Exploiting The Devil for Profit in Heavy Metal
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“I’m selling out, I’m going heavy metal
Let’s rock & roll and sing about the devil”
--Nobody Special obscure Christian punk band
Call It Whatever You Want (1989, Broken Records)
PART ONE – The Devil is owed royalties
Whether or not you believe in the devil, we can all agree that his name has been exploited for profit by the music industry. Slapping the name of “Satan” on a record cover with a picture of a horned beast is likely to sell more albums than a glossy photo of the band itself because to youth market the devil is a metaphor for rebellion against authority. The only other being used more than the Prince of Darkness in hard rock and metal is the personification of death in the form of skulls, skull-like characters and the grim reaper. While Satan represents youthful rebellion, death represents the rock lifestyle: live fast and die hard.
If the devil is alive and well, there’s a reason he’s vengeful of rock ‘n’ rollers. They owe him their souls for their success, just as much as televangelists do for scaring their flocks into throwing checks into the collection plate.
SIXTIES SATANIC ROCK
The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are not exactly what you call “metal” because it hadn’t been invented yet. Though, they could be termed “Satanic Rock” because of their admiration for Aleister Crowley, considered to be a leading figure in the occult in the nineteenth century and at one point named “The Wickedest Man in the World.”
According to PopSubCulture.com’s biography project on Crowley, he joined The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn at age 23. Their goal was to organize various occultic beliefs into one logical system. After some inner turmoil within the group, he was kicked out by the poet William Butler Yeats (poets aren’t pussies, y’know).
Crowley, on his own, took to the Egyptian God Horus who helped him write his infamous Book of the Law which contains the famous line: “Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law”—a philosophy rock stars celebrate. He also adopted the number 666 to represent himself. 666 can refer to the number of The Beast, a tweak at his religious upbringing.
Numerous magical stories abound concerning Aleister Crowley, many of which are hard to believe, but he did claim to summon Beelzebub for vengeance and baptize a toad as Jesus of Nazareth. Not exactly to be feared as a “Master of Evil,” he was more like the embarrassing uncle you didn’t talk about. Many of his stories could be attributed to his cocaine use and heroin addiction, of which he later died.
It’s hard to imagine the rock of your parents involved with Satan, but an examination of the album cover art for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Band reveals Aleister Crowley standing second to the left in a crowd of well known philosophers, writers and celebrities.
If you’re doubting whether The Beatles embraced a known historical Satanist, Illuminati News says in reference to the cover art “The Beatles testified that the characters who appeared on the album were their ‘heroes.’”
As for The Rolling Stones, they were more directly involved with scoring a film soundtrack for a movie tribute to Aleister Crowley. The filmmaker was Kenneth Anger who was, according to Jesus-Is-Savior.com, a link between The Rolling Stones, The Process Church (a cult resulting from a split from Scientology), and the Manson Family.
Anger produced Lucifer Rising, a film dedicated to Crowley. It features the music of Bobby Beausoleil who was also set to play the role of Satan. Anger and Beausoleil had a falling out and Mick Jagger was asked to replace him as Satan. Mick passed on the offer and eventually Anger settled on Anton Lavey, author of The Satanic Bible. Beausoleil went on to commit the first of many murders depicted in the movie Helter Skelter, which ironically is in reference to a Beatles song that Charlie Manson reinterpreted to fit his apocalyptic vision of a war between races (take a deep breath, that’s a lot to digest).
Jagger did compose music for Kenneth Anger’s film Invocation of My Demon Brother (1969) which according to Subcin.com is “The most demonic of Anger's films, as well as the most fast moving.” It contains references to Crowley and footage of The Rolling Stones.
You would also have to question why The Rolling Stones titled their 1967 experimental release Their Satanic Majesties Request? Apparently it was meant to be a joke, a parody of the inscription on passports which reads: “Her Britannic Majesty requests…” But a reference to Satan instead of some other satirical name?
Post Beatles era provided some rather odd moments that either border on conspiracy theories or morbid coincidences. Jesus-is-Savior.com questions why Paul McCartney appears with a certain horned animal on his 1971 release Ram and makes the devil connection with this observation: ”Some witches today claim that the goat head is really supposed to be a ram's head (which originated with the ram-headed god of Ammon in ancient times).”
John Lennon, also had some ties to Satan, though not by choice. His song “Imagine” wanted to do away with heaven and hell and unfortunately he attracted a loyal fan by the name of Mark David Chapman. On the ClubConspiracy.com forum, Chapman is quoted as saying, “"Alone in my apartment back in Honolulu, I would strip naked and put on Beatles records and pray to Satan to give me the strength. I prayed for demons to enter my body to give me the power to kill."
In the same post it suggests that John Lennon was paying the price for the success of The Beatles because the band had at one point made a pact with the devil and the devil demanded his due in the form of blood. We may have to smile at such speculation, but among the feelgood love songs The Beatles and The Rolling Stones seemed to have a morbid side to their musical careers.
LED ZEPPELIN’S JIMMY PAGE AND THE OCCULT
Aleister Crowley’s influence continues with Jimmy Page’s fascination with the occult. Crowley seems to get more nods than the devil with late sixties to seventies rock.
Page, before Led Zeppelin began to consume all of his time, ran an occult bookshop and publishing company called “The Equinox Booksellers and Publishers" in Kensington High Street, London. Says Page of his hero, “I feel Aleister Crowley is a misunderstood genius of the 20th century.”
Page was also commissioned to compose the soundtrack for Lucifer Rising (was there any sixties rocker not associated with this project)? When he turned in a score that was 5 minutes too short, director Kenneth Anger publicly said it took the guitarist 3 years to give him 23 minutes of “droning.” He went on to say that Jimmy Page was an occult dabbler and an addict.
Anger may have thought Page to be a Satanic poser, but Jesus-is-Savior.com thinks Led Zeppelin is “Satanic to the core.” They refer to the “obscene” cover art for Houses of the Holy and the serpents embroidered onto a pair of Jimmy Page’s stage pants as evidence. “The Bible tells us that Satan appeared to Eve as a ‘serpent’ in the Garden of Eden.” The Bible also has Moses turn his staff into a serpent to outdo Pharaoh’s magicians and in a later chapter has Moses create a bronze serpent in order to heal snakebite victims. Snakes can’t all be bad.
While fundies may take issue with Houses of the Holy, the reference is actually a tribute to fans. When Zeppelin fans would show up at venues in order to support the band they would call those places “Houses of the Holy.” As for the cover art being obscene or Satanic, it’s actually based on science fiction and not anything occultic. It is inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End which describes a scene of millions of naked girls not quite resembling the human form.
The album cover for Led Zepplin IV does seem to have ties to Satan by way of Crowley again. Crowley, as mentioned previously, was the one who claimed the number 666 for himself and for this fourth outing Jimmy Page asked his fellow band members to choose symbols for themselves which would be the actual album title—what a headache for marketing. Jimmy’s personal choice for a symbol was “Zoso.” Zoso is said to be a clever way of displaying 666 because of a quote from Aleister Crowley’s Equinox of the Gods where he writes:
“So is O
O= A in the book of Thoth (The Tarot)
A = 111 with all its great meanings, [symbol] = 6.
Now 666 = My name.
= The number of the stele.
= The number of the Beast (see Apocalypse)
= The number of the [symbol]”
Does that make sense? I don’t get it either. More proof of Crowley’s drug addiction.
The symbol may not be as devilish as some may think though. IntheLight.co.nz says Zoso “... is a sigil for the planet Saturn, the ruler of Jimmy Page's astrological sun sign, Capricorn.”
While astrology is “of the devil” or just of people who like to think stars actually give a damn about the direction of our lives, Zoso is a harmless Zodiac reference which all in all makes Zeppelin less scary and more absurd.
Perhaps though, Led Zeppelin’s Satanism was masked, or backmasked. "Stairway to Heaven" from their fourth album is claimed to have the following hidden message:
Oh here's to my sweet Satan.
The one whose little path would make me sad, whose power is Satan.
He will give those with him 666.
There was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan
If that doesn’t make any sense to you than you’re probably in your right mind. The accusation of backmasking started with a well known Baptist minister and was perpetuated by Michael Mills, Jacob Aranza, and Jeff Godwin. It even led to hearings by the Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee of the California State Assembly in 1982.
With backmasking it is usually an interpretation by the listener and they can hear almost any suggested message or set of words if they try hard enough. Robert Plant found the insinuation frustrating and said, “as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music.”
Zeppelin, with maybe the exception of their partying lifestyle, was less Satanic and more about selling themselves and their music. Positive Atheism Magazine puts it into perspective when they answer the accusation concerning Page and his occult dabblings: “Jimmy Page wisely remained rather silent, and the rumor mill and the fundamentalist preachers did a lot of his promotional work for him -- by calling him satanic or a witch or a warlock.”
The marketing tip is simple: get labeled a Satanist and the kids will buy your records.
BLACK SABBATH AND THE HOODED FIGURE
With the original band title of Polka Tulk Blues Company, this next band didn’t sound very threatening at first. They set out to play heavy blues and went even heavier, creating tortured sounds to be accompanied by the darkest of lyrics—sung by a lead singer looking to steal the devil’s title.
Polka Tulk changed their name to Earth, a better name but one that made them sound like smelly hippies. They played cover songs entertaining club audiences with their renditions of songs by Jimi Hendrix and Cream. And they would play extended sessions of straight up blues. The clubs may have been seedy at times, but the music was nice, pretty much what you would expect, until…
Bassist Geezer Butler claims to have seen a black-hooded figure standing at the foot of his bed. Who or what the figure was doesn’t seem to be explained by Butler, but it seems he was reading a book on the occult by Dennis Wheatley and came up with the lyrics for “Black Sabbath.” Remember that the band was still called Earth at the time.
Stories on this incident seem to vary. Jesus-is-Savior.com quotes an interview in Guitar World, July 2001, p. 67 where Butler says he told Ozzy about seeing the hooded figure. The book on the occult was also borrowed from Ozzy and it was Ozzy who spouted out the lyrics when he heard about Butler’s visitation. Said Butler, “I told Ozzy about it. It stuck in his mind, and when we started playing ‘Black Sabbath,’ he just came out with those lyrics…”
What is this that stands before me?
Figure in black which points at me. . .
Big black shape with eyes of fire. . .
Satan's sitting there, he's smiling
Watches those flames get higher and higher
Oh no, no, please God help me!
Satan's coming 'round the bend
In addition to Butler’s interest in the occult, he observed a movie theater across the street from where they were rehearsing. The theater happened to be playing Black Sabbath starring Boris Karloff. He was fascinated that people would spend money to be scared.
As a matter of coincidence, Earth wasn’t all that original of a band name. Another band was calling themselves the same thing and inevitably in a time of flower power there were probably multiple Earths. The band decided to adopt the name of Black Sabbath. The hooded figure at Butler’s bed was now satisfied.
Dennis Wheatley, who is normally given a footnote in the formation story of Black Sabbath, was a well known fiction and nonfiction writer at the time. He had gained recognition as an authority on Satanism, exorcism, the supernatural and black magic even to the point of releasing a series of 45 books called The Dennis Wheatley Library of the Occult. This is likely what Butler was reading at the time he was inspired to write the lyrics for “Black Sabbath.”
As usual, Aleister Crowley pokes his head in, and Wheatley included an occult themed novel by the heroin addict in his library edition. This may have been Ozzy’s introduction to Crowley, later inspiring the tribute song “Mr. Crowley” when he went solo.
BirdMonster.blogspot.com makes the case that Black Sabbath, not Led Zepplin, was the first true metal band even before they had taken the name: “The song ‘Black Sabbath,’ then, can be seen as the beginning of the band that began heavy metal and, quite frankly, there is no more appropriate song. For one, it's one of music's famous examples of the tritone, the interval between a C and an F# (or, in this case, a G and C#), an interval known once as ‘the devil's interval’…”
The Black Sabbath album was recorded in two days due to limited studio time. Most of the songs were recorded with one take. It was ominously released on Friday the 13th in 1970 and reached number 7 on the UK Albums Chart and number 23 on the Billboard 200. Sabbath had found its niche—themes of horror and the supernatural.
Jesus-is-Savior.com has this to say about the album art: “Making sure no one could possibly misinterpret their pro-Devil and anti-Christ message, Sabbath’s first album portrayed a demonic witch on the cover and in the inside – the cross of Jesus Christ – upside-down. The universal symbol of Satanism and anti-Christianity.”
The music continued in the same dark direction with Paranoid, recorded just four months after their successful debut album. Originally called “War Pigs” after one of the recorded singles, their label Warner Bros decided to change the album title because the song was not about Satan, but about criticism of the horrors of the Vietnam War. You can sing about the devil for profit, but avoid the politics.
While Satan and the occult played a part of the song titles and lyrics, really it was drugs that held sway over the members of Black Sabbath. It became so bad they could hardly function and when they did start to recover they still had the problem of Ozzy. Tony Iommi decided to fire their lead vocalist in 1979 and ironically it was Sharon Arden, now known as Sharon Osbourne, who suggested singer Ronnie James Dio as the replacement.
If the lyrics were of the devil previously, Dio had no problems bringing them to almost comic levels. He brought a fantasy element to Black Sabbath that bordered on Metal Opera due to the range of his voice. Their first release together was Heaven and Hell and the relationship only lasted through the second studio album Mob Rules. Dio butted heads with Iommi and Butler and finally decided to go solo where he helped popularize the devil’s handsign (more about that in a bit).
The original Black Sabbath members seem to indicate that the black hooded figure stayed with them. Jesus-is-Savior.com makes the case from various biographical books that the band had a fifth member. Though it’s hard to tell if the band members themselves truly believed it was Satan or some sort of mystical energy.
Geezer Butler definitely seems to have believed in real supernatural presences, but Bill Ward is less interpretative and says in Black Sabbath, An Oral History, “I believe that Black Sabbath was a phenomenon. On that basis, when I look back now at the band, I have felt that there was a fifth member, if you like. . . So I've always considered that there was some way where we were able to channel energy, and that energy was able to be, from another source, if you like, like a higher power or something, that was actually doing the work. I've often thought of us just being actually just the earthly beings that played the music because it was uncanny. Some of this music came out extremely uncanny."
We have to continue to remind ourselves that this was a band heavy into drugs which was bound to create hallucinations and paranoia. If the devil was the fifth member using the rest as puppets, then the band can’t take credit for much of anything. It makes more sense that the talent of the artists combined with substance abuse gave us the weird and wonderful results that are now legendary Sabbath.
DIO AND THE DEVIL’S HAND SIGN
Almost every rocker who has attended a heavy metal concert is familiar with the “Devil’s Hand Sign.” It consists of the index finger and the pinky pointing up while the remaining fingers and thumb are curled into the palm. The idea, of course, is to represent the horns of Satan.
The hand sign has been attributed to Ronnie James Dio, but he didn’t invent it—only popularized it. And poor Dio is often competing with fellow vocalist Ozzy because whenever an Ozzy fan shouts “Ozzy!” he usually makes the devil’s hand sign at the same time.
The origins of the sign of the horns is varied. According to Wikipedia, it is a vulgar gesture in Mediterranean countries. It is also identical to the Vitarka mudrā in Buddhism, “a gesture of discussion and transmission of Buddhist teaching.”
In Italy and other parts of Europe, the horns are placed behind unsuspecting victims when they get their picture taken. The meaning of this prank has to do with a “cuckold,” which refers to a husband with an unfaithful wife--or in modern times a man, regardless if he’s married or not, whose woman sleeps around on him. Wikipedia states that the sign is said to have come from the legend of the Minotaur who was “born from queen Pasiphaë's infidelity with a white bull, betraying her husband King Minos of Crete…”
Thankfully Jesus-is-Savior.com comes to the rescue by showing us that the sign of the devil, in most cases, is actually referring to Satan. They have a wonderful display of famous politicians and celebrities flashing the horns in public from George Dubya to Bill Clinton to Amy Grant to even Spider Man.
You can view the well known page here. This web page, by the way, is heavily copied by other sites, the author gives permission openly on his contact page.
Even Pat Robertson, who won’t drink wine for communion in any circumstance, has been caught at Conspiracy Planet.
The insinuation of these photos has been that they are flashing a sign from the illuminati or a secret society and that we can piece together a global anti-Christian conspiracy by simply seeing how many well known public officials use it.
The truth may be a little more boring. As for Bush and his administration, the defense is that the horns represent The Texas Longhorns, relating to athletics from Bush’s home state. As for Bill Clinton and others who could care less about Texas, it may simply be a natural gesture much like using one finger pointing up which doesn’t necessarily reference God.
Regardless, in heavy metal culture, the meaning is clear—it represents The Devil! But again, the devil doesn’t necessarily represent the devil, often he’s a symbol for fast lifestyles and teenage rebellion.
While Dio and Ozzy are recognized for increasing the popularity of the hand sign, it was first used by the sixties occult band Coven. They were known for psychedelic hard rock and would end each concert by flashing the horns at the crowd. On their first album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls, a black mass poster insert was included with the band members using the devil’s hand sign in preparation for a Satanic ritual.
Dio clearly enjoyed using the devil’s hand sign for his cover art and he was Italian which is where he may have picked it up, allowing for a double meaning of infidelity and devil worship. The demonic beast on Holy Diver can clearly be seen flashing horns next to his chest as he watches a priest drown.
That’s not all Dio did as a tribute to the devil. There’s still some debate, but on his fourth album Dream Evil, if one turns the cover art upside down and looks at the Dio logo again—it appears to spell out “Devil.” Whether that was intentional or whether it is simply our eyes trying to form a pattern out of the artwork into the word “devil,” it’s still hard to say.
Dio himself has his own secret not known by many metal fans—before Sabbath, he sang on a Christian album! The project was called Seeds of Change and produced by Kerry Livgren, a founding member of the band Kansas. As anyone who has followed Livgren’s career, he progressively became more involved in the Christian faith, even starting a Christian rock band called AD in the early eighties.
The two tracks Dio sang on as a favor to Livgren were “To Live for The King” and “The Mask of The Great Deceiver.” This was in 1980 and thus after offending the devil by participating in religious rock, this may explain why Dio went overboard on blasphemy with his subsequent work including his new band for 2009 with former Black Sabbath members called Heaven and Hell. The debut album art features a very bizarre and frightening painting of “The Deceiver.”
OZZY CLAIMS DEVIL’S TITLE
After Ozzy was fired from Sabbath for excessive substance abuse, he went on to form his own solo project called Blizzard of Ozz, which included guitar legend Randy Rhoads. The lineup continued with a second album Diary of a Madman and both releases were a success with fans, but the devil required his due.
In 1982, while on the Diary of a Madman Tour, Randy Rhoads took a joyride in a small aircraft piloted by Andrew Aycock. Cocaine was involved and while trying to buzz the tour bus, the plane’s wing was clipped and it crashed first into a tree and then into a house. Everyone including Rhoads, the pilot and the band’s hairdresser was killed.
The news sent Ozzy into a deep depression, but after a week he carried on and the live album Speak of the Devil was released that same year.
Ozzy then released Bark at the Moon and The Ultimate Sin, after which he met up with accusations of subliminally influencing suicide. Before this point, his biggest controversy was biting the heads off of animals—not just the infamous bat incident, but according to Veinotte.com he also bit the head off a dove in front of CBS Record executives which was originally intended to be a simple publicity stunt. The doves were supposed to be hidden in Ozzy’s pocket and then released. Instead, it seems he was so drunk that he decided to bite the head off of one of the birds and disgust everyone in sight.
And that’s not all. Jesus-is-Savior.com relates that for the Diary of a Madman Tour he required “the promoter to provide at least 25 pounds of raw cow livers and pig intestines for his demonic "raw meat" baptism.” That was because during the concert he threw the meat at the audience.
Jesus-is-Savior.com also tells of a cat killing rampage quoting No. 37, “’I was taking drugs so much I was a wreck, The final straw came when I shot all our cats. We had about 17, and I went crazy and shot them all. My wife found me under the piano in a white suit, a shotgun in one hand and a knife in the other.’”
It’s no wonder animal rights groups protested the rocker; he provided numerous animal sacrifices to his inner demons. While it was clear he was guilty of animal abuse, it’s not clear if he was involved in human sacrifice through his music.
The song “Suicide Solution” from the album Blizzard of Ozz resulted in several US lawsuits because a handful of teenagers had killed themselves while listening to it.
A 19-year-old in California named John McCollum shot himself in October of 1984 with his headphones still on after playing the song. John’s family hired an attorney who made the claim that Ozzy used tones in the song called “hemisync” in order to make John do his bidding. An explanation of hemisync is found on Wikipedia if you can follow along:
“The audio-guidance process works through the generation of complex, multilayered audio signals, which act together to create a resonance that is reflected in unique brain-wave forms characteristic of specific states of consciousness.”
In other words, “subliminal messages.” Ozzy, of course, denied the accusations and his lawyer based his defense on freedom of expression. The irony about all of the nonsense about hemisync and hidden cues for teenagers to shoot themselves is that the song was about Bon Scott, the original singer for AC/DC who died in his car because he was too drunk to save himself from hypothermia. “Solution” does not refer to solving a problem as in suicide is a solution to life’s problems, it refers to alcohol itself or a “liquid solution.” Ozzy was saying that alcohol was a lethal substance.
In addition to people killing themselves under the “Ozzy influence,” people killed other people. On New Year’s Eve 1983, Canadian James Jollimore stabbed a 44 year-old-woman and her two sons. The song that made him do it was “Bark at the Moon.”
Ozzy survived the finger pointing that his music was so evil that it made its listeners do evil things and the horrific news served to attract more fans to the “Prince of Darkness.” What was self-evident was the question, if “Suicide Solution” makes kids kill themselves then why only three incidents, why not every kid who listens? The same goes for “Bark at the Moon,” why weren’t more Canadians out killing strangers?
As Ozzy progressed into the nineties, he began mainstreaming himself with less focus on the devil and evil in general. With “brains behind the scenes” wife Sharon Osbourne, he started Ozzfest which gave exposure to up and coming bands as well as reuniting him with Black Sabbath.
Of course more mainstream success came with the MTV reality show The Osbournes, which turned Ozzy from scary madman into that odd relative you might know who is slowly losing his mind—similar to the aforementioned reference about Aleister Crowley, the crazy uncle. While still respected for his past music, Ozzy became more of a cartoonish figure and it became obvious that Sharon Osbourne was pulling all the strings.
By 2009 Ozzy had become an untouchable icon, any past sins have been forgiven by the public to the point where he can be a spokesman for commercial products as well as writing a Broadway musical (reportedly on Rasputin, the crazy Russian Monk). The singer seems to have enjoyed the notoriety associated with Satan and his title of “Prince of Darkness,” but again cannot take evil seriously. Ozzy’s worst demons were drugs and alcohol and whatever gremlin programmed his TV remote so he couldn’t use it.
MOTLEY CRUE SHOUTS AT THE DEVIL
Glam or Hair Metal bands with a simplified sound emerged in the late seventies to early eighties and enjoyed making the devil more accessible to the masses, sort of a commercial devil who enjoyed partying as opposed to fathering The Anti-Christ and ending the world in apocalyptic flames. Van Halen on their debut sang about “Runnin’ with the Devil” with David Lee Roth repeatedly screaming in a high pitch voice like he was “running with scissors” and stuck himself in the groin. High-pitched wailing was a staplemark of hair metal bands throughout the eighties, causing some embarrassment for those bands who survived the grunge turnover.
Ironically it was Gene Simmons of KISS who financed the demo for “Runnin’ with the Devil.” His band character in full make up is known as “The Demon.”
KISS was hard to take seriously when it came to occultist exploitation. Clearly they were in it for the chicks. The band’s name is rumored to be an acronym for “Knights In Satan’s Service” which was started by the fans and not the band itself. The darkest element that can be associated with their name is the original KISS logo. The ending double “S” was drawn in such a fashion that it looked like the typeface for the Nazi SS. As a result, the logo had to be changed for merchandise in Germany where it is illegal to display the SS symbol. They simply reversed the ending double “S” so that it looked like two Z’s.
Alice Cooper was also a part of seventies metal theatrics, using makeup and stage sets with popular horror themes. He can’t be considered Satanic, though, because his intention was to shock audiences, not steal their souls. While he might consider his drugs and alcohol abuse to be “of The Devil,” the aging rocker has long since embraced Christianity. One only has to listen to Brutal Planet to hear lyrics that shout against the devil.
It was Motley Crue that “Shouted at the Devil” and they were shouting for success—money, girls, drugs and more girls. Crue used the devil theme shamelessly, they didn’t even give the devil a spot on their cover for Shout At The Devil—instead you see three very glammed up young men and Nikki Sixx looking like a grumpy old woman.
Shout At The Devil is still remembered as one of Motley Crue’s best albums if not “the best.” It was raw, catchy and established “The Crue” as the enviable party band of the eighties. If any band was guilty of a deal with the devil, this very commercial Satanism may have been it.
And the devil was out to collect.
The band’s reputation started in Canada in 1982 with what we now know to be PR stunts: an arrest at Edmonton International Airport for wearing stage costumes with spikes and Vince Neil’s collection of porn; a supposed bomb threat against the band which appears to actually have been called in by assistant band manager Eric Grief; and Vince Neil throwing a television set out of the Sheraton Caravan Hotel. Motley Crue was banned from Edmonton for life. The tour itself was a financial disaster, but it did get them the attention they desired from the international press.
Their offstage antics may have helped their record sales, but it included near death experiences. Vince Neil, returning from a liquor store, was involved in a head on collision in 1984 and survived. Neil’s passenger wasn’t so lucky. Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley, the drummer for Hanoi Rocks, was killed.
In 1987, Nikki Sixx inspired the song “Kickstart My Heart” off of the Dr. Feelgood album after he suffered a heroin overdose and was revived by a medic--who just happened to be a Motley Crue fan--with two shots of adrenaline to his heart. Nikki should have died that night. In the ambulance he was declared legally dead.
In 1989, the band cleaned up their act and produced their most successful album to date, the previously mentioned Dr. Feelgood. It may be noted that the title track references a drug dealer instead of the devil, which shows some maturity as to who was more dangerous to their health.
According to a post on Last.fm, Nikki Sixx was the one who wrote “Shout at the Devil” and also suffered the most as a result of the band’s success. He denied that the song had any ties to Satanism. It seems the lyrics are again meant to be taken metaphorically and not literally. For Nikki Sixx, Satanism seems to have to do with the risks and pleasures of life.
THE FOUNDERS OF BLACK METAL
You may not have heard of Venom, one of the first Satanic thrash bands who invented the subgenre of black metal—Black Metal was the title of their second album in 1982. They are, in some ways, Satan’s folly because they can’t get any respect and yet they’ve influenced a whole new genre of intense music with the emphasis on all things Satan.
In 1981, wanting to release something heavier and darker than what was being played by other metal bands, they put out the album Welcome to Hell. The title track contains the following lyrics:
Kill we will kill death,
Masturbating on the deeds we have done,
Hell commands death kill,
Argue not of feel the death of sun,
Burning lives burning,
Asking me for the mercy of god,
Ancient cries crying,
Acting fast upon the way of the dog.
Don’t know what they’re talking about? Satan probably doesn’t know either.
Slider at encslider.com posted a quote about Venom from Henry Rollins’s Black Flag Tour Diary, “They were hilarious. It was like seeing Spinal Tap…” His observation was from 1986 when Black Flag opened for the band.
That is not the kind of reaction Venom wanted.
Influenced by acts such as KISS, Venom members all took on alter egos: vocalist Clive Archer was known as Jesus Christ, bass guitarist Conrad Lant became Mr. Cronos, drummer Anthony Bray became Abaddon, and guitarist Jeff Dunn became Mantas.
Their evil style of music was influenced by Ozzy and Black Sabbath and in turn they influenced four major thrash bands: Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer. Unfortunately for Venom, they had none of the success of these four bands and with each album their popularity seemed to wane.
Ditching Satan in 1987, they decided to appease Tolkien with their fifth release Calm Before The Storm. This was at a time when progressive bands were using themes of fantasy, sorcery and science fiction. This experiment apparently made the band even less popular. And unfortunately comparisons to Spinal Tap emerge again remembering the scene in the mockumentary film where a Stone Henge stage set was built to tell a musical tale of fantasy—only Stonehenge was smaller than the dwarfs that danced around it due to the band members confusing the symbol for inches with the symbol for feet when giving instructions for its construction.
Venom has not given up. Their website with their quirky goat head is still on display and the news of their whereabouts continues to be posted. The band seems to be aware of their shortcomings when it comes to playing music, but they proudly boast that they are “The Official Website of Black Metal.”
SATAN SPEEDS UP HIS TUNE
Writes author Steve Huey in All Music Guide, “Slayer was one of the most distinctive, influential, and extreme thrash metal bands of the 1980s.” If there ever was a band that owed Satan for its success, it is boys from South of Heaven.
They started by playing cover tunes, similar to Black Sabbath, and found that they could gain more attention by using Satanic imagery, also similar to Sabbath…only unlike Sabbath, they aimed for speed.
Def Jam records picked up the band to produce Reign in Blood, an album that was considered so graphic CBS Records refused to distribute it. Of course that only made metal fans want the album more so Geffen Records stepped in and released what is now considered to be one of the defining speed metal albums of the eighties.
While all bands tried to outdo each other with grotesque artwork, Slayer’s lyrics were visually impacting themselves. References to Satan and death abounded, but also included were lyrics about torture and historical atrocities such as the opening track to Reign in Blood called “Angel of Death.”
Auschwitz, the meaning of pain
The way that I want you to die
Slow death, immense decay
Showers that cleanse you of your life
Forced in
Like cattle
You run
Stripped of
Your life's worth
Human mice, for the Angel of Death
Lyrics like this ignited controversy amongst religious groups because it was hard to interpret if Slayer was actually making a statement or just singing about a horrific event like the gassings at Auschwitz. The song “Jesus Saves” didn’t fare much better with Christians:
You spend your life just kissing ass
A trait that's grown as time has passed
You think the world will end today
You praise the Lord, it's all you say
Jesus saves, listen to you pray
You think you'll see the pearly gates
When death takes you away
While criticized for their graphic imagery, Slayer has continued to earn respect and is considered to be the definitive Satanic band of the eighties. Reign in Blood influenced a legion of smaller Satanic bands that have marched forward to spew forth every violent act imaginable and appease every demon possible. Venom started black metal, Slayer legitimized it as an art form.
As the foremost Satanic band, does Slayer believe in Satan? From Wikipedia: “Araya also denied rumors that Slayer members are Satanists, but they find the subject of Satanism interesting and ‘we are all on this planet to learn and experience.’” As usual, Satan is never taken literally.
A sidenote to Slayer is that their name was thought to have been changed from “DragonSlayer” which was based on the 1981 movie released by Disney. Guitarist Kerry King, in response to the accusation, said it was a myth, one that continues to persist to this day.
While naming themselves after a Disney fantasy film might have been embarrassing if it were true, the band did record a cover song of Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da Vida for the tearjerker Less Than Zero. The movie featured brat packers Andrew McCarthy, Robert Downey Jr., and James Spader—hardly Satanic metal heads. The band regrets the recording and King called it a “hunk of s**t.”
DEICIDE VERSUS RADIO PASTOR BOB LARSON
Type “Bob Larson” into Google and you may get his text ad popping up on the right side of the screen advertising himself as an exorcist. The self-proclaimed occult expert started his show Talk Back in 1982 with topics such as Dungeons ‘N’ Dragons, Satan Worship, and Secular Music. He is known for doing on air exorcisms with lots of grunting, growling and heavy breathing (getting rid of a demon can be exhausting).
One of his favorite targets was the band Deicide who claims to be Satanic. The criticism created an ongoing feud between the Pastor and the lead Singer Glen Benton and Glen would often call in with a few words to say or just some growling.
Many of the comical exchanges between the meeting of the minds have been collected on YouTube for the entertainment of all. Benton never shook up Bob’s faith and Bob never had a chance in hell of saving Benton. As Glen said in one of the exchanges, “I love living my life this way…Go save Bon Jovi or somebody like that.”
Deicide started in 1989, the rumor being that Glen Benton burst into the offices of Roadrunner Records and yelled, “Sign us, you f*****g a**hole!” The band has gone through several lineup changes since that time because oddly enough they keep signing on Christians: the original Hoffman Brothers who played guitars and then guitarist Ralph Santolla who said he was Catholic and split in 2007.
Why anyone who believes in a supreme being would go on tour with a song lineup that includes "F**k Your God" is questionable, unless money and fame precedes faith. In their job interview with Glenn Benton they might have noticed that he has an upside down cross burned into his forehead and get a clue that this guy is pretty serious about his hate for Christianity.
Putting the possible damnation of the soul aside, playing with Deicide may be physically dangerous. On the Gorefest Tour in Stockholm a bomb exploded near the rear of the stage while they were doing their set. Deicide continued to play three more songs despite the explosion and were eventually removed by police. They blame the Scandinavian black metal scene which hates them for various reasons. It’s hard to say which side Satan would embrace in that feud, but I’m sure he loves all the fuss.
DANZIG, THE VOICE OF HELL
Danzig emerged in a time when speed and thrash were claiming Satan as their own. He returned to the roots of Sabbath and embraced heavy blues, extremely heavy blues. While Ozzy’s vocals were eerie, Danzig’s were downright scary. And while Ozzy looks insane enough to kill, Glenn Danzig looks angry enough to wake the dead after they’ve been victimized.
Danzig’s musical career began by fronting for The Misfits and Samhain (Samhain being a reference to Halloween), but he didn’t find his evil calling until he left punk and hardcore behind and developed the darkest sound he could find that could still be deemed heavy metal. It was Def Jam Records’ Rick Rubin who decided to strip down the band’s instrumentation and focus more on Glenn Danzig’s voice. The results took Satanic metal from something that could have had cartoonish results to music that reflected hell itself. They lyrics were evil, but the sound was more so.
Unlike Ozzy and other self-tormented lead singers, Glenn Danzig was in full control of himself, his career path and what he wanted to do creatively. There were never any antics or outlandish publicity stunts that overshadowed the music. Danzig has always been about his art. When he’s not performing or writing new music he spends time developing his comic book line Verotik at Danzig-Verotik.com. The writing and art is not intended for the kiddies and the subject matter is made clear by the website’s invitation to “Descend into Hell.”
For all of the graphic horror and Satanic imagery, Danzig is another artist who simply can’t take the religious version of the devil seriously. While he rejects all religion, he does “Welcome the disdain” of conservative Christians.
Ironically, noted believer in the Christian faith Johnny Cash, covered Danzig’s song “Thirteen” oh his album American Recordings much to the dismay of Jesus-is-Savior.com. Their article “Johnny Cash Exposed” essentially questions the legendary singer’s allegiance to Christ. Cash also sang “Unchained” off of the album of the same name, another song written by Danzig.
Danzig’s connection to Cash was producer Rick Rubin and possibly unbeknownst to Christian fans, Johnny Cash is well revered by many heavy metal artists including another blasphemous band by the name of Ministry. While it is said Cash sang country, which is debated by fans, his lyrics would contain themes as dark as any heavy metal song and his former demons of drugs and alcohol are easily recognizable by those who have also suffered their abuse.
Johnny, himself, even became fascinated by the heavy metal genre in the mid-eighties, according to Wsws.org. He wanted to find out for himself what the controversy was all about and attended concerts by Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Ozzy. He even protested against those who wanted to censor the bands of that time period. While he may not have condoned their un-Christian lifestyles, Cash understood that everyone was flawed and had to walk their own road to God. He sympathized with the sinner’s plight, possibly proving himself more religious than the Pharisee-like writers on Jesus-is-Savior.com. With his passing, a whole new set of fans have emerged and it is likely his influence amongst heavy metal artists will continue.
Danzig, wanting to inspire horror amongst critics and fans alike, may have a tough time of it with his new gig—VH1’s Rock of Love: Bride of Satan. He will replace Brett Michaels and be looking for a mate that can fulfill all his evil needs. That’s a tough order. Good luck to the women. And good luck to Danzig on keeping his Satanic image. Reality shows have a way of turning rock stars into clowns.
HAS ANY SATANIC BAND EVER TRULY BELIEVED IN THE DEVIL?
Band after band profiled in this feature have been found guilty of exploiting the devil without actually believing in a literal devil. Satan is always symbolic, referring to rebellion and a way of getting a rise out of the authorities, most notably the parents who find their kids spending their allowance money on an “evil album.”
Those who practiced the occult come close to at least believing in the supernatural, but that still doesn’t include Satan. The supernatural is a fuzzy line between the metaphorical, new age mysticism and personalized religion. Satan doesn’t seem to exist.
Squidoo.com makes an attempt to list “genuine Black Metal” bands which just means the bands on the list play the style, but don’t necessarily believe. They list the band Acheron as one example of “True Satanic Metal,” but their association is with The Church of Satan (lead singer Vincent Crowley was appointed to the priesthood in 1994 by Anton La Vey). The Church of Satan denies a literal devil while embracing much of what he stands for. Says High Priest Peter H. Gilmore, “Satanism begins with atheism. We begin with the universe and say, 'It’s indifferent. There’s no God, there’s no Devil. No one cares!'”
Black Metal and Satanic Metal have more in common with horror movies than they do with the Biblical Satan. After researching this article for any possible band, besides White Metal bands, who believes in a real devil, I can’t come up with one that I can confidently write about. Most Satanic bands, when asked point blank if they believe in Satan, will either say they don’t and that they are fascinated with occultism, or they will pull a politician’s trick and skirt around the question.
The devil has been given his tribute without sincere recognition. And maybe he’s pleased with that result. According to most conservative Christians, Satan’s best trick is making you think he doesn’t exist.
SOURCES
PopSubCulture – Aleister Crowley: Biography, http://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/aleister_crowley.html
Illuminati News – Rock Music and Satanist Aleister Crowley, http://www.illuminati-news.com/art-and-mc/rockmusic-and-crowley.htm
Jesus-Is-Savior.com – The Satanic Roots of Rock, http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Miscellaneous/satanic_roots_of_rock.htm
Wikipedia – Bobby Beausoleil, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Beausoleil
SubCin.com – Kenneth Anger, http://www.subcin.com/anger.html
Wikipedia – Jimmy Page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Page
Jesus-Is-Savior.com – Led Zepplin, Straight from Hell, http://www.jesus-is- savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Rock-n-Roll/led_zeppelin.htm
In the Light, Zoso, http://www.inthelight.co.nz/ledzep/zososymbol.htm
Positive Atheism, I think Led Zeppelin May be Satanic, http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml9198.htm
Wikipedia – Black Sabbath, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sabbath
Bird Monster — Heavy Metal, part one, http://birdmonster.blogspot.com/2009/07/short-history-of-heavy-metal-part-one.html
Wikipedia – Dennis Wheatley, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Wheatley
Wikipedia – KISS, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_(band)
Wikipedia – Motley Crue, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6tley_Cr%C3%BCe
Jesus-Is-Savior.com – Signs of Satan, http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/False%20Religions/Wicca%20&%20Witchcraft/signs_of_satan.htm
Wikipedia – Sign of the Horns, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_of_the_horns
Wikipedia – Venom (Band), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venom_(band)
VH1.com, All Music Guide – Slayer Bio, http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/slayer/bio.jhtml
Dark Lyrics - Slayer Lyrics, Reign in Blood, http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/slayer/reigninblood.html#4
Veinotte – Ozzy, bio, http://www.veinotte.com/ozzy/madness.htm
Wikipedia – Ozzy, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozzy_Osbourne
Wikipedia – Coven, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coven_(band)
VH1.com, All Music Guide – Danzig Bio, http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/danzig/bio.jhtml
Wikipedia – Danzig, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danzig_(band)
Squidoo – Satanic bands, http://www.squidoo.com/satanicmusic
posted by Mr Gregory Francis at Saturday, August 01, 2009
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