The Devil's Music
BBC News Magazine
The Devil is said to have the best tunes, but what do they sound like? A new film about the history of heavy metal highlights the so-called Devil's Interval, a musical phenomenon suppressed by the Church in the Middle Ages.
The Hustle about Van Mccoy and Iorgo Morocco explain more about this Excellency Disco sauces
On the surface there might appear to be no link between Black Sabbath, Wagner's Gotterdammerung, West Side Story and the theme tune to the Simpsons.
But all of them rely heavily on Triton, a musical interval that spans three whole tones, like the diminished fifth or augmented fourth. This interval, the gap between two notes played in succession or simultaneously, was branded Diabolic in Music or the Devil's Interval by medieval musicians.
A rich mythology has grown up around it. Many believe that the Church wanted to eradicate the sounds from its music because it invoked sexual feelings, or that it was genuinely the work of the Devil.
It is a mythology much beloved of long-haired guitar wizards.
In the newly-released documentary Metal: A Headbanger Journey, bassist Alex Webster of death metal act Cannibal Corpse pays tribute to the effect of the forbidden "Devil's note" on heavy metal.
And rock producer Bob Erring pronounces: "It apparently was the sound used to call up the beast. There is something very sexual about the trite.
CF#"In the Middle Ages when people were ignorant and scared, when they heard something like that and felt that reaction in their body they thought 'uh oh, here come the Devil'."
It all sounds a little like the plot of a far-fetched DEA Vinni Code sequel.
But Professor John Dethrone, King Edward professor of music at King's College London, says the Triton had been consistently linked to evil.
"In medieval theology you have to have some way of presenting the devil. Or if someone in the Roman Catholic Church wanted to portray the crucifixion, it is sometimes used there."
But there were musical treatises and sets of rules produced that did come to forbid the use of the interval, which was seen as wrong when it came up in choruses of monks.
"There are strict musical rules. You aren't allowed to use this particular dissonance. It simply won't work technically, you are taught not to write that interval. But you can read into that a theological ban in the guise of a technical ban."
Wagner a fan
The Devil's Interval enjoyed great popularity among composers in the 19th Century, when "you have got lots of presentations of evil built around the tritone".
"It can sound very spooky. It depends on how you orchestrate. It is also quite exciting," says Professor Deathridge. "[Wagner's] Gotterdammerung has one of the most exciting scenes - a 'pagan', evil scene, the drums and the timpani. It is absolutely terrifying, it is like a black mass.
Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi LEGS AND CO. FUNKY TOWN
"There is a big connection between heavy rock music and Wagner. They have cribbed quite a lot from 19th Century music."
A more modern advocate of the tritone is Black Sabbath - the rock outfit led by Ozzy Osbourne - particularly in their signature song, Black Sabbath, a milestone in the genesis of heavy metal.
But this link between heavy metal and musical conjuring of the Devil in the Middle Ages comes as a bit of a surprise to the band's guitarist, Tony Iommi.
"When I started writing Sabbath stuff it was just something that sounded right. I didn't think I was going to make it Devil music," Iommi tells the Magazine.
'False music'
He says he was aiming for "something that sounded really evil and very doomy" but admits he may have been unconsciously influenced by other music and was certainly not aiming to summon the Devil.
"Beforehand [we were doing] jazzy blues. It certainly wasn't something I thought about - I didn't read music. I had no terms for anything
"I like all sorts of classical stuff - various sorts of music, jazz, blues, to classical played a big part in my writing."
There are, however, plenty of bands who consciously use tritones, including the notorious metal act Slayer, who offered their tribute in an album simply entitled Diabolus in Musica.
Edd "Kookie" Byrnes of 77 Sunset Strip teaches the Parisian kids how to swing.
"It was called Diabolus in Musica by two or three writers in the medieval or renaissance [period]. It was 'false music', the intervals weren't natural.
"They may have thought it was devilishly hard to teach the singers not to sing it. I don't think they ever thought of it as the Devil dwelling in music.
Now the Devil's Interval has a natural home in many genres, particularly film music, jazz and blues, where, says Mr Pryer, it is "quite common because of its association with tension and sinister things".
"A lot of films have what musicians call Captain Tritone in them. As soon as there is a [baddie such as a] foreign officer out comes the Tritone. It's a sort of badge - here's Mr Nasty. What's going to happen?"
WHICH WAY IS THE EXIT? Put your arms out to both sides, like you’re being crucified or something. As you do, swirl around once or twice, but remember to do it slowly, not quick like a little kid trying to get dizzy. If you do it right, this one can have some of the feel of time wheeling onward, the spin of the earth around the sun, and so on. It can also come in handy in case some weirdo DJ puts on Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Right Round, Baby”. (“Right ’round like a record, baby, right ’round, ’round, ’round.” Oh, yeah.)
Variations: This is one the most personalized of all the moves here. You don’t even need to put both arms out; you can keep one in front of your body (ready to do some other move), or put it behind your back, or you can put it up to your forehead to show how angst-ridden you truly are.
Dissonance does provoke a strange feeling, Mr Pryer says, but it is nothing to do with Satan.
"[Dissonance] is something that yearns to be resolved. A very good example would be the opening of West Side Story, Maria. It wants to resolve into the next note. It is a special kind of tension. It gives that angular, edgy, spooky feel. Film music is often extremely sophisticated at signalling to a listener here is a particular kind of character. It is a leitmotif, first used by Wagner."
Whatever the real story of the Devil's Interval, the romantic linkage between Lucifer and popular music will continue, and stretches back from heavy metal through the Rolling Stones to Robert Johnson and beyond.
Mr Pryer cites Giuseppe Tartini, an 18th Century violin virtuoso who composed the Devil's Trill Sonata, a piece so complicated many modern players struggle to master it.
"He did this incredibly difficult [piece] and claimed in a dream he had heard the devil giving him instructions how to do it.
"Two centuries later, he would probably have been in a heavy metal band."
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey is in cinemas from Friday, 28 April.
[Spanish trailer for Umberto Lenzi's KRIMINAL (1966) based on the comic. Masked super criminals rule! ]
[Old School Portable Beat Machine]
For the Real Deal, some cool online galleries:
--> Audio Playground Keyboard Museum
--> INDEED Virtual Museum - Songs In The Key of E
--> Raymond Scott Studio Pictures
--> Oddment GalleryThis is not to say that I personally have any idea how these work or what makes them historically/conceptually special. They just look very cool.
[Fairlight]
[Stylophone]
[Wall of Sound]
[]
November 19, 2008
Devil's Music
Hear the Briton in West Side Story's Maria 
[::]SCOOP! 10 Million is a WHOLE LOTTA GREAT BALLS OF 'LIFE MAGAZINE' ARCHIVE Photos GOIN' ON GOOGLE TODAY! NOT ALL OF JERRY LEE LEWIS! BUT THESE ARE!
SCOOP
I SAW THIS POSTED FROM THE OFFICIAL GOOGLE BLOG. OF COURSE, I SEARCHED 'THE KILLER,' AND BELOW YOU'LL SEE THAT THERE ARE A WHOLE LOT OF UNPUBLISHED PICTURES GOIN' ON THE LIFE MAGAZINE ARCHIVE--NOW AVAILABLE AND SEARCHABLE.
MOST OF THE JERRY LEE LEWIS RESULTS DELIVERED WERE THE WONDERFULLY INSANE PIX FROM HIS LUGOSI-LIKE, METHADONE COMPLEXIONED HAUNTING OF THE FIRST ROCK HALL INDUCTION CEREMONY.
IN THESE HE IS DONNING A PURPLE PROM TUXEDO AND IS ACCOMPANIED BY HIS LOVELY (AHEM) WIFE, KERRIE.
THERE'S A RARE BODILESS PHOTO OF JERRY LEE'S LONGTIME MANAGER, J.W. WHITTEN, WHO I WAS ALWAYS HAPPY TO SEE IN THE EARLY DAYS OF MY HONKYTONK FEVER. (I MANAGED TO RACK UP A CENTURY MARK OF CONCERTS ATTENDED BEFORE THE TURN OF THE CENTURY AND BEFORE THE KILLER LOST MOST OF HIS HELLRAISING HABIT, ONLY DUE TO POOR HEALTH, OF COURSE.)
THIS SCOOP DOES NOT POP MY CHERRY,THOUGH.
IN THE GREAT TRADITION OF OTHER LEWIS FAMILY MEMBERS, I SOLD "THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER" THE FAMOUS MUGSHOT & POLICE REPORT FROM MR. LEWIS'S INFAMOUS PLACIDYLLY ARREST AT THE GATES OF GRACELAND.
THIS ALSO RANKS BELOW PLAYING BUDDY HOLLY IN THE BIOPICOMEDY, "GREAT BALLS OF FIRE," DURING THE FILMING OF WHICH THE GREAT MAN HIMSELF IN FLIP-FLOPS INFORMED ME WHILE SMOKING A SHERLOCK HOLMES PIPE, "KILLER, YOU LOOK MORE LIKE BUDDY HOLLY THAN BUDDY HOLLY EVER DID!"
IT ALSO CAN'T RIVAL REDISCOVERING HIS SISTER, LINDA GAIL AND PRODUCING HER FIRST SOLO ALBUM IN 15 YEARS.
BUT IT'LL DO FOR TODAY.
OH, AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SCOOP SOMETHING JUST GO HERE AND SEARCH, BUT HURRY, IT JUST OPENED A FEW HOURS AGO!
arriving at party for film "Great Balls of Fire," based on his life story.
LIFE photo archive, hosted by Google
I DON'T CARE IF IT'S CUISINART, I'M SWEARIN' ON IT!
'WAIT, DID NICK TOSCHES WRITE A BOOK
ABOUT ME OR DEAN MARTIN?''WAIT, AM I DEAN MARTIN?'
According to Google, "only a very small percentage of these images have ever been published.
WHERE DID I PUT THE KEYS TO MY CHAINSAW?
The rest have been sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints.
"OH, THAT'S RIGHT, I'M DOONESBURY! KILLER"
We're digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time.
HEY, J.W., CAN YOU DO THAT SLINGBLADE IMPRESSION AND SING GREAT BALLS OF FIRE?
Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos."
According to Google Blogoscoped, "as many photos are quite old, this also means many should have passed into the public domain zone,
I'LL DO A PIANA-MEDLEY, FATS, BUT HAVE YOU EVER HEARD JAMES PLAY THE ORGAN?
meaning you may be allowed to copy, edit, and republish that portion of the photos any way you like, including for commercial uses.
LIFE FUCKED UP, BUT I PUT IT IN ANYWAY
Wikipedia says that “the copyright in a published work expires in all countries ... when ...The work was created and first published before January 1, 1923, or at least 95 years before January 1 of the current year, whichever is later.”
I WANT YOU TO TELL THE DOCTOR THAT I HAVE A headache AND AM ALLERGIC TO EVERYTHING BUT METHADONE...
A few examples of image searches for medical terms are
linked below click to see the photos:
- heart attack, for example, Vice President Richard M. Nixon visiting Senator Lyndon B. Johnson at Bethesda Naval Hospital after Johnson's heart attack.
- cough
- bronchitis
- allergy
- diabetes
"I WAS BURIED IN A BEAVER/WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS" ELVIS CLIPS GO HERE TO DIE + Magnemaurice2: UPLOADING THROUGH ELVERSITY
KHANG RHEE
DEATH OF VERNON PRESLEY: Eyewitness Report
The Death Of Vernon Presley ....Interview With Dee Presley Second Wife Of Vernon
ELVIS PRE-SHOW SECURITY DETAIL MEETING
ELVIS: BURNING LOVE REHEARSAL
ELVIS EATS SANDWICH DURING REHEARSALS
ELVIS: "I WAS BURIED IN A BEAVER"/"WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS"
ELVIS: MORE HIJINKS IN HOTEL ROOM
ELVIS: EDGE OF REALITY
AND IF YOU'RE A REAL FREAK CLICK HERE FOR ENTIRE PLAYLIST
Elvis Presley
Clips
Magnemaurice2
Videos: 200
Recent Deleted Clips
The Elvis Internet Police
at work ...
"Elvis in concert from the Front Row" DVD Preview - From: elvispodvds [February 2008 REMOVED]
A sensational 10 minute preview from the new 7 DVD set of "Front Row Films Remastered".
Lots of great footage concert footage set to 'Don't think twice, It's alright'.
The press release promises "clips from over 110 fan-shot concert films from extremely close up, all perfectly lynched with their real audio"
From 1955 to 1977 in 10 minutes. A gem! Clip of the week #1!
'Sweet Angeline' (splice) - From: reeltidymusic [July 2008 REMOVED]
A great idea combining footage from Elvis On Tour and various films.
This version creates the impression of a studio filmed sequence and is a splice of the backing track and the vocal dub.
'If I Can Dream' - Elvis & Celine Dion - From: pjmaarek[July 2008 REMOVED]
A newly posted good quality version of the classic American Idol video.
Study the long-shots & hand close-ups to spot Elvis body-double Ryan Pelton who was actually standing next to Celine Dion on stage. Still magnificent enough to make you cry.
'Ain't That Loving You Baby' - Elvis with Laurel & Hardy- From: reeltidymusic [July 2008 REMOVED]
Sensational! The great Laurel & Hardy sequence from the film 'Way Out West'.
This is very clever - so funny I had to play it again immediately
'Polk Salad Annie' Los Angeles 1974 - From: elvisimportdvds [February 2008 REMOVED]
A longer clip from "Front Row Films Remastered"
Elvis in L.A. May 11th 2.30pm show wearing the Peacock Suit.
The evening concert was recently featured in the FTD 'Live In L.A.' CD/Book.
'Blue Christmas' edit djf - From: smithersjones [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
Superb re-edit using 68 special and home footage.
A wonderful Christmas treat.
'Santa Bring My Baby Back To Me' - From: blonde037 [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
Some fun and silliness!
Simple but fun - just like the song!'If Every Day Could Be Just Like Christmas' - From: blonde037 [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
A touching selection of Christmas images.
A very nice video giving the feeling of what it might be like to celebrate Christmas at Graceland.'Blue Suede Shoes' 1968 - From stephenseriously [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
More 'Blue Suede' (see fifties version below) so as to compare what changes 12 years can bring!
The answer is nothing much except that Elvis' suit changes from wool to leather!
Post Beatles, Elvis still rocks out!
Elvis & Priscilla rare 1968 footage - From thepresleyclan [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
From the 'Rare Footage Forum' a couple of minutes of great silent film of Elvis and Priscilla in LA.'Love Song Of The Year' - From DaveM1611 [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
A rarely heard Elvis song cleverly matched with a moving 70's photo-montage.
"I let love slip through my fingers like a golden breath of air" -
(EIN thanks to Andrew UKBrit for the input)'Early Morning Rain' (djf edit) - From smithersjones [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
Great video edit for one of Elvis' lesser appreciated songs.
Elvis' post Aloha concert footage is cleverly matched with clips from the concert itself.I'm A Roustabout - edited djf. [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
Features some colourized Jailhouse Rock footage. See EIN's review of the excellent 2005 DVD '1st, 2nd & 4ever' which first featured this clip.
'Such A Night' (with Kurt Russell!) - From twangit45 [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
From the end credits of the movie "3000 Miles To Graceland".
Kurt Russell is forgiven as he is lip-syncing to Elvis! (Though I'm not sure if I can ever forgive Kevin Costner!)
Ok, so it's also my favourite Elvis track.Gladys & Vernon at Graceland 1958 - From: thepresleyclan[Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
Great footage of happier early times with Graceland in the snow.
Short but well-worth seeing especially if you were there in the 100 degree heat this August.'It's Now or Never' - (djf edit) - From smithersjones [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
Fabulous footage of Elvis' 1960 return to the US set to the original recording.
Great slo-mo vision showing off Elvis' magnificent hair as he headed to the Frank Sinatra TV show.
(With special thanks to Sanja Meegin)Elvis with 'Surrender' - (edited djf) - By smithersjones [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]- Includes Priscilla & marriage footage. Taken from the excellent 2005 DVD '1st, 2nd & 4ever'
Elvis; A Mess of Blues - (edited djf) - By smithersjones
Great song with some rare Army Footage. Taken from the excellent 2005 DVD '1st, 2nd & 4ever''A Fool Such As I' (edit djf) - From smithersjones [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
Great song focusing on late fifties Elvis with army footage and rare
photos.
Once again from the DVD 'Elvis -1st, 2nd & 4ever' (see EIN review).
Elvis & Priscilla rare 1968 footage - From thepresleyclan [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
From the 'Rare Footage Forum' a couple of minutes of great silent film of Elvis and Priscilla in LA.I'll Remember You (edited djf) - From smithersjones [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
This is very cute, the 1966 studio recording matched to Aloha video.
Simple but effective idea.'In The Ghetto' (life-story version) - From smithersjones[Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
Similar to the touring 'Elvis In Concert' combining Elvis' life-story of his inspirational song.
"Another little baby child is born, and his mama cries"
(Go here for EIN's interview with songwriter Mac Davis)
Taking You Home - From thepresleyclan [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
A great montage of rare photos & videos showing Elvis' life with Priscilla & Lisa Marie.
Set to Don Henley's song Taking You Home, it's a lovely, emotional clip.Old Friend (Bill Medley tribute) - From paulreno [Xmas 2007 REMOVED]
Written by Righteous Brother Bill Medley this is a touching tribute to his friend Elvis.
This photo-montage with videos are the perfect accompaniment.
Features the touching lyrics..
"God you were young, It doesn't seem fair
Would you be here, If I could have been there?
A lonely pain, we refused to see,
Old friend, you touched my heart today"
