The Devil's Music

Robert Johnson claimed he sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads in exchange for the ability to play guitar. I don't care. They said the same happened to Jimi Hendrix. It's alright, people. And what if they did? If the Blues is the Devil's work, then I love the Devil. And I don't need to sell my soul. I love the Blues, so in logical terms my soul already belongs to good ol' Satan. Doesn't matter. The Blues are about love (lost or won), crying, losing and winning, riding freight trains throughout the country, working hard in the cotton fields from early morning to late night just to eat a piece of bread and have a cool drink of water...and earning some money to send back home. But there is also a positive vibe in the Blues; and a humourous, ironic side; and a mocking side; and a drunk side. Resuming, it's the greatest musical celebration of life alongside classical music. And it is original in a sense that it doesn't have any roots. The Blues is the roots. All the way from Africa to the American Night, playing in the Mississippi Delta or in electric Chicago. The Devil's music! What a laugh. If true, this means Satan loves us, so all in all he's "a good guy". He wants us to express ourselves and share our ups and downs with others. This positively instigates human relations, so it is a good thing.

The Sixties were (in my view) the most creative period of comtemporary popular music (rock included). If you notice, in those days almost very band played Blues. Whether it's Pink Floyd's surralistic approaches or Janis Joplin's down-to-earth, sing-my-heart-out style of making love to the Blues. Although there is still an enlightened small minority, nowadays this knowledge is lost in music. People think about sounding fresh but they don't know where it all came from. They want a hit single, a video clip, a contract, appear on MTv and also a bag of gold. They want a palace and 20 cars. They want bathrooms built in pure solid gold. They don't want to elevate the spirit or reach higher grounds, musically. They don't want to feel alive by exploring the wall of sound. They forgot the Blues. They forgot The Source.
So I'll forget them.