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June 06, 2006
Sinister Picks for 06.06.06
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There are plenty of heavy metal songs and hard rock anthems that could serve as a Satanic soundtrack to today's very strangely numbered date of 06/06/06. But you have to dig a little bit deeper to come up with some appropriately themed tunes from the funk/hip-hop/pop/dance side of the gates. Hell asked me to contribute some ideas and recordings for tonight's 6/6/6 party, during which they will reportedly play "THE 100 MOST SATANIC SONGS OF ALL TIME!". Here are six essential non-Slayer jams that I'm going to be burning for the occasion:
1. Curtis Mayfield - "(Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below, We're All Going To Go"
A big hit from Mayfield's 1970 solo debut Curtis. "Move On Up" from the same record is one of the most uplifting blasts of optimism ever recorded, but "If There's A Hell Below..." starts with ominous bass and scary Book-of-Revelation talk and winds up telling us exactly where we're all gonna end up. Someday I hope Papa D rewrites the frightening introductory roll call of people-labels ("Sistahs! Whiteys! Jews!") to fit Hell's diverse clientele ("Indie-rockers! Grad-students! Townies! Punkers! RTP workers!").
2. Paris - "The Devil Made Me Do It"
Until just recently I hadn't thought about Paris in a long while, but his Tommy Boy debut had a huge effect on my young ears in 1990. WXDU played the hell out of The Devil Made Me Do It when it came out, maybe in part because of the Duke mascot tie-in but probably 'cause the album struck such a chord with fans of Public Enemy and other powerfully produced political hip-hop. With its dark guitar riff intro, those crazy backmasked drum rolls, and a bassline that's even lower than P-Dog's deep voice, this title track still sounds sinister as shit.
One of my first-ever rock concerts was INXS and Ziggy Marley at the Dean Dome in September 1988. In much more recent years I totally dropped the ball in terms of realizing how appropriate it would be to play "Devil Inside" at Hell. Luckily I was finally shown the light when One Duran dropped this jam at a Disco Inferno last fall.
"Horny Little Devil" off of Death Certificate might seem like a more appropriately themed 06/06/06 song, but the "devil" in that song is a white boss/employer trying to get "a taste of chocolate". "Wicked" from The Predator is way scarier - a really evil groove with fierce Ice Cube rapping, some Don Jaguar toasting, and menacing Bomb-Squad-ish production. This 1992 banger also has what might be the earliest rap reference to Shaquille O'Neal, who was very recently spotted wearing a blood-red jersey with some fire imagery on it.
5. Jeru the Damaja - "Ain't The Devil Happy"
Spine-tingling strings make for a subtler form of sinister, but this song is no less appropriate for 06/06/06. Premo produced another bumpin' Beelzebub beat when he did D'Angelo's "Devil's Pie", but I'm going with Jeru for this short-list.
Kanyeezy "did it again" on this Black Album track, flipping Max Romeo's vocal sample ("Lucifer son of the mourning...") from the equally Satan-centric reggae jam "Chase the Devil". Somehow I think the calypso-ish "Hell" by Squirrel Nut Zippers might fit surprisingly well before or after "Lucifer" and its devilishly bouncy beat.
These six tunes are just the tip of the pitchfork, of course. Hell will also be playing songs like James Brown's "Hell", that AC/DC song that I recently blogged about, "Helter Skelter", "Death Valley '69", "Straight to Hell", "Devil's Haircut", "Shout at the Devil", "Hellhound on My Trail", "To Hell With the Devil", "Sympathy for the Devil", "Devil Got My Woman", "Satan is Real", "Running With The Devil", "The Devil Went Down To Georgia", etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. And if the wicked music isn't enough of an incentive to come out for tonight's festivities, Hell will be serving red beer. Not simply Red Stripe or Red Hook, mind you, but actual red beer! I've been feeling pretty sick for the last week, but the chance to try red beer is a little tempting...
Posted by Tim at June 6, 2006 06:06 AM