Ever feel guilty listening to the Rolling Stones as a dub?

by undercover 17 Replies latest jw friends

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  undercover

  This is aimed more for people who grew up when the Beatles and Stones were first popular, I guess. Now it's completely silly and ridiculous, but it's funny how hearing an old song on the radio can bring back certain memories...

  Back in the 60s, early 70s I was a big Beatles fan but for the most part none of their music was ever labeled 'dangerous' or 'subversive', even as a youth growing up in the JW cult. Even their more psyhcedelic stuff was tamer than other bands of the era. I made no secret of being a Beatles fan. I bought all their albums, I proclaimed them the best band in the world and didn't apologize for liking them.

  But...I also liked the Rolling Stones. But I didn't advertise it. There was something more 'dangerous' about them. Not just their persona or how they were marketed as 'bad boys'...but the sound was harder, the lyrics more 'controversial'....to JW ears - and elders, that is.

  With albums like, "Her Satanic Majesty's Request" and songs like "Sympathy For the Devil" and lyrics like, "Hope were not too Messianic or a trifle too Satanic..." it kept them on the unwritten list of bands not acceptable for JW youth to listen.

  Yet, I listened to them anyway...and felt guilty about it. I liked "Sympathy" and "Monkey Man". I liked "Satanic Majesty's" album. Yet, I "knew" I was flirting with the demons by listening.

  So while I was able to listen to the Beatles pretty much guilt free, every time I listened to the Stones, I got this pang of guilt. I loved the music but an inner voice was telling me that I was being unfaithful as a JW.

  Like I said earlier - complete ridiculous but that's how we were trained...indoctrinated...to think. I know better now and I feel silly admitting that I was that stupid, but I was.

  And hearing "Sympathing For the Devil" on the radio just now brought back a flood of memories that prompted me somehow to try to put in words the experience of being a JW youth and trying to like "worldly" music. Just thought I'd share that trip with ya'll...
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  BurnTheShips

  Never did, other than the Devil song. Of course, as a JW youth, I listened to stuff a lot "worse" than that. Death metal, etc.

  BTS
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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  I always liked sympathy for the devil, even as a dub. I thought the song was generally consistent with JW theology--namely that the devil was controlling governments, causing wars, etc.

  Of course, there's the line about Jesus Christ having his "moment of doubt..." but overall the song seemed consistent with what I believed about the devil at the time.
• 

  Soldier77

  Or Led Zeppelin... I was told that any rock music has underlying satanic "rythyms" and should be avoided and that listening to these types of music would be an invitation to the demons.

  Really. Really? Ooookay...

  But no Undercover, never felt guilty. In fact, the more I was told to avoid something the more I wanted to do it. It's like seeing a "No Trespassing" sign without the reason why, makes you curious, makes you want to investigate, for what reason must I stay behind this fence? Ya know what I mean?
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  BurnTheShips

  Of course, there's the line about Jesus Christ having his "moment of doubt..."

  Well, he DID.

  Eli, eli, lama sabakthani?

  BTS
• 

  undercover

  I thought the song was generally consistent with JW theology--namely that the devil was controlling governments, causing wars, etc.

  Yea but try listening to "sympathy" in the car with your parents or an elder...

  You could get away with "All You Need is Love" or "Yesterday" or "Hey Jude" but just having the words "sympathy for the devil" in the title and in the lyrics caused major coronaries amongst dub parents and elders.

  I tried rationalizing the song the same way...and it fell on deaf ears. Just having the word "devil" in a song got it banned in my house.

  I had to get rid of a BTO (Bachman Turner Overdrive) album as a teenager because one song was called "She's a Devil" or sumthin like that. A metaphor or symbolic meaning to anyone who bothered to listen but to my uber-dub mom, it was literal.

  That's how wacked it was for me growing up...

  Which explains why I'm so fucked up now, I guess...
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  dinah

  I'm a HUGE Stones fan and have been since I was about 8 years old, around the time "Some Girls" came out. My Dad was never a Dub, so I got to listen to all the Stones I wanted.

  I never really felt guilty about it, even when the big lecture at a DC in the 80's mentioned the Band and "Sympathy for the Devil" BY NAME! My attitude was, you'll get my Stones albums when you pry them from my cold dead fingers.

  If you really listen to that song, it's not giving Satan sympathy. I think it's more about how humanity blames the evil it perpetuates on Satan.

  The Stones were rebellious, mainly because of political oppression in the 60's when they started out. I think a Dub tween or teen can readily take their music to heart. I always loved "Monkey Man". Another one that spoke to me was "Before They Make Me Run" a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy for me. I wanted the Dubs to run me out of town on a rail!
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  Hope4Others

  Never....I love the Stones...

  Really liked "Smphany for the Devil" just played it last night....lol
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  changeling

  No, not at all. I did feel guilty for loving "Don't Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster cult, and "Beth" by KISS (Knights in Satan's Service was said to be their name, but it's not true) - two of my all time favorite songs.
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  man in black

  I remember driving around with my witness friends back in the late 70's and Bob Segers song Night Moves came on.

  We thought it was terrible, and yet to prove how "wicked" we could be we kept it on.

  That was one of the first times I remember noticing how repressed the witness kids were, and when they had the chance they would

  push the envelope to see what they could do.

  By this era, the Rolling Stones seemed to be acceptable in my area.