Soundtrack Challenge #1: Songs To Slay A Demon To
But no "Tribute" by Tenacious D
You know how it goes, right?
You’re walking home from the pub with a friend. You feel a bit peckish so you head to the nearest Turkish take-away to pick up a kebab and chips for the way home.
You carry on chatting broken biscuits while you stagger home and in the middle of the road, right in front of you, a demon appears out of nowhere!
Always when you’re hammered, am I right? I have NEVER seen a demon when I’ve been sober.
They come in all shapes and sizes. You’ve got the Balrog from Lord of The Rings, Pinhead, Red and Horny Dave Grohl and pea-soup vomiting Regan. There’s 4 that I can think of. Maybe some others. Does Freddie Krueger count?
Toni Collette in Hereditary? Is she a demon? Or was the demon her kid who gets decapitated? I forget, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it…
And then the demon makes some kind of threat, like “Hey, I’m the devil, I’m gonna kill your sorry arse and destroy the world.”
You look at your friend and you know your entire life has led to this moment, when you’re going to drunkenly smash the shit out of this stinking satanic spawn. #alliteration
No Tribute
Now, the obvious soundtrack to this simple, everyday occurrence of a demon appearing, for me, is Tenacious D’s awesome “Tribute”. Which ironically, is not a song to slay a demon to; but a song about a song that slayed a demon. As mind-blowing as it is, it is NOT counted, but in tribute to “Tribute”, you can listen to it here.
This is mental — there’s literally a Spotify playlist called Music to Slay Demons! It’s generally a little on the heavy side for me although I was mulling over Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades” — for taking on a really fast-moving demon, probably wearing a big cowboy hat, like Lemmy. What a fight scene that would make!
In a similar vein, I considered Pearl Jam’s “Spin The Black Circle”. It’s fast, frenetic and incredibly satisfying to slay demons to. Trust me.
Plus the title sounds really satanic and evil.
That demon would have tentacles, and throw trash at you in the street. The neighbours looking on in bewildered admiration as you casually save the world, listening to Pearl Jam.
As a real curve-ball for a slower paced demon-slaying, maybe in a forest, or on a hillside (having taken a wrong turn from the Turkish take-away, obviously); I also toyed with the idea of choosing PJ Harvey’s magnificent “I Inside The Old Year Dying” — which gives off a creepy, Midsommar-ish folk-horror kind of smell.
That demon would have been a wraith, in a torn white dress, wearing a crown of twigs, wrapped around its horns. They say the horns are made of the index-finger bones of ancient children.
Slaying demons is an activity which begs for a rock song soundtrack.
A song to slay a demon to
There’s a ton of songs that would work brilliantly for this soundtrack challenge, but I’m going to go with Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”.
Its jaunty 80’s rock vibe, its positive take-no-shit message in addition to its pounding chorus, means it’s ripe to soundtrack a demon fight.
The big hair energy from this song alone would be enough to frighten off any other-wordly being straight back to Hell!
Now it’s your turn!
Do you agree with my choice?
Come and argue with me in the comments. What would you have picked?
Thanks for reading!
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Tenacious D!!!! My brother used to listen to their music all the time and it was because of them he learned how to play guitar in his teens.