ROBERT JOHNSON

(Welcome, Worm-o-philes! It’s time for another edition of the Wormwood Files, but this time the Good Doctor shall not be your guide into the world of the strange. This time, we turn things over to our old friend CLASSIC CAMP, well-known wrestling aficionado and horror maven. Camp hasn’t written for us in over a decade but we welcome him back now to tell this tale of the Blues and Beelzebub...Dr. Mality) 

Rock and roll has always been associated with the devil and satanism. Since its inception, rock has been known as “the devil’s music,” and it has incensed numerous “satanic panics” throughout the decades.

Some attribute this to a quote from an interview with Nick Cave, of NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS, who, according to Far Out Magazine, once said, “The great beauty of contemporary music, and what gives it its edge and vitality, is its devil-may-care attitude toward appropriation – everybody is grabbing stuff from everybody else, all the time. It’s a feeding frenzy of borrowed ideas that goes toward the advancement of rock music – the great artistic experiment of our era.”

But if I were to ask you who the first music artist was to bring the devil into contemporary music, would you answer with bands that played with anti-Christian names, like JUDAS PRIEST or BLACK SABBATH? Or would you name bands that played into the stereotype with their music like LED ZEPPELIN and ALICE COOPER? Or would you go back to the beginnings of rock and roll itself, since, if rock and roll is the devil’s music, it must all be the devil’s music, and name acts like Elvis Presley and THE BEATLES?

Personally, I used to think the first pop music act to write songs about the devil was the 1960s psychedelic rock band ATOMIC ROOSTER (The folky Satanic rock outfit COVEN deserves a mention as well.--High Priest Mality).

Then I discovered Robert Johnson, a blues artist from Mississippi, who was playing into that trope as far back as the 1930s.

As legend would have it, Johnson, at the tender age of 19, was playing a small venue in Mississippi in 1930 when his guitar playing was so bad, he was booed off the stage. He was so embarrassed he would not appear on stage with a guitar for another three years. It is at this point that it is assumed he heard about a legend many blues artists have related, and blues biographer David Evans once chronicled. According to the National Blues Museum website, the legend originates from an account by LaDell Johnson, who tells the story of his brother Tommy Johnson (neither of which are related to Robert). Interestingly, these Johnson brothers also hail from Mississippi, and not far from Robert. It is unclear, however, if Tommy ever met Robert during their respective careers.

Tommy Johnson is said to have been the first blues artist to sell his soul to the devil. According to his biographer, the aforementioned David Evans, who gained the account from Tommy’s brother, LaDell, this is how you make a deal with the devil to learn to play guitar. Tommy claims that if you show up at a crossroads alone, at the stroke of midnight, and play a tune, a large Black man will approach and tune your guitar and then play a tune. Then he will return the guitar to you and the deal is sealed. Tommy says that after this happened to him, he could play any song he wanted.

Whether Robert Johnson heard this from Tommy himself or another third-party grapevine, Robert is said to have tried it out. He showed up at the crossroads of Highways 49 and 61 in Mississippi, and purportedly made his own deal with the devil.

At this point, it should be pointed out that Robert Johnson’s family dispute the claims that Robert sold his soul for rock and roll. Instead, they claim that during the three years between Robert’s performances he was trained in guitar by another Delta Blues artist named Ike Zimmerman. Stories from Zimmerman’s family confirm this and note that Robert Johnson lived with them for over a year. As though there was not enough morbidity to this story already, however, Ike was known for practicing his guitar skills at the local cemetery (you can’t make this stuff up). In fact, it said that Johnson and Zimmerman used to practice together, playing guitar licks back and forth almost as though they were competing with one another, while sitting on top of tombstones in Beauregard Cemetery.

But just like many of the supposedly satanic music acts that would follow, the true story did not stop Robert Johnson from using the rumors as part of his act. Let’s face it, most supposedly “satanic” rock bands have admitted this was only a gimmick, including SLAYER, BLACK SABBATH, and in modern days, GHOST. Even the previously mentioned ATOMIC ROOSTER later admitted they only started making more music about the devil when they realized it sold more records. In fact, some like ALICE COOPER and Tom Araya of SLAYER have later admitted to actually being devoutly religious.

Just like these other acts, Robert Johnson played up that satanic angle and rumors. Some of Johnson’s most famous songs include titles like “Hellhound on my Tail,” “Up Jumped the Devil,” and “Me and the Devil Blues.” He has also served to influence many later rock acts, including Eric Clapton, who covered parts of one of Johnson’s song, “Cross Road Blues” including some lyrics to make the song “Crossroads” while Clapton was with CREAM. Even Bob Dylan was said to have been influenced by the Johnson’s blues, and perhaps this was part of the inspiration for Dylan’s song and album titled, Highway 61 Revisited.

But the mystery surrounding Johnson’s career does not end there. It ends, unfortunately with Johnson’s untimely death in 1938. Strangely, there was no cause of death listed on Johnson’s death certificate. Once again, Johnson’s death can only accounted for by legendary stories from family members. At the time of his death, Johnson was playing regularly at a juke joint near Greenwood, Mississippi, a very small town. Word has it, he was making time with a married woman at the juke joint when her husband supposedly handed him a bottle of poisoned whiskey. However, when Johnson went to take a swig from the bottle, a friend of Johnson’s, another blues artist named Sonny Boy Williamson, who recounted this story, knocked it out of his hand and told him to never drink from a bottle of whiskey he had not personally opened. Unfortunately, for Johnson, he did not listen, and told Williamson to never knock another bottle of whiskey out of his hands again. Johnson later accepted another bottle of poisoned whiskey from the husband and this time drank from it and died. Although some sources list his cause of death as syphilis or Marfan Syndrome, the website Criminal Element, notes that the symptoms prior to his death are also consistent with poisoning.

This strange incident culminated on August 13, 1938, when Johnson was just 27 years old, placing Johnson in another infamous music club. That would be the 27 Club, the age many famous musicians met their untimely demise, including Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison of THE DOORS, Kurt Cobain of NIRVANA, and Amy Winehouse, who is the unfortunate club’s newest member, while Robert Johnson was the 27 Club’s very first member.

(It is worth noting that Niccolo Paganini, celebrated violin virtuoso of the late 18th/early 19th century was believed to have gained his great skill from a deal with the Devil. Many who saw him play live were said to have swooned or had emotional breakdowns due to the intensity of his playing..Dr. M)