I mentioned a bit about this in my latest post on Slayer, but I felt it deserved further discussion. Why is it that as an art form music is the one that is frequently what will get you labeled as a Satanist?

I used to play upon this tendency when I was younger, and would have a good debate with Jehovah's Witnesses. I would play them the song Creeping Death by Metallica for example and ask them if that is satanic. They would invariably believe it was. Then I'd point out that the lyrics to that song are extremely biblical and talking about Moses and the plagues of Egypt. Yet, apparently LYRICS alone do not determine if something is satanic in this nefarious art form called music.

It was not just metal that experienced this...

A lot of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were at one time considered the work of Satan. Yet, today that is the music the churches would most likely want you to listen to the most. Yet this tendency for music to be labeled as the work of Satan apparently even had what was known as The Mozart Effect as one term applied to it by none other than Napoleon.

Deal With The Devil

Some of you may be familiar with the idea of the Crossroads and traveling to the crossroads to make a deal with the Devil. It is said for your soul he will make you a phenomenal musician. This was popular legend around the blues guitarist Robert Johnson and there has even been a fairly contemporary movie Crossroads made off of this concept.

Before the crossroads movie it was often claimed that people like Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin made a similar deal. This is all urban legend, but these legends go back much further than Robert Johnson. You could go all the way back to the time of Paganini and how he became essentially the equivalent of a rockstar long before the term existed. It was claimed that Paganini's skill came from a deal with the Devil as well.

Perhaps they thought it did?

If you do happen to be religious and believe in the Devil then would not giving up your soul be the ultimate sacrifice? How hard might a person practice if they believe they have done this. So in their minds perhaps these people thought they had made such a deal. It is also likely that it was just envy and awe that lead people to use that as the only explanation for the extraordinary skill and talent that occasionally grace our world.

So Why Music?

So out of the arts why is music the one that so frequently MUST BE SATANIC? Is it the emotional impact and its ability to travel over distance, through walls, and envelop people?

It is also not unusual for people to refer to a style of music they do not like as NOISE.

Music or Noise?

I tend to argue against this as it is subjective. I view music as the intentional thought out shaping of sound. When a person that makes music and they have experience even when they improvise they tend to follow patterns and rules that insure that their improvisation will fit. So I believe if it follows intended RULES and/or can be replicated intentionally then it is more than noise. That does not mean I have to like it, but it is still music. Noise would be unintended, thoughtless, and likely unreplicable.

In closing...

An artist can sculpt a monster, paint a nightmare scene, etc and not be called satanic.
An author can write horrific stories and actually might be stories involving satanism and they likely will not be called satanic.
Studios can make horror movies involving satanism and not be called satanic.

Yet if you do these things or LESS in music you can be called Satanic.

Slayer has a song Angel of Death that actually has nothing to do with Satanism and everything to do with the Holocaust and what the Nazi's did to the Jews. It is often called Satanic. They DO have some Satanic themed songs, but their favorite genre of movies and literature is horror stories, so that is what their lyrics convey.

Yet you can take a song with completely biblical lyrics and depending upon the delivery it can be called Satanic...

Another thing people should consider. Music is subjective and can be very moving to people. Calling it Satanic might not make them stop listening to it. This is not the time of the Puritans or the Inquisition (at least in some ways) so you might instead make them wonder why Satan makes so much better music.

The truth of the matter is that the music is PEOPLE MADE. Not Satan made. It is people fond of labeling things they disapprove of that shackle it to such labels. It is man trying to censor that which they find distasteful and actually has nothing to do with religion. Religion is just a convenient implement to attempt to FORCE your guilty compliance.

Steem On!