The Devil's Tritone?

Is this why fundies call heavy metal The Devil's Music?

On the surface there might appear to be no link between Black Sabbath, Wagner's Gotterdammerung, West Side Story and the theme tune to the Simpsons.

But all of them rely heavily on tritones, a musical interval that spans three whole tones, like the diminished fifth or augmented fourth. This interval, the gap between two notes played in succession or simultaneously, was branded Diabolus in Musica or the Devil's Interval by medieval musicians.

A rich mythology has grown up around it. Many believe that the Church wanted to eradicate the sounds from its music because it invoked sexual feelings, or that it was genuinely the work of the Devil.

It is a mythology much beloved of long-haired guitar wizards.

When will the fundamentalist loons start demanding that the theme tune of The Simpsons be banned?

According to an interview I've read (can't remember where), Tony Iommi came up with the riff of "Black Sabbath" while the band were rehearsing next door to a cinema showing horror films. Someone suggested that if people were paying to see scary films, they'd pay to hear scary music. So he picked up his guitar and played some tritones.

Meanwhile, Finland's Eurovision Entry appears to be upsetting some Greek fundies who really need to get a life.

A group of Greek protesters known as the Hellenes have called on the Finnish government to intervene: "We ask the Finnish Commission of the Eurovision Song Contest to cancel the procedure and choose another song. This evil and satanic Finnish band is not welcome in Greece."

Not sure whether their song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" contains any of the dreaded tritones.