Music Archives - Page 5 of 23 - Jonathan's Blog From The Source

Moving from YOU SHOULD to SHOULD YOU?

Posted on: 05/13/14 5:00 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I’m working on a brand new Parenting Help article that will be featured on the front page of TheSource4Parents.com next week. I thought I’d give you, my blog subscribers, a first peek at it and throw me some feedback.

Which do you think is a more effective way to teach today’s young people how to make good decisions?

“You should do this.”

or…

“What do you think you should do?”

It’s funny how often parents, mentors, and youth pastors end up becoming the voice of “you should” or “you should not” in a young person’s life Continue reading “Moving from YOU SHOULD to SHOULD YOU?”

Posted in Music, Parenting, Youth Culture, Youth Ministry Planning | | Leave A Comment

The Lonely Road of Doing Whatever You Want

Posted on: 05/6/14 3:45 AM | by Jonathan McKee

The following is an excerpt from my new book, The Guy’s Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. This is just one of the 101 pieces of advice I offer to young guys in that book.

In the summer of 2013, Miley Cyrus came out with a song with the following lyrics:

It’s our party we can do what we want
It’s our party we can say what we want
It’s our party we can love who we want

Repeated throughout the chorus is the line:

Doing whatever we want

Wouldn’t that be nice? I guess it’s possible . . . as long as Continue reading “The Lonely Road of Doing Whatever You Want”

Posted in Books, Entertainment Media, Music, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

The Social Media Irony

Posted on: 04/24/14 3:20 AM | by Jonathan McKee

(and 5 Ideas to “Socialize”
the Socially Isolated)

In a world where 4 out of 5 teenagers are social media users, you’d think young people would be growing more… social?

Sadly, no.

In fact, most research is revealing quite the opposite. The reality is, the more time a young person spends dialoguing with people through screens, the fewer close friends they have, and the more difficult it becomes for them to actually communicate with people face to face.

Let’s break that down, and then I’ll provide 5 ideas to help you “socialize” a generation who have socially isolated themselves Continue reading “The Social Media Irony”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Internet, Jonathan's Rant, Movies, Music, Parenting, Smartphones/Cell Phones, Social Media, TV, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Grandma’s Read Beyonce Lyrics

Posted on: 03/19/14 3:36 AM | by Jonathan McKee

This is just too good for me to mess up with words. My friends over at Youth Culture Report tweeted me this. It’s three grandmas reading and commenting on the lyrics of Beyonce’s current hit song, Drunk In Love.

Classic!

(Warning… these grandmas got mouths on them)

(Click Here if you don’t see the embedded video)

Posted in Humor, Jonathan's Rant, Music, Sexuality, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Do You Really Want to Know?

Posted on: 03/5/14 3:30 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Do-You-Wanna-Know-the-Truth A teenager asked me about illegal downloading of music the other day, wondering if it was legal to turn YouTube videos into music.

“A friend of mine said he researched it and it was okay.”

The timing of her question was interesting, in a climate where I’ve witnessed countless ethical questions being answered with messy morality rooted in ignorance.

So my response to her was as follows Continue reading “Do You Really Want to Know?”

Posted in Faith, Jonathan's Rant, Music, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

These guys stuck out

Posted on: 03/3/14 10:06 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I speak at about 25 events a year. And in a world where most Christian events contain two elements—a band, and a speaker—I hear A LOT of worship bands.

Last weekend I heard a band that really stuck out.

Let me explain “stuck out.”

I was hosting and speaking at one of the eleven Youth Specialties Team Training events. This one was in Phoenix, and Kara Powell, Brian Aaby and I were the speakers. The doors hadn’t opened; four of us were Continue reading “These guys stuck out”

Posted in Music, Speaking/Training, Youth Ministry Planning | | Leave A Comment

Christmas Flash Mob

Posted on: 12/23/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Let’s be honest, sometimes during Christmas we get distracted by shopping, wrapping, cooking, working… and we don’t necessarily forget, but we don’t take time to just stop and soak in the true reason behind Christmas.

Shoppers at a mall in Redondo beach couldn’t help but stop and soak it all in when a flash mob took a moment to sing and acknowledge the King. Here’s a peek:

Great fun.

Here’s another flash mob at a Macy’s in Philly I posted a few years ago.

Merry Christmas!

Posted in Faith, Music | | Leave A Comment

Friends with the Monster

Posted on: 12/12/13 6:52 AM | by Jonathan McKee

How do young people deal with adversity today? Do they fight their demons, addictions and problems… or do they make friends with these monsters?

Young people are always searching for ways to cope. In their quest for answers, many turn to the poets whispering in their ears day and night. Two of those poets just rose to the top of the Billboard charts with their song about fighting “the monster.”

I’m referring to the new No 1 song, The Monster, from Emenim, featuring Rihanna. The song carved a slice of history for each artist on the music charts and is the 11^th song to go No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this year (as we outlined in our annual Youth Culture Window article about the top hits of 2013, reviewing all 11 of these songs).

But what answers do Eminem and Rihanna provide Continue reading “Friends with the Monster”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Music, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Rebecca Black’s Saturday

Posted on: 12/10/13 9:46 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Perhaps you finally purged Rebecca Black’s autotuned 2011 music video, Friday, from your memory. Sadly, the autotuning is back, because last weekend the now 16-year-old Black released her new music video apply titled Saturday, where she joins with YouTube personality Dave Days to endlessly barrage us with the lyrics:

It’s Saturday we goin party all night
One we will remember for the rest of our lives
This Saturday we goin do it bigger than we ever have before
I don’t want this Saturday to end

I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that the video starts like Katy Perry’s 2011 hit Last Friday Night (waking up hung over wondering what happened the night before), or that it ends like a PG version of Miley’s 2013 summer hit We Can’t Stop.

Take a peek for yourself Continue reading “Rebecca Black’s Saturday”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Internet, Jonathan's Rant, Music, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment