The Devil Has All The Best Tunes

I am actually writing , well typing and not dictating, this draft article on my Google Pixel 2XL phone. Dictating gives me too much editing and fixing, but this is the first article I have done completely on the phone and am surprised that it is basically rather good. Not as convenient as a computer keyboard , but more than adequate and very fit for purpose.

While the title obviously refers to Christianity , this concept is prevalent 8n most religions, anything that brings us pleasure is wrong, and the right way is whatever the controlling body says is the way , hence subservience. We see it today when raising money for good causes ,where the very rich and powerful give nothing themselves but tell the "lower castes" to give and donate to help the less fortunate. Helping others is a worthy pursuit but when you think Jeff Bezis and Elon Musk could probably eradicate world poverty and not leave themselves short you see the issue I have. On a lesser scale Gary Barlow has evaded tax yet still partakes in money raising events (it gives him exposure) , but Mr Barlow is not "The Devil's Music" , far from it.

This article is very unresearched and is just coming from what's 8nmy head and my past experiences, so apologies for any glaring errors. It also contains a lot of my opinions and, despite what lots of people get on their high horses about, opinions and ideas mean nothing unless they are logically argued and backed up by facts. 

However a lot of what is going down here is not provable , I may say I think song A is the devil's music and song B isn't , that is my opinion and thoughts on the subject and you may disagree and since The Devil is not here to question I  have to assume and opine.

One of the earliest associations between modern popular music and the devil is that the blues singer Robert Johnson wet to the crossroads and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for being able to play guitar. Enough to damn him in the eyes of the church. 

Lots of popular music from the late 1800s which then became fused and influenced by and with African and swing rhythms would often implicitly and explicitly refer to ess ee ecks , an the "great and good" , were very disapproving of that.

This music often came from "the other side of the tracks" that was usually the black quarter , again you start to see the racist elements in the disapproval and terming of "the devil's music". 

During the wars soldiers were given time off for rest and recreation which is the same acronym as rock and roll , an African American label for that old ess ee ecks , and around 1951 DJ Alan Freed appropriated it for a musical style supposedly kicked off by Jackie Brenton's "Rocket 88" which , I believe also featured Ike Turner on guitar .

Crooners like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra were also frowned upon in certain circles , though it was ironic that "Rock Around The Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets and used as theme to the film "Blackboard Jungle"  sparked riots and wrecking of cinemas ,  but Haley was a middle aged man with a receding hairline leading a white western swing band , hardly the blueprint for the devil's music.

With media such as radio , television and cinema helping spread the word, or the sound , Elvis Presley , The Beatles and The Rolling Stones outraged many just by their existence , but they covered and were influenced by black music which gave a reason for certain organisations to attack them. When John Lennon said that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus that stoked record burnings and protests in the USA , though to burn them they had to buy them. 

The Stones "Sympathy For The Devil" was an obvious candidate for the devil's music.

Heavy Metal and it's various exponents took on Satanic overtones exemplified by bands like Black Sabbath , and then genres such as Black Metal and Death Metal.

Religious organisations also decided that playing records backwards revealed Satanic instructions and messages and this was cited when a young man committed suiced and Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution" was cited as the culprit, but you don't need to play that backwards and obviously the young man had other problems.

Also in this case Rob Halford of Judas Priest quite rightly said "If we could influence people using hidden messages , it would be BUY MORE OF OUR RECORDS , not  Kill Yourself."

There is so much good music and it is always progressing, it takes in all influences. 

If you listen to "Tubular Bells" it is an impressive and beautiful piece of music but was used (without Mike Oldfield's permission)  in the film "The Exorcist" so does that make it Satanic? I think not but anyone can put any interpretation on what they hear.

The thing is WE have the best music , because WE take inspiration and create music that can be described as how it affects us and others.

Hello November

Today I will see my grand daughter , Alexis ,  for the first time so a walk over to my daughter and son in law's will do for my step count on the day after Halloween. Although there are grey clouds scudding across the sky it is a pleasant walk across the central motorway skirting Cow Hill through the Town Moor.

Last night I bought a tub of sweets for Halloween , but due to lockdown, of course , there were no groups of kids out so I have a tub of chocolate to myself that will obviously go down very well. Today is All Saints Day or All Hallows Day or Hallowmas (hence the day before was Hallow's Eve or Halloween) , although this is another Christian theft to replace the Celtic festival of  Samhain. While I know lots of good people who are practicing Christians , the history of Christianity is one of total control of the populace and that permeates society today cherry picking the constantly rewritten Bible to forward their controlling agenda.Jesus would not be pleased and I could see a thieves in the temple scenario ensuing if Jesus returned.

Now who'd have thought that Jello Biafra would cover a song by two ex members of Mungo Jerry. Paul King and Colin Earl left Mungo Jerry to form the King Earl Boogie band and penned and released "Plastic Jesus" which Paul King must have raked in a lot of royalties from the myriad covers, so I've included two versions. The Mojo Nixon / Jello Biafra is available for download but the King Earl Boogie Band original is only available on the Dawn singles collection (at the moment £1.29 on Amazon) . Have a wonderful day everyone.

Friday

Yes it's the 13th and had an early night last night . The Feedburner feed seems to be dropping off but this time may be because I haven't posted for a couple of days through essentially laziness, apathy and tiredness.

Last night I watched at excellently subversive comedy  film called "The Brand New Testament" which relocates God to Brussels and he is nothing but a git , and his rebellious daughter is brilliant , there are some very funny scenes especially after she escapes through washing machine after Jesus advises her what to do is a very small cameo and God's wife follows the evolution of her personal copy of "The Last Supper" painting. Really enjoyed that.

According to the doctor I'm getting old but in very good condition so all is fine on that front.

I could go on about it being the 13th but I've written about that in the past here so today will be just working before the weekend and picking up my pre ordered copy of "Hypersonic Missiles" by Sam Fender on vinyl and signed by the lad himself from Beyond Vinyl.

After yesterday's rain it looks like another summery day though no doubt it will be cold, it is Autumn after all, not Summer any more.

So it's Friday , the weekend is nearly here so what do we go with. As it's the 13th we'll go with Beck, Bogert and Appice's cover of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" for no other reason than I 'm too lazy to think of anything else.

Today could be a lazy day.

Friday 13th ... You Better Run, Rum, Run

 I really wanted to write something positive about the number thirteen. The thing is humans are conditions by society, parents , whatever to believe in superstitions. Single magpies, black cats , and lot's more.

I was thinking along the lines of a baker's dozen where an extra loaf was thrown in, in case one was not up to scratch.

There's a lot of reasons given why thirteen is bad, such as Judas being the thirteenth one at the Last Supper. But surely Jesus was the odd one out as he wasn't an apostle. We have twelve calendar months , but thirteen lunar months and the word lunatic is derived from Luna and the phases of the moon that brings out a change in certain people , not always for the better.

If you search the internet for "Lucky 13" you will come across albums by Bert Jansch and Neil Young although nothing about why 13 should be considered lucky.

Today is also Friday which is not deemed good for travel and combining it with 13 you have not a great omen for travel. Also it snowed today, so making it more likely that drivers would have an accident. Friday the 13th is also the name of a horror film series (here) and also it's the title of albums by The Damned, The Misfits and The Stranglers.

The song I will give you is "Run,Run,Run" , the opening track from "A Quick One" by The Whoabout all those reasonless supertitions, which I am sure you will identify with. Time for bed now, sleep well

Be Nice

The Second Coming

Last year I read a book called The Second Coming by John Niven , which posited that Jesus had to come back and win X-Factor to save the world . It's a great book, funny but with a lot of serious points to make, and worth a read by anyone.


When he came back Jesus had a simple mission statement "Be Nice":


It's easy to do that , generally you can be nice to people , smile , talk with people , offer help , accept help , give and take encouragement. It's easy to do.



There are situations which will test this, and yes they are sometimes exasperating to deal with , but by always keeping positive you will find the strength to get you through.

One thing I've found with Facebook is that I have made some fantastic friends from unexpected places and walks of life who have pointed me in good directions.

So I live my life to never regret anything , never to put off anything you can do , especially if it's talking and meeting friends and loved ones, always look for the positives - it makes life interesting and fun, and be yourself.

So please go out today and "Be Nice" , it will make you and someone elses day much, much better.

The Repulican Christian Way

Was worried to see today that Mitt Romney was seeing no reason why the 350,000 Christian Churches in the USA could not be mobilised to bet the black man out of the the Whitehouse and put the rich white man back in the driving seat. Some details here .

The thing about this is that Christianity is getting hijacked for private gain , to make the rich richer and anyone else an ignorant slave underclass .

Let's assume that God exists , and the Bible is reasonably believable. Now the Jesuits were the first people to point out to me that Jesus was not a long haired white man , but middle eastern and at least very sun tanned. Also he taught love for your fellow man and to help people who were worse off than you .






There's a lot of good moral lessons in The Bible that hold true whatever your religion or non religion. I bet Richard Dawkins find big chunks of it that contains common sense.

People like Romney , just like the Taliban with the Koran cherry pick bits to suit their purposes , and amazingly people then believe it's true when they sauy "The Bible says ...."  , whether it's stone a woman to death or nuke Iran.

One of Romney's kids says he want to punch Obama . Well Obama is black and has a name that sounds like Osama Bin Laden. Remeber just after the twin towers attack George made sure the Bin Laden family were flown out of the USA before the FBI could question them.

Romney doesnt believe that the rich should be taxed. Quotes like "The problem with $40 million dollars is that it becomes $20 million after tax" are not funny , when a lot of the American underclas have the problem that "$400 after tax and living expenses becomes - $200 ".


I have no problem with economies being run efficiently but the benefits should be for all , not just a select few.

Superstition

This is my fourteenth post of the year , and as soon as I'd written my thirteenth I thought I best write another one quickly , then couldnt think of anything to write about . I still can't but obviously started thinking about how society conditions us to be superstitious even though usually there's no basis to do whatever you need to do to cure it.

Take the number thirteen , various reasons for this one being that there were thirteen people at the the last supper and the thirteenth person was either Jesus (who got crucified) or Judas (who betrayed Jesus) , but surely all the others could have been the thirteenth person , then what about the people serving etcetera.

Also you get thirteen loaves or cakes in a bakers dozen , in case one is not up to standard. Most of the time all thirteen will be up to standard so in this case thirteen is a very lucky number.

Then there's don't walk under ladders , well that's surely rooted in common sense as ladders aren't exactly stable and if someone's up there they could drop something on you , got that from an argument between Batman and Robin in the sixties TV series where Robin comes up with various superstitions and Batman explains how they may actually have some foundation.

Then there the magpie rhyme , lets face if you see a single magpie , anything that happens like missing a bus , or the lights changing to red could be interpreted as sorrow , similar to horoscopes. Incidentally , apparently astrolgy apps are very big on smart phones , although that's not surprising given the sort of people I've seen with smartphones. Anyway I've now done fourteen posts this year so it won't bother me til this time next year.