To the best of my knowledge King Diamond is NOT a Satanist. The only one I was pretty sure about was Slayer, though I’m not 100% about that. Though I CAN tell you that Ozzy isn’t, nor are Iron Maiden.
There have been a number of groups besides Zep that were into the Occult, one of them is Black Sabbath.
King Diamond has publically admitted his Satanism in a number of forums, among them the awful Geraldo Rivera Satan undercover special.
Marilyn Manson was annoited a priest in the Church of Satan. According to his autobiography, he spent some time in Anton Levay’s Black House in San Francisco.
As previously mentioned, there is Boyd Rice,who is a priest in the Temple of Set, along with Anton Levay’s daughter and his biggest detractor Zeena. I don’t know if he has enough of a career as a musician to qualify as an artist.
All of these people are members of some variant of the Church of Satan or Temple of Set, which means that they are not technically devil worshipers in the sense that they believe and serve a literal Satan in the Christian sense.
Jimmy Page and David Bowie, among others, were once very interested in ritual, hermetic magic of the Crowleyan variety. Page owned Crowley’s Loch Ness manor and an occult bookstore and at one time wore onstage outfits patterned after a ritual magician’s robe. Bowie quoted and mentioned Crowley extensively on the album HUNKY DORY. Of course, ritual hermetic magic has nothing to do with Satanism.
Then there was a fellow named Kenneth Anger who is an underground film-maker, co-founder of the Church of Satan and a practicing ritual magician. He was once very close to Keith Richards and his girlfriend Anita Pallenburg, as well as Mick Jagger and Jimmy Page, the later two contibuting music to his film projects. That doesn’t imply that they are Satanists either, but this rock and Satan connection is pretty tenuous.
I have heard Iron Maiden (in concert) and Ozzy Osbourne (in interviews) specifically deny any involvement with Satanism, something no self respecting Satanist would do.
Wait a minute? An interview in the Onion? Doesn’t that imply that the whole thing’s made up? I’m confused!
The phrase “I am an AntiChrist” is in the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the U.K.” I wouldn’t put it past grossly-mismatched-contacts boy to cover it, though.
My favorite “Satan-rock” story comes from Tony Iommi, the Black Sabbath guitarist.
Iommi and his bandmates have always admitted that their use of Satanic props and symbols was a put-on, no more to be taken seriously than the Haunted House ride at Disney World. But all kinds of genuine freaks and Satanists assumed the band was on the level, and followed them around.
During an early tour of America, the Sabs were in their bedrooms at their hotels, trying to get some sleep, but were roused by the sound of chanting. Looking out the peepholes of their rooms, they saw an actual coven, dressed in long black robes and hoods, holding long candles, and chanting unintelligible prayers to Satan.
Iommi got on the phone to Geezer Butler, Bill Ward and Ozzy, and asked, “What are we gonna do about these freaks? Call the cops? Call security?” They finally decided to get pro-active. So, the four of them went out into the hall, sang “Happy Birthday to You,” and blew out all the candles.
The Satanists were peeved, and left in a huff.
Actually…Boyd has an extensive discography, starting from 78 up until now, i think he’s released over 6 lps and numerous amounts of 7" and Eps. He’s also done numerous collabortions with Current 93, Death in June, and others. So, he definetly qualifies as an musician/artist.
King Diamond definitely is. Anyone who has followed his career knows him to be an outspoken Satanist.
Slayer definitely is not. They have said numerous times that they use such imagery in a similar way to horror films. It’s just meant to add to the atmosphere of the songs. The older material, anyway.
Acheron, Electric Hellfire Club and others have all claimed allegiance to Satanism in one form or another. If you’re really interested in finding out more, I recommend reading “Lords Of Chaos.” It’s about the Norwegian black metal movement and many of the incidents that happened in the 90s in that scene. It’s a controversial book to be sure.
WildestBill, you might find this to be informative:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/satanism.htm
-Ben