Hill Song and U2 - Is there a connection?

I was just talking to my daughter yesterday about the new U2 Album, Songs of Innocence, while we were on the car, listening to it.

Nathalie made a very interesting observation. She said, "they sound like the Christian songs that we sing at church". Yes, at our church, we sing HillSong songs.

Today, I find that there's already an article written about my daughter's observation. Get Religion reports:

The sound has evolved over the decades, but is now sometimes compared to U2’s. Tom Wagner, an ethnomusicologist at the University of Edinburgh, said Hillsong’s music was characterised by rich orchestration, but simple harmonies, and was often regarded by listeners as “spiritually anointed.”

“They’re very good at writing songs that are catchy,” Mr. Wagner said. “They know what works.”

The concern is that they are packing their services just to serve a youth culture, and not the whole church over all, which is in tune with today's culture of consumerism, which targets the young, and does not pay much attention to the rest of the community.

Ed Stetzer and Albert Mohler also have a go at HillSong:

But its critics, and there are many, deride Hillsong as hipster Christianity, suggesting that its theology is thin, its enthusiasm for celebrities (Justin Bieber is among its fans) unbecoming, its politics (opposition to abortion and a murky position on homosexuality) opaque.

“It’s a prosperity movement for the millennials, in which the polyester and middle-class associations of Oral Roberts have given way to ripped jeans and sophisticated rock music,” said R. Albert Mohler Jr., the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “What has made Hillsong distinctive is a minimization of the actual content of the Gospel, and a far more diffuse presentation of spirituality.”

I am bit surprised that after Victoria Osteen's debacle, I have noticed that more scrutiny is given to prosperity Gospel preachers. Hopefully, these Prosperity-Thin Gospel proponents will lend an ear and change their ways, and make Jesus the center of their Gospel.

In the meantime, I am enjoying U2's latest album.