Season of the Witch : How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll (9780698143722)

by Peter Bebergal

  Rock’s essential rebellious spirit is a spiritual rebellion at its core, and this, like all forms of occult and Gnostic practices, is a threat to the establishment, be it religious, political, or social. Religious hierarchies often used fears of witches and demons to create hysteria in order to control the populace by offering stability in the face of chaos. In contemporary culture, rock from its beginnings would be demonized. But musicians and fans would respond by turning their pagan horned gods into devils, challenging the status quo in a Luciferian wager of who would ultimately win the souls of youth.

  Heavy Metal never let go of its fascination with the devilish aspects of myth and religion, but groups like Sunn O))) saw something rich and deeply spiritual in the shock and bombast of metal’s heaviness and bleakness. Drawing from the costumed and goth-infused death metal found in the icy Netherlands, doom metal down-tuned all the guitars, drew inspiration from the drones of Tibetan monks and Hindu ragas, and created a new mythology of metal, one that embraced decay and darkness as an essential part of the human condition. Bands such as Sunn O))), Wolves in the Throne Room, and Liturgy have created a new occult mythology born out of the language of rock. Sleep, the ascended masters of a genre known as “stoner rock,” play a kind of low, slow metal, simmering with a psychedelic vibe perfectly matched for a listener whose brain is cooked on marijuana. (Their masterpiece is the single hour-long song, “Dopesmoker,” a mythical fantasy tale where “Weed-Priests creedsmen chant the rite.”

  This kind of knowing and deliberate attempt to instill a sense of mystery and magic in rock characterizes these new occult music pioneers. Maybe it’s because audiences became more cynical, or maybe it’s because there is very little left that is shocking. In either case, rock musicians have found less reason to put on airs about their own occult interests or to use esoteric imagery as a marketing tool. What has evolved is a compelling mix of irony and earnestness that can be found in an entire new generation of rock artists and their music. Today’s music represents the fullest culmination of how occult saved rock and created an art form open to every possibility of experimentation and spiritual exploration in the music, the fashion, and even the live performances.

  V

  Incense smoke wafted over the all-age crowd at the Royale nightclub in Boston as a Gregorian chant filled the room with a deep drone. Three giant faux–stained glass windows formed the backdrop of the stage. The metalheads in the audience were getting antsy, the sonorous voices alerting them that something was beginning. The crowd erupted into shouts and applause when a roadie walked onstage, turned on a small lamp, and adjusted a guitar in its stand. Soon, the lights dimmed lower and the crowd swelled toward the stage, all hands up and throwing horns.

  Spotlights cut through the fog that crawled across the stage and five hooded figures walked out, upside-down crosses hung from their necks, faces covered by beaked masks. Their attire was reminiscent of costumes worn by plague doctors during the Middle Ages to protect themselves from contracting the virus. An infectious guitar lick officially announced the proceeding had begun. A tight but fairly poppy heavy metal melody erupted as the audience pushed against the stage. It was then the lead singer emerged, his face painted like Dr. Phibes, his outfit that of a sinister pope, one hand clenched around a staff topped with an upside-down cross, mockery of the pastoral Papal ferula. Papa Emeritus began to sing as if delivering a sermon, calling out a litany of infernal names: “Belial, Behemoth, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Satanás, Lucifer.” His voice wavered between sinister growl and melodically emotive.

  The band is Ghost B.C. from Sweden. They are led by Papa Emeritus, who calls his musicians the Nameless Ghouls. They have remained anonymous, preferring instead covert identities as demonic agents. Yet, in interviews, despite being masked or conducted via email, they are remarkably candid. When asked about their interest in Satanism, they do not praise the devil or talk ominously about the destruction of mankind. Instead, they admit to having no “satanic agenda” but draw upon their inspiration from horror movies. One of the Ghouls explained that “in the theater that is Ghost, everything is supposed to feel like it is orthodox devil-worshipping. As an audience member, you can choose to believe whatever you want to. And you can choose to partake, or you can choose not to.” Papa Emeritus (whose own identity has changed over time) prefers to play up the role. When asked by the same writer how he worships the devil, the singer replied, “My mere existence is a dishonor for the Church, thus being in favor of ‘the old one.’”

  It was the new millennium, the Internet a dominant feature of social interactions, people looking anxiously at a possible utopia or dystopia, depending on who was in office at any given time. What were the devils of superstition in the face of a coming global climate disaster? What good was magic when you had a computer in your pocket? The occultism of the New Age movement was reduced to Bikram yoga, sweating your way to enlightenment. And rock and roll is music for nostalgic adults, no good for dancing or taking ecstasy to at all. So it would seem to be the prevailing attitude. But the truth is, people were continuing to explore alternative spirituality; the Internet was a thriving community for Neopagans, Wiccans, and chaos magicians. Social media made it possible to share every kind of spiritual idea in an instant. The occult imagination persisted, but new technology made it possible to create granular subcultures. And musicians could be found exploring in the same ways.

  Earlier in 2013, the same year Ghost B.C. haunted Boston, another band was using the occult to stage their own unique ritual. Around 7:00 p.m., very early for a rock concert in any venue, the trio that makes up Om walk through the crowd to a stage set up in the Temple of Dendur in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Upon entering you meet two pharaonic statues guarding a shallow pool, now littered with the coins of tourists hoping for good luck from whatever ancient Egyptian deities might still be listening. On the other side of the pool stand two massive structures making up the remains of the two-thousand-year-old temple, built in 15 BCE and dedicated to the god Osiris by Augustus Caesar in the Roman province of Egypt. An angled wall of glass comprises an entire side in an effort to remind you that the temple once stood in the stark desert sunlight. Here in the midst of Manhattan in a famous room in a famous museum, a chant begins to fill the hall. As the audience pushes closer to the stage, the chant gets progressively louder. It resonates around the poor acoustics of the room, bouncing off stone and water and glass. The lyrics reference Eastern, Islamic, Jewish, and Christian mysticism, invoking the Kabbalistic feminine attribute Shekinah, Ezekiel’s vision of dreadful angels, astral travel, the Hindu concept of prana (breath or spirit), and reincarnation. One song, “Addis,” is the complete mantra for the invocation of the Hindu god Shiva. While these religious ideas are fairly disparate, Om brings them together in a way that is more than just fanciful New Age collating. Om weaves their own spiritual mythology, driven by the heavy power of their music. Some might even call it magic, causing change in the audience’s consciousness by means of Om’s mighty riffage.

  Despite the way the concert was a reminder of rock’s most awful pretensions and satirical ripeness—such as the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap’s infamous miniature Stonehenge scene—a moment like Om at the Met shows how rock’s spiritual affinity with occultism has never died. But more important, it underscores how the pact rock musicians and audiences made to expand their consciousness and push beyond the restraints of traditional American music and its underlying spiritual identity never ceased. The occult took possession of the imagination of rock musicians and their fans, and redefined popular music and culture even into the new millennium.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY AND WORKS CITED

  NOTES ON SOURCES

  I was wholly dependent on and eternally grateful to Rock’s Back Pages, the online library of music magazines. Many of the quotes and factual mate
rial came from sources found here, such as New Music Express (NME), Sounds, Rolling Stone, KRLA Beat, Beat Instrumental, Creem, and Kerrang! Newspapers and other magazines were found in various library databases and other online archives such as Time, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. Magazine name and year are noted in text or in the notes below.

  INTRODUCTION: WE ARE ALL INITIATES NOW

  Quote by Dan Graham is from his book Rock/Music Writings (New York: Primary Information, 2009).

  History of Dionysus and the term “god who arrives” are from Dionysus: Myth and Cult by Walter F. Otto (Dallas, Texas: Spring Publications, 1991).

  CHAPTER 1: (YOU MAKE ME WANNA) SHOUT

  Many books were essential for the research of this chapter. Material regarding the beliefs and music of African Americans is from Slave Religion by Albert Raboteau (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978); The Music of Black Americans by Eileen Southern (New York: Norton, 1983); Sinful Tunes and Spirituals by Dena J. Polacheck Epstein (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1977); and Re-Searching Black Music by Jon Michael Spencer (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1996).

  Other material on African music and the quote “danced religion” is from Religion in the New World by Richard E. Wentz (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990).

  Information on the relationship of the blues to African music and religion was found in Big Road Blues: Tradition and Creativity in the Folk Blues by David Evans (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982); The Devil’s Music by Giles Oakley (Boston: Da Capo Press, 1997); two essential works by Paul Oliver: Blues Fell this Morning (London: Cambridge University Press, 1990) and Savannah Syncopators (New York: Stein and Day, 1970); and “Yorùbá Influences on Haitian Vodou and New Orleans Voodoo” by Ina J. Fandrich (Journal of Black Studies, vol. 375, no. 5, May 2007).

  Material on Robert Johnson was informed by Escaping the Delta by Elijah Wald (New York: Amistad, 2004).

  Lyrics and other useful information were found at the remarkable website Lucky Mojo, a repository of material on voodoo and the blues written and curated by Catherine Yronwode.

  Material on the early history of rock was helped by All Shook Up: How Rock ’n Roll Changed America by Glenn Altschuler (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), and Rock and Roll: A Social History by Paul Friedlander (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996). Elvis quotes are from Leaves of Elvis’ Garden by Larry Geller (Bell Rock Publishing, 2008).

  Samuel Cardinal Stritch’s letter was quoted in “Stritch Calls Rock ’n’ Roll Throwback to Tribalism,” Washington Post, March 2, 1957.

  Details on the relationship between the Beat Generation and bebop are from The Beat Generation by Christopher Gair (Oxford: Oneworld, 2008).

  CHAPTER 2: RELAX AND FLOAT DOWNSTREAM

  Two outstanding sources for material from the 1960s are the CD-ROM collections of the complete San Francisco Oracle (Berkeley, CA: Regent Press, 2005) and the searchable online archives of the International Times. Another essential source for my understanding of the spiritual milieu of the era is Turn Off Your Mind by Gary Lachman (New York: Disinformation Press, 2003).

  For information on witchcraft and Wicca, I am indebted to three major works: Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler (New York: Viking, 1979), The Triumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), and Real Magic by Isaac Bonewits (Newburyport, MA: Red Wheel/Weiser, 1989). Other sources include Witchcraft Today by Gerald Gardner (New York: Citadel, 2004) and God of the Witches by Margaret Murray (London: Oxford University Press, 1970).

  I was deeply educated by Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music by Rob Young (London: Faber and Faber, 2011), a history of folk and British rock’s folk roots, particularly in regards to Syd Barrett.

  Material on Madame Blavatsky is from Occult America by Mitch Horowitz (New York: Bantam, 2010), and Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of Modern Spirituality by Gary Lachman (New York: Tarcher, 2012).

  The David Thompson quote on Mark Boyle is from an article in Sound International, quoted at length at http://www.boylefamily.co.uk/boyle/texts/atlas_notes1.html (accessed May 8, 2014).

  Many of the Beatles’ press conference quotes were found at www.beatlesinterviews.org and thebeatlesbible.com.

  The Paula Scher quote is found in Steven Heller, “Divinyl Inspiration,” Step Inside Design 20, no. 6 (2004): 58–67.

  John Sutherland Bonnell is quoted in “Noted Cleric Criticizes Resurgence of Spiritism,” Los Angeles Times, February 7, 1968.

  June Bolan quote is from http://www.pink-floyd.org/barrett/sydarticle.html (accessed July 1, 2014).

  Quote from Wouter J. Hanegraaff is from his useful book Western Esotericism: A Guide for the Perplexed (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013).

  CHAPTER 3: THE DEVIL RIDES OUT

  Sources for history of the Rolling Stones came from a variety of magazines and interviews, but two books provided excellent material: Old Gods Almost Dead: The 40-Year Odyssey of the Rolling Stones by Stephen Davis (New York: Broadway Books, 2001) and Up and Down with the Rolling Stones by Tony Sanchez (London: John Blake Publishing, 2011).

  On Led Zeppelin, I am indebted to Led Zeppelin IV: 331/3 by Erik Davis (London: Bloomsbury, 2005), Light and Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page by Brad Tolinski (New York: Crown, 2012), Led Zeppelin 1968–1980 by Keith Shadwick (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 2005), and Hammer of the Gods by Stephen Davis (New York: Ballantine Books, 1986).

  Aubrey Powell spoke to me over the phone about his time with Hipgnosis and working on Led Zeppelin album covers.

  Material on Aleister Crowley was easy to come by, but an interview with Rodney Orpheus proved most illuminating along with material from Gary Lachman’s Aleister Crowley: Magick, Rock and Roll, and the Wickedest Man in the World (New York: Tarcher, 2014).

  William Yarroll was quoted in “California Probes Rock Music ‘Devil,’” Chicago Tribune, April 29, 1982.

  Material on Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan is from articles referenced in the text as well as a phone interview with Zeena Schreck and the article “Has the Church of Satan Gone to Hell?” by Jack Boulware, Gnosis (Winter 1999).

  Some material on Ozzy Osbourne is from “Ozzy Osbourne, Off and Rocking,” Washington Post, April 17, 1986.

  Quote about the band Heart comes from “Paying the Price of Sudden Success,” Washington Post, October 12, 1977.

  Some information on the PMRC is from the National Public Radio article “Parental Advisory Labels—The Criteria and The History,” October 29, 2010.

  Phil Baker quote on Dennis Wheatley is from an article in Fortean Times found at http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/2623/the_devil_rides_out.html (accessed on July 1, 2014).

  CHAPTER 4: THE TREE OF LIFE

  A phone interview with Arthur Brown was the source of much of the material on his music and ideas, along with the book The God of Hellfire by Polly Marshall (London: S.A.F. Publishing, 2006) and the article “Flame On” by Mike Barnes, MOJO, August 2013.

  Otto quote is from Dionysus: Myth and Cult.

  I am grateful to Nicholas Pegg for his outstanding book, The Complete David Bowie (London: Titan Books, 2011).

  Bowie’s quote about Marc Bolan is from Blood and Glitter by Mick Rock (London: Vision On, 2004).

  Material about Morning of the Magicians came directly from Morning of the Magicians by Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier, trans. by Rollo Myers (New York: Stein and Day, 1964), as well as Lachman, Turn Off Your Mind.

  Biographical and other information on William Burroughs and Brion Gysin include William S. Burroughs by Jennie Skerl (Boston, MA: Twayne Publishers, 1985), The Beat Hotel: Ginsberg, Burroughs, and Corso in Paris, 1958–1963 by Barry Miles (New York: Grove Press, 2000), Nothing Is True
—Everything Is Permitted: The Life of Brion Gysin by John Geiger (New York: Disinformation Books, 2005), and a phone interview with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge as well as a 2002 interview done with Richard Metzger, “Annihilating Reality: An Interview with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.”

  The interview with P-Orridge is also the source for P-Orridge’s quotes, as well as details on Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. Other material about the industrial scene (as well as information on goth rock) are from Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984 by Simon Reynolds (New York: Penguin Books, 2006).

  Austin Osmon Spare quote on sigils is found in Stealing Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Modern Western Magic by Nevill Drury (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

  Other sources include The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction by Nick Groom (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) for material on goth rock. On magic, art, and Austin Osmon Spare, I consulted Surrealism and the Occult by Nadia Choucha (Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 1992) and Stealing Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Modern Western Magic by Nevill Drury (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

  Some anecdotes about Killing Joke are from a phone interview with the band’s bassist, Youth (Martin Glover).

  Quote from Cosey Fanni Tutti is from an email interview.