Milton and the Devils Party is an American Indie rock band from Philadelphia, PA. It was formed in 2001 by singer-songwriter-bassist Daniel Robinson and guitarist Mark Graybill. Drummer Bob Falgie joined in 2006.
Critics frequently compare the band's sound to The Smiths and to R.E.M. and praise the songs' lyrics, noting that Robinson and Graybill are English professors. One review credits the band with the invention of a new sub-genre called "jangle noir". One critic writes, "Sure the music is intelligent but it's far from exclusionary". In an interview with Metro Philadelphia, Robinson says, "We don’t want people to think that we’re pompous. We don’t take ourselves too seriously."
As Robinson explains in numerous interviews, the name of the band is derived from a passage in William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell in which Blake calls the poet John Milton "a true Poet and of the Devils party without knowing it". Robinson tells Metro Philadelphia, "There's a famous belief that (John) Milton when he wrote Paradise Lost and created the character of Satan, he inadvertently made Satan more interesting and appealing than any of the good characters. . . . It's kind of a joke. I thought it would be a funny name for a rock band because there's that whole silly tradition of rock Satanism." Though he is frequently compared to Elvis Costello, Robinson asserts that his main songwriting influences are Ray Davies, Morrissey, Nick Cave, and Lloyd Cole.
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“Homer and Shakespeare and Milton and Marvell and Wordsworth are but the rustling of leaves and crackling of twigs in the forest, and there is not yet the sound of any bird. The Muse has never lifted up her voice to sing.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Celestial Cupid her fam’d son advanc’t,
Holds his dear Psyche sweet intranc’t
After her wandring labours long,
Till free consent the gods among
Make her his eternal Bride,
And from her fair unspotted side
Two blissful twins are to be born,
Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn,”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“I am sometimes told that “Women aint fit to vote. Why, don’t you know that a woman had seven devils in her: and do you suppose a woman is fit to rule the nation?” Seven devils aint no account; a man had a legion in him.”
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—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)