I find it interesting how the results of an instrument-playing contest is commonly accepted as a fair way to judge who should die. Perhaps it’s because one of the players is usually intrinsically evil (Satan, minion of bad guy). Apparently, when you are unrepentantly bad you have little to lose and a musical death challenge is par for the course.

I know the story about selling your soul to the Devil often plays into this storyline. Crossroads was probably my first experience with the devil-music-challenge. 

This was probably closely followed by the Charlie Daniels Band classic. I preferred the Devil’s section although it really only included the fiddle as an ancillary instrument. The bass line is what rocks. Here’s a version from Primus that stays pretty close to the original but has fun Claymation characters. 

More recently I enjoy seeing Scott Pilgrim’s bass battle in which the title character officially loses. 

Don’t get me started on the derivative dance-fight.