"When my grandmother found out that I was playing jazz music in one of the sporting houses in the District, she told me that I had disgraced the family and forbade me to live at the house... She told me that devil music would surely bring about my downfall but I just couldn't put it behind me." - Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, jazz musician/composer.
I found this quote while roaming random websites on the internet. I really feel like it perfectly sums up the tensions between conservative traditions and the new and upcoming generations during the 19020's and 30's. I think Jazz music was such a controversial issue because it broke basically all traditional musical and social standards set by the conservative morals of the older generation of Americans. I also enjoyed our discussion today about the devil as a metaphor in music. Many contemporary songs use the devil as a symbolic term for temptation or cruelty. All I kept thinking about in discussion was Breaking Benjamin's song "Dance with the Devil" (Naturally I have not been able to get the song out of my head). The devil has become a prominent figure in pop culture. Many books, movies, tv shows, video games, and comic books have references to the devil. I wonder if it was during this time period where the devil became such a powerful metaphor in entertainment...
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