Across the ages, musicians have purportedly made a deal with the devil to be able to more masterfully compose and/or play their instruments. Today’s episode explores this idea, and Mike and Wendy discuss what things they consider worthy of a deal with the devil.

Mike and Wendy then dip into famous cases of making a deal with the Devil.  Musicians like Giuseppe Tartini who was born in 1692, his work is still popular, particularly his work, “The Devil’s Trill”, which was said to be inspired by a dream that he had that he was the Devil’s servant. It has been covered by Itzhak Perlman and a version by Vanessa Mae has over ten million hits on YouTube.

Niccolo Paganini is probably the first great example of legendary musicians who make a pact with Lucifer. He was said to be able to do supernatural things like sight-read music incredibly. His solos were notoriously difficult to play and his effect on audiences was said to be hypnotic and supernatural, like he was possessing the crowd.

The most famous American story of making a deal with the Devil is Robert Johnson, who died of poisoning at 27 years old and wrote the immortal blues classic, “Crossroads”. The Crossroads is a place in Mississippi that blues aficionados come to visit, that it is rumored where Johnson met the devil to sign the contract for his soul. They made a movie about it in the 80s called Crossroads starring The Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio. Johnson also wrote other songs like “Me and The Devil” and had a superstitious and dark vein in his music.

Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin also had rumors of Satan worship. Jimmy Page is a known occultist and bought Aleister Crowley’s house in Scotland (We’ll cover Crowley extensively sometime because he figures into the lives of Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, he’s in a Top Ten UK single in the 1970’s, and he’s even on the cover of Sgt. Pepper, he was an emblem of the rock n’ roll generation and we’ll get into him when the time comes!) They coveredRobert Johnson’s “Travelin’ Riverside Blues” and their were rumors that Led Zeppelin signed a pact in their own blood.

Speak of the devil, the Church of Satan was founded by a musician. Anton LaVey was an organist that would often entertain by playing Jazz and Pop standards. Modern Satanists aren’t really occultists as much as they just use the imagery in their marketing, like Marilyn Manson’s shocking Christians in the late 90s or Mötley Crüe’s crossdressing Satanism in the early 80s (before they went with the biker look, there were pentagrams all over their albums,  Shout At The Devil  and  Theatre of Pain ).

Links about making a Deal With The Devil:

Listverse – “10 People Who Sold Their Soul To The Devil”

Crossroads  movie Guitar Duel (Steve Vai vs. Ralph Macchio) [YOUTUBE LINK]

Vannesa Mae – “The Devil’s Trill” [YOUTUBE LINK]

Rolf Potts’ Vagabonding Blog – “Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in Rosedale, Mississippi”

The Human Marvels – “ Niccolo Paganini – The Devil’s Violinist”

Welcome to see you on the other side where the world of

the mysterious collides with the world of entertainment.

A discussion of art, music, movies, spirituality, the

weird, and self discovery. And now,

your hosts, musicians and entertainers who have their

own weakness for the weird, Mike and Wendy from

the band Sunspot. Hi, fellow weirdos.

Today's today's topic is

about making a deal with

the devil. Alright. We've all heard the story and

stuff. We've all heard the story of someone who sells his soul

to the devil in return for some kind of

earthly reward. Like when Ralph Macchio did

it in that movie so he could play a sweet guitar solo. Right? Yes. He

absolutely did. We'll be talking about that movie in just a little bit. Oh, good.

I was hoping. That's right. He he does play a sweet guitar solo, and

that is a totally sweet movie. But,

Wendy, if if you were gonna sell your soul to the devil,

Mike, your eternal soul,

what do you think you would sell it for? Like, what's the what's your what's

your price? Oh, you're starting off with the easy questions. Yeah. Well, what

would I mean, some people Gosh. What

would you sacrifice your

soul for for something right now? What's something you want so bad that you just

be Mike, I'll I'll do it. I don't

know. I mean, I think it would have to be something

like longevity and good health for me and my friends and

family. Oh, see, that's a nice thing.

Well, it's a high price. The devil's gonna, like, own your soul, you

know. You have to make it something worth it. Right? That's

that's right. You should make it something worthwhile. I would sell it to be the

musical guest on Saturday Night Live. I

think that would be pretty sweet to be the musical guest on

Saturday Night Live. I would sell my soul to Satan and

let let him have it. Let him I mean, I think let him

have it. Well, but Does anybody really watch that show anymore, though?

I still watch that show. It doesn't matter. I just would like to be the

the musical guest. And I would Alright. My soul's not being

used right now for anything. So Folks. Yeah.

No. I mean, I'd love to too, but I mean, the devil's gonna own

you. And you know what that means. That means once you leave this

planet, he's gonna

nod horrible, horrible things to you. Or he's gonna make me do

his bidding. Like, he's gonna ex- Right? Hunt people

around the world who do bad things Mike spawn or that

guy in that, oh, there was a show

a couple of years ago where a guy had to hunt down souls for the

devil called Reaper. Reaper was the name of the show. Nice. And so I

would be Mike Reaper, and I would do I'd totally do that.

I'm just saying I'd I'd let it go for that. So you're saying you really

wanna play on Saturday Night Live more than anything else in the whole world?

Mike, not anything? I'm just saying that's the low end.

Okay. I'm just saying I'd go for like, that's, like, that's

the minimum that I would go for. It's it's kinda like if you're selling

your house and here's your original like, the original thing you wanna get.

And obviously, when somebody comes in, it's just like, oh, if it's enough

to pay off my loan, I'll take it. Sure. Sure. Being the music guest on

Saturday Night Live would be, that would be enough to pay off

my loan. So that's what I would

go. I mean, the top end, obviously, I'd go for a lot more stuff. I

mean, not just music. I'd probably wanna be

oh, I don't know. Somebody like Richard Branson. Somebody with more money

that just can say stupid things whenever he wants, can fly to the moon.

I would wanna be one of those people who can fly to the moon if

I possibly could. Okay. Okay. Well, anyway, so that's I

mean, that's the minimum I would sell my soul for, and you would sell for

longevity or maybe something nice for your friends. And that we had Well,

no. I'm I'm talking about, like, living a long time and feeling healthy

and, you know, having a long life with no major

health problems. Okay. Alright. You know? That's,

I I or how about this one? How about being able being able to live

a long life with no major health problems and being able to do whatever you

wanted to your body. Woah. So Woah. That's

pretty cool. Right. So you're Mike, I could eat eat all the all the processed

sugar and stuff you wanted. I like that. You could just That's a nice

I would just drink corn syrup every day. Like, I wouldn't drink

water anymore. I just drink corn syrup, but I'd still be perfectly healthy.

I think that would be, Mike, that's just a little caveat because you can you

can already live a long healthy life just by doing, you know, healthy

things. But you can't live a long Maybe. You can't live a

long healthy life like sucking the end of a tailpipe or something like that.

That's true. But, I mean, there's other things that can happen to you. Yes. You

could get in an accident. You could, you know And you know Satan's gonna Disease.

You know Satan's gonna do that. You know, you'll say, like, oh, whatever I do

to my body. And then the fine print will be, you didn't say whatever your

car does to your body. And all of a sudden your car will hit you

and then you'll be Mike in a weird s shape the rest of your

life. Right. No. I don't. That's what the devil does. He

right? So, like, he doesn't make fair deals. No. Absolutely

not. Like, if we said, like, yeah, I'll sell my soul to be the

musical guest on Saturday Night Mike. It would he would try to make it be

the episode that wasn't aired because of some kind of

NBC workers' strike or something like that. Is that Or that,

like, the guest is somebody totally

unpopular. Right. Or or yeah. Or something stupid happens.

Like, it's all the fine print, and and that's kinda what the devil

does to the people that make this. So it's never a sweet

deal. At least from what I've heard from my friends that have sold their

soul to Satan. And from all the movies Yes. Which are

clearly based on reality. That's right. No. The the Devil and Daniel

Webster was actually a documentary, if you didn't realize that. Yeah. It's

true. It Was it doc about Oh, God. You know?

Yes. George Burns really was god. He lived longer as

long as him. But, you know, we're talking

about that because that's a that is a that is a thing that's a theme

through fiction from, you know,

starting, like, the first, you know, the first book I read ever, like,

was, like, doctor Faust and and and Faust and the story of that guy that

sold his soul to the devil in return for riches and fame and and all

that kinda thing. And it really continues,

not in an actual, like, a fictional thing, but

people like, artists had legends around them

about that they played so well that they sold their soul to the

devil for it. So, like, real people, like,

obviously, now, like now, if somebody said, like, oh, yeah. That guy sold his soul

to the devil. The rest of us would be, like, you're you're an idiot

if you think that is true. But in, like, the 1700 or

the late 1600 when they were they were burning people at

the stake for witchcraft. This is

something they might have thought was true. And,

we talk about that. So so one of the first, people that I

could find who was rumored to sell his soul to the devil

was Giuseppe Tartini.

Oh, Giuseppe. A Kurdi. You saw your

solar, you son of a bitch. No. I don't I

mean but Giuseppe first, Giuseppe does not sound like a guy. That

sounds like Giuseppe sounds like a guy who's gonna make you spaghetti.

Not Mike you know, right? Or Giuseppe is like, I like his meatballs

and not, not a guy who sold the soul

of the devil. No. He was born in 1692.

16/92 was right in the middle of the Salem witch trials. So what we were

just talking about that people were still getting,

you know, executed for people,

you know, for people believing that they made a deal with Satan or they

had the mark of the witch, things like that. 16/92, it's happening

and it's not happening. Like, now we we hear things happen. You know,

oh, that person got their hand cut off for because they thought they were

possessed And it happens, like, in the Congo

or someplace that's, you know, remote and crazy. But in

16/92, people were being this was it happened in

Massachusetts. Right? I mean, this I mean Yeah. That's crazy.

Yeah. Massachusetts like, obviously, Massachusetts right.

Like, we And I mean we expect it to go a little slower.

And, yeah, I mean, that's a while ago, but it wasn't that long ago on

the great scheme of things. You know? No. Not not I mean 100 years? Right.

We couldn't have like, our brains have not we we have the same brains

that those people have, you know. None well, we do. We have the same, like,

physical brains. Mike, there's more You don't have to be proud of it. No. And

most of it's from Facebook. Like, most of it, like, is full of things

from social media in our brain. Right. So, yes, we have more

stuff shoved in our brains and and more history and things, but they,

the brains aren't different. So the idea of it would

be unbelievable for us to believe something completely

ludicrous is just not out of the question. That's

true. Yeah. 1692, Massachusetts,

this happened, but but the Giuseppe Tartini Avi, he didn't live in Massachusetts.

There was nobody named Giuseppe in Massachusetts in 16/92.

I don't know that for sure, but I'm pretty I'm pretty sure that nobody's making

meatballs. Wow. But oh, so

16/92. I was looking up I was I was looking

up some of his work. He he, he's got a a track called The

Devil's Trill. Okay. And, I

so a trill you wanna explain what a trill is to maybe some of our

non musical listeners? Sure. A trill is when you

you're playing a note and then you play the note adjacent to it

really quickly on and off and alternate the two notes.

So it's kinda Mike, that was

horrible. That's a trill. But yeah. Yeah.

I don't know if you can you do it with your voice? I I've I

play the violin, and it's a very common commonly used,

technique on the violin, but I and I've on piano too. But

Or on guitar with the you know, when you play a hammer on real fast.

You yes. You can do it with your voice. Yeah.

And vocal trills. I don't I mean, a lot of people can

do them. I'm yeah. That's so I'm just making I'm just making

noises with my mouth right now. I'm just gonna just gonna

motorboat this microphone. So but

the devil's drill so the devil's drill, which the devil can

do it with his voice. It was said to be inspired by a

dream that he had that he was a servant of the devil. So

Giuseppe had that dream. And then so people were you

know, they they kind of they considered him Mike, oh, this song is kinda it's

called the Devil's Trill already. It was inspired by a dream that had Satan in

it. They considered a satanic song that

just I bet that the devil's trill is super scary

sounding too Mike, something

like that. Yeah. I think I think that's exactly what

it is. And and you just gave me my my newest ring my

newest ringtone. Oh, man. Yeah. I I

I just totally distorted the, yeah. No.

It was it was great. It was great. Okay. But the song

is still popular today. Giuseppe Tartini has got more hits on YouTube

than we do. Woah. Yeah. It so Itzhak Perlman, I mean, he's a

famous violin or guy. Excellent. Excellent. Right. Right. He

plays he's a violiner. The finest to the fine. I have his autograph, in

fact. You do? I do. Where'd you meet Itzhak Perlman? I met him in

high school. He was playing with the Milwaukee youth or the Milwaukee Symphony

Orchestra, and they let the, the students come and watch one

of the rehearsals. And then he signed autographs and said hi to everybody

afterwards. Wow. That's that's that's pretty cool. I

was Mike a a fan girl. Like Sure. All

the orc dorks were there lining up for their autographs. It was great.

Yeah. Well, and that and that's great that you got to meet him. So, yeah,

Eichmann Eichmann violiner, Itzhak Perlman. Right? The

super I mean, he's the most famous who's a more famous violin player than that?

That's alive. That people I mean He probably did make a deal with the devil

because the way he plays doesn't sound like any other human

I've heard. Sure. And he I mean, he's a badass And and there's somebody named

Vanessa May, who is a u sound it

sounds like she's one of those YouTube sensations. Yeah. That sounds like a

newer. It's 10, like Giuseppe. Just

10,000,000 hits for Giuseppe Tartinis, the Devil's Trill. So

so, you know, 322 years ago, like, we're

talking about people talking about musicians in the 20th

century saying, oh, they made a deal with the devil. This they've been talking about

this stuff for 300 years. And Giuseppe is the first

one I can the first one in, like, real life that I can find. Obviously,

Faust is a like Goethe. And there's an opera on

that. Right? On what? Faust. It's an

it's a play. Oh. And then it's also an opera.

I I think I should have studied this at some point in my in in

my literary career. Yeah. That one, I'm afraid. I don't know. It's

not in my, trivia wheelhouse. But it's it's fictional.

That's that's the thing. Got it. And well, and they'll call that then,

a Faustian bargain. And it's an agreement where

someone abandons their spiritual values or moral

principles in order to obtain wealth or other benefits.

So when people when people sell themselves, you know so let's say you're working for

a company that's doing something you know is wrong or you feel morally

wrong about, but it is,

but it makes you a lot of money. That's a Faustian bargain. Got it.

Okay. You know, we talked before about making a deal with the devil.

What you would do for that? Your soul for worldly gains.

And that probably wasn't a good question because it's ridiculous.

Because it's saying, like, what would you what would you give your immortal soul up

for? What would you ask the genie if you had 3 wishes? Right.

Okay. Hey, I know. That was an unfair that was an

unfair question. It out with that one. So So let's go back to a Faustian

bargain. So what is something

that you would give up your,

moral principles or spiritual values for in

order to make a bunch of money. Well, that's almost like giving up your soul

or trading your soul for some kind of, you know,

financial gain or fame, whatever.

Right? I mean, your your morals and your

that kinda, like, comprises your soul in a way. No.

No. That's right. That's right. It is, but what have,

you know, I think about it. I think a Faustian bargain is more realistic than

obviously selling your soul. Because I think of different jobs I have

taken for things where I have done things that

I think are morally questionable. I mean, it's not like I was an assassin, like,

doing wet work for the CIA or anything like that. But there the

things I've done which I find morally questionable

for money. Because I'm like, oh, this may not

be completely a 100% on the up and up, but in the end,

I get a few bucks from it. And and so

I think I've taken odd jobs and stuff like that. Or,

it's hard to think of something question. Yeah. It's hard it's hard to think of

something really specific right now, but I'm sure I've done it.

I'm, you know, probably every time we're on stage

and we tell people to drink more beer and they might be driving

home, that's a Faustian bargain. I mean, I would say that that's on that

goes on the, like, lower end

of the scale, though, but sure. I mean,

yeah, I could see what you're saying. And I've probably I mean,

sometimes if it's a song I particularly it's Mike, is there any

songs you hate to play, but we do, like, if we play some covers at

a show? Like, is there a song that you hate that feels like a Faustian

bargain? Like, when we we play certain it's Mike, it's like, oh, man. We play

that song. That's a song that I feel Mike I'm selling my soul to play.

I I don't know if there's any I'm I'm to that point with. There's many

that I'm I'd like to I wouldn't care to play again,

but Whenever we play Brown Eyed

Girl by Van Morrison, I just made a Faust in bar in with the people

in the in the bar. I'm just you know, I feel like Brown Eyed Girl

is saying, here's a little bit of my soul just so your drunken ass can

get up and dance to your jam one time.

Yeah. So I think that's a that work. Yeah. I think there's several like

that. I mean but

that's a that's a that's a complicated discussion though because, you know, there's

people are still enjoying it, having a good time, and it's contributing to

the whole end product of the show. Having a successful show

or what, you know. Yeah. I I just mean that

if there's certain things that we feel that we're not don't do, I mean, maybe

that was the the closest. I mean, it's not really sacrificing your morals just

to play somebody stupid song. If we were at purists, then we would just

never play covers at all, and then we would probably never get any shows either.

That's that's that's right. Any names? And I mean and I I

I think the closest came to a faustian bargain is when I,

at the end of the time of working in the health care industry, when I

was working on hospital billing, I felt like what it was was, but it

was, like, a lot of money for not doing a lot of work. And I'm

like, this is great. And then I realized that it's this is all contributing

to System. Downfall of the human race.

So that definitely that but at the same time,

it was great to take vacations or spend money on things and not have to

worry about it. So yeah. Anyway, that's probably a better question

than what would you sell your soul for because this thing that we don't even

know if we have It seems like something that would be good for the listeners

to contact us by email and let us know. What do you think,

what do you think you would do to, like, what kind

of would you make for money? Right. Did you ever make an ad for a

cigarette company aimed at children? You know or

something or like a, you know, a a beer ad aimed

at, abusive people or something. So, I mean, there's a lot of things

that we would do that are morally questionable for the dollar.

But did Niccolo Paganini do it

for virtuosity? I mean, he's a violinist as well. He's a

violiner. Yes. He is. Like Itzhak and Juseppe.

So, I mean, he's the one they always talk about, when when they talk about

the the first great example of legend legendary musicians who made a a deal

with Devil. His solos were notoriously difficult to

play, like, just exceptionally difficult to play and Impossible.

And other people couldn't do it. And, they said he was able to do

supernatural things on stage, Mike, he could sight read music just

and nail it, you know, right away. Now does this just make you wish there

was video back then? Of course. Because I wanna see that.

I I mean, the accounts reading about it and stuff is

cool, and it's, like, leaves a lot for your imagination. But

to be able to actually see the guy, like, just ripping it

up. But we live in a day and age where you have to it's,

you know, it it's video or it didn't happen.

Right. Right? Exactly.

And, like, we need to be and that's why people, they go to a

concert or something like that. They wanna show that they were at the concert. And

when they see a celebrity, they just don't want a picture of the celebrity or

an autograph anymore. Because an autograph, you could just write that yourself. Like Or buy

it on eBay. Exactly. So they wanna have a a

selfie with the celebrity, and that's everybody proving it

now is is to where they were. So I mean, obviously, 200 years

ago 250 years ago Wendy Paganini was rolling about,

like and people just said, like, yeah. He was awesome. Well, we just don't painted

any any self portraits with him behind them? Right. Pixar, it

didn't happen. I'm gonna see what this guy did. But what

I like is they talk about his effect on audiences. So when he

said when he played, people said that he

hypnotized the audience. That's so cool. He was a supernatural

presence. Like, he was possessing the crowd.

Imagine that. Yeah. I mean, I have you ever been to a show where you

felt possessed? No.

Yeah. No. I can't say I have. I've seen some really

amazing performances, but nobody's supernaturally good. No. And

anything that's impressed me that much, it's usually due to special

effects, pyrotechnics, you know? Right.

Like Vegas magician style kind of things that it's Mike,

you you know that it's there's things beyond the human

making this possible. So this is this is how jaded we

are. We talk about stuff. Like, you ever Wendy something supernatural? Nah.

Most of the stuff I've seen is basically a load of crap. It's all fake.

Everything is fake. I don't like it unless there's explosions.

I understand. I like it. I just don't, you know, believe it's a

I mean, I know everything's a show. Hollywood. Yes. No. It is it

is absolutely a show. And, you know, Paganini Paganini,

his, he could've had a great publicist too.

Because, I mean, when people believed in Satan, like, they really did in

the, you know, 17th 18th century, they believed in the devil. Like, we don't believe

in the devil. Like, Like, I talked about what would you sell yourself for, and

we're all like, I wouldn't sell it for anything.

But those people believe, like, that Satan existed and was

trying to tempt them every single day. So

when you said when you're when you're publicist I don't know if he had a

publicist. Like, he didn't have somebody on, you know, in Manhattan or whatever calling other

people up and saying, like, well, this guy's really good. You're gonna have to see

him. He he he made a deal with he made a deal with Lucifer. Right.

But he's not just amazing. He's, like, devil amazing.

Yeah. Like, he you're gonna see him and you're gonna you're gonna think

you're gonna think he made a deal with Satan, which is, like, us, like,

saying you're gonna see this guy perform and it's like he made a deal with

Osama bin Laden. And it what? You know,

that would that's Mike what it was saying. So it's just very it got people

riled up. It got people interested, and, obviously, it worked. Good promoter.

250 years later, we're still talking about Nicola Paganini. Yeah.

Right? And then I mean, obviously, he was awesome. Well But Right. I'm sure there

was a lot of awesome players just like there was a lot of awesome players

in the late seventies, but we still talk about Eddie Van Halen, and nobody talks

about the guitar player from Thin Lizzy anymore or, Robin

Trauer anymore. But

speaking of the devil. No.

The most famous of the of the modern era And

modern, I'm extending to that any part of Wendy century. This is going back

to the the gloomy Sunday days we were in. Robert

Johnson is, I mean, the most famous person,

in American musical history that they say made a deal with

Satan, and that's what we were talking about before. They made a

movie about it starring The Karate Kid himself, Ralph Macchio, called

Crossroads. It was in the eighties. I saw it on, like, opening. I saw,

like, a like, a preview screening of it. I don't remember. There was, like, a

free it was on the north side of Milwaukee, and so it was free. And

so we drove all the way up there on, like, 4th July or something like

that to see it. And,

anyway, it was about somebody selling him sold selling his soul to

the devil to be a great guitar player. And it was based on the story

of Robert Johnson, who there's a place in Mississippi that

that people who love the blues still go to. There's a

crossroads of street, and that's where legendarily it said that he sold

Robert Johnson sold the soul of the devil to be able to play the

Delta Blues in such a badass way. Interesting.

And so that's what the movie's about, and the movie's great. Steve Vai played

the, the Mike, the devil like, the devil's guitar player in that movie.

So that's the first time Steve Vai is in a movie. Now

is is that story in any way related to the the,

like, devil went down to Georgia?

I I don't know. I don't think. I was just curious because I always think

of that when I, you know Sure. Looking for a soul to sell and then

the guy who sells his soul to play the violin or the fiddle,

if you will. Yes. He does. He he he plays the fiddle like Robert

Johnson or Steve Vai or or or or Ralph

Macchio Right. Would have played the guitar. Let let's

look real quick and see if there's one that's any specific

inspiration for The Devil Wunt Down to George by that Charlie Daniels band.

Yeah. Because that's the one I always think of when I think of the the

deal with the devil. It's the Charlie Daniels, himself stated in interviews and this

is coming from Wikipedia, so, obviously, it's the truth.

He stated in interviews, I don't know where it came from. It

just did. Well, I think I might know where it came from.

It might have come from an old poem called the mountain whooper wheel

that Steven Vincent Bonet wrote many, many years ago, it was in

1925, that I had in high school. Either that or

Jersey. Charlie Daniels.

Alright. So, he doesn't explicitly talk

about, the crossroads or anything when it comes to the Devil Wackdown to

Georgia. Alright. But I can see where you're coming from when

it, you know, when it came It just seemed an awful lot Mike.

Well, Stephen Binet also wrote The Devil and Daniel Webster,

which, you know, is about a man that sold a soul, and then he's defended

by Daniel Webster in court against the devil when when the contract comes

due. And they made a really funny Simpsons based

off it, and it's a Mike a movie with Alec Baldwin, but there's a really

great movie where Jennifer Love Hewitt plays the devil in that movie.

Sweet. Yes. She is devilish. But,

but She sold her her soul for those Yeah. The noombas. Yep.

She's she's sold her soul for some things,

but, the there's one from the 19 thirties 19 forties. It's a really

good version of the devil and Daniel Webster, which deals with the same

thing. But they talk about that in the movie Crossroads.

Robert Johnson also I mean, he wrote songs like Me and the Devil

or a Hellhound on Mike Trail. And and blues

is a superstitious culture. Like, it's, you know, the the songs

you know what, I put a spell on you

and and voodoo and the whole deal. Yeah.

So, thinking about Robert Johnson selling his soul to Satan to be

a great guitar player, he also died young. He

died of poisoning at 27 years old. So we'll revisit Robert

Johnson when we talk about the Wendy club. Oh, yeah. And and

the curse I did not know he was in that club. He was he's in

the club, and it died poisoning too. Probably That's creepy. Well, these

guys I mean so Robert Johnson, you listen to his music, and he plays alone.

So it's just him and and a steel guitar, and and he plays alone. Like,

all by himself? Like all by himself. And

so he's, that just reminded me of the Green Day hidden track where it's Mike,

I was all by myself. Oh. I was making a blues joke Mike,

what's that song? You know. I play alone

all by myself. Okay. No. I'm with you. I'm with

you. No. I'm on my own thing here. That's okay. But but

Robert Johnson, however, was also in his own thing. So he played alone. He traveled.

And, I mean, I think he was a jealous lover. I mean I

mean, the the husband or the boyfriend of a jealous lover, because Robert Johnson's

rolling around playing music, and you know how those girls like the musicians.

Yeah. They like Robert Johnson, and he he did it with with

the wrong man's woman. And so even the devil couldn't save him from

poisoning at 27 years old. Wow. He meant Go

ahead. Whenever I hear of poisoning, it just it makes me think of, like,

Shakespearean, you know? Yeah. Like, who dies of poisoning?

Right. You know? It actually happens in real life. It it seems like it

it only happens in plays and movies and stuff, but apparently,

it's a real thing. No. Dudes get poisoned, man. Blues That's crazy. Blues

players in the 19 thirties get poisoned. Sad. Speaking of

blues, and and and the

devil, when you talk about Led Zeppelin,

now people they also had a strange fascination

with with the devil and Satan and stuff and,

And the Lord of the Rings. And and the Lord of the Rings. Absolutely.

We we we'll probably have to do an entire episode on Led

Zeppelin and the occult one of these days because they have a million stories about

Yeah. They're they're worthy of their own episode. So, I mean, Led Zeppelin

wasn't just obsessed with the occult. They also Mike a lot of the English bands

from the, late 19 sixties or the, you know, the mid 19 sixties. You know,

bands like the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds who, I

think Jimmy played with, were also obsessed

with American blues from the

19 thirties, 19 forties, the kind of stuff that Robert Johnson was doing.

And so they even covered Robert Johnson's travelin'

riverside blues themselves. And they rev it up and everything, so you listen to it.

And I don't think a lot of rock fans realize, especially classic rock

fans, that what they're listening to is what British guys

try to the British guys, their version of the of

the blues from 19 thirties. Interpretation of it. And it was

so different because it wasn't just a guy in a steel guitar. It was electric

you know, it was pounding drums and electric guitars and people like Robert Plant

screaming at the top of his lungs. And it sounded so different if you

compare, like, the original Traveling Riverside and the Led Zeppelin version.

But they really are similar. I mean, that that

stuff, I'd say I mean, that the darkness in

bands like Led Zeppelin, is more of a

spiritual air to Robert Johnson than I

would say more modern blues Mike BB King is,

even though the styles of B. B. King and Robert Johnson

or a lot of these blues guys might be a little bit closer.

The B. B. King's not a dark figure. You'd never

think that B. B. King made it, you know, sold his soul to the devil.

Right. Even though there is an urban legend about BB King that will will

attack sometime. But but you don't think that, oh, yeah, baby. That

guy sold his solo bill to be able to play, you know, Lucille and and

and and play what's his big song?

The thrill is gone. You know? You might nobody's like, well, only Bebe can play

it. The thrill is gone. That's the Satan talking. Right. But with Led

Zeppelin, they come in, you know, and and it's so loud and

mean and and and it's got a sound that And it's gnarly.

Yeah. Absolutely. And, they are the spiritual

air, and Zepp Zepp was. And so, I mean and Jimmy Page obsessed with

the cult. He bought Alastair Crowley's house in Scotland. That's crazy,

and it's on Loch Ness. We'll we'll cover that extensively sometime

because Crowley, he fits into the lives of Led Zeppelin, David

Bowie. He's in a top 10 UK single in the seventies. He's on the

cover of Sergeant Pepper's Only Hearts Called Bland. He's

really the thread that weaves all the rock bands together. He is.

And he was also called the wickedest man in the world Woah.

In the early part of 20th century. And so Alastair will get his own That's

harsh. He'll get his own, episode, obviously. But Jimmy

Page is really into him. There was rumors that that Zeppelin had

signed a pact in their own blood. Good. That

these right? That these guys made a deal with the devil, and that's why because

they were so popular in the 19 seventies, and and they were dark, and they

sang about weird things. They sang about the misty got popular. The misty mountains

and, not just, you know, sang a lot about doing it

too, like all those seventies bands. Right. But they also sang about My

precious. That's that's right. And they sang about Iceland.

Who sings about Iceland? It's cold.

So, I mean, that was one of the latest where people said that, oh, they

made a made a deal with the devil. And, you know,

we'll get to the eighties and the satanism in bands.

We'll talk about that sometime because that that's its own kinda

topic. Because then it gets really ridiculous. I mean, then it

it's dry guys dressed up in makeup and having pentagrams on their t shirts

and their albums, and they're just doing it to scare parents And it

worked in the 19 eighties.

But it's all kind of play satanism. It's all like no one's really worried that

these guys really made a deal with the devil. So, I

think I think Led Zeppelin was, like, the last of its

kind when it came to bands that you could say, like,

these guys were these guys were so good. They sold their souls because they

got so famous and so big and so popular.

Well, we've definitely covered a lot of topics concerning the devil and the deals

that he's made, Mike. Uh-huh. Are you still

standing firm with your Saturday Night Live thing, or do you think there's anything else

that, That's my lowest price. That's my lowest price.

My highest price, I'd probably demand something altruistic, like world peace or

something like that. But I don't think he makes that kind of deal. Well, he

no. They're Mike individual things. They're not Mike He would find

a way he would find a way to make sure that it he or

she. I shouldn't say because a lot of the devils I've met aren't men.

Nice. He would he would find a way to to do whatever do whatever he

can to do the the lowest end of the deal. So if it was the

lowest end of the deal, put me in an SNL as the, musical guest. And

I you know what? I'll sign in my blood. Alright. And with

that, I think we're gonna let this episode, we'll make a

deal that it's over. If you think of anything

that you would make a deal with the devil for,

send us a message. Let us know. We're kinda curious. Otherwise, we will see

you next time. Thanks for listening. Show

notes for today's episode are available online at othersidepodcast.com

/one. And here's a little song about selling your soul to the

devil, the old scratch blues.

Enjoy your time now.

Thank you for listening to today's episode. You can find us

online at othersidepodcast.com. Until next

time. See you on the other side.