tool?  Schubert's and Bach's music are both incredible, but their lifestyles were extremely different.  Might the latter's music be somehow "better" because of this?

Lyric "truthfulness" is the most important...   Do the words of the song portray the world "truly?"  Does the message it conveys correspond to the way the world actually is?

My conversation last night turned on whether it's ok to listen to songs that (as we both agreed) emphasize "the problem" rather than "the solution".  Songs that focus on the dark sinful pain that some people in the world are going through... the abused, the molested, the oppressed in genocidal conflicts, the depressed, the suicidal, etc.  And it would seem that the great majority of popular "secular" groups focus on these very issues.  Ostensibly they focus on the problems in order to stir up people to fix the problems.  But does this in fact work?

The same issues are relevant for art and movies.  How much "dirt" is appropriate to watch, for the "truth-value punch" obtained?  Someone once said (perhaps of Victor Hugo, who is a controversial example of these things) that the best artists/musicians/authors are the ones that portray the whole scope of the world with power and truth while using the least amount of "dirt" or titillation.  It's easy to pile up dark and sinful words/images that shock people; it takes far more skill to shock/move people without those words/images.

Last night we discussed Philippians 4:8 and its implications for the Christian: "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

How should we Christians apply this passage?  ...and specifically, does this bear on the type of music we ought to listen to?   By the way, as I've studied this passage, the meaning of the sentence seems to indicate that these adjectives are to be taken together, not singly.  So it's not saying that I can meditate on sinful thoughts as long as they're popular in society ("good repute"), or that I can meditate on atrocities all day long as long as they historically happened ("true").  Rather, my thought life should ascend all of these axes simultaneously.

In fact, the concept of what is "true" is extremely revealing.  What are the most representative "truths"/"true situations" about/in the world?  This reflects on the fundamental nature of reality.  Is the world actually pantheistic/panentheistic/atheistic?   If so, the only real question as the existentialists suggested is whether or not to commit suicide... and the groups which sing about sin and darkness and pain are fundamentally correct in their emphasis.

In fact, Ecclesiastes is very similar.
"Then I looked again at all the acts of oppression which were being done under the sun. And behold I saw the tears of the oppressed and that they had no one to comfort them; and on the side of their oppressors was power, but they had no one to comfort them.
So I congratulated the dead who are already dead more than the living who are still living.
But better off than both of them is the one who has never existed, who has never seen the evil activity that is done under the sun."  - Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

But on the other hand if the problem of evil is only temporary... if though evil is extremely real it is also in the process of being demolished forever by God (i.e. if the Christian/Biblical worldview is in fact true), if though "the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now", someday soon "the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God," well then!

In that case the fundamental nature of the world is (for those who BELIEVE in God) absolutely beautiful.  I think it was C.S. Lewis who wrote (I forget where) about the two types of stories - the "tragic" and the "comic", where the "tragic story" has a sad ending and the "comic story" has a happy ending.  The comic may be full of turmoil, but it still has the ending of joy... and vice versa for the tragic.  Our world is absolutely rent with pain and tears, but for those* of us who have been saved / adopted-into-God's-family, joy is now our deepest and most proper noetic stratum.

If in fact the Hero has stepped into the story and begun his awesome work of redeeming and restoring ("his sheep" John 10:26-27 and somehow "all things" Col. 1:19-20... there are depths upon depths here), then the deepest and most fundamental truth is redemption... the fact that God is literally redeeming people.  Now.   And the most fundamentally "true" songs are the ones that point to / ascribe-glory-to  that Hero.  To emphasize anything else or anyone else would be not only wrong, but pathetic.

Now let's say a Christian Contemporary singer gets up and sings about God's wonderful love and redemption.  There are gazillions of people (e.g. my friend from last night) who will be instantly "turned off" by that, because they interpret the song as "ignoring"/"overlooking" the depths of darkness and pain that many throughout the world are going through.  These people say they want to "dig deeper" - beyond the "platitudes of happy niceness" into the dark and dirty depths of the gritty/real/actual world.  So they say.

But I'm suggesting that they are fundamentally mistaken - they are actually not "digging deep enough"... because the people who suggest this are fundamentally buying into the atheistic mindset (whether they are Christians or not)... they are suggesting that "this world is all there is"... they are neglecting the Hero Himself and putting too much emphasis on the background/setting of His deeds.
Anyway...     what do you think?
I am looking forward to hearing the perspectives (and even the music - please read these links) of persecuted Christians throughout the world as I grow older...  Surely of all people, these dear souls cannot be accused of glossing over the dark grittiness of the world in favor of Christian platitudes.  Whatever truths have gotten them through the refining fire are obviously not platitudes.

Interesting historical glimpse... Johann Sebastian Bach's acceptance letter for the Leipsig Thomas-Schule Cantor position, with my comment below...

May 5 1723

Whereas the Honorable and Most Wise Council of this Town of Leipzig have engaged me as Cantor of the Thomas-Schule and have desired an undertaking from me in respect to the following points, to wit:

(1) That I shall set the boys a shining example of an honest, retiring manner of life, serve the School industriously, and instruct the boys conscientiously;

(2) Bring the music in both the principal Churches of this town into good estate, to the best of my ability;

(3) Show to the Honorable and Most Wise Council all proper respect and obedience, and protect and further everywhere as best I may its honor and reputation; likewise if a gentleman of the Council desires the boys for a musical occasion unhesitatingly provide him with same, but otherwise never permit them to go out of town to funerals or weddings without the previous knowledge and consent of the Burgomaster and Honorable Directors of the School currently in office;

(4) Give due obedience to the Honorable Inspectors and Directors of the School in each and every instruction which the same shall issue in the name of the Honorable and Most Wise Council;

(5) Not take any boys into the School who have not already laid a foundation in music, or are not at least suited to being instructed therein, nor do the same without the previous knowledge and consent of the Honorable Inspectors and Directors;

(6) So that the Churches may not have to be put to unnecessary expense, faithfully instruct the boys not only in vocal but also in instrumental music;

(7) In order to preserve the good order in the Churches, so arrange the music that it shall not last too long, and shall be of such nature as not to make an operatic impression, but rather incite the listeners to devotion;

(8) Provide the New Church with good scholars;

(9) Treat the boys in a friendly manner and with caution, but, in case they do not wish to obey, chastise them with moderation, or report them to the proper place;

(10) Faithfully attend to the instruction in the School and whatever else it befits me to do;

(11) And if I cannot undertake this myself, arrange that it be done by some other capable person without expense to the Honorable and Most Wise Council or the School;

(12) Not go out of town without the permission of the Honorable Burgomaster currently in office;

(13) Always so far as possible walk with the boys at funerals, as is customary;

(14) And shall not accept or wish to accept any office in the University without the consent of the Honorable and Learned Council;

Now therefore I do hereby undertake and bind myself faithfully to observe all of the said requirements, and on pain of losing my post not to act contrary to them, in witness whereof I have set my hand and seal to this agreement.

Johann Sebastian Bach, Leipzig, May 5, 1723

Bach's desire and promise (well-fulfilled!) to compose music "not to make an operatic impression, but rather incite the listeners to devotion" is the perfect ideal for Christians today as well...!    Our goal ought to be to exalt Christ, and to minimize attention to ourselves...   to "incite the listeners" to meditate on Christ, pray to Him, tell Him of their gratitude, and worship Him...