Giving the Devil his due? Blue Oyster Cult

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It’s not some Christian song by any means…it’s a refrain basically about a wild night on the town and as far as I read it. The rest seems to be a melancholic look at an uncertain existence.
 
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Former working musician that grew up in the 70’s, here.

I have always loved BOC and consider “Agents of Fortune” to be one of the greatest albums ever.

I’ve always had that bit of dichotomy when performing songs with questionable lyrics. AiC’s “Man in the Box” was really troublesome.

These days I’m really careful about what I allow into my head during my own private listening.Thats tough, because I really like bands like Tool and Nine Inch Nails. So, if I’m with friends that are not Catholic or even Christian for that matter, and a Tool or NIN song comes on, I’ll go ahead and enjoy the moment. My friends know me well enough to know for certain that tapping my foot to “Schism” or singing along with “Hurt” will not make me “less Catholic”. That said, when it’s just me in my auto (and I commute 45 miles to work), it’s a steady diet of Maher, Talbot, and Assad. I know myself well enough to know what effect a steady diet of Tool, NIN, and even BOC will have on my spiritual life.

Another thing to consider is that there is plenty of music out there that is beautiful and appears to be ok, when in fact it is very occultic, even Luciferian. Music does not have to heavy grinding guitars and heavy drumbeats and even a few comical references to Satan to be “evil”. Much of Wagner’s work is some of the most secular and anti Semitic and “evil” music there is.

Hope this helps.
 
Wagner’s work didn’t have lyrics - lol -

I feel Paganini - touched way more upon the occult.
 
Music History 101 on the college level has plenty to say about form and analysis and influences in general.

Lyrics don’t have to be present for there to be an evil motivation.
 
Paganini was a sinner in need of a Savior. His grandson went to great lengths to see to it that his grandfather got a Catholic burial…many years after the fact…while Wagner outright rejected God, God’s people, and any notion that -he- needed a Savior.

That is the difference.
 
This was a gift from my wife and is always on my desk (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Let me rephrase that so I am not asking you to teach me everything you know in one post-- sorry about that ⭕

In @cradleRC58 reply, he mentioned dissonant chords. Is that a good quick example? Your reply spoke of motivation, but do you have to know Wagner’s motivation to know his music is that dark or does it come through in the sound of the music itself?

Obviously I am not at all familiar with Wagner!
 
Well, to be honest with you, I am not familiar with much of Wagner’s music, either. I only know that what I have heard does not do much for me, and what I do know of his music that I received on the college level motivates me to not pursue it much further.
 
To me it makes no sense to call wordless music evil or luciferian.

Dissonance is an essential part of most Western music, as the interplay between dissonance and consonance (excursion from consonance into dissonance and back again) is one of the things that makes the music interesting.

This is like the use of darkness and light in paintings, or tension and resolution in drama.

Wagner the man may not have been very nice, but he wrote a lot of beautiful music. There is no way I would characterize his music as evil or luciferian. The major fault that I can find with Wagner’s music, in itself, is that I find it tantalizing but ultimately less satisfying than the works of many other classical composers.
 
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I can’t listen to a few Tool songs anymore. Eulogy, Opiate, Wings for Marie, a few others. I love the music, but the lyrics are too much. I don’t listen to Judith by APC anymore either.

And I’ll probably never see them live again. Too bad because they will always be my favorite band, but the pagan and satanic imagery is too much. I can’t support that stuff anymore.
 
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I view “10,000 Days/Wings for Marie” as a lamentation. And knowing Maynard’s motivation for penning the lyrics to those songs kind have brought all of Maynard’s angst into perspective for me.

That said, I still do not let them be a steady part of my musical diet.
 
I hadn t really appreciated Wagner until I went to watch his opera The Walkiria. Incredibly well performed and so captivating.
I guess there is also a subjective mood and a disposition that plays its part at a given time . What we do not fall for at one age or moment,we may do at another.And performance as well.
 
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Have you ever tried watching for a while without the background music? Even Jaws?
It looses a lot of ambiance . Interesting.
That is how I used to watch scary.movies,in the scariest part: without volume…mute
 
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kmaaj said:
Paganini was a sinner in need of a Savior. His grandson went to great lengths to see to it that his grandfather got a Catholic burial…many years after the fact…while Wagner outright rejected God, God’s people, and any notion that -he- needed a Savior.

That is the difference.
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One of my pastors had told me that Wagner was Anti-Semitic. Wagner was Hitler’s favorite composer.
 
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