Christian rock legend John Cooper: Music belongs to God

Christian rock icon John Cooper is pushing back hard against the notion that heavy metal or hard rock music is automatically evil. He tells Fox News Digital that anyone claiming this view is simply getting the gospel wrong. "I just think that you're misunderstanding something very basic," he says with conviction. "Music does not belong to the devil. Music belongs to God." According to Cooper, the issue isn't the sound itself but rather what we do with it and the heart posture behind it. It comes down to the lyrics and intentionality.

"I would just say to those Christians, you're not just getting the issue of music wrong," he insists. "I would say you're getting the gospel wrong." He admits that no style of music carries inherent evil in itself. "I just don't think that that's right," he says plainly. God gave humanity creative expression, and denying that is a mistake.

The stakes feel higher now because Skillet, the band Cooper co-founded back in the '90s, recently hit a massive milestone. Their 2009 hit "Monster" became the first song by a Christian rock group to reach one billion streams on Spotify. Everyone was shocked by that number. The band has sold over 23 million albums and draws an average of 12 million monthly listeners on the platform, with "Monster" alone surpassing four billion global streams.

Cooper explains this freedom through theology. Christians believe God created us in His image. Part of that means He gave every single human being the ability to create something beautiful, just like Him. Writing a song is an amazing gift of freedom given to all humanity. It is up to each person how they choose to use it. That power is tremendous.

He refuses to accept the idea that rock music sounds pagan simply because of its volume or distortion. "I just can't be down with that," he states. He warns critics that something can sound incredibly beautiful while still offending God if its lyrics or intention are wrong. If the devil wanted to fool people, Cooper suggests it would look different than what we fear today. The devil might create something really nice and pretty on the surface, then insert a subversive message underneath that poisons the well like a siren song. You think you hear beauty, but it is drawing you toward your death. That is probably how deception works.

Cooper grew up in a home where his parents believed rock music was demonic. His mother very much thought loud guitars and drum beats were Satanic, coming straight from hell. She saw Christian rock as the devil's tool. He calls her wonderful despite those beliefs because he never speaks ill of his mom. That is just who she was. He grew up wrestling with that mentality. It shaped how he talks to people today. He hopes his words are gracious toward those holding similar views. He does not hate them, and he is not mad at them, but he definitely grew up in a household like that.

So I'm very familiar with it," Cooper said when asked about the backlash facing his band. Demonstrators have shown up outside concerts recently, shouting that the group are "servants of the devil." He simply doesn't talk to them. Why? Because he knows nothing he says will change their minds.

"And I also know that they believe that they are loving me," Cooper explained, describing their hostility as a twisted form of care. "They believe they're loving people to warn them of Satan's tools, and I just got to go, 'I don't know, there's something about that I strangely appreciate, and I know I can't change their minds and so I don't try.'"

The success of the track "Monster" remains hard to pin down. Is it the lyrics? The music? Cooper admits he cannot say for sure. Yet, he always meets kids who adore the song. "I think that they like the idea of feeling like a monster," he noted. It grabs their attention immediately.

Most teenagers, especially teenage males flooding with testosterone at 14 or 15, are likely finding themselves angry without knowing why. They stay up all night and really feel like a monster. The song resonates because people can relate to it. It rocks. It is a very, it's a simple song. There's not much reason not to like it.

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