Aleister Crowley, who made a cameo appearance on the cover
of Sgt Pepper's
Photo from Aleister Crowley Foundation
If
one defines the occult as the unseen (which is technically is) then it would be
easier (and less lengthy) to write an article on times that music was not
affected by the unseen world than on the times it was.
In the world music tradition, we have rather extensive history (extending all
the way back to the Greeks) of the use of music to induce certain states- modes
were thought to have certain qualities. There is even some evidence to suggest
that the Egyptians used music as a healing tool This anticipated the later utilization
of these techniques by figures as diverse as Sun Ra, Jimi Hendrix, the Misunderstood,
Rudolph Steiner, various "new age practitioners" such as Stephen Levine
and the biased experiments tying plant growth to listening to classical music.(1)
These types of customs are utilized in Africa, India, South America and within
most native cultures (shamanic cultures from Russia to the Americas to the Pacific)
have some kind of tradition of sacred song to them. The links run from the Russian
shamanic traditions, the Australian aborigines to East Indian Gandharva Veda
and Karnatak musics to Hawaiian chanting, to perhaps the most infamous occult
music tradition of all, the Yoruban culture in Africa which found its expression
as Voudon (Voodoo) in Haiti and Santeria throughout most of the remainder of
South America. This tradition has found its way into contemporary culture through
jazz, tango, Cuban music, and of course, blues and rock and roll (more on this
later). (2)
Getting back to tradition, in
the more mainstream religions, it is valuable to know that Moslem, Hindu and
Hebrew prayer is usually chanted, not spoken, and there are literally hundreds
of books in all these cultures regarding the power of chanted prayer. Balinese
and Javanese Gamelan and African Joujouka are vessels for worship. And the
Western church also has a tradition of its own of this type—plainsong
or proportional chant, which later evolved into Gregorian chant, was one of
the basic building blocks of the Western music tradition. Also, as the years
progressed, every major composer from the Renaissance onward (and even before)
devoted most of their output to sacred work, up to and including 20th century
composers like Stravinsky (occasionally) and Messiaen (mostly). A great many
composers also chose subject matter of a more obscure occult/spiritual tilt.
Mozart wrote overtly about Masonic principles in his opera "The Magic
Flute"; Scriabin seemed under the influence of the Theosophical movement
of his day with his Prometheus Symphony; Richard Strauss "Also Sprach
Zarathustra" is a piece dedicated to Nietzche but also to the misunderstood
principles of the founder of the Zoroastrian religion (considered to be the
first continuous monotheistic religion; in its current state it is a realtively
small religion practiced pretty much exclusively in Iran and in a small colony
(Parsi) in Bombay, India); Erik Satie was a Rosicrusian who applied some of
the principles of this secret society to his piano pieces; Dane Rudhyar and
Gustav Holst were astrologers; Olivier Messiaen wrote numerous pieces dedicated
to his unique form of Roman Catholic mysticism, but borrowed from Indian ragas
and birds (St. Francis of Assisi being the Catholic link) and also wrote huge
works drawing on Indian and Japanese works; and Schoenberg's most ambitious
work was the unfinished opera Moses and Aron. The most anti-mystical composer
of the 20th century (he claimed that the imagery of the Rite of Spring was
derived from the music, and the large pagan gathering that was this major
piece's program was inspired by the music, not vice versa) Stravinsky, wrote
at least two major sacred works—the Canticum Sacrum and the Symphony
of Psalms.
Among more contemporary composers,
Stockhausen has written works about mantra, the creation and the archangel
Michael; Penderecki has written religious works and mystical works, as has
Ligeti ("Lux Eterna"), John Cage was directly inspired by Zen and
Indian thought about music, while the minimal trio (Riley, Reich, and Glass)
are well known for their interest in Indian music, African and Hebrew traditions,
and Tibetan Buddhism, respectively. As George Crumb wrote the piece "Black
Angels," there was definitely an air of foreboding in the late 1960's
and early 1970- like "Tubular Bells," this piece did not start out
as an "occult" piece but became one by association by virtue of
its inclusion in the soundtrack to the Exorcist (an overtly occult piece like
Stairway to Heaven was only marginally associated with occultism, by contrast).
The mystical tradition that inspired Wagner is well-known. His finest work
(also his last) is a opera called "The Comedy at the End of Time"
in which the world comes to an end, prophesied by Sibyls and Anchorite monks
and Lucifer is finally forgiven by God for his transgressions and accepted
back into God's hands. Even Glenn Branca talks about angels and devils in
his Symphonies (and I have left out a ton of composers, I know, from Beethoven's
"Missa Solemnis" to Handel, Haydyn, Bruckner, well…it never
ends.) We'll talk about blues, jazz and rock further on.
Where do these people come up
with this stuff?
First of all, as one of my friends
remarked to me long ago, music, being an auditory phenomenon, is not visible,
save as a representation on sheet music. It is an occult (unseen) science.
It seems to come from everywhere. We interpret it in a congregation (the audience)
and it has a wide variety of "secret messages" to it. We can go
all the way from the meanings that people derive from lyrics or music to the
truly insipid interpretation of lyrics by the "Paul is dead" mania
of the late 1960's to Geraldo Rivera hearing the words "Son of Sam"
in Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" to the even more stupid "backwards
masked" lyrics of Led Zeppelin, among others. Before any of you ever
reads too much into a song lyric again, I strongly encourage you to read Julian
Jaynes' Origins of Consciousness in the Bicameral Brain. In it, he discusses
the cross talk of schizophrenics as the model for messages from the Gods to
early cultures. It is a fascinating bit of work and one that should give pause
to any one who thinks they hear a message from anywhere—be it from a
grizzled singer who can barely pronounce the words he is singing because of
a drug-addled state or a "blues" affectation.
Thankfully, apart from Geraldo
and a few Beatles-maniacs in the 1960's (they are back, by the way and on
the Internet), most of us don't pay too much attention to words we can't understand
on records. Also, this diatribe should not be taken to mean that 1) their
isn't real occult or spiritual significance to the music we enjoy or 2) that
music can not be a consciousness altering experience for some people, even
from sources that I would not necessarily like. Both exist; but like anything
else unseen, interpretation must be made with caution.
Blues, rock, and jazz, it must
be noted, are many times made in the presence of mind-altering substances.
To get to the essence of this, it is always useful to recall that alcohol
is called "spirits" for a reason. It has a potency that opens us
up to very positive or very negative experiences. Also, the grandfather of
these musics is a blend of two musics that have profound occult roots—the
Yoruban and the Celtic cultures, for blues came out of Africa, jazz came out
of Europe and Africa (adding sex from the whorehouses – in the old days
there used to be sacred sex temples in various cultures)– and rock coming
out of blues and old country. And country came out of the old Celtic folks
who settled in Tennessee. Ever wonder why groups like Fairport Convention
and Jethro Tull had such an easy time blending rock rhythms into these weird
little English folk pieces?
The blues certainly had its share
of occult imagery working for it. There is of course the Robert Johnson legend
of him going to the crossroads. This is a place in most cultures where demons
gather or the devil appears. According to one sensationalistic television
special I saw, the Allman Brothers Band used to spend time at Johnson's grave
and apparently picked up some kind of a curse by hanging out there- hence
the deaths of Duane Allman and Berry Oakley. Pieces like "Got My Mojo
Workin" or even Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell on You"
are obviously huge parts of the history of rock and roll. Even the sex and
drugs part of rock represent a sacred tradition, because sex, if used properly,
can lead to enlightenment or power, as can alcohol or drugs—but they
are considered rather dangerous for unprepared individuals, so a variety of
spiritual traditions—in the far east (India with Tantra and Aghora),
Shamanic cultures, and even, from what I know of the Santerian—require
long periods of preparation before these substances are used for spiritual
purposes. Here in the United States, all you need is a fake ID, a drug connection,
and (maybe) a condom and you're all set.(3)
Anyone who has ever been to a rock
concert sober knows the sense of power you feel from seeing thousands of fans
masses… and most of us have been witness to the power of sex, either
in our own lives or through proximity. Jim Jones (and many sect leaders) slept
with his female devotees not only for pleasure, but for power and dominance.
The Hare Krishnas (ISKCON) also had stories of rogue Western gurus who abused
their positions for sexual dominance.(4) The organization has made
major changes over the past twenty years to ensure that the power struggles
and corruption that plagued certain parts of the organization in the 1980's
do not recur). And think to the recent Heaven's Gate cult—the leader,
plagued by guilt or fear over his homosexuality, convinced many cult members
to become Eunuchs—actually, somewhat perversely following a pattern that
exists in the early Western church of eunuchs (Origen, one of the truly great
early church thinkers and founders, was a Eunuch.
Moving into music, it was a well-known
custom in certain circles to castrate male choirboys in order to retain the
high pitched purity of their voices, although this was apparently, done more
for aesthetic reasons than spritual—if only they had been blessed with
the falsetto control of, say, Frankie Valli. It happens in certain pagan traditions
also- according to one who claimed to belong to a family of witches, Alex
Sanders, ritual castration was once part of becoming a witch (he got away
with a nicked scrotum, though). In India, certain dovotees of Shiva engage
in surgery to eliminate sexual desire to this day, and a very bizarre group—the
Harridan—go from village to village looking for male children with either
deformed sexual organs or with hermaphroditic tendencies, and claim these
children as part of their group. The group dress in women's clothes and have
a reputation for being powerful magicians. It is rare that parents refuse
their demand for a child, because of the fear of a curse. These individuals
take the child, cut away all vestiges of maleness and travel the country,
telling fortunes and offering magic remedies to villagers—while seeking
new recruits. Power, intoxication and the creative energy of the universe
(sex) are difficult to withstand. Many sects call for abstinence, for similar
reasons—abstinence builds up energy in most people, which can be transmuted
to satisfy the goals of the group or given proper guidance, can be channeled
through the body to create higher states of consciousness.
Israfel, the angel of music
Artwork by Ruth Frasur
Watch an evangelical meeting sometime
(or better yet a snake handling session—watch this on TV!)---you'll see,
in many cases, the kind of fervor connected with a rock concert, If you witness
a coven meeting (which is not as tough to do now as in the past) you will
notice the same kind of energy. I have seen cabalistic and Santerian rituals
(no animal sacrifice) that have similar energy. I have been part of Hindu
rituals that have the same energy as a great musical experience, and I have
been at concerts that have a truly sanctified feeling to them. But the experiences
range from the ecstatic (Mahavishnu, Alice Coltrane, Magma, Cecil Taylor)
to the oddly detached (Leo Smith and Marion Brown, or ZAJ, led by Walter Marchetti
and Juan Hidalgo, two Cage disciples) to the traditional (Korean Ah Ahk Theatre,
Gamelan, Hare Krishna temple celebrations, chanting, church). Some included
the desire to communicate and make more money in the process- Chick Corea's
move to fusion, starting with the Moreira-Purim Return to Forever through
the Mahavishnu-inspired groups, coincided with his involvement in Scientology.
Although it is not known how deeply involved Coryell was with spirituality
after he left Sri Chinmoy's tutelage, his most successful band, the Eleventh
House, was named for an astrological term. Some of the classical pieces that
were inspired by spiritual concepts, like Messiaen's work ("Quartet for
the End of Time" comes to mind, but there are so many more), Dane Rudhyar's
pieces, Bach's religious works, Stravinsky's pieces, Penderecki (The Passion
of St. Luke), Michael Tippett's The Vision of St. Augustine and King Priam
(in both pieces the lead character has a vision of the totality of creation
all at once; this is similar to some Hindu concept of God realization); Stockhausen's
Hymnen and Mantra, and even Cage pieces inspired by Zen, are truly amazing—they
are great pieces of art no matter what the context and I am not even touching
upon one tenth of all the great religious pieces.
Oddly enough, because spirituality
and overindulgence in sex and drugs have both produced some great music, it
is tempting to look for a link—and there is. Both elements involve a
loss of identity and surrender to something else… God, wine, bliss. Certain
types of reggae (such as dub) and certain varieties of psychedelic (and later)
rock and jazz showed some extraordinary music that would probably not have
been made without the influence of intoxicants. Sometimes intoxicants precipitated
a crisis that led to other things. We are all familiar of the various stories
of how drugs (particularly alcohol, psychedelics, speed, and the harder drugs
-- cocaine and heroin in particular have wreaked havoc on people's lived.
This has brought on death (Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Kurt
Cobain and Keith Moon to name a select few), ruined or interrupted careers
(Syd Barrett, Brian Wilson, Peter Green, Skip Spence, Ginger Baker, and David
O'List) or led to lame music (Eric Clapton and Lou Reed)—to name the
two people I wished hadn't performed when they were on drugs) and animal abuse
(accidentally on Ozzie Osbourne's part, intentionally—for which my estimation
of him went down enormously—on the part of John Cale). But Santeria and
Voodoo regularly engage in animal sacrifice, and many religions around the
world, including Biblical Judaism and certain older sects of Hinduism, engaged
in animal sacrifice. But these seem to be used for the release of energy,
which I think is totally unnecessary and to be honest, repellant.
Linking the pattern back to spirituality,
part of the myth of Syd Barrett relates how he was interested in joining a
sect of mid-Eastern mystics who practiced astral travel to planets—also
practiced in India—but the group felt he was too immature to handle it.
He resorted to a diet of LSD in order to produce the effect—explaining
the emphasis on the first two Floyd LP's—but burned himself out from
chronic use of LSD, from which he has apparently still not recovered. Syd
sacrificed himself to his spiritual and material ambitions in a pattern not
very different from martyrs and hasn't rock has its share of "martyrs"
to its life style, such as Hendrix, Morrison, Moon, Cobain and Laughner, to
name just a few?
But there are also stories of
marvelous second chances, like John Coltrane's incredible rebirth and spiritual
awakening in the 1960's. But these are very rare and Coltrane only had a short
span of time in which to spread his new gospel. Disciples like Pharaoh Sanders
and his wife Alice Coltrane, despite great initial popularity, vanished into
obscurity by the late 1970's (although they re-emerged) and the ones who exceeded
Coltrane's spirituality (like Ayler) were found dead in the East River in
the late 1960's under bizarre circumstances. Although Coltrane really got
into some incredibly mystical places (albums included titles like the churning
"Meditations" (this piece sounds like one of the foundation stones
for the German Free Jazz scene of Brotzmann and the late Peter Kowald), Om,
Interstellar Space (homages to the planets in duets with drummer Rashied Ali)
and the comparatively tame classic A Love Supreme. Ayler's entire set of work
was spiritually based., from his earliest to his last lame rock-based work.
Titles like "Witches and Devils," "Ghosts" and "Universal
Indians" barely hint at Ayler's ecstatic virtuosity. Anybody who just
thinks he was blowing straight simple themes should listen with care to, for
example, "Ghost" on his Love Cry LP in which he dances in and out
of the melody, dropping notes and catching them intentionally like he was
using the silences as a type of spiritual counterpoint, while Milford Graves
does everything he can to avoid keeping a beat and Alan Silva keens to the
higher consciousness. It's an amazing, ECSTATIC performance—quite startling.
Are the missing notes being played by the Ghosts?
And Sun Ra's interest in Egypt,
and spirituality was not just for show. When I met him and spoke with him
in 1973 (it was an interview in only the loosest sense of the word—more
of a Sun Ra lecture), one of the things he told me to do was to look up a
book that I would be interested in at the University of California at Berkeley.
The book Urantia has to be one of the strangest books ever written—it
was written through a technique that would later be called "channeling"
but was composed in the early twentieth century by a spirit possessing a well-placed
man in an apparently well-placed group of people. If such a thing were to
happen today, there would be a rush to record it or make a television series
about it. But, being "well-placed" at that time meant that you would
not want anyone else to know of this, so a group met and recorded the book
in secret. The book purports to be a history of the universe told from the
creation, and Ra was fascinated by it. In one of the chapters of the book,
it spoke of Green, blue, orange people—so much so that Ra felt this was
why people had distinct color preferences throughout their lives. Somebody
who liked green clothing was probably a green person in previous lifetime.
He also spoke freely about angels and UFO abductions he had experienced. This
was in 1973, long before this kind of thing became popular. Albert Ayler also
had a famous vision in which he and his brother were zapped by a flying saucer
but were immune to its negative effects because they possessed holy marks.
This type of dream is not dissimilar to the belief in certain Indian sects
that UFO's represent highly evolved spiritual beings who are intent on deceiving
humanity for their own ends the one populated by faerie, vampires, ghosts
and all the occult mischief makers.(5) Interestingly enough, in some
meditation circles, some folks seem to encounter UFO-like characters when
they start to make spiritual progress, but these characters are considered
distractions, not helpers.
My meeting with Sun Ra marked a
time (1973) during which interest in the metaphysical and the occult was just
about as strong as it is now, but most of us tend to have relatively short
memories, so we tend to forget that the sixties and its expansion into drugs
also led to a major concurrent interest in the occult and the spiritual life.
For example, astrology was HUGELY popular in the 1960's; interest in Eastern
Gurus, thanks in no small measure to the Beatles involvement with Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi and the Hare Krishna, was enormous. I can recall kids in college
leaving to join spiritual groups—and interest in Wicca or White Magic
was also quite high. So we had a major influence of different gurus affecting
musicians who had come out of the drug culture, or even who needed a refuge.
Among the folks who were disciples of different gurus were of course, the
Beatles who aligned themselves with TM and ISKCON—the International Society
for Krishna Consciousness appealed to John for a brief while, George died
an adherent to ISKCON. "The Fool on the Hill" was originally, the
story goes, dedicated to the Maharishi and most of The White Album was written
in retreat in India). The Doors were into TM though Morrison was initiated
into TM before the Beatles involvement: Morrison was the shaman who sacrificed
himself for his vision, too in love with living on the edge to see the danger.
The Beach Boys were also TM devotees, but it was too late for poor Brian Wilson,
who stopped work on Smile because he was sure that his music caused some of
the Topanga Canyon fires. Other followers were The Rascals whose song "It's
Wonderful" is their TM tribute. There was also Pete Townshend, who devoted
himself to Meher Baba- "Baba O'Riley" on Who's Next name checks
him and Townshend's first solo album Who Came First was almost entirely written
in dedication to him.
The jazz-rock contingent seemed
drawn to Sri Chinmoy as John McLaughlin, Carlos Santana, Larry Coryell and
Brian Auger were all devotees at one point in their lives. Chinmoy seemed
to attract instrumental virtuosos while he himself is known for the thousands
of songs and paintings he completed, as well as his feats of strength). And
of course, there was Alice Coltrane (whose best work, Universal Consciousness,
was inspired by her spiritual interests and other musicians, like the late
Larry Young (Khalid Yasin) went over to Islam (as did Cat Stevens). And many
AACM musicians (from Muhal Richard Abrams to Kalapurusha Maurice McIntyre)
were drawn to African and Jewish spirituality. Other folks were drawn to Western
Magick, like Graham Bond (who committed suicide in 1975), Robert Fripp (in
the early 1970's before his involvement with Western guru J. G. Bennett and
the Gurdjieff group), and of course, folks like Stevie Nicks. But what of
the heavy metal tradition—the one most intimately (and publicly) connected
to the "darker forces"?(6)
But the interest in the weird extra
forces of the progressive rock world came to a head between 1971 and 1975,
when : 1) Magma came to pre-eminence; 2) King Crimson became interested in
Wicca (the Wetton-Cross-Bruford Group); 3) Yes composed titanic works dedicated
to Theosophy (followed by Todd Rundgren just a little later.(7) These
are only the three most obvious. Vander actually developed his own language
based upon a time when he was playing free jazz in a club. As the story goes,
he was playing to an unappreciative audience; and he thought about the people
who were dying to play this music (think Coltrane—Vander viewed Coltrane
as his major hero according to the press of the time) and he wished the audience
dead—and he was going to tell them. What came out of his mouth, if we
are to believe him, was the foundation of Kobaian, the language of all of
the Magma music. This concept is quite a bit like "Glossalia," or
speaking in tongues when possessed by the Holy Spirit, a phenomenon documented
in every religion in the world. Also, I can recall a hell of a lot of apocalyptic
thinking at the time—one of the reasons that Fripp gave for disbanding
King Crimson in 1975 was because he thought the world was going to undergo
massive disasters in 25 years and the idea of running a group seemed frivolous
to him; the story changed shortly after, to the "small mobile intelligent
units" concept favored by Fripp, Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno, but apocalyptic
thinking was the first reason I saw in print. Not tough to see why—escalating
energy prices and unemployment were starting to worry folks, and there was
a real feeling of doom (perhaps fed by too much drug consumption) in the mid-1970's.
The advent of Punk and Disco only seemed to make people more convinced that
things would get worse and that it was time to get spiritual—in time
for a variety of Gurus (eastern and Western) to fill the gaps that the cessation
of drugs and partying brought. Also, pieces that had no occult origins like
Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells" acquired satanic connotations because
of its lifting of Terry Riley's trance ideas, and, of course, its use in the
film The Exorcist.
In certain areas, (mainly industrial
England and heartland USA) groups with huge Marshall Amplifers, and distorted
guitars realized how ominous such sounds could be. They took the basic concept
of Cream, the Who and Hendrix, slowed down the beat and voila, Satanic heavy
metal is born. The forerunner is probably Black Widow, an obscure English
group from the late 1960's who teamed up with our friend Alex Sanders (see
above) caused a minor sensation with their live shows (featuring a nude female
celebrant at the end) and releasing one album which faded into obscurity because
their record company wanted to push Simon and Garfunkel instead of them! So
much for their association with Sanders (according to them, the most powerful
man in England). Many groups, like the Crazy World of Arthur Brown (who Ritchie
Unterburger correctly identified as the daddy and grand daddy of all the latter
"Satanic" rockers), Atomic Rooster, Black Sabbath, Kiss, and Alice
Cooper, that were essentially Hammer studios and Hollywood visions of the
occult world—accidentally evil or occult at best, but entertaining for
the spectacle.
The Stones, you will recall, were
also involved in their earlier years—of course they had a certain number
of songs and album titles in their early years.(8) And of course, there
was "Dancing With Mr. D" and "Sympathy for the Devil"
but their real involvement was with the films of Kenneth Anger, author of
Hollywood Babylon. Anger was a Luciferian satanist and also a devotee of Alesiter
Crowley (who was not a Satanist) and the movies he mad with the Stones help
were a bit bizarre, disturbing, and ultimately incoherent, like Bunuel/Dali
on a bad day. This interest lasted a very short while for the Stones (probably
1968-1971) but the stigma stuck. But they were the bad boys- it was expected.
The other fellow who exploits in this area are best known is our friend Jimmy
Page.
Jimmy Page was fascinated with
Aleister Crowley and eastern mysticism (remember "Kashmir"?), but
the interest with Crowley lasted for more than a few years. The late Aleister
Crowley (aka "the Beast" because, as he remarked, his mother called
him that) was born into a fundamentalist Christian family who also owned a
brewing company. In his early college years, he essentially started tapping
into his family's fortune and quickly spent it all. He was involved in the
Golden Dawn, a group of occultists from turn of the century England who also
included W. B. Yeats among its members. Crowley was invited in by McGregor
Mathers one of the founders of the organization who perceived Crowley as brilliant,
and tried to enlist his assistance in a battle for control of the group. After
a long series of disputes within the group, Crowley was out, and formed his
own lodge (Mathers was disgraced and died soon after), and the Golden Dawn
turned more introspective and cautious. But Crowley was convinced of his special
role in the world, engaging in sex magick, drugs, esoteric rituals and demonic
possession. Although he still exhibited a high level of influence through
the late 1930's (and a great deal of press as "the Most Evil Man in the
World"), his influence waned through the 1940's and he passed away in
1947. Although it sounds like he was just a profligate junkie, his contributions
to the "new age" movement and occultism were considerable—he
was quite brilliant (although incredibly egotistical, nasty and arrogant).
He wrote and "ghosted" wrote many significant works of occultism,
including jobs for Evangeline Adams (who made headlines as an astrologer in
the early twentieth century) and Gerald Gardner (this was the man generally
regarded as leading the Wiccan revival in England in the late 1940's, when
it was still against the law to be a witch). Crowley's general decline can
be seen as starting when he started to get addicted to opium and heroin, among
other substances. Israel Regardie, who served as his personal secretary, allegedly
said that Crowley was a genius with the emotional development of a ten year
old boy—which, when you come to think of it, is a good description for
a great many famous rock performers.
Page's involvement with the Crowley
legacy extended to the purchase of one of Crowley's homes, and the symbols
that adorned Led Zeppelin IV. "Stairway to Heaven" was certainly
a mystical piece of music (it was praised by Kenneth Anger as being the most
"luciferian" pieces of Page's work—a definite compliment if
you view Lucifer, as Anger did, as a representation of truth and beauty),
but Page never made it to the stage of finishing a soundtrack to Anger's movies.
There are allegations that some members of the group blamed the death of John
Bonham and other untoward events upon Page's involvement with Crowley; but
Bonham's drinking was getting out of hand even before Page's involvement with
Crowley. The break up of Led Zeppelin probably didn't end Page's involvement
with Crowley, but the public knowledge and interest in this probably declined
at that stage.
The interesting thing is, in the
late 1970's, especially with the advent of punk, a lot of groups seemed to
back away from occult (particularly positive occult) involvement, but the
advent of "Death Rock" or occult rock, which developed in s slow
pattern through the following bands: Black Widow - Atomic Rooster - Black
Sabbath Angel Witch - Venom - Pagan Altar - Widow - Witchfynde - Hell Satan
- Cloven Hoof – Warhammer- Onslaught - Sabbat – Antichrist-Ragnarok
- Cradle Of Filth - Megiddo Bal Sagoth - December Moon – Ewigkeit - Adorior
- Hecate - Enthroned - Phantasia - Forefather - Meads Of Asphodel - Reign
Of Erebus Thus Defiled - Old Forest - Annal Nathrakh. They all showed a steady
but consistent interest in the underworld as a source of inspiration, although,
as I indicated earlier, the evolution is part occult interest, part show biz.
Throbbing Gristle even had a bit
of a run in occult circles and Genesis P. Orridge has an interest in the works
of Austin Osman Spare, a contemporary of Crowley's who established the foundation
of a system called Chaos magic, which draws heavily on tapping into the patterns
of nature (such as repeating sets) and partially on Shamanic-inspired altered
states of consciousness—which sort of fits in well with techno and other
dance systems as a metaphysical delivery agent. In the progressive world,
Fripp continued his involvement with discipline, Art Ensemble founder Joseph
Jarman got more deeply involved with his dojo, and the Belgian groups Present
and Univers Zero put out gloomy CD after gloomy CD with strong senses of foreboding.
The 1980's also saw a great deal
of interest in H.P. Lovecraft's work. Lovecraft was a writer from Providence,
RI who was active in the 1920's and who developed intense and foreboding mythologies
about the elder gods who ruled the earth before the advent of humans and who
waited to seize it again. Their worshippers were snake-like races who seemed
more inspired by the influx of Southern European immigrants into the Northeast
during Lovecraft's time than by any recorded legends. (Lovecraft was an introverted
xenophobe. But Lovecraft inspired more than a few groups, including Caravan
(!), Magma, and Univers Zero.
Other groups, that emerged in
the 1980's, such as Megadeath, Ministry and Slayer, had a stronger connection
with the instrumental posture of groups like Black Sabbath, but the instrumental
prowess greatly exceeded that of the earlier groups. Slayer, in particular,
in their earlier albums, played with a frenzy close to that of free jazz,
and a truly threatening vocal style that inspired folks like Rob Zombie (from
the old industrial city of Lowell, Massachusetts), but that lost a lot of
its bite when you see folks like Trey Parker (creator of South Park) imitating
it pretty flawlessly. The difficult part of the late 1980's was that, with
the advent of the PMRC and various Christian fundamental groups, and police
looking for scapegoats, ANYTHING connected with mysticism or the occult was
automatically tagged as SATANIC—even folks like Rush and Alan Parsons
show up under the Satanic heading, much to my (and their) astonishment. The
1980's was also the period in which New Age music, a combination of ECM, Terry
Riley, ethnic music, and a sprinkling of light electronics. This started to
gain an enormous audience of over-stressed former hippies and baby boomers
trying to find music that would transport them, but not force their heads
to work harder than they already were. It was, in some ways, a search for
a nice refuge from the hyper-materialistic eighties.
In the 1990's, interest in the
occult and spirituality seemed to skyrocket to heights not seen since the
mid-1970's. The introduction of drugs into a culture among youth seems to
generate interest in alternative spirituality, but interest in Wicca seemed
to run high in the 1990's—there are more Wiccans than Unitarians at this
point—and the increasing diverse environment of the United States and
Western Europe are bringing in many more religious traditions, including areas
as diverse and dissimilar as Santero, Voodoo, Hinduism and Buddhism, these
often having houses of worship or outlets in the same community.(9)
Millennium fever probably fueled a
lot of interest in the occult, and disenchantment with mainstream religions
also seemed at a peak in the mid to late 1990's. Prosperity in the United States
always has seen us experimenting—we find that money doesn't buy happiness,
or we start looking for new things to entertain us. Also, the Goth scene started
to develop with a new intensity, becoming the hippie movement of the 1990's.
This started to develop interest in alternative religions.(10)
In the later 1990's, as groups
like Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson (who is allegedly, a minister in the Church
of Satan) started to gain in popularity, the middle class and fundamentalist
Christianity started to get very concerned again, but the ability to confine
this stuff is less easy than in the days before the internet (there must have
been a great deal of gnashing of teeth when Tool thanked Satan for its Grammy
award!). The ultimate ramifications of the September 11, 2001 attacks have
had the interesting effect of both increasing animosity towards foreign cultures
and increasing interest, while the Church's recent spate of sexual molestation
cases all around the United States have increased interest in alternative
religion. Madonna, for instance, is interested in the Cabala and has had a
Hindu (Indian) astrology reading done for her (this is the system of astrology
that I myself practice). There has been an enormous upsurge in interest in
the more metaphysically oriented music of the late 1960's and early 1970's
(Gong, Magma, Hawkwind, Terry Riley, etc.).
But people are also a bit insecure
and afraid now—it would only take one more successful terrorist attack
to turn the U.S. into raging xenophobes. What does that have to do with music?
Nothing and everything. Basically, even though I am not a big fan of some
of the music I've discussed here, it does make the entire musical scene a
whole lot more interesting. And I really don't want to listen to either basic
rock'n'roll or Christian rock (although some of it sounds OK to me) or even
new age stuff. I grew up in a time when virtually everything was possible
in music. One of the biggest disappointments in the world as it exists today
is the fact that the music scene has remained as fragmented as it was in the
mid-1970's onward with segregated markets. The thing that we all have to fight
is the belief that we have nothing in common with the rest of the world. The
universal undercurrent in every spiritual teaching stresses our similarities—the
differences are for spice and flavor, not evil.
1. Many of you may recall these experiments, conducted as far
back as the early seventies, in which various experimenters "demonstrated"
that plants responded more positively to Mozart than, let's say Megadeath.
The hidden factor that was not explained up front, was that the first lady
who conducted these experiments hated loud rock, indicating the distinct possibility
of bias. Recent experiments have been less conclusive—I seem to recall
that now country and western music is the best—but research also tends
to indicate that plants seem to thrive if the researcher likes the music being
used—so plants could, and mine have, thrive on a diet of free jazz, art
rock, and noise.
2. The more insidious
side of this is that science, our new religion, is expanding on the "classical"
experiments and has produced "studies" that show that learners learn
better to the music of Mozart—which is odd, considering the fact that
Mozart was more of a burnt out party boy than Ozzy Osboune—and many subliminal
learning tapes have modeled their music on a certain number of beats oer minute
that are supposed to optimize learning. In fact, a friend of mine who programs
funk jazz—you know, like the Yellow Jackets, and various other fusack
entities—has told me that many of the lighter (yes, Virginia, there is
lighter jazz than the Yellow Jackets—all kidding aside, they are good
musicians whose combination of elements just happen to annoy ME) jazz stations
and producers have the music calculated so it hits a certain number of beats
per minute, etc. in the theory that it will sell products better. On the surface
of it, it makes sense, but, IF IT WERE TRUE, we would expect, let's say, Kenny
G. to be more popular than Bruce Springsteen or the Rolling Stones and this
is clearly not the case. But we will be stuck with lame jazz on the airwaves
because of this misconception. And we won't even get into Scientology's take
on this (refer to the section on jazz rock and Chick Corea's desire to reach
people).
3. There is a story circulating
that Shree Rajneesh, the Rolls Royce Guru, used to preside over ecstatic dancing
and (allegedly) even sexual acts performed by his disciples and, in so doing,
gathered tremendous Siddhi or power.
4. See the interesting
book Monkey on a Stick for an interesting—though some would say biased—expose
of the abuses of power in this organization, especially after Srila Prabhupada
passed away.
5. This theory is not
dissimilar to a theory put forth by John Keel , a veteran UFO and occult investigator,
who sometimes felt that UFO's were the latest manifestation of history's contact
with the unseen occult world.
6. An odd bit of musical
trivia is that the occult connection with music can be traced to the most
bizarre of connections—Desi Arnaz. It seems Desi was allegedly involved
in an offshoot of Santeria in Cuba and was a devotee of one of the deities
in his native Cuba. "Babalu" was apparently a tribute to this deity
and one Santero (Santerian Priest) I know claimed that the conga rhythms in
the "I Love Lucy" theme were actually used in worship to this deity.
And they were worried about Led Zeppelin and Ozzy in the seventies! (Note
to lawyers in the audience: I am not claiming that Desi was a Satanist!
7. Things like the success
of "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac and "Dream Weaver" by Gary
Wright showed mainstream acceptance of these themes. But I think "Rhiannon"
in particular, pales in comparison to pieces like "Tam Lin" from
Fairport Convention, a song about the evil side of the faerie folk that sent
chills through me when I saw them perform it without Sandy Denny.
8. I can remember innocently
doing a public relations flyer in my high school that stated "Their Satanic
Majesties Request Your Presence at Our Spring Dance" and it was a spring
dance for two Catholic high schools. Went over like a lead balloon but I was
Episcopalian and forgiven for my error.
9. There have been increased
attempts at Christian conversion in other cultures—the underhanded shenanigans
that have occurred in India with the intention of drawing Hindus away from
their native religion are extraordinary, deceitful, and reprehensible—but
we are living in a time of cultural exchange unparalleled since the late 1800's,
personally and through the use of the Internet.
10.
You haven't lived
until you've gone to a Goth club and been approached by somebody who hands
you a card that advertises fake vampire fangs and yellow contact lenses—then
flashes his fangs at you. It's an interesting experience.
