As many of you may already know, I grew up with a dad that just so happened to be a preacher, and still is. I remember when I was about 8 or so, watching some TV show that was all about satanic music or as the rest of us called it, rock n' roll. The show was filled with conspiracy theories of backmasking (disguising suggestive lyrics in songs by recording them backwards and hiding them in the music), origins of band names and the plot of the underground world of "satanic" rock n' roll to take over the youth of America. Some of the band name origins were actually true, for example, the band W.A.S.P., their name was an acronym for We Are Satan's People. But Blackie Lawless (lead singer), although a little scary with some of his dark eye make-up, didn't seem satanic to me, just a cross-dresser. One of the funnier ones was how AC/DC got their name, apparently, another acronym, for After Christ/Devil Comes. I found out years later that they actually saw it on the back of a radio, and it WAS an acronym for Alternating Current/Direct Current, go figure.

The purpose these shows was to educate kids/tweens/teens about the dangers of listening to "satanic" music and their connection to the occult. They showed images of Gene Simmons spitting blood out of his mouth, Sid Vicious with cut up arms and his typical stoned face and linked many of the bands to writers like Aleister Crowley (of whom Ozzy wrote a song about on the Blizzard of Ozz album) and Anton LeVay. Rock bad, nothing in particular good.

My point is that the show did nothing to deter me from the "dangerous" underworld of the rock n' roll occult. Instead it fascinated me. I began to seek out bands like the Misfits, King Diamond, Sex Pistols, Twisted Sister, etc. I would look for the most detestable looking freaks with bands that I could find and look for messages in their songs and names (one theory was that you could see the word "DEVIL" spelled out in the Dio logo). I'm not sure what made me so interested in them, maybe it was because I wasn't supposed to like them or maybe it was cuz I dug the music I heard on the show, OR the backmasking worked. They fooled me into thinking they were demonic messengers of satan himself.

Did you ever see the movie KISS made? That made them the least scary band on the entire planet, besides, who could be afraid of this guy?

So I'll leave you now with some images of some of the bands and singers that I grew to love listening to as a demonic 8 year old kid.