Why do some folks consider it wrong to listen to secular music

I guess every music fan has to bring up music every once in a while. I have talked about this issue I have with folks telling me that they do not listen to secular music for this particular reason. They usually cite the view that since music connects you with someone’s inner soul or essence because they pour their passion and soul into making music, it is not appropriate for us Jews to listen to it and connect to non-Jews. I have heard this argument in many different forms, but it is almost always used to justify a newly minted BT’s theory of why Jewish music is inherently good for the soul and secular music is bad.

I have a few contentions with this argument. First of all, how can these same Jews that say secular music is bad because of this reason, I am not talking about the ideals and words they use, just the soul connecting theory, and then go and listen to classical music, which to me has far more passion then any other music save for jazz.

Furthermore if it is the written music that is so bad, how can these same people listen to Jewish artists that take popular secular songs and back them up with a full orchestra and Hebrew words and say that they are not connecting to the creators of the songs they are using? It bothers me immensely that they can take any old song and sing Hebrew words to it and all the sudden its kosher. I thought that the creators were non-Jewish and this was bad.

What if the folks who did write the music and lyrics were in fact Jewish, do they have to be orthodox. What about when folks listen to Jewish bands that infiltrate the orthodox community yet are not necessarily orthodox?

If you want to take up the argument that the words spoken by the musicians are horrible, how about jazz, classical and the thousands of other instrumental artists out there. I have been in countless frum homes that play Yanni and John Tesh stuff, yet when it comes to Joe Satriani and Steve Vai they dismiss it as goyishe, its all instrumental, just more rock oriented.

Answers people, I want answers. I leave you with this video for your entertainment.