The Origins of Satanic References in Rock

Acujer

Member
Apr 14, 2008
892
0
16
This is an essay I wrote about the origins of rock and Satanic references within it. Some of you may find this interesting.


You ever wonder where all the Satan references come from? Iron Maiden, Dio, Slayer, Led Zeppelin, Ozzy, etc. Well I think I can make a good case where not only Satanic references come from, but how the 60s rock spurred.

First off, the index and pinky finger 2 finger in the air symbol, from what I understand was originally done by Ronnie James Dio by accident, and it just caught on.

But here is the real deal:

Rock music comes from the blues. Most notably, Delta Mississippi Blues. Of the most famous of these is Robert Johnson. What is amazing about Robert Johnson, is that his entire legacy is based solely on only 2 recording sessions done in 1936 and 1937. Coming from a very poor family in the deep south, Baptism and Gospel were very popular there. Gospel songs talk a lot about Satan and his wrath. Of course, usually to find Jesus to counter the evil Satan.

Well, Robert Johnson mentions the devil in 6 of his songs. This is deeply rooted in the southern baptist tradition to write about the devil.

The point is that for this religious group in the deep south, they were bombarded with "Satan will get you if you don't repent" type rhetoric all the time. So if Metal is rock taken to a new level, and rock is blues taken to a new level, I say Delta blues is Gospel taken to a new level.

Now here is where it gets very cool. Look at music of the mid-late 60s compared to anything earlier. Why is it so different. Some say LSD, some say the Vietnam War. Well I have a different take on it.

After Robert Johnson's album's initial run in the late 1930s, his recordings remained out of print until they appearance on the first Johnson album on Columbia Records in 1961.

1961! Do you see what I'm getting at?

Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keith Richards and all the other forefathers of rock guitar, probably started learning Johnson's licks from this re-release of 1961. Not only did they model their guitar playing from these recordings, but took his Satanic references too and put them in their songs. So what we have, is Delta blues gone rock 'n roll, later to be elevated again to Heavy Metal, while still keeping in the blues tradition.

Is it possible that if the recordings were released in the 1950s, we would have had different rock guitar fathers?

Eric Clapton said about Robert Johnson, "the most important blues musician who ever lived."

Robert Plant said, "Robert Johnson, to whom we all owed our existence, in some way."

The problem with a lot of modern rock, is that they have lost the connection to the blues. You can't be a good rock guitarist if you haven't mastered the blues first. The preferred way to learn rock guitar is through old blues records, learning licks by ear, not by teacher. New bands, are learning from the people who learned from the blues, not from the blues artists themselves. This is quite apparent in the music. Its like building a house from the second floor up. You need that foundation. That foundation is based on very poor descendants of slaves that would sing their heart out in gospel churches, with many songs about Satan, love and God.

If you don't have Robert Johnson's Complete Recordings, you may want to get it. It really is like nothing else. Over 70 years old! The 1996 CD version corrected pitch problems with the earlier releases.