Music and Satanism, any truth?

Cafe Society
1

I was wondering if there is any groups or songs that truly glorify Satanism, the black arts, the occult, etc. I have heard almost all my life about satanism and rock. Some are goofy in my opinion:

KISS-Kids In Satan Service
AC DC-The “thunderbolt” is a Satanic S. “Highway to Hell”.
Blue Oyster Cult- Satanic cross (looks like an upside down question mark to me).

OK, the groups I wonder about:

Marilyn Manson-Has three dice tatooed on his arm, the three reading 6 6 6, the number of the Beast (Satan). He also has an album called Anti-Christ Superstar, and is an ordained minister of the Church of Satan (I wonder if he does weddings?)

Madonna (what is this person’s real GD name?) When I was in High School back in the 1980s, there was a track of hers where she praises Satan. Oh, why not? You cannot pray to God, with the stage name of God’s mother. So, go talk to the Devil. I truly realize that Madonna must of had supernatural help, because she is not that attractive and not anymore talented than millions of lounge singers worldwide. Mybe she needs to pray to Lucifer again istead of acting or sticking her tounge down Brittany Spears throat (and maybe a better place when the cameras were off).

Black Sabbath-They sounded evil, but I just cannot see Ozzy praying to Satan. He would of knelt for a pound of cocaine, but not to a diety. But why call themselves Black Sabbath, if not inspired by Satan? Ozzy does have upside down crosses on his door in LA. Incidentally, if I was a rock star, I would of been Ozzy, because of the drugs and booze.

Led Zeppelin- Jimmy Page owns a house formally owned by Alister Crowley, an infamous English Satanist who died in 1947. Why would anyone own a house that was owned by Crowley? Maybe it was cheap, like “murder houses” that realators sell for cheap.

Eagles-Hotel California is supposedly about the Church of Satan in Los Angeles, ran by Anton LeVay.

Sammy Davis Jr. supposedly had a Satanic interest in the 1960s and 1970s. He used to pray to Sinatra, but was told that Frank was not the Devil himself, but merely a child thereof.

Motley Crue-Pentagram is a symbol. Of course, to get head from Pam Anderson while driving a luxury SUV down the Pacific Coast Highway, I would pray to Satan too. To look at these lugnuts, (especially Nikki Sixx) that they definitely gotten supernatural help.

Rolling Stones-Had an old album called “His Satanic Majesty Delight” or a similiar title. It was supposed to be the Stones’ answer to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts album (which has a picture of Allister Crowley). I am sure in 1967 America, this album was not sold everywhere (I could not see in it in the Bible belt).

So, who prays to the Devil?

2

Nobody prays to the Devil in Satanism. But to answer some of your more specific questions:

These are indeed goofy.
I thought the K in KISS was allegedly “Knights.”
The AC/DC thing is a lightning bolt. I didn’t know Satan had his own font. :wink: And citing “Highway to Hell” as evidence that the bandmembers are Satanists is about as sensible as citing “Dirty Deeds (Done Dirt Cheap)” as evidence that they’re hitmen. :stuck_out_tongue:

Manson does Satanic weddings and Bar Mitzvahs. :smiley:
Like I said earlier, LaVey’s Church of Satan doesn’t involve praying to the Devil. In fact, I’m pretty sure they don’t think he exists. But LaVey does seem to be an influence on MM. Somebody who knows more about Manson than I could probably give a better answer.

I don’t know what track you’re talking about, and I question your logic here. On top of which, Madonna IS the woman’s real name: her parents named her Madonna Ciccone.

The name Black Sabbath is a reference to the ‘black masses’ held by witches. It’s an attempt to sound evil and occult, which is 100% in line with their image and persona. Giving our band a name like that doesn’t connote Satanism either.

Zep, and Page in particular, were very into ‘occult’ stuff. It was just a cool thing to do at the time. He bought the house BECAUSE it used to be Crowley’s. He got out of the house when his young son died in 1977. Spooked the crap out of him, I’m sure. In acolumn about the symbols on Led Zeppelin IV, Cecil says “Page … collects occult books and paraphernalia. He was a devotee of Aleister Crowley (a famous English occultist and member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) to the point of buying Crowley’s old house. But, Page says he is not a Satanist.”
And for that matter, Crowley was not a Satanist either. A very weird guy, yes, but not a Satanist.

No, it’s not. The Snopes Urban Legends Website debunks this rather thoroughly.

Sammy Davis Jr. was Jewish. Perhaps you’re confusing that with Satanism? :stuck_out_tongue: I’ve never heard this before.

You’re neglecting the fact that bands often try to be shocking and use things like pentagrams to scare parents, thus winning credibility among kids, their target audience.

Aside from the title, Their Satanic Majesties Request doesn’t contain any references to Satan as far as I know. The Stones do have a famous tune called Sympathy for the Devil, and I admit there don’t appear to be a lot of explanations for Mick and Keith’s continued survival other than Lucifer. I’m sure both the song and this album title were controversial, but I’m gonna say ‘nein’ to this one as well.

3

As far as I know, the only big-name celebrities with ties to Satanism were Sammy Davis, Jr and Jayne Mansfield. The rock bands you listed are not satanic by any means, and even the ones who openly “worship” Satan (Deicide, Morbid Angel, etc) do not actually believe in the Devil.

It should be noted that Satanism, as envisioned by the sensationalist press of the 80’s is an urban myth and does not exist in any real sense. Anton LeVay, founder of the Church of Satan, does not believe in God, demons, angels, nor Satan. Its more of a philosophical and ideological antagonism towards the perceived hypocricies of Judeo-Christianity rather than a religion unto itself. Satan is merely a symbolic representation of science, logic, art, and physical pleasure.

4

Sammy Davis Jr was a member of the Church of Satan- not sure if he took it with any seriousness. Jayne Mansfield did associate with Anton LaVey but I’m not sure how involved she was in LaVeyan Satanists.

Brian (M Manson) Warner certainly seems to have an animosity to Christianity, and an affinity for Satanic symbols and yes he is a minister in LaVey’s CoS, but as far as outright Diabolism, I doubt it.

Then again, I wouldn’t put it past anyone named in this thread to have dabbled.

Oh- and finally RE the name “Black Sabbath”- it came from the 1960’s Mario Bava Italian horror movie which starred Boris Karloff.

5

For bands that I know of that are actually dedicated to Satanism, you have Deicide and Norwegian black metal bands like Mayhem. But even those bands just seem to rely on the Satanic image as a cheap scare tactic to shock people.

6

Will Masons do? Masons are Satanists right? Because I bet lots of celeberities are Masons.

7

Considering that several of the musicians in Norway’s black metal scene actually went to prison for arson and/or murder, I’m not so quick to pass that judgement on them. There are still people who think that Varg’s 21-year prison sentence is just a publicity stunt though, so what do I know…

Regardless of whether their interest in Satanism is legit or not, there are several that play it straight. I certainly wouldn’t include most of the bands in the OP as playing it straight.

Corndog man, I suggest picking up Lords Of Chaos if you would like further reading about Norwegian black metal’s “Satanic underground.” This is the only book I can remember written about this sort of thing written from the point of view of a fan rather than a religious person/group trying to create controversy/paranoia where little cause for such a thing exists.

Outside of that specific subgenre, there’s still the aforementioned Deicide as well as King Diamond/Mercyful Fate (King is a member of LaVey’s COS), Acheron, Electric Hellfire Club, Diabolos Rising, Slightly Satanic (Satanic country/cocktail jazz!) and a host of others I can’t remember at the moment because it’s way too early in the morning.

Oh, and one can’t forget Coven, whose Witchcraft - Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls album from the 60s is widely credited with being the first real Satanic rock album ever. There’s even a black mass right on the album, although it sounds unintentionally funny because the voice and delivery of the High Priest makes the whole thing sounds like a 70s game show IMHO.

8

Speaking of Black Sabbath, it’s not generally remembered now, but in the 70’s they went through a period of of full-on religious, almost gospel-y, sounding lyrics, all done to their usual heavy metal backing. I noticed this on the album Master Of Reality, which included lines like, “Jesus is the only way to love.”

Go figure.

9

Just to set the record straight: While Jimmy Page did live in Crowley’s former home, it was Robert Plant rather than Page who lost a son in 1977, apparently to some form of viral pneumonia. IIRC, Page didn’t sell the house till the early 80’s.

10

corndog man: why are you able to recognise the Madonna-Britney kiss as publicity stunt, but unable to recognise pentagrams and creepy band-images as publicity stunts?

I think you need to look over things with a little more discernment.

11

Ahh Satanism in music…reminds me of some skater friends I had back in Junior High School. They listened to Slayer which had a lot of Satanic references and symbolism IIRC.

I never really cared for the music myself so I never paid too much attention to it.

According to
allmusic.com

YMMV

12

I know a couple of fundies who beleive it’s an acronym for “After Christ, Devil Came” I think that they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel to find a satanic acronym there.

13

The AC/DC-satan linkage really came about after Richard Ramirez aka The Nightstalker mass murderer was caught and announced that he was a Satanist and flashed an upsidedown pentagram that he had drawn on the palm of his hand in court. The link to AC/Dc came because at one of the murder scenes he left a baseball hat with the AC/DC logo on it in the garage, where it was found by the authorities.

14

I remember Ronnie James Dio (of Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and Dio) once being quoted as saying something similar to: (my own words here)

These bands that claim to know about the occult really tick off those of us who do.

I think the comment was meant to be tongue in cheek. Dio was actually into fantasy and magic, not Satanism from what I remember. He brought dragons and magic into his music much like Rob Zombie does with the horror genre. I took his quote to mean, “don’t take this stuff too seriously.”

15

That’s the same Coven that did One Tin Soldier on the Billy Jack soundtrack?

16

I’m not familiar with any of Coven’s work outside of that one album, but according to allmusic.com that is indeed the same Coven.

17

Mercyful Fate (King Diamond) went out of his way to praise satan in his songs; but then in the early 80s we loved that crap. The thing is that it was really just a marketing ploy because satanists don’t believe in a literal satan. But it worked; and we ate it up. We were true poseurs, though some of the music was great. :slight_smile:

18

Seeing “Coven” makes me think of “American Movie” - that indie film about the making of a movie called “C-OH-ven” Long O lol. He didn’t realize that the proper pronunciation rhymes with oven and was quite surprised to hear it. Funny film; I loved his friend Mike, who has a CD out called “Songs I Know”. Sorry for this sidebar.

19

Absolutely, there’s a connection.

Satanism = shocking.
Shocking = interesting.
Interesting = profitable.
I mean, duh.

20

There is such a thing as allegory.

KD has shown his true dedication to LaVey’s vision of Satanism many times over. Of all the Satanic heavy metal musicians, he is the least likely to be doing it just as a gimmick IMHO. He’s stayed true to that vision for decades and it hasn’t exactly earned him a lot of Top 10 singles or household fame. If he’s doing it for marketing, he’s terrible at marketing.

Surely marketing plays a part in a large portion of the bands, but let’s not let our cynicism completely blind us. There are living, breathing people who follow Satanic philosophies such as LaVey’s (or others). They really are out there. Not in huge numbers, but they do exist. It’s not so difficult to believe that some of them learned to play instruments when they weren’t eating ham sandwiches with Baal or playing ping pong with Beherit. You gotta have a hobby. Given LaVey’s penchant for music, performance and hokey theatrics it’s not surprising that music would be an interest of those who see things in his light.

Of course, one could say that LaVey’s entire existence was a marketing ploy but that’s another story entirely…