The Master and Margarita in rock & roll

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Among all musicians who found inspiration in the story of The Master and Margarita, there is a large number of rock artists. The first one, and not the least, was Mick Jagger, who got the newly published novel in 1967 from his then girlfriend Marianne Faithfull, and who would, for the first time in the history of The Roling Stones, write a song on his own, without the help of his musical twin brother Keith Richard.

The song Sympathy For The Devil was seized by many offended parents as another proof that rock and roll was demonic music, but it didn't help. The Stones are still playing the song on every concert, and the youngsters of the 21th century love it as if it was a song of their own era.

Many other, much younger rock artists felt attracted by the novel too. Like, for instance, Pearl Jam, The Tea Party or Franz Ferdinand, who always have Margarita, Love and Destroy on the playlist.

Striking, but not surprising, is the large number of heavy metal, power and gothic bands in the list. Without wishing to suggest that they did not catch Bulgakov's novel completely, it is a fact that most of those bands primarily, if not only, focus on the demonic aspects of The Master and Margarita in their music. Sometimes the link with the novel is hard to find and only shown by crying out the names of Woland or Behemoth.

There's a possibility that I missed some bands or songs. So if you happen to know about others, please don't hesitate to contact me.

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