Heavy metal is almost inseparably linked with … THE DEVIL. Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast hit #2 in 1982 (behind Michael Jackson’s Thriller) and was immediately mired in controversy. The trend continued with the Parent’s Musical Resource Centre witch-hunts of the 1980s (they caught Dee Snider, after all) to almost routine blaming of metal in the mainstream press for heinous murders and vicious crimes. In all instances, Beelzebub was held up in effigy and consumed by flames of reactionary hate. The Devil kind of sucks when it comes to performing acts of bloodcurdling evil. In the Bible, God kills upwards of 33 million people in his name.
The Devil? Ten.
Lift your game, Lucifer.
Read the rest at Australian Hysteria Magazine online.