Why is pop music considered "the devil's music"?
From utterly insane tales of Kiss frontman Gene Simmons having a cow’s tongue to the satanic panic of Judas Priest sneaking hidden messages into their songs, the devil is often depicted as the despicable puppet master who makes the marionette of rock ‘n’ roll move. It was yelled at Elvis Presley when his hips were first thrusting pop culture into existence, and it continues to this day in the mutated form of musicians being accused of being in the Illuminati. We may have secularised the slander, but rock ‘n’ roll has always been tarred with the brush of Beelzebub.The history of why rock ‘n’ roll is called the devil’s music
What's the most significant pop album ever?
The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band topped the list, with Rolling Stone's editors describing it as "the most important rock 'n' roll album ever made".Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Wikipedia
Is this the work of the devil?
And how can it help learners of English?
- not only the words, but the grammar and stress patterns are all very noticeable.
This is a little more 'devilish':
JOE COCKER With A Little Help From My Friends 1969 Woodstock - YouTube
But can that help learners with their English?
- as the words are rather distorted!
This we call the blues:
Back in the 1920s, parent groups and a good many clerics were much exercised by the seductive, destructive power of jazz and the blues. The devil's music, they called it, as late as the mid-1950s.The Devil's Music - The Washington Post
Of course, much of the reaction to this kind of music was racist:
But amongst the African-American community, this music was also called "the devil's music":
The boom years of Gospel music had been the 1930s and 1940s. Singers like Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson were moving into theatres and had huge followings. They blazed a trail for groups like the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Swan Silvertones and the Soul Stirrers which featured a young singer called Sam Cooke. And then he defected, started to sing about girls and parties and became a huge star. When he returned one night to sing with his old group he was, in a typical display of charity, booed off the stage. He was working for the devil now.People like Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin and Solomon Burke were more or less singing the blues in a gospel idiom. The result was irresistible. They say that Ray Charles was on his way home from a show and he heard a song on the radio by the gospel singer Alex Bradford. The lyric was something along the lines of "I got God". Brother Ray changed it to I Got A Woman and he was away - the secular and the sacred came together spectacularly and the music became known as soul.
The Devil's Music? – The Irish Times
For example:
Ray Charles - I Got A Woman - YouTube
Going back to race, though, is this "cultural appropriation" - or stealing someone else's music?
BIG MAMA THORNTON - Live YOU AIN'T NOTHING BUT A HOUND DOG - YouTube
Elvis Presley - Hound Dog (1956) HD 0815007 - YouTube
Did these guys 'steal someone else's music'?
The Rolling Stones - Jumpin' Jack Flash @ Glastonbury [HQ] - YouTube
They were part of the 'British Invasion' of the 1960s:
British Invasion II: The Rolling Stones - TeachRock
For example:
The Rolling Stones – Little Red Rooster (1964) [High Quality Sound, Subtitled] - YouTube
And later they really took the blues genre to actually sing about the devil:
The Rolling Stones - Sympathy For The Devil (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube
And, actually, the Beatles 'did' the blues:
john lennon, eric clapton, keith richards and mitch mitchell - yer blues - YouTube
But what about your own favourite songs which can help you with your English?
To finish, 'dissonant' music - or strange chords - have always been considered of the devil:
The name diabolus in musica (Latin for 'the Devil in music') has been applied to the interval from at least the early 18th century, or the late Middle Ages,[22] though its use is not restricted to the tritone, being that the original found example of the term "diabolus en musica" is "Mi Contra Fa est diabolus en musica" (Mi against Fa is the devil in music).What is a tritone and why was it nicknamed the devil’s interval? - Classic FM
With their two examples:
West Side Story (3/10) Movie CLIP - Maria (1961) HD - YouTube
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Purple Haze (Audio) - YouTube
With more great examples here:
The Unsettling Sound Of Tritones, The Devil's Interval : NPR
But back to the Beatles...
What was the Beatles song which was shown to the world at the 2012 London Olympics?
Russell Brand Olympics Closing Ceremony - YouTube
And the Beatles 'saved Western classical music' - with this:
The Beatles: a musical appreciation and analysis by composer, Howard Goodall CBE - YouTube
Analysing I Am The Walrus’ unique chord progression - YouTube
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
I'm crying.
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday.
Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long.
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen.
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob.
The Beatles - I Am The Walrus (Official Video) - YouTube
The lyrics don't make much sense:
Lennon received a letter from a pupil at Quarry Bank High School, which he had attended. The writer mentioned that the English master was making his class analyse Beatles' lyrics. (Lennon wrote an answer, dated 1 September 1967, which was auctioned by Christie's of London in 1992.) Lennon, amused that a teacher was putting so much effort into understanding the Beatles' lyrics, decided to write in his next song the most confusing lyrics that he could.
I Am the Walrus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaTHE BEATLES / I AM THE WALRUS / REAR TWO UNEDITED CHANNELS / SGT. PEPPER SESSIONS
So, is listening to songs really going to improve your English - or is it all the work of the devil?
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