Halloween = Opening Act

Now that Halloween has passed, everything just seems less festive.  The days and weeks leading up to it were fraught with hype.  Plenty of people had costume parties or cocktail parties.  Many went trick-or-treating or provided candy to trick-or-treaters.  But I don't know of anybody in their right mind who would expect any kind of decent turnout if they were to try to throw a party the day after Halloween or the first weekend after Halloween - especially if it were a Halloween-themed party.  The days after Halloween - All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day - are treated like afterthoughts.  For example, if you're on a university campus during one of those years when Halloween falls on a Friday, then Friday night would be busy and festive while Saturday night would feel like a giant letdown.  This, of course, is not at all typical of the usual pattern on most weekends.

The irony regarding Halloween's power on the social scene is that its very name implies that there's more to come.  It used to be known as "All Hallow's Eve."  "All Saints Day" would seem to be a rather logical follow-up.  In other words, Halloween is merely the opening act while All Saints' Day is the main event but Halloween has stolen the show.

This, of course, brings to mind something from the annals of rock n' roll history.  Back in the late 1970s, Black Sabbath was touring with Van Halen.  During the early and middle 1970s, Black Sabbath had been the Lords of this World.  They were legends in their own time!  Van Halen, on the other hand, was this little-known upstart band when they joined Sabbath as an opening act.

Unfortunately for Sabbath, they were on the decline by this time.  They had turned out 2 albums since 1975's "Sabotage," arguably their last truly great album, and both of those later albums sounded like the works of mere mortals compared to their first 6 albums.  Furthermore, the music scene was changing.  People were losing interest in extended jams and changing time signatures and gaining interest in fun and upbeat music that they could dance to or play at parties, such as the music of Van Halen.

Van Halen was treated like the next big thing, which they were, while Black Sabbath was treated like yesterday's oatmeal.  They just faded further out of relevance and into obscurity.  Black Sabbath was just no longer being taken seriously.  Van Halen had stolen the show.  Of course, there were a lot of other things going on as well, but the fact of the matter is, it seemed "impossible" that Black Sabbath would ever be "cooler" than Van Halen, especially with Sabbath's singer gone and enjoying a successful solo career (has anyone NOT heard of Ozzy Osbourne?)

Now let's look back at the last decade or more.  Anyone in the metal community could tell you that Black Sabbath has a LOT more credibility than Van Halen.  Black Sabbath are seen as legends from the good old days while Van Halen is seen as a bit of a punchline.  The music of Sabbath had much more substance to it while Van Halen's music was a vapid flash-in-the-pan.  Black Sabbath has thus found themselves some multi-generational appeal while Van Halen faithful are largely from a comparatively narrow age group.  Young people can still be seen with Sabbath apparel; Van Halen, not so much.  The time has come when people have finally realized that the mighty Sabbath is the REAL DEAL!

In much the same way, the time will come when All Saints' Day will be given its due.  You wouldn't think so now, you may even deem it "impossible," but Halloween's reign is not meant to last.  All Saints' Day shall be rightfully recognized for what it is - the main event.

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14