Most cults use music extensively to recruit people. Shea Hecht of Lubavitch told me this years ago, and not so coincidentally, his cult has a lot of its own music produced by its own music houses and sung by people like Avraham Fried.
Shlomo Carlebach used his music as a spring board for his missionizing agenda and was told by the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe to "use [his] 'power of niggun (song)'" to recruit people back to orthodox Judaism. And during his life, he really created a problem for mainstream orthodoxy as they wanted people to listen to Shlomo's music, which was accepted as mainstream, but they didn't want people to take his teachings seriously.
And when I got reinvolved with Judaism, it was Shlomo's music that attracted me back in. In fact there's a famous Jewish saying that ".... a person didn't understand what a rabbi was trying to teach him, but then the rabbi played a song and then the pupil understood".
And in my case it was always the same cycle. I'd get involved listening to Shlomo's music, and then I'd try to make it in his organization, I'd fail and I'd wind up in Chabad where I'd get my head blown off.
Most cults, including the Shoresh Yishai group I was in years ago, Jews For Jesus, etc, use music to lull people in. And the problem is that a lot of secular music is really crazy so people go to religious or pseudo-religious organizations to find a better way.

While music can be a part of cults, you need to realize that music is a valid draw to a valid faith. Amazing Grace has drawn numerous people to Christianity, as have other hymns, ignoring the thousands of people brought to Christ through more modern music. So just because music is appealing doesn't mean that it's a cult.

Cults make extensive use of music and it forms a more than normal part of the worship service. When I first went to Hebrew school years ago, I went to an orthodox school in NY. The teacher said, "and if you think you're having fun singing these songs now, just wait until you're in heaven..." When they try to attract people who aren't orthodox into orthodoxy the music of the orthodoxy is used extensively.
By the way, I'm not much for Judaism, Christiianity or Islam.

The group I was in Eckankar rewrote the words to the
public domain song Amazing Grace and called it Amazing
Hu , after the mantra the group believes contacts god.
Music deepens experiences and has been whored to
everything from advertising cars to mystic experiences. Why
should cults miss out on this?

Quote

Originally posted by harveydodds
The group I was in Eckankar rewrote the words to the
public domain song Amazing Grace and called it Amazing
Hu , after the mantra the group believes contacts god.
Music deepens experiences and has been whored to
everything from advertising cars to mystic experiences. Why
should cults miss out on this?

A lot of what goes on in the business world revolves around cults of personality like Britney Spear's, Madonna, etc.. In the Jewish world, Lubavitch and the Baalei Teshuva movement (especially when one considers the songs of personalities like Avraham Fried and Shlomo Carlebach) songs went a long way to recruiting people into groups that really weren't very good for them.
Most people who got hopped up on Shlomo's music later on got burnt out by him and left. Music, like Sabbath dinners and Passover seders, comprise the fun experiences that are used to entice someone into a religious group. Then, once in, the powers that be lower the boom and say, "it's not all fun and games you know."

I agree with you, music did influence me a lot.
I was in the 3HO cult and we played and sung to music before we had a lecture, in our services, to direct our minds towards God during the day and played music at night to get God's words into our subconcsious and unconscious mind.
In the book "Snapping" reference is made to how drumming, etc. can get people into altered states of consciousness. You get a spiritual high and think you have found a true path and you are hooked into a cult.
lifeaftercult

Quote

Originally posted by lifeaftercult
I agree with you, music did influence me a lot.
You get a spiritual high and think you have found a true path and you are hooked into a cult.
lifeaftercult

Music influenced me a lot too. I was heavily influenced by the music of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. And one of his songs (On the "Live in Vienna" recording, is "Lord Get Me High". You see it's easy to get attracted to something when all the niceties are presented first. After all, who tries to recruit Jews to orthodoxy on Yom Kippur when you can't eat and Judaism's strictness is felt? Usually, it's Passover.

I remember watching this program on cults recently and there is this cult that young people get into, where they dance all night to some new disco beat (that is in time with the heart beat) they take the drug excasty and get really high.
It made me think of old greek cults, where they would play music and dance and get high etc.

In the 3HO cult I was a 27 year member, there is this whole Indian music theory stuff.
With special rythums and notes only in certain harmonies, that affect different states of consciousness and are suppose to be played at certain times of the day. It is a trip.
I remember just listening to a particular "Tal" rythum that was to be played during the wedding ceremony. It was like I was falling or getting into a trance. Very powerful stuff! It was just the beat of a tabla (drum) without even musical instrutments or words, just the beat of a drum.

Besides the whole thing of listening to certain mantras or words all day, setting your mind set.

Yes, Music is a very powerful and helps create our state of mood and awareness.
A good cult tool for indoctrinating new members.

:D

I went for a facial yesterday and they where playing some new age music during the session. I didn't think anything of it and found the facial to be a very relaxing experience.
What I noticed was, I got very very very relaxed and would say I was floating for some time afterwards.
When I was reading cult books, I never understood what they meant by floating. I had stopped going to meditation classes, listening to cult music for a few years before I left the cult and thought my mind was pretty clear. But yesterday, I got it, I went to a place where I was disconnected from my body. Floating is the only way to explain it and it was a very dramatic experience for me. It was very easy for me to go there after all those years of meditation, music, tantra in the 3HO cult and now I understand what floating is. I guess my brain is always going to be wired to get into floating easily. When I finally realized how spacey I was, a few hours later, I clapped my hands very hard and a lot, to bring myself back into my body.
Just wanted to share it, if you are an xcult member watch out when you go for a facial or massage or listen to any new age music.
Take care,
lifeaftercult