Black metal music, satanism, vampires, and the gothic milieu, by Massimo Introvigne (CESNUR)
The Gothic Milieu (Introvigne) The Gothic Milieu: Black Metal, Satanism, and Vampires by Massimo Introvigne - A slightly different version of this paper was presented at the conference "Rejected and Suppressed Knowledge: The Racist Right and the Cultic Milieu" organized by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, Stockholm, 15-16 February 1997 The New Satanism In 1996 both Italy and France were shocked by criminal cases related to Satanist groups. In Italy Marco Dimitri, the young leader of the larger Italian Satanist group, the Luciferian Children of Satan (Bambini di Satana Luciferiani), was arrested twice in the same year on charges of rape. In France graves were desecrated in Toulon (and subsequently in other towns in Southern France): four members of a small Satanist band were arrested. Similar incidents took place in Romania, Russia and other countries. The media were taken by surprise, considering that by 1996 the Satanism scares of the 1980s and early 1990s had largely subsided. Modern Satanism appeared in the 17th century. Satanism should not be confused with witchcraft. While witchcraft is a popular and normally unorganized phenomenon, modern Satanism is the worship of the Devil within the frame of organized movements and elaborate ritual. Modern Satanists -- unlike participants in earlier witchcraft -- are largely members of the middle and upper classes. Similarly, Satanism scares are different from witch hunts. Unlike the latter, the former credit Satanists not only with bloody crimes and relationships with the Devil but, more specifically, with the power to secretly influence -- if not direct -- the life of whole nations and the course of human history. Organized Satanism and Satanism scares manifest themselves in the history of the West in a cyclical way. Groups of Satanists (normally quite small) are detected and their activities are magnified by this modern invention, the press (in later cycles, TV). As a reaction, a Satanism scare arises, where anti-Satanists usually grossly exaggerate both the number and the power of the Satanists, insisting that they are behind contemporary social movements they perceive as disturbing. In a third phase, anti-Satanism is disqualified by its own exaggerations, becomes disreputable and opens the way for new open activities of Satanists, thus for a new cycle. The first important cycle starts with the activities of a group of Satanists at the court of the French King Louis XIV between 1662-1679. When the main Satanists are tried for a number of crimes, press and pamphlets guarantee an international notoriety to the case. Between the end of the 17th century and the beginning of 18th century a Satanism scare follows, where anti-Satanists suspect Satanists (actually a few dozens people in the French incident) to conspire in the dark to promote Enlightenment skepticism and anti-Christian culture and politics. Ultimately anti-Satanist literature became so extreme as to be easily discredited. This discrediting paved the way for the occult revival of the years of the French Revolution. The Revolution, however (and the visibility of occult and magical groups in the same years), prompted another Satanism scare which lasted through the 1850s and was revived in the 1890s. The Revolution, Christian anti-Satanists argued, was so incredible that it could not be a mere political phenomenon, and a whole religious literature attributed it to the conspiracy of secret societies such as the notorious Illuminati or, more directly, to Satanists directed by the Devil in person. Apparently, small groups of Satanists were in fact active in France, Belgium and possibly other countries in the 1850s. Their activities caused the usual anti-Satanist over-reaction. The Satanism scare (which tried to explain also the surprising success of Spiritualism through Satanic conspiracy theories) had a first scholarly phase where Catholic intellectuals discussed theories on Satanism and Satan’s influence. In a second phase -- after the success of Joris Karl Huysmans’ novel Là-bas (1891) had familiarized the public with Satanism and Black Masses -- scholars were replaced by journalists. At least two of the latter -- the notorious Léo Taxil (1854-1907) and his co-conspirator Charles Hacks ("Dr. Bataille") -- were clever frauds who, having spread incredible tales about Satanists, later admitted to have exploited the gullibility of certain Catholic conservative readers for a variety of purposes. The game could not go on indefinitely, and Taxil had to admit the fraud in 1897. His confession discredited the Satanism scares for decades and only after sixty years a truly international scare manifested itself again. A large sociological literature exists on the Satanism scares of the 1970s-1990s, an over-reaction to the visibility of contemporary Satanist organizations dating from the foundation of California’s Church of Satan in 1966 and a manifestation of larger hostility to "cults". By the early 1990s, the theory that underground "generational" Satanic cults are widespread and prey on day-care toddlers had been largely debunked by social scientists and law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and Europe. Memories "recovered" in therapy of past "satanic" ritual abuses are increasingly rejected as court evidence in both United States and Europe. Only small pockets of Christian counter-cult activists and fringe therapists still believe in the factual reality of "satanic" ritual abuses recovered during memory therapy. Although the 1996 incidents have been greeted by these groups with a we-told-you-so attitude, the scenario was in fact quite different. The Satanism discovered by Italian and French law enforcement agencies in 1996 is not the same Satanism exposed in the core books of the anti-Satanist movement in the 1980s. It is also different from "classic" Satanism of organizations like Anton LaVey's Church of Satan or Michael Aquino’s Temple of Set. The scenario introduced in the Satanism scares of the 1980s postulated that Satanists are very difficult to recognize. They are lawyers, doctors, corporate executives. In fact, their activities are so clandestine that they could be discovered only in therapy by inducing their victims to recover post-traumatic memories. The 1996 Satanists are, if anything, too evident. Marco Dimitri and his followers dress all in black, wear a plethora of Satanic symbols, and have appeared as spokespersons for Satan in popular Italian TV talk shows. While not as famous as Dimitri, members of the Toulon gang also dressed like a Satanist is supposed to dress. Classic Satanism was born in California in the 1960s. The Church of Satan was established in San Francisco by Anton Szandor LaVey (1930-1997) in 1966 as a development of an organization called The Magic Circle that he co-founded in 1960 with Hollywood underground film-maker Kenneth Anger. In 1975 most of the leadership of the Church of Satan left LaVey's organization and followed Michael Aquino into the splinter group Temple of Set. The Church of Satan became mostly a mail-order organization during the 1980s, but experienced a comeback of a sort in the 1990s through new leaders, the publication of the newsletter The Black Flame, and the appearance of some dozens of sister organizations throughout the world. Although LaVey believed that Satan is only the metaphor for a higher (and more selfish) human potential, while Aquino maintains that Satan (or, rather, Set) is a personal being, both are heavily indebted for their worldviews and ceremonies to British magus Aleister Crowley (1875-1947). While Crowley did not believe in the personal existence of Satan and despised Satanists, his rituals have been adapted -- with the appropriate changes -- by almost all modern Satanist groups. At least before the mid-1980s members of classic Satanist groups were typically middle class urbanites in their forties and fifties. Except for ceremonies, they would wear a jacket and a tie rather than black leather "Satanic" clothings. This is certainly true for European offshoots of classic Satanism such as the two Churches of Satan based in Turin, Italy. Additionally, their leadership needed to be rather cultivated, since the magical works of authors such as Crowley are not easy to grasp and require a solid background in Western esotericism. The situation somewhat changed in the late 1980s, when the Temple of Set and some of the smaller groups inspired by the Church of Satan realized that a sizeable youth subculture potentially interested in Satanism existed and tried, with mixed results, to get in touch with it. The original Californian Church of Satan and the Italian Churches of Satan, however, still largely maintain the original character. By contrast the new Satanist groups -- such as those "discovered" by the police in Italy and France in 1996 -- are typically lead by youths in their 30s, have as members mostly teenagers, and it is extremely rare that their leaders are well-educated in traditional Western occult lore. They are much more interested in music. The Gothic Milieu from the 1970s to the 1990s The Gothic milieu (occasionally called the Dark Wave, as a submilieu of the 1970’s New Wave) has largely been created by rock music, although fiction, comics, movies, Ã role-playing games and later the Internet also had a relevant influence. Although the term Gothic was created by outsiders, it was quickly accepted by the movement, notwithstanding the fact that the latter largely ignored 18th and 19th century Gothic literature (with the possible exception of Dracula, whose inclusion in the Gothic genre is however disputed by contemporary critics). Gothic music should not be confused with heavy metal. Metal plays on the power of extreme human emotions and feelings. Gothic concentrates on human reactions to particular emotions associated with death, corpses, blood, the macabre, and vampires. Although the Devil is often mentioned, he is not always a key player in the Gothic scene. Besides, Satan is mentioned in many brands of rock music that are not Gothic (and so are vampires, who make frequent guest appearances in heavy metal music). The origins of Gothic come from many different sources. Gothic themes emerged around 1970 in England and the United States with artists and groups like Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath. Although these musicians were not purely Gothic, fans of Alice Cooper were largely responsible for introducing the Gothic outlook, with its black-leather clothing and silver earrings for males, in many European countries. In 1976 David Letts founded The Damned in England, a band that was originally a punk group, but later focused mostly on Gothic. Letts changed his name to David Vanian (from "Transylvanian") and focused on the vampire theme (although Nazi symbols were also occasionally introduced). In the same year, Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook, Ian Curtis (1957-1980) and Terry Mason (later replaced by Stephen Morris) decided to start a band in Manchester. Originally called Warsaw, they changed their name to Joy Division in 1978 in order not to be confused with a pre-existing London punk group, Warsaw Pakt. The name came from the line of huts were young deported women were forced to prostitute themselves to German officers in Nazi concentration camps. Notwithstanding the name, Joy Division denied any Nazi sympathies and in fact appeared at the Manchester Rock Against Racism benefit concert in 1978. Although Joy Division occasionally used Nazi paraphernalia on stage, its portrait of Nazism was, if anything, sad, as evidenced from the following lines of its hit "They Walked In Line": All dressed in uniforms so fine, they drank and killed to pass the time. Wearing the shame of all their crimes with measured steps they walked in line. They walked in line. They carried pictures of their wives, and number tags to prove their lies. And made it through the whole machine, with dirty hearts and hands washed clean. They walked in line. Joy Division eluded classification, but its haunted and ghostly atmospheres had a deep influence on later Gothic. On May 18, 1980, just before Joy Division was to leave England for their first U.S. tour, Ian Curtis hung himself in his kitchen. Without its talented singer and lyricist, replaced by Bernard Sumner, the group continued as New Order and remained influential on the alternative (but much less on the Gothic) music scene. In the years when Joy Division was becoming popular, a more cultivated version of Gothic was introduced in England by singer Suzie Sioux, "Siouxsie". Sioux came from punk, and was inspired by groups like the Sex Pistols. She was also a friend of Genesis P-Orridge, an Aleister Crowley enthusiast and the founder of the Temple of Psychick Youth (TOPY). Orridge's music — the first wave of industrial, or "industrial culture" -- was as far from Gothic as possible, but his contacts with Sioux did much to introduce Crowley in the Gothic milieu. Later, Orridge will become an inspiration for the birth of the "second wave" or industrial music, much closer to the Gothic and, in fact, occasionally labeled "industrial Gothic". This further subgenre will emerge in the late 1980s around the Wax Trax circle in Chicago, will become well-known with the Nine Inch Nails of Trent Reznor and their influential album Pretty Hate Machine (1989), and will eventually triumph with Marylin Manson. In the late 1970s Sioux founded Siouxsie and The Banshees. Robert Smith, the leader of a much more famous band, the Cure, worked with Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1983-1984 following four influential Cure albums. Largely responsible for defining Gothic as a genre was Bauhaus, whose leader Peter Murphy continued as a popular Gothic musician after the dissolution of the group in 1983. By 1983 -- the year when another early Gothic group, The Misfits, also separated -- Gothic music was experiencing a boom. New groups emerged, including The Sisters of Mercy and later, in 1988, Dark Theater whose leader, Vlad, wears portable fangs and claims to actually drink blood (originally only from his wife, Lynda, who later divorced him and now proclaim herself a "lesbian Goth"). Blood-drinkers are, at any rate, a small distinct subculture within the Gothic milieu, perhaps closer to sado-masochism than to teenage Gothic. While classic punk was experiencing a crisis, Gothic groups, including the 45 Grave, inherited some of its features and its fans. By 1990 the Gothic scene was truly international, with bands in countries such as Japan, Sweden, Finland, New Zealand, Poland, Italy, in addition to Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. By 1990, the Gothic subculture was well established with specialized magazines, including Propaganda (established in New York by Fred H. Berger and perhaps the most important voice for the Gothic), and Ghastly. Non-Gothic groups such as the Iron Maiden and Kiss felt compelled to issue at least an album with Gothic themes. But readers of Propaganda and other members of the Gothic subculture typically skipped the most famous groups as being too commercial. They rather regarded themselves as part of an elite subculture, lionized less well-known groups and remained apart from the larger world of rock fans. Being part of the Gothic milieu for many was not a Saturday evening concert affair, but a permanent lifestyle. "True" Goths dress in black every day of the week, wear peculiar jewelry and use their own jargon. Rather macabre allusions and jokes -- whose meaning is often lost to outsiders -- are a trademark feature of their style. Around 1990 the Gothic milieu, born from music, started to be increasingly defined by its literary preferences as well. Two Gothic role-playing games focusing on vampires -- Ravenloft, that emerged in 1990 from the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons, and Vampire: The Masquerade, introduced by White Wolf in 1991 -- had an important influence on the milieu. Considering the Gothic milieu's love affair with horror literature (including frequent allusions in its music to such classics as Dracula), it is surprising that references to Stephen King are virtually non-existent. King is probably just too popular for a subculture glorying in its minority status. He also insists that his novels do not promote any kind of worldview. By contrast, Anne Rice -- who occasionally does claim that she is introducing a worldview, with increasingly apparent Gnostic and Kabbalistic references -- is immensely popular in the Gothic milieu. Classics of Gothic and horror literature, from "Monk" Lewis to Lovecraft, are largely ignored, with the occasional exception of Dracula. Gothic events, including the 1989 Theatre of the Vampires held in Long Beach, California, musicians such as Tony Lestat (a main participant in the 1989 event and singer of Wreckage), shows such as Tony Sokol's La Commedia Del Sangue: Dances From A Shallow Grave - The Vampyr Theatre, Gothic bands such as Lestat, and the Italian Theatre des Vampires, fanzines such as Savage Garden (published in English in Milan and now renamed Wistaria) all borrowed their names (and much more) from Anne Rice. Later, in 1992, another New Orleans female horror writer, Poppy Z. Brite, wrote a cult novel for the Gothic milieu, Lost Souls, featuring the encounter of real undead vampires with the Gothic subculture of a small American town. As of the mid-1990s the very success of the Gothic threatens its existence as a separate genre in rock music. Contemporary rock is eclectic, and it is often difficult to tell what genre a group is all about. Such labels as post-punk, dark metal, doom metal, garage rock and trash are difficult to define and often include Gothic themes. If anything, some of the new labels mean to convey a passion for the outrageous and the extreme, and regard the Gothic bands of the 1980s as moderate. The most extreme subgenre which emerged in the 1980s is black metal, mixing heavy metal and Gothic. Black metal is both musically and culturally less sophisticated than Gothic, but fans may switch from one to another and still remain part of the same Gothic subcultural milieu. Generally credited with starting black metal is a British band, Venom. Formed in 1978 and originally named Oberon, Venom assumed its name in 1980 and introduced Satanism and the cult of death as a main heavy metal theme. Their song "Black Metal" (1982) defined the subgenre and became an anthem for the movement: Black is the night, metal we fight Power amps set to explode. Energy screams, magic and dreams Satan records the first note. We chime the bell, chaos and hell Metal for maniacs pure. Fast melting steel, fortune on wheels Brain Hemorrhage is the Cure (Venom - Welcome to Hell, 1997). Proclaiming themselves the "Sons of Satan", Venom called to: Live like an angel, die like a devil, Got a place in hell reserved for me, Live like an angel, die like a devil, Gonna burn in Hell, that’s where I’m gonna be" ["Live Like An Angel (Die Like a Devil)," 1981, in Venom- Welcome to Hell 1997]. Another of Venom’s most famous -- and both Satanic and vampiric -- hits was "In League With Satan" (1981): I’m in league with Satan I was raised in Hell I walk the streets of Salem Amongst the living dead I need no one to tell me What’s wrong or right I drink the blood of children Stalk my prey at night (Venom - Welcome to Hell 1997). Specialists of metal discuss whether after Venom there is a difference between black metal and death metal, the latter being more brutal, more interested in drugs and sex, and more faithful to Venom’s original inspiration. One problem is that some of the most famous bands have evolved through the years. Bathory, started in Sweden in 1983, was originally very much influenced by Venom but by 1987, with Under the Sign of the Black Mark, started evolving towards a new style, later ca… truncated (20,144 more characters in archive)