Episode 112 is a spooky music special:

This week, Dre deep dives into the mysterious ‘diabolus in musica’ tritone and dispels a spooky rumour you might have heard about it. Also in this segment, a brief history of musicians who have made deals with the devil, one who won a golden fiddle. 

Niall gives a short history of some of his favourite horror soundtracks like Psycho, John Carpenter, The Exorcist, Italian Horror soundtracks and segue into modern horror-inspired music from Clipping.

Finally, we discuss genuinely spooky songs from Scott Walker's 2006 album The Drift and The Caretaker.

Happy Halloween!

Support Nialler9 on Patreon and join our inner demonic circle

Andrea has a Substack newletter you can subscribe to

Running Order:

The Devil In Music

Diabolus in Musica

I heard there was an evil chord, that Satan played and it spooked the lord...

Musical works cited:

Camille Sans-Saens  “The Dance Macabre”Frans Liszt “The Dante Sonata” Giuseppe Tartini “Violin Sonata in G, The Devil’s Trill’s Sonata”Robert Johnson “Cross Road Blues”, “Hell hound on my trail”, “Me and The Devil Blues”The Charlie Daniels Band ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia”Metallica “Enter Sandman”Danny Elfman “The Simpsons -- Theme Song” “They Sold Their Solds For Rock and Roll” -- Christian Documentary on Rock Music and the Devil

A short history of horror soundtracks

Dies Irae - Day of Wrath - 4 descending minor notes in a chant used in The Shining theme and many other horror scores.The Mummy (1932) opening sequence - used Tchaikovsky’s Swan LakePsycho (1961) - Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece with Bernard Hermann’s score was an early example of jump scare music.The Exorcist (1973) - the use of Mike Oldfield's Tubular BellsHalloween (1978) - John Carpenter and the proliferation of '80s synths and horrorItalian Horror - Dario Argento - Goblin for Suspiria (1977) and Tenebre (1982)Modern Horror and retromania - Stranger Things (2016) and It Follows (2014)

Spooky songs played

Novelty Songs - Bobby Pickett’s Monster Mash (1962)

Yvonne Gage - Doing It In A Haunted House (1984)

The Caretaker - An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (2011)

Clipping - Nothing Is Safe (2019)

Clipping - '96 Neve Campbell (2020)

Scott Walker - The Escape (2006)

Scott Walker - Jolson and Jones (2006)

Closing Track

Psyche - The Saint Became A Lush

Join us on Patreon!

Subscribe to the podcast and please leave a review on iTunes, tell your friends or commit to supporting us directly. Support us on Patreon.

Previous podcasts in this series are listed here.

Subscribe in Apple | Android | ACAST | Pocketcasts | CastBox | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS Feed