# Remember those satanic acronyms for '80s metal/hard rock bands? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135 "2003-02-28T15:07:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/1 "2003-02-28T15:07:34Z")
Does anyone else remember when horrified fundamentalists used to start rumors in the late '70s and '80s that certain heavy metal/hard rock groups names were actually clever acronyms revealing satanic worship? Here’s some examples I recall with not much thought: **KISS** - Knights In Satan’s Service **AC/DC** - Anti-Christ, Devil’s Child _or_ After Christ, Devil Comes **RUSH** - Residents Under Satan’s House :rolleyes: Does anyone else remember other examples of this kind of thing? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/2 "2003-02-28T15:29:58Z")
Well, I remember a band called WASP (led by Blackie Lawless), which some claimed was an acronym for “We Are Sexually Perverted.” Oddly enough, I think the band LIKED that interpretation… and even if they’d never INTENDED the name to have that meaning, they weren’t eager to dispel the rumor. ---
**Author:** ![arachnidlove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@arachnidlove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arachnidlove)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/3 "2003-02-28T17:21:43Z")
I don’t know who came up with this one but when I was in highschool I remember guys always saying Slayer stood for “Satan Laughs As You Eternally Rot” ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/4 "2003-02-28T17:23:38Z")
WASP also meant “We Are Satan’s People”. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/5 "2003-02-28T17:50:48Z")
Not an acronym, but I remember that Dio stylized their the name such that when upside down it could be read as “devil”. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/6 "2003-02-28T17:53:51Z")
**O** ur **S** ouls **M** enaced by **O** ur **N** ihilistic **P** ractices. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/7 "2003-02-28T17:56:22Z")
umm… **D** eviance. yeah, that’s what I meant. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/8 "2003-02-28T18:00:48Z")
:smack: … instead of **P** ractices. I’ll be leaving now… ---
**Author:** ![ion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f1d935/32.png) [@ion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ion)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/9 "2003-02-28T18:34:49Z")
I was told **KISS** was an acronym for _ **K** ids_ **I** n **S** atans **S** ervice. Found that _especially_ inappropriate for the reunion-tour… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/10 "2003-02-28T19:48:02Z")
He he. I instantly started flipping through my mental vinyl metal collection wondering who “Osmonp” could be ---
**Author:** ![Profane\_Creation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@Profane\_Creation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Profane_Creation)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/11 "2003-02-28T20:30:23Z")
**RUSH** **R** aised **U** nder **S** atan’s **H** ands is what I’d heard. :rolleyes: IS RIGHT!! ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/12 "2003-03-01T08:17:05Z")
I thought Blackie’s band was **W** e **A** re **S** ucky **P** osers. [sub]Okay, fine, it was just us that called them that.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/13 "2003-03-01T08:50:46Z")
**A** lmighty **M** ephisto **Y** earns **G** ood **R** ighteous **A** dolescents’ **N** everending **T** orment This is fun! Somebody do one for Creed! ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/14 "2003-03-01T09:09:35Z")
**C** reepy **R** eligious **E** jaculations **E** ngender **D** isdain? [sub]I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard 'em, but a lotta folks seem to not like 'em a whole bunch.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/15 "2003-03-01T09:23:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > **Well, I remember a band called WASP (led by Blackie Lawless), which some claimed was an acronym for "We Are Sexually Perverted."** Apparently they liked it enough to etch it into the vinyl of their first record. (Yes, the first W.A.S.P. album pre-dated CD’s. GOD I’m old…) ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/16 "2003-03-01T10:19:41Z")
I just wanted to say that I’d never heard the **Rush** one, and it’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in months 😃 And isn’t finding a sinister _hidden_ message in the name ‘Slayer’ a little redundant? ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/17 "2003-03-01T10:47:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astorian \* > \*\*Well, I remember a band called WASP (led by Blackie Lawless), which some claimed was an acronym for “We Are Sexually Perverted.” > > Oddly enough, I think the band LIKED that interpretation… and even if they’d never INTENDED the name to have that meaning, they weren’t eager to dispel the rumor. \*\* Or the irony, since the people calling them that were almost exclusively WASPs themselves… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/18 "2003-03-01T11:09:12Z")
If we’re moving on to making new acronyms… Engage Musical Imitator’s Negro Emulation Mode Blowjobs Rendered, Inept Teen Now “Entertains” You. Sexual Philanthropy Explains Artless Recording Starlet. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/19 "2003-03-01T11:14:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skeezix \* > \*\*\*\*C **reepy Religious Ejaculations Engender Disdain?** Crappy Ripoff, Eddie Exactly Duplicated (Creed are hated mostly for sounding exactly like Pearl Jam, not for spouting Christianity. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard them mention it in a song.) ---
**Author:** ![Kundun108](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kundun108](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kundun108)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135/20 "2013-03-29T00:38:38Z")
I always heard RUSH was an acronym for Rulers Under Satan’s House. Man, I wish I had one of those religious tracts from the early 80’s! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-satanic-acronyms-for-80s-metal-hard-rock-bands/158135.md?page=2)