Devilish Dissertations

"Abasht the Devil stood And felt how awful goodness is, and saw Virtue in the shape how lovely, and pin'd His loss"

Throughout recorded history there have existed forces of good and evil. These forces have manifest themselves through the thoughts, actions and religious beliefs of the people of the time.
In our day and age, and within the context of Christianity, these forces are most commonly referred to as God and the Devil. The Bible lays out the doctrine and teachings of Christianity, which must be observed to reach the Kingdom of Heaven after death, whilst attributing many names to the Devil, the creator of all evil. Lucifer, Satan and Beelzebub are but a few of his extensive list of synonyms. Traditionally portrayed as half-man, half-beast, with horns, claws and wings, the Devil was supposed to inhabit Hell, his underworld of torture and flames.

The timeless philosophical debate about good and evil, God and Satan has influenced many great works of art, musical compositions, novels and poems, not to mention religious writings and commentaries. It is the aim of this dissertation to discuss the manner in which the concept of evil and the figure of the Devil have been portrayed in the popular music of the late Twentieth century.

I have chosen to study this issue as I believe it is an important and interesting element of the popular culture of the last half-century, and it is also a reasonably uncharted area in terms of academic research and literature. I also believe that there are similarities between cases from different decades and countries that are important to stress, compare and explain. The varying manner in which artists have expressed their deeply held personal beliefs through musical means for the consumption of the mass popular culture is a fascinating area worthy of exploration. I have studied religion, whether it be specifically Christianity or comparative religion for seven years, and after this time I feel it is very interesting to look at the reverse side of the coin and survey the portrayal of evil.

In this dissertation I intend to examine the way in which these beliefs have been conveyed, the reactions with which they have been met, and the personal and social repercussions of the production of music based upon such controversial subject matters. I also intend to comment on the shocking correlation in many cases between instances of Satanism in popular music, and the belief in and adherence to nationalist and neo-Nazi principles.
The chapters into which this project is divided, aim to deal chronologically with the differing aspects of contemporary Satanism and occult imagery in music. The first chapter deals with the occult revival of the 1960's and the music ensuing from this revival. The second deals with the first wave of artists to truly deal with Satanic thought and imagery through their music. The third chapter explores the intense nationalism and rivalry that spread throughout the Black Metal music scene of Norway in the early 1990's, and the fourth explores the second wave of Satanic music in America and the United Kingdom. The dissertation will close with an ending chapter on the nature of the conclusions reached.

The recent Satanic movement in popular music and culture as a whole was documented in 1998 by the American music writer, Michael Moynihan, and the Norwegian journalist, Didrik Søderlind in their book 'Lords of Chaos'. Whilst this book contains some discussion about movements taking place in England and America, it is predominately based around events taking place in Norway between 1990-1996. Many key figures central to the discussion of Satanism in music are omitted or mentioned with a certain air of brevity.
The second key text to this subject is 'Lucifer Rising' by Gavin Baddeley, written in 1999. This covers the history of Satanism, representations of Satan in popular culture and approaches to Satanism in the eve of the new millennium. The book is an extensive history of the religion as a whole, but does not focus specifically on the music of the scene, and can hence not cover the topic comprehensively. Another issue surrounding the text is that its author is an ordained reverend of the Church of Satan, and for this reason it is necessary to consider the potential bias of his writing.
In my dissertation I hope to use the groundwork laid by these two books to explore more deeply into the issues raised. I intend to discuss a wider range of countries and artists than those cited in 'Lords of Chaos', and to discuss the subject from a neutral and unbiased standpoint.

CHAPTER ONE - THE OCCULT REVIVAL OF THE 1960'S

"To thee, Satan, fair fallen angel, To whom fell the perilous honour To struggle against an unjust rule, I offer myself wholly and forever, My mind, my senses, my hear, my love, And my dark verses in their corrupted beauty"

Representations of the Devil and the occult in music have by no means been restricted to the years of the Twentieth century. As far back as the Medieval times, the tritone (an interval spanning three whole tones, for example between F and B, creating an augmented fourth) was prohibited in strict, or "Palestrina" counterpoint and was referred to as the Diabolus in Music, which is Latin for "The Devil in Music".
Within the early Romantic Era the influence of Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe's 'Faust' (1808), a play in which the lead character, Faust, signs a pact to sell his soul to the Devil, Mephistopheles, in exchange for a moment of sublime happiness, was of great interest to many composers. The play influenced several operas, for example 'Faust' by Charles Gounod (composed 1856-9), 'Mefistofele' by Arrigo Boito (composed 1860-67), and 'Doktor Faust' by Ferruccio Busoni (composed 1916-24). Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) also composed an unrelated comic opera concerning the Devil, entitled 'The Devil and Kate'. The work of Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) also drew frequently on Goethe's 'Faust', for example within his 'Symphonie Fantastique' (1830) and his dramatic legend 'La Damnation de Faust' (1846) based upon his previous work, 'Huit Scènes de Faust'.

Another musician of the Nineteenth century, the virtuoso violinist Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840), is said to have had connections with the occult. During his life he earned a reputation as the 'Devil's Fiddler', although during his latter years he strove to dispel the rumours surrounding his persona, physical appearance and performance. During his twenties and thirties Paganini was a man who curried much favour with the ladies at court due to his enigmatic smile, bizarre personality, fervent character and wild personality, not to mention his exceptional talent and skill. Towards the end of his life, however, his physical appearance became gaunt, with sunken cheeks and mysterious eyes, and his performances became even more spell-binding, with Italian audiences being rendered speechless by his whirlwind speed and accuracy of articulation. He frequently lay on his bed and fasted for days, entering meditative states, supposedly freeing his mind from the constraints of the physical shell. Paganini was associated with the Deil when playing in Vienna circa 1831, and retorted saying: "A still more ridiculous report, at Vienna, tested the credulity of some enthusiasts. I had played the variations entitled 'Le Streghe' (The Witches), and they produced some effect. The individual, who was represented to me as of a sallow complexion, melancholy air, and bright eye, affirmed that he saw nothing surprising in my performance, for he had directly seen whilst I was playing my variations, the Devil at my elbow directing my arm and guiding my bow. My resemblance to him was a proof of my origin. He was closed in red, had horns on his head, and carried his tail between his legs. After so minute a description, you will understand, sir, it was impossible to doubt the fact; hence, many concluded that they had discovered the secret of what they had termed 'my wonderful feats'." [Sugden 1980:41]

As can be seen, Paganini did little to dispel the urban myths of the time, and contemporary reviewers in Berlin described him as a vision of Goethe's 'Mephisto' playing the violin. It is interesting to note that the rumours of Paganini's pact with the Devil were so strong that on his death in 1840 the authorities refused to let him be buried in consecrated grounds.
One of the earliest examples of what was seen to be 'the Devil's music' in twentieth century popular culture was the blues of Robert Johnson (1891-1938). As legend has it, somewhat like the story of Paganini, Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the Devil in return for his extraordinary musical talent. This transaction was reputed to have taken place at the dead of night at the 'Crossroads', a place which was later to become the title of one of his songs. Onlookers claimed that the following night "Johnson played like a man possessed, his fingers blazing across the fretboard as he howled like the hounds of hell were on his trail" [Everley 2000:18]. Mirroring what he saw as his inevitable fate Johnson also sang the 'Me and the Devil Blues' and of the 'Hellhound on my Trail'.

The truth of Johnson's story is questionable, and as fellow Mississippi musician David 'Honeyboy' Edwards states: "He said he went down to the Crossroads and met a man, but I never met a man" Robert was a big bullshitter. But he could play guitar" [Trynka 1999:83] Johnson recorded only twenty-nine tunes before his untimely death. He was poisoned in a blues club, reportedly due to the fact he was having an affair with the proprietor's wife.

Other bluesmen of the same era shared his interest in the occult, for example Peetie Wheatstraw, who was nicknamed 'The Devil's Son-In-Law'. Songs of the period also carried occult imagery, referring to voodoo and juju practices, as well as magical charms, for example in 'I Got my Mojo Working' and 'Black Cat Bone'.
Johnson's acoustic guitar music in the delta blues style influenced rock musicians of the 1960's such as Led Zeppelin, Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, as it made a revival due to the reissue of his LP. The Rolling Stones traced their musical lineage back to Johnson's blues and adopted his occult imagery in works such as 'Paint it Black', the 1967 album 'Their Satanic Majesties Request' and the track 'Sympathy for the Devil'.

It was during a performance of this song at an outdoor festival at the disused Altamont speedway track on December 6, 1969 that violence broke out between Hell's Angels and other audience members, resulting in the fatal stabbing of Meredith Hunter, a gun-wielding black man in the crowd. The media of the time had a field day, linking the tragedy to contemporary occultists Charles Manson and Anton La Vey.
However, it was not just the Rolling Stones that portrayed the occult through their music. The Beatles, whilst being seen as the more straight-laced and clean-cut alternative to the Stones, also caused controversy, especially so in 1966 when John Lennon stated that "The Beatles are bigger than Jesus". This flippant remark caused mayhem during the band's American tour, and saw the Klu Klux Klan burning their records and hailing Lennon as a Satanist. The band were again condemned by fundamentalist Christian group on the release of their 'Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' album, the cover of which contained a photo montage of many famous people including the occultist Aleister Crowley.

As part of the occult revival which spread throughout the 1960's, many recording artists developed and interest in the writings and actions of this eccentric guru, as well as searching for and experimenting with new religions, ideologies and drugs which were becoming easily obtainable.
Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (1875-1947) was born into an intensely Christian family, but due to punishment at school and verbal abuse by his mother turned away from this religion towards a new philosophy of his own. During his time at Trinity College, Cambridge, he experimented with magic and read mystical and occult texts, and in 1898 was initiated into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret occultist society. It was through this society that Crowley developed his own philosophy, 'Thelema', which centered around the concepts of ego, will and charisma.

Between 1900-1903 he travelled Mexico, Ceylon, India and Burma, absorbing influences from a diverse range of religions and mystical belief systems, and on return to Britain got married and wrote The Book of Law, which was supposedly dictated to him through an Egyptian God who had possessed his wife. It was in this book that Aleister Crowley predicted that he, 'The Great Beast 666' as his mother had referred to him, would herald the beginning of a new age without Christ. As he said "The Apocalypse would bring about a new world of joy, freedom and truth" [Baddeley 1999:26]. He founded another mystical sect, the Order of the Silver Star, whose Masonic roots he traced back to the Knights Templar. Sex was central to the collective philosophy of the Order, and Crowley became renowned and infamous for his unrestrained Dionysian indulgence with women, his decadent fantasy world, and his considerable experimentation with mind-expanding drugs.

In 1920 he established the Abbey of Thélème in Sicily, but soon attracted negative attention from the press as one of his 'disciples' died. It was claimed that Aleister Crowley's Order had been practising human sacrifice, although this has been proven as being untrue. His reputation lay in tatters at the hands of both the British and American tabloid media and his health rapidly declined. It was alleged that Crowley had been practising experiments in mind control, creating a herd mentality amongst his followers, a mindset which is abhorrent to any true Satanist, but was of interest to him as an occultist.
It has been documented that in 1935 the Nazis banned Crowley's Order of the Silver Star, throwing numerous disciples into concentration camps. Interestingly, however, there are considerable parallels between the Thelemic doctrine and the Nazi dogma of the pre-World War Two period. These included overt elitism, the loss of rationality and bloody-minded transcendence of all morality. Crowley spend his last years as a bankrupt and ruined man and a heroin addict, confined to rest homes on the South Coast of England.

Whilst none of Crowley's beliefs or sects were openly satanic, certain ideologies put forward reflected the spirit and ethos of Satanism. As Baddeley states, "Crowley's 'Do what thou wilt' can be read as a maxim for Satanic libertinism, as well as a command to discover the true self" [Baddeley 1999:28]. His ritual and magic involved a great deal of experimentation with animal sacrifice, although it is interesting to note that this does not reflect Satanic practice, with the majority of Satanists shunning the murder of animals.
It was Led Zeppelin who perhaps became most absorbed by the legacy of Crowley's life and philosophy. Guitarist, Jimmy Page, alongside Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, wrote soundtracks for two films directed by Kenneth Anger, based on Crowley's life, aptly entitled 'Invocation of my Demon Brother' and 'Lucifer Rising'.

Page's interest in Crowley's life ran much deeper than that of Jagger. He owned a huge amount of original books and manuscripts, paintings and ceremonial robes, held a large share in the Equinox bookshop (selling occult texts), and at one point bought Crowley's former Scottish Loch Ness estate, Boleskine. It is interesting to note that even after Crowley's death, this property continued to appear to be a place of bad luck, as many of its staff members over time were sent to mental asylums or committed suicide.
With their music, Zeppelin merged Crowley's Thelemic religion with diverse influences ranging from Anglo-Saxon t Norse heathen folklore and folk music, as well as references to the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien. As Moynihan states, "If there is any early rock band exemplifying the basic themes that would later preoccupy many of the Black Metal bands in the 1990's, it is Led Zeppelin" [Moynihan 1998:4].

The group saw no need to play down their influences, with many promotional events of theirs actively reinforcing their beliefs. An example of such was the staging of a mock Black Mass at a record release party which took place in the underground caves which had, over two hundred years beforehand, been inhabited by Sir Francis Dashwood and his infamous Hellfire Club. It was rumoured in 1969 that three members of the band had signed a pact in blood, selling their souls to the Devil in return for overnight success.
Interestingly, and as with Paganini some 150 years earlier, both Jimmy Page and Robert Plant began to play down their influences and deny any links with the occult as they reached middle age, perhaps due to the series of tragedies that struck them throughout the period 1975-80. Robert Plant and his wife suffered a serious car crash in 1975, their son died in 1977, and in 1980 Led Zeppelin's drummer, John Bonham, also died after choking on his own vomit. One cannot but wonder whether their experiments with, and interest in the occult, as well as the curse supposedly placed on the band by Kenneth Anger may have provoked or influenced these tragedies.

The burgeoning interesting in the occult within the 1960's was also heavily due to the creation of the Church of Satan (1966), and the world's first Satanic Bible (1969). These advances were the brainchild of Anton Szandor LaVey (1930-1997), whose former occupations had included being a circus lion-tamer, police photographer, burlesque club organist and one-time lover of Marilyn Monroe. LaVey found the flower-power attitudes of the 1960's abhorrent, and was disgusted that hippies adopted his hometown of San Francisco as their base. In response to this, he held a Black Mass on August 8th 1969, in an attempt to curse the movement.
LaVey's principal tenets of Satanism differed from those of Classical Satanism in that his Church promoted a culture of hedonism and focus upon the satisfaction of one's goals irrespective of others. His philosophy was not distinctly one of anti-Christianity, more one of rationalism and self-preservation. He felt that the Christian church was too ordered (again referencing back to the Satanist hatred for flock mentality), and in some ways mercenary, stating: "Under the Christian pastoral system, you have to keep paying to keep sinless. If you stop paying, then you won't get to heaven. You have to go to big buildings to pray. If we have altars set up in our own homes, they can't be legislated; money can't be collected on them. Satanism takes religion beyond the realm of consumerism, If the truth were known, one of the major threats of reports of Devil-worshipping Sabbaths is that they are independent, not tightly organised into a strict structure. Trying to discover Satanists, real Satanists, is like nailing custard to a wall. You'd have to break into everyone's home and see if they had a Satanic altar. And even then they might still be Satanists." [Barton 1992: 201-2]

It is very interesting, considering La Vey's negative attitudes towards Christianity, to then examine the music which he recommends for use during Satanic rituals. It is stated within "The Satanic Rituals" that during the Black Mass, the main Satanic ceremony, liturgical organ music by the likes of Bach, Scarlatti, Palestrina, Couperin, Marchand, Buxtehude or Franck is most appropriate and should be used. This is presumably due to the fact that the Black Mass is a serious and sombre ritual, and liturgical music of this nature adds a serenity and solemnity not found in much other music. Contrasting to this, however, is the music recommended for use within 'Das Tierdrama', a satanic ritual representing "the admission of one's quadruped heritage" [LaVey 1972:77]. Within this circumstance it is recommended that powerful and rousing music such as Richard Strauss's 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' or Stravinsky's 'La Sacre du Printemps' be used. Perhaps most interesting is the musical requirement for 'Die Elektrischen Vorspeile' which should be created using a Hammond organ or Moog synthesiser. The ritual centres around the utilisation of electrical and magnetic energy to effect magical ends, with the aforementioned instruments being used to create sounds between 60 and 11,000 cps, preferably pure tones, with a constant veil of white noise in the background.

At the same time LaVey was founding his shocking Church of Satan, a cult was forming in America, led by the ex-convict Charles Manson. His followers, who were predominately young females, were drawn to his inexplicably charismatic and elusive personality, as was the case with Aleister Crowley, and were referred to as 'The Family'. The early life of the cult seemed relatively harmless, revolving around experimentation wih drugs such as LSD, and living a very simplistic, almost nomadic vegetarian existence, but this was to change as Manson's paranoia grew and the 'peace and love' generation became more and more disenchanted with the system.
As the Family expanded, so more money was required for drugs, and more and more crime was committed in order to fund the group's actions. This discontentment reached a peak as the Family retreated to the desert location of Death Valley. It was here that Manson stockpiled weapons and made friends with motorcycle gangs such as the Straight Satans and Satan's Slaves. After a drug dispute a Family member, Bobby Beausoleil, stabbed and murdered the supplier Gary Hinman, using his blood to smear the words 'POLITICAL PIGGIE' on a wall.

It was on the 8th August 1969, the same night that Anton LaVey held his Black Mass in San Francisco, however, that the crimes that would revolt the American nation took place. A Family member named Charles 'Tex' Watson, accompanied by Linda Kasabian, Susan 'Sadie' Atkins and Patricia Kenwinkle brutally murdered drug dealer, Voytek Frykowski, saying "I am the Devil and I have come to do the Devil's work". Within the same house were Abigail Fogler, Jay Sebring, Sharon Tate (the late wife of Roman Polanski) and Steve Parent, all of whom were brutally killed. The words 'WAR', 'PIGS' and 'HEALTER SKELTER' (sic) were daubed on walls of the house in the victim's blood.
The next day the same four Family members, who referred to themselves as 'The Creepy Crawlers', murdered a middle aged couple named as Rosemary and Leno LeBianca, carving the word 'WAR' onto Leno's chest and leaving cutlery embedded in his stomach.

This spate of brutal and unjustified murders by brainwashed victims of the Manson cult horrified America, most prominently due to the fact that Sharon Tate, a beautiful Hollywood icon, had been heavily pregnant at the time. It is also somewhat eerie to note that Tate's husband was in London at the time, editing the occult thriller 'Rosemary's Baby' in which Anton LaVey makes a cameo appearance as the Devil.
Needless to say, the state of California police arrested Manson and many Family members, and a massive and extremely public trial ensued, leading to Manson's life imprisonment (a reduction from the former charge of the death penalty).

The state prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi, is quoted as referring to Manson as "one of the most evil, Satanic men who ever walked the face of the earth" [Baddeley 1999:57]. He was seen as a modern day Hitler, and in fact had Nazi leanings, stating that Hitler had been the second incarnation of Christ, and predicting a race war in which the blacks would rise up and overpower the Establishment. Manson frequently carved swastikas on his forehead, and too referred to himself as Jesus Christ, claiming to be his followers' facilitator allowing and enabling them to stand up for themselves. However, he often contradictorily referred to himself as the Devil, and his followers as witches.
Whilst in jail the Family member, Charles Watson, became a born-again Christian, blaming his violent acts on demonic possession, whilst Susan Atkins, also converting to conventional Christianity, implicated Anton LaVey into her descent into evil.

The theories surrounding Manson's motives were multitudinous, ranging from Baddeley's view that he was merely misunderstood, and was an "ugly result of 1960's libertarianism" [Baddeley 1999:58], to the official state view of Bugliosi which centred around his unhealthy obsession with the music of the Beatles.
It is this theory, however, that is of interest within the context of occult links between music, evil and violent crime. Charles Manson believed "the Beatles were spokesmen. They were speaking to Charlie, through their songs, letting him know from across the ocean that this is what was going to go down. He believed this firmly… he considered their songs prophecy, especially the so-called White Album". [Bugliosi 1977:294-5]

He interpreted the song 'I Will' and the lyric "And when at last I find you/ Your song will fill the air/ Sing it loud so I can hear you/ Make it easy to be near you…" as a calling to record music of his own. 'The White Album', released by Capitol in 1968 was, to Manson, a precursor to the revolution which he had prophesied. In his opinion his own album would be the catalyst that started it, with each song carrying a veiled message for a specific group of people, outlining their role in his plan.
Further Beatles songs that held specific meaning to Charles Manson included 'Sexy Sadie' which he related to Family member, Susan 'Sadie' Atkins, who had been given this nickname long before the album's release. He interpreted 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' in his own manner, taking it as an incitement for the black man to rise up and take on the white man.

However, Manson's five most frequently played Beatles songs were 'Blackbird', 'Piggies', 'Revolution 1, 'Revolution 9' and 'Helter Skelter'. Once again he misconstrued the true meanings of these songs, taking 'Blackbird's' lyric "Blackbird singing in the dead of night/ Take these broken wings and learn to fly/ All your life/ You have only waited for this moment to arise" again as a command for the black man to overthrow the white.
Both 'Piggies' and 'Revolution 9' contained what Manson thought were secret messages in the background textures of the music. 'Piggies' contained hidden 'oinking' sounds, and the song was interpreted as a premonition of the black man taking on the pigs, that is, the Establishment. The last section of the song describes couples dining on bacon with knives and forks, a scene which eerily reflects back to the LeBianca murders. 'Revolution 9' was less of a song, more a montage of noises. Within the eerie soundscape Manson focused upon snatches of machine gun fire and screams, a man's voice saying "rise", and the ominous reiterated statements of the words "Number 9, Number 9' which he took to be a Biblical reference to Revelations 9. Even this had a deeper meaning in his eyes, with the biblical chapter initially discussing a group of five angels, which later reduced to four. To Manson this directly paralleled the Beatles, who, after the loss of Stuart Sutcliffe in 1962 became a four-man band.

It was their song, 'Helter-Skelter' that is thought to have inspired Manson's term for his imagined imminent race revolution and played the most important part in his 'plan'. Within his discussions with the Family, and in external interviews and court cases his concept of the black/white revolution was consistently referred to as 'Helter Skelter'.
From the above it can be seen that there was certainly a massive wave of interest in occult and satanic subject matters within the broad-minded decade of the 1960's and as a mass of 'new-age' ideas engulfed both Britain and America. In most cases this interest was provoked by strong or charismatic personalities such as Crowley, LaVey or Manson, and lead to a range of new musics integrating these themes, sometimes controversially into songs or cover sleeve art. The reissue of Robert Johnson's blues album, the writings and lifestyle of Crowley, the foundation of Anton La Vey's Church of Satan, as well as the ready availability of drugs such as LSD and marijuana provided inspiration for a wide-ranging selection of musicians to express otherwise previously taboo subject matters. The liberal 'Flower Power' era led many people to question their religious beliefs, often resulting in feelings of spiritual desperation, which influenced many musicians to fill this religious void through dabbling with the occult, mysticism and black magic.

The occult also held an aura of glamour and rebellion which proved to be extremely attractive to rock musicians of the time. It was this rebellion, coupled with the direct mention of the Devil and Satan within the readily accessible arena of popular culture that caused many Christians to receive the music badly. Artists portraying evil and occult ideas and images in a positive light met with extensive criticism and direct action - the war against satanic music had begun.

CHAPTER TWO - THE FIRST WAVE OF SATANIC ROCK

"It is the Devil who pulls the strings that move us: We find charm in the most disgusting things; Each day we take another step down into hell, Deadened to horror, through stinking shadows…"

The first band to create music of a darker and heavier nature through the influence of the 1960's occult revival was Black Sabbath. The previous decade's idealistic attitudes of peace and love were fading, and concurrently links between music and Satanism were ever increasing. The British band, fronted by Ozzy Osbourne, followed in the tradition of Led Zeppelin, but slowed down their blues-inspired music to a menacing, lurching grind which better suited their lyrical topics of alienation, war and madness. Their debut album, recorded in 1970, opened with a crash of thunder and bell-toll forewarning the beginning of a Black Mass. It has been said that the song "Black Sabbath" could be cited as the most definitive metal song of all time. The cover art used on their record sleeve also brought Satanic symbolism and imagery into the mainstream popular culture, although this was most probably a sales-related gimmick. Another example of the use of occult imagery to boost sales was an album launch in America which was organised by the band's management. As Phil Alexander states:- "Unbeknown to the band, Black Sabbath was launched in the US with a party in San Francisco with the head of the Church of Satan, Anton LaVey, presiding over proceedings. For Sabbath, it almost scuppered their US touring plans, the launch coming in the wake of the murder of Sharon Tate by the followers of Charles Manson. All of a sudden Sabbath were 'Satan's Right-hand Men'." [Phil Alexander in Baddeley 1999:93].

Sabbath also came under fire during the early nineties as they were taken to court in America following the release of their single 'Suicide Solution'. This was thought to have contained subliminal backward-masking (a technique of integrating a secret message within an otherwise innocuous recording by reversing it) which caused a young male teenager to shoot himself. Whilst this case was heard at great length, no sentencing or legislation came of it.
Later on in his solo career, Osbourne penned the classic tribute "Mr Crowley" which, of course, refers to Aleister Crowley who had provided a strong influence to the band. There is little to prove that Black Sabbath had any real Satanic leaning, and the band stress that they never once claimed to actually worship Satan, although it is obvious that their interest in the occult influenced them on many levels.

It was partially due to the unwitting efforts of both Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath that religious fundamentalists began to equate rock and metal music with the Devil. By 1975 American Christians had launched a crusade against the corrupting influence of these bands. Even groups such as the theatrical rockers, Kiss, came under fire and were accused of taking their name from the phrase 'Knights In Satan's Service' - a claim which was blatantly unjustified. The same people accused AC/DC of deriving their name from the phrase 'Away from Christ/The Devil Comes' and took great offence at their 1977 single 'Hell Ain't A Bad Place to Be'. It appears that this moral outrage amused the band, and they actively sought to provoke greater and greater reactions through more extreme measures (such as the 1979 album 'Highway to Hell'), despite the fact they had no real Satanic leanings as a band.

The British band, Iron Maiden, too received a great deal of criticism from Christian organisations after the release of their 1982 single, 'The Number of the Beast' which front man Steve Harris protested was written as a cautionary tale warning youngsters away from dabbling with the occult. Again, the band were not Satanists, but appeared to find much amusement in the considerable uproar caused by their songs. Their American tour was picketed on several occasions and the band were met at one point by large masses of people burning copies of 'The Number of the Beast'.

Whilst these bands laid down the framework for a supposedly satanic music, it was three young men from Newcastle, going under the collective name of 'Venom', who had no fear of the Devil and actively integrated him into their music. These men rejected their real identities, assumed those of the three demons mentioned in Anton LaVey's Satanic Bible (Cronos, Manatas and Abaddon) and in 1981 released their debut album 'Welcome to Hell', an album with a growling and blasphemous content. The artwork accompanying the record featured a goat's head inside a pentagram and the words "We spit at the Virgin you worship and sit at Lord Satan's left hand" emblazoned on the back. The album contained such tracks as 'Sons of Satan', 'One Thousand Days in Sodom' and 'Witching Hour' which established the band as the most threatening force in the music scene of the time.

Whilst Venom weren't exactly serious, and at times released records which almost mimicked their own stance and subject materials (for example, 'Poison', a more comic song about gonorrhoea!) they kept up Satanic posturings and paid lip-service to the Devil in much of their music. Their second album, 'Black Metal', was a landmark in quasi-Satanic music, and coined the term which would be used to refer to true Satanic music some ten years later, as well as being a benchmark against which other musical extremists were, and still are judged.
Another band following in the same vein were Mercyful Fate. Their approach to occult music was less severe than Venom, and was considerably more theatrical in nature. Their lead singer, King Diamond, favoured wearing make-up and staging spectacular photo shoots involving mock ritual situations. Uproar was caused in the Christian community of their native Denmark on the release of their mini-album 'Corpse without a Soul' (1983), which carried occult leanings. King Diamond was one of the first musicians to admit to being a 'proper' and practising Satanist, and visited Anton LaVey's Church of Satan on many occasions. He had a black altar at his home in Denmark, on which he kept two black candles which were always lit. In the middle of the altar was a human skull and gold inverted cross.

His unique contribution to the Devil's music was his outstanding vocal range. Mercyful Fate's tracks saw King Diamong vacillate between a high pitched warble and a throaty death growl within an instant.
Many journalists saw the band as a joke, and portrayed them in a comic light in many contemporary music magazines and reviews. It is interesting to note, however, that Mercyful Fate was one of only a handful of bands that ever met with the Church of Satan's approval.

With the success of Venom and Mercyful Fate came a more wide-scale movement which spread across Europe. In Switzerland three young men founded Hellhammer and released the legendary 'Apocalyptic Raids', together with its supposedly obscene cover. Their sole mission on forming the band was, in front man Tom Fischer's own words, "to be as radical and heavy as possible". Their music could be classified as an early predecessor to true Black Metal, and was profane enough to convince Swiss Christians to send them Bibles and crosses in an aim to convert the musicians back to conventional confines and doctrines of Christianity.

Meanwhile in Sweden a band named Bathory (after the 16th century vampires Elizabeth Bathory), led by Quorthon Seth, who was a mere 15 years of age, were progressing and evolving from the example of Venom, leading to their self-titled debut being released in 1984. This too carried the Satanic image of the goat's head, and contained songs such as 'Hades', 'Raise the Dead' and 'In Conspiracy with Satan' which paged the way for the later Black Music genre. They used Venom's grinding sound, and raised an air of mystery around their music by refusing to perform live. This later was to make sense when it transpired that the band was little more than a solo project for Quorthon Seth. Late Bathory albums including 'Blood, Fire, Death' and 'Hammerheart' were to introduce Norse mythology into the lyrics, something that would become more common in the Norwegian metal of the next decade.

By the mid 1980's the novelty of mixing rock and metal music with Satanic and occult messages and symbols had spread across the Atlantic to bands such as Slayer and Possessed. Slayer, predominately thought of as a thrash band, released provocatively title tracks in the Venom style, such as 'Black Magic' and 'The Antichrist', and Possessed followed suit. Slayer's debut album, 'Show No Mercy' opened with frontman Tom Araya screaming "Satan our master in evil mayhem/Guides us in every first step". It is easy to see how these leather clad musicians, with their inverted crucifixes caused a level of controversy, especially as their album boasted a side '6' and a side '66', rather than the conventional side 'A' and 'B' of a vinyl recording.

As with virtually every band mentioned so far, both Slayer and Possessed saw fit to eventually tone down their respective images, opting for a less extreme outward appearance through which to sell their music.
It was later in 1984, however, that Death Metal was 'invented' by the Florida band, Morbid Angel. This sound was popular in the mid- to late eighties, and was to provide a blueprint for the madness that would follow in the 1990's. The emphasis of Death Metal was situated in its low growling vocals which were juxtaposed with often rapidly articulated guitar riffs. Melody was not of huge importance, with the feeling of the music being portrayed through the grinding guitars and indecipherable lyrics presented in a style akin to barking or growling. They lyrical focus fell upon themes such as mutilation, gore and murder - all subjects one would assume to be links with a genre associated with death.

Music, if that is what it is to be called, of a similar nature was produced by Deicide. Whilst also hailing from Florida, their sound was infinitely heavier than that of Morbid Angel. Their lead singer of thirteen years, Glen Benton, was and still is a deadly serious and devoted Satanist. He has an inverted cross on his forehead, and went as far as to name his first son Daemon. As he stated in a recent interview: "What everyone has to realise is that Satan rules the world, whether you be a nun or a musician. Look around you - this world we live in is controlled by Satan. Christ doesn't walk the Earth. What we live in is a reality of Hell. Religion is what's gonna destroy this Earth. I want to see the world bloom." [Glen Benton in Dave Everley 2000:p21]

Many journalists and commentators believed that Benton made statements like this for the value of their pure controversy alone. He met with much criticism from American fundamentalist Christian groups, and became the subject of a number of bomb threats from animal activist groups after confessing to a British journalist that he enjoyed torturing small rodents. The Deicide album, 'Once Upon a Cross' was banned on release due to its cover sleeve which depicted a post-crucifixion Christ, but was reissued successfully in different packaging. Songs on the album included 'When Satan Rules the World', 'Confessional Rape' and 'Kill the Christian', all of which continued the sacrilegious imagery advocated by Benton.
Death Metal was generally treated with some degree of amusement within the music press, although as with every metal movement that had gone before it many moral organisations in Europe and North America tried to censor the music. Any derogatory or incriminating image, lyric or interview comment was picked upon, sensationalised in the media and used to judge and condemn the scene as a whole. Despite this, the disintegration of the Death Metal scene was not to be the responsibility of the press. Its demise was more to do with credibility. At its outset, the majority of the bands concerned were part of an underground movement, and as the genre became more and more popular, so it became commercialised, with fans eventually turning away from the movement due to its increasing lack of individuality. Interestingly though is the fact that unlike Thrash Metal, no Death Metal bands ever really made the transition into the mainstream of commercial popular music.

As can be seen, the eighties were a highly censorious decade, but also saw the birth of some extreme forms of rock music which were to grow and develop over the next twenty years. Metal began to be seen as an outspoken voice of dissent and a means through which to express the otherwise inexpressible on a multinational scale. Whilst the music of the decade was by no means as extreme as that which was to come several years later, the eighties still saw the heaviest and rawest imagery and subject matters to have ever broached the public arena.
It can be said with little doubt that many of the artists in question assumed their satanic stance as a way in which to boost the controversy surrounding their acts, and hence improve their record sales through increased notoriety, but it must not be overlooked that there were most definitely musicians who whole-heartedly believed in Satanic principles and made this known throughout their output.

CHAPTER THREE - THE SECOND COMING

As Satanic metal and rock spread across Europe and America it gained momentum as a movement or genre in itself, and also degenerated into a more indecipherable music form reminiscent almost of a wall of pure evil noise. It was in Norway that music of this variety had the hardest impact and caused the most upheaval on a national scale.
Many of the popular bands who had produced music of a Satanic bent in the 1980's had either split up or reached a state of creative inertia, moved away from their original satanic leanings or assumed bizarre musical tangents which bore little comparison to their earlier works. It was in this transitional period that many smaller bands who had previously been part of a very low-key and underground scene, revolving around the exchanging of demo tapes and fanzines found greater success.

The Black Metal scene in Norway was still relatively subterraneous, attracting a small yet ardent fanbase, but this was soon to change as the movement increasingly attracted massive media attention - often for the very wrong reasons.
At 6am on Jun the 6th, 1992, a 12th century stave church at Fantoft was burned to the ground. This was the work of Norway's infamous Satanic terrorists who resided in and around Oslo. It was in this city in 1991 that ?ystein Aarseth, who later assumed the name Euronymous, founded a record shop named Helvete (Norwegian for 'hell') which dealt exclusively in dark and Satanic recordings. The shop was a focal point for artists and fans of the underground metal scene, and caused some artists formerly concerned with Death Metal, such as Darkthrone, to metamorphose into Black Metal bands.

An example of this transition can be seen in the musical development between the bands 1989 album, 'Soulside Journey', which was firmly based around the Death style, and 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky' of 1991 which completed the band's leap into the newer Black genre. The transformation saw the band assuming the dark clothing and corpsepaint associated with the Black scene, and in this alienating almost all of their original fanbase.
Euronymous's own band, Mayhem, who formed in 1984, played music of this nature and revelled in the Black Metal scene which revolved around their frontman's store. Their first album, 'Deathcrush', was released on a limited run of only a thousand copies, yet influenced all that heard it and was perhaps the defining factor in the second wave of Satanic metal. The 1994 album, 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas', their first full-length offering, was a true masterpiece of the genre containing torturous and eerie atmospheric noise and brutally raw and grinding riffs. It was released just after the murder of the band's leader, Euronymous (see below), and in a sinister way is littered with references to his mortality.

Another band implicated in the Norwegian Black Metal scene was Emperor, whose drummer Bård 'Faust' Eithun is quoted as saying: "The feeling around the shop was that we all worked against these organised religions that were in Norway… The idea was to make an organisation which mostly based its actions on illegal activities. We had a guy who lived near the shop who could get us all these weapons…" [Eithun in Dave Everley 2000:p22]
Euronymous claimed that the philosophy and action of his group of satanic terrorists was derived from the earlier music of Bathory, and the sheer hatred and evil portrayed on the first three Venom albums. This group plotted violent and illegal activities that would prove their seriousness, for example, further church burnings, grave desecrations and murders. His 'inner circle' of Satanists soon grew to ten people, one of whom was Varg Vikernes.

Vikernes was a resident of the small town of Bergen, where he founded his own band named Burzum. He changed his name from Kristian Vikernes at an early age, and later referred to himself as 'Count Grishnackh'. It was Vikernes who read a deeper meaning into the 1992 arson at Fantoft. He stressed the point that on approximately the same date some 1200 years previously the first known Viking raid took place in Lindisfarne in Britain. It was during this raid that the Vikings built their own church in the midst of British holy grounds, making their attack a national heathen one, not a Satanic one.
The dramatic entry in The Anglo Saxon Chronicle for AD793 reads: "In this year dire portents appeared over Northumbria and sorely frightened the people. They consisted of immense whirlwinds and flashes of lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. A great famine immediately followed those signs, and a little after that in the same year, on 8 June, the ravages of heathen men miserably destroyed God's church on Lindisfarne with plunder and slaughter" [Kevin Crossley-Holland 1982:XIV]

During the period 1992-1995 some forty-four churches suffered arson attacks in Norway alone. Whilst many of the crimes were solved and traced back to the Satanist group, or its copycats, twenty-five cases remain unsolved. One of these arsons, which took place at Holmenkollen Chapel, was the responsibility of Vikernes, Euronymous and Eithun, who are reported to have made a home-made bomb which they placed on the altar. In January 1993 Vikernes was arrested in connection with these arsons as he had frequently mentioned them in interviews with Norwegian papers. He was, however, later released on bail, as despite his comments and interview material, the police could not find enough concrete evidence to jail him. However, in 1994, Samoth, the guitarist from Emperor as well as four teenage Norwegian Satanists were jailed for arson attacks.
Varg Vikernes's beliefs became more and more severe from his time of release to the present day. I nreaction to the spate of church burnings in Norway he stated: "We support Christianity because it oppresses people, and we burn churches to make it stronger. We can then eventually make war with it. I'm a Viking, and we're supposed to fight. I hate all peace and love. I support all dictatorships. Stalin, Hitler, Ceaucescu…" [Vikernes in Everley 2000:p22]

Many musicians of the time followed in Vikernes's footsteps and made more and more extreme public statements of radical and offensive viewpoints, most frequently based around their intolerance of the Christian Church and the hedonistic approach of Anton LaVey's Church of Satan. Their philosophy more closely matched that of Classical Satanism, which was by no means as commercial as that of LaVey. It is interesting to note, however, that LaVey had often voiced negative opinions about the Norwegian scene, saying that satanic principles promoted an emphasis on the increase of physical awareness, not the deadening of senses that loud music caused (for more information, see Barton 1992: 143-8 'Music as Necromancy'). He also addressed the issue of the young buying records as symbols of affiliation, and being drawn to satanic imagery through a misguided sense of rebellion rather than a true belief.
Vikernes's own musical style can be clearly seen on his mini-album 'Aske' (Ashes) which was released in 1993 on Deathlike Silence Records, and featured a picture of the burning Fantoft stave church on its cover. This was the band's second album and contained a wall of cold and inhuman noise coupled with harsh and droning guitar riffs which can be labelled as one of the true landmark sounds of the genre.

The Norwegian Black Metal scene was already caught in a maelstrom of controversy as the singer from Mayhem, Per Ohlin, aptly nicknamed 'Dead', had died in suspicious circumstances in the spring of 1991. Whilst the signs pointed to his having committed suicide, it was widely rumoured that he had been murdered by his band-mate Euronymous, although thus was later realised to have merely been a rumour circulated to boost Mayhem's record sales. Dead was found by Euronymous after he had shot himself through the front of the head with a shotgun. Strangely, instead of reporting the incident immediately, Euronymous left Dead's flat, purchased a camera and returned to take photographs of the scene before later reporting it. He also later admitted to having stolen pieces of Dead's brain to make necklaces, and to having eaten parts of the brain that had been blown out. His lack of sympathy and remorse was unfathomable, adding an even more sinister element to the scene surrounding himself and Mayhem. Later Euronymous had the audacity and coldness to state that Ohlin (Dead) had probably killed himself solely for 'the scene'. This, of course boosted the band's notoriety once again, which soon reached infamous proportions.

More violence broke loose in August 1992 as Bård Eithun of Emperor brutally murdered a gay man named Nagne Andreassen in woodland near Lillehammer. Eithun claimed that Andreassen, a stranger, had made a sexual advance at him in a public place. He snapped, and stabbed the man repeatedly, kicked him in the head then fled the scene, again without remorse. He was sentenced to fourteen years imprisonment.
The most shocking crime to take place within the Inner Circle was the murder of Euronymous by Varg Vikernes on August 10th 1993. After the spate of church burnings there grew an ever expanding rift and rivalry between the two men, and on the day in question Vikernes could take no more. He drove his mother's car to Oslo, accompanied by his accomplice, 21 year old Snorre Westvold Ruch. They together attached Euronymouse, with Vikernes stabbing him twenty five times.

He was arrested ten days later and initially pleaded self defence, but Ruch caved in under the pressure of the situation and admitted the premeditated nature of the crime. Despite claims of temporary insanity Vikernes was sentenced on the 28th May 1994 to serve a sentence of twenty-one years in prison for one count of murder and two of arson. His accomplice was to serve eight years. Interestingly, and especially so considering the leaders of the Inner Circle were all dead or imprisoned, within hours of the sentencing two remote Norwegian churches were attached. Vikernes began his sentence in a minimum-security prison in his hometown of Bergen. His mother was arrested within a years of this, due to the fact she had hired a group of neo-Nazis to break her son out of prison. Her charges were dropped, but left to Varg Vikernes issuing a statement about his intention to move away from the Black Metal movement.
Neither Helvete nor the Inner Circle of Black Metal could endure the pressure of these events, and both collapsed. The whole scene split in two, with people from each of the two camps deriding each other with a heated debate over the nature of 'true' and 'false' Black Metal fans ensuing. Hideous Satanic crimes continued to take place in other European countries, for example the murder of a priest in December 1996 by a French fan who said he had been possessed by demons, and the shooting of a young homosexual Algerian by two members of the band Dissection.

Varg Vikernes continued his reign of outrage from prison, making music under the guise of Burzum from his cell, and releasing it through his own label, Misanthropy Records. After ceasing his connection with Black Metal he turned his attention towards portraying himself as a Norwegian Nationalist. He read much ancient Norwegian material, learned old Nordic languages and discussed Norse legends containing characters such as Loki and Odin, and Ragnarok, the apocalyptic time within this mythology. He also demonstrated an unhealthy interest in Hitler, Nazi doctrine, and the Second World War. His own philosophy was worryingly close to that of Hitler, and Vikernes stated that his overwhelming ambition was to create a true "Norwegian Aryan Black Metal": "My goal is a beautiful Norwegian kingdom. We have white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. Those that don't have no business here. We are half-gods" [Vikernes in Everley 2000:p23] Many of the key texts surrounding the issue of Satanism in music draw comparisons between Devil worship, nationalism and the Nazi dogma of Adolf Hitler (for further information see Baddeley 1999:p34-40 or Sklar 1977). Vikernes's' philosophy was little different to that of Hitler in that he believed in a racial cleansing of sorts, and also held the belief that the occult was a powerful means through which to achieve one's personal ends.

In December 1997 Vikernes was ordered to pay a million dollars for the damage he had caused to many churches. He also wrote a novel from his prison cell which was entitled 'Vargsmal', which is both fascist and racist in content. This text contained a series of increasingly hard-line opinions.
Other bands such as Norway's Darkthrone also caused commotion for situations such as asking their record label Peacevill to place a statement on their 1994 album 'Transylvanian Hunger' stating that anyone who dared to criticise their album should be castigated for their 'obviously Jewish behaviour'. The band were forced to backtrack considerably and remove this comment from their record releases, although it is interesting to note that on a further release the words 'Norwegian Aryan Black Metal' caused little problem when printed on the sleeve.

It is evident that the birth of the Black Metal genre of rock music in Norway signalled a more severe approach to Satanism in music. The period described above was one of extreme violence and massive controversy, as a handful of musicians set out to undermine the religion of their country. For the first time, music simultaneously embraced death, destruction, violence, genocide, fascism, Nazism and desecration, and this leaves little cause to question why the genre and artists concerned became social pariahs not only in their own country, but worldwide.
It must be stated, however, that the misanthropic and destructive music of the Norwegian Black Metal scene did have a considerable following, and continues to be a massive influence on the work of metal musicians today.

CHAPTER 4 -MORAL PANIC IN AMERICA

After the influence of the sheer extremity of Satanism in Norway in the early 1990's many bands considered it more suitable to drape their music with Satanic chic rather than immersing their music completely in the Satanic tradition.
Techno-industrial bands such as My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult released provocatively titled tracks such as 'A Daisy Chain 4 Satan' and 'The Devil Does Drugs' although these carried considerably less weight and potential offensiveness than previous Satanic music, where seriousness is concerned, and also started to blur the definition as to what could and could not be classified as Black Metal.

It was, however, Glen Danzig who could once again offer a seductive insight into the Devil's music. The video for Danzig's single, 'Mother', contained a mock Satanic ritual, and the subtitle for his second album, 'Lucifuge', left the listener guessing as to the real extent of his links and beliefs in the Devil. He also followed the belief that the 'dark side' should not be frightening. He was of the opinion that the darker side of life should be more approachable, and that one should feel compelled and drawn towards it, wishing always to learn more about it. It is perhaps for this reason that on many of Danzig's songs, Benton sang rather than growled the lyrics (he has been amusingly dubbed 'The Evil Elvis'). Examples of such evocative and unnerving treatments of evil subject matter include 'Snakes of Christ', 'Her Black Wings' and 'Devil's Plaything' from the album 'Danzig II - Lucifuge'.

Rob Zombie is another musician who frequently toyed with occult imagery within his recordings and live shows. Zombie claimed that rather than assuming this stance as a commercial gimmick, he played with Satanism and the occult as it amused him. One such case which caused the artist and his former band, White Zombie, a great deal of trouble involved a Baptist minister in Johnson City, Tennessee, who branded the act "a Satanist band". When the group arrived to perform in the city, two thousand people turned out to demonstrate. Because of this, the location of the concert had to be changed to nearby Bristol, although this was also protested against, with the venue receiving bomb warnings and the band themselves receiving death threats. Rob Zombie compared this sabotage with a Salem witch hunt stating: "This band has a wart on their nose, they're Satanists - lets get 'em! All they had to do was have some religious guy stand up and scream 'Satan!', and the whole town went apeshit" [Rob Zombie in Everley 2000:24]

The most widely recognised name in American so-called Satanic music of the 1990's was Marilyn Manson. Whilst other artists made a passing reference to the Devil in their songs, or used the attractive imagery of Satanic ritual to spice up their stage shows, Manson took the concept more seriously and was ordained as a minister of the Church of Satan. He me massive hostility and conflict from fundamentalist Christians as he spread his own unique brand of satanically influenced music throughout middle America. Like Rob Zombie, Manson received death threats, bomb warnings and had to cancel live shows on occasion. He was even accused of being a factor in the Columbine High School massacre of 1999. As Sutherland states, "Society likes to think that every action has a cause, that every terrible event can be explained logically, boxed up and dealt with" [Sutherland 1999:23]. In this incidence society's neat explanation of the tragic shootings was to blame Manson, as the two boys in question had been fans of his 'Satanic' music. This may or may not have been a factor in the massacre, but the underlying truth beneath the castigation of Manson was their ongoing disgust at his exploitations of Middle America's phobias, sensibilities and Christian beliefs.

Manson first discovered Satanism after reading 'The Satanic Bible' at the Heritage School in Canton, Ohio. This was a very conservative and Christian establishment, making it all the more understandable that Manson felt the need to rebel and further his burgeoning interest in the occult. He was constantly told by his teachers that reading such material would condemn him to Hell, and this served only to spur him on to create the kind of music that would cause much greater controversy.
His masterpiece of revenge was the multi-platinum album 'Antichrist Superstar' of 1996 which mirrors the rise to fame of a fictional rock star who bears an uncanny resemblance to Manson himself. The album (in itself an amusing take on Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Jesus Christ Superstar') and its promotional tour both heavily featured the use of a symbol - a black lightning bolt within a red circle - which was derided for its pseudo-fascist overtones. It was, however, more similar to Anton La Vey's magical symbol of a pentagram with a lightning bolt through the middle. Manson stated in his autobiography: "I've thought about being the Antichrist ever since the word was first taught to me at Christian school… After years of studying the concept, I began to realise that the Antichrist is a character - a metaphor - who exists in nearly all religions under different names, and maybe there is some truth in it, a need for such a person. But from another perspective, this person could be seen not as a villain but a final hero to save people from their ignorance" [Strauss & Manson 1998:213]

He believed that as was the case with the Antichrist, he could save people from their ignorance through the enlightenment of his music. This philosophy has been echoed throughout time, for example during the Medieval period: "What was the Church without the Devil and Hell? As Graf points out "The Church made good use of Satan, employed him as a most effective political tool. And gave him all possible credit; since what men would not do through love of God or ina spirit of obedience, they would do through fear of the Devil." Men may have hated Satan, but they also recognised him as the real ruler of the physical world. He had all the power." [Sklar 1977:143]

At the same time that Manson was shocking America with such comments and actions, a Black Metal band from Sussex were creating their own brand of Satanic music and causing havoc on this side of the Atlantic. Unlike Manson, Cradle of Filth drew their inspiration from literature, history and ancient religion, for example their 1998 album 'Cruelty and the Beast' was based around the legend of Elizabeth Bathory. The group also differed from Manson in that they were not allied to any specific occult organisations, and preferred to think that the magic of their music and philosophy lay in maintaining their personal individualism.

Their atmospheric and momentous 1994 debut album 'The Principle of Evil Made Flesh' was released at the same time that Varg Vikernes was on trial in Norway. It was during this period that many sacrilegious crimes were committed in Britain. Graveyards were smashed, and seven country churches were desecrated. An eighteen year old guitarist, Paul Timms, of the metal band Necropolis was jailed for thirty months for many of the crimes. He arrived at his trial in a Cradle of Filth t-shirt, sang the praises of Varg Vikernes, and stated his belief that churches were built on ancient pagan sites that he felt he had to reclaim. The media swiftly reacted to these crimes with stories and articles voicing concern about the effect that Black Metal would have on Britain's youth.

Cradle of Filth also came under fire from the Church due to their blasphemous t-shirt designs, which included the slogans 'Jesus is a Cunt' and 'Vestal Masturbation'. A fan, Rob Kenyon, was arrested in London in 1996 for wearing a Cradle of Filth t-shirt that featured a nun masturbating and the aforementioned slogans. Many religious groups found the band's clothing range deeply offensive, and the London-based Centre for Contemporary Christianity described it as a gross violation of religious sensitivity. Amazingly, two weeks later, Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - the highest moral authority in the Vatican after the Pope - made a statement explaining that rock music endangers the soul. Carl A. Raschke, a professor of religious studies at the University of Denver also launched an attach on rock music by writing his book, 'Painted Black: From Drug Killings to Heavy Metal - The Alarming True Story of How Satanism is Terrorising our Communities' which was both sensationalist and alarmist in nature.

One form of rock music, which was certainly more acceptable to the Church, was that of a new wave of Christian bands who, predominately in America, produced heavy metal music preaching the opposite message to many of the artists mentioned above. These bands sang of tolerance towards one another and acceptance of all varieties of music, whilst incorporating the Christian message into their own music.

The Californian band Tourniquet, formed ten years ago, has released six albums that praise God with just as much verve as others had hailed Satan. In Seattle, Tooth & Nail records frequently released Christian punk tracks, and in San Diego P.O.D ('Payable on Death') sung about spiritualism. Their aim was to open the audience's eyes, and to encourage them into improving their relationship with God.
These Christian artists, however, weren't quite as charitable when it came to their comments on the likes of Marilyn Manson and the Norwegian Inner Circle, who were categorically cited as 'dangerous influences'. The message these artists preached was that a life of Satanism could be equated to a life of despair and emptiness, and for this reason Satanic music could only lead its audience to feelings of solitude and unhappiness.

The Satanic music of America and the United Kingdom, whilst not embodying the extreme nationalist leanings of its Norwegian predecessor, was extremely controversial and caused much furore within the Christian community. The emotional nihilism embodied by many of the major acts of the period, coupled with the media industry's alarmist tendency to associate national tragedies and individual teenage suicides to rock music only fuelled the debate about the influence of Black Metal on society.
It is interesting to note that within the period discussed above, supposedly Satanic music became more widely available and less of an underground scene, with acts such as Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie attaining places within mainstream metal and popular music charts. The Black Metal genre had grown, metamorphosed and became a highly marketable product which, despite its surrounding controversy, was set to fare well in the pre-millennial climate.

CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION

In concluding on the question 'How has Satanism and the occult influenced rock musicians and how has this music been received?' there are several issues to be discussed.
As can be seen from the previous four chapters, representations of the Devil and the occult have been consistently present in one popular form or another over the last forty years. Anton La Vey famously once stated, the Christian Church would be nothing without its adversary, the Church of Satan, and there can be no doubt that over this period the two factions have come to blows on countless occasions.

It is perhaps unfortunate for the Christian Church that fascination with evil and occult subject matter has become a core facet of contemporary rock and metal music. The occult and its musical representation add excitement, rebellion and controversy to a scene which would otherwise perhaps lack verve, not to mention a golden sales tool. It seems that the sheer mention of the Devil has, on occasion, caused a product to sell at an astonishing rate. It would also seem that the traditional scenario of the Devil buying musician's souls in exchange for exceptional talent has been inverted, with musicians now buying into the use of demonic imagery for gross personal profit.
The image of the Devil is undoubtedly firmly ingrained into the psyche of the musicians concerned, and no amount of pressure from religious protesters is likely to change musical habits which have developed over nearly half a century. It is undoubtedly distressing for fundamentalist Christians to know that 'evil' musicians such as Marilyn Manson are nowadays household names, and frequently grace the covers of magazines bought by young teenagers, as well as having huge displays of their recordings accessible to anyone within most record stores, although their efforts to censor these acts invariable lead to greater and more extreme displays of obscenity and offence, and a greater public following amongst young people.

Despite what seemed to be an almost Darwinian 'survival of the fittest' weeding out of Black Metal bands in the early and mid nineties, the genre moved from strength to strength whilst maintaining a healthy underground scene. Our new decade and what's more millennium looks like a bright and optimistic environment for a new generation of Satanic musicians to develop their music, albeit in a style that is far removed from that of their predecessors.

I believe the majority of music discussed within this dissertation is essentially harmless. Whilst the subject matters of many of the individual songs could be arguably be referred to as Satanic, and hence potentially damaging influences for the music's predominately young audience, I think that due to the vocal performance style of the genre these lyrics are often indecipherable. Those artists who performed in a more coherent manner tended to have done so earlier in the period when extreme ideas linking music, Satanism and nationalism were less common.

It is the link between the portrayal of evil and personal nationalist or neo-Nazi ideologies which is, in my opinion, the most worrying aspect of Satanic music, and is the element which I consider to be the only ground under which the music should be allowed to be censored.
To conclude, I would like to say that as an antidote to the way in which today's music industry has become so wholly commercialised, Black Metal succeeds in providing a complete alternative. For as long as our society values free speech I hope these artists continue to express their beliefs and feelings, and question the system through the medium of music and provide more of such creative, emotive and powerful work.

Representations of the Devil and the Occult in Popular Music 1960-1999
How have Satanism and the occult influenced rock musicians and their music within the given period and how has this music been received in today's society?

CHAPTER ONE - THE OCCULT REVIVAL OF THE 1960'S

CHAPTER TWO - THE FIRST WAVE OF SATANIC ROCK

CHAPTER THREE - THE SECOND COMING

CHAPTER 4 -MORAL PANIC IN AMERICA

CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Articles

Websites

Representations of the Devil and the Occult in Popular Music 1960-1999 How have Satanism and the occult influenced rock musicians and their music within the given period and how has this music been received in today's society?

CHAPTER ONE - THE OCCULT REVIVAL OF THE 1960'S

CHAPTER TWO - THE FIRST WAVE OF SATANIC ROCK

CHAPTER THREE - THE SECOND COMING

CHAPTER 4 -MORAL PANIC IN AMERICA

CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Articles

Websites

Representations of the Devil and the Occult in Popular Music 1960-1999
How have Satanism and the occult influenced rock musicians and their music within the given period and how has this music been received in today's society?