Gavin Baddeley - Lucifer Rising. Sin, Devil Worship & Rock'n'Roll (Plexus)
Not only has Satan got all the best tunes, he's also got an inordinately high frequency of flashed women's breasts, which scores good points with this black soul. A lose count over the 250 pages of Baddeley's book shows up some 20+ pairs of women's breasts, smeared in blood, daggers hanging above them, skulls covering groins, which I suppose is the least thing you could demand of any book, especially one dealing with the history of Satanism. Anton Szandor LaVey received his share of accusations of misogyny over the years, and it would appear from this that his idea of women empowering themselves through sex and dominating men with their sexuality only goes for beautiful, well-endowed women in his world. That said, he did have some interesting notions, just like Nietzsche, and obviously, Satanism has a great appeal for its association to, well, Satan. Interestingly, as Baddeley points out in this thorough history of Satanism, LaVey himself was never too keen on rock'n'roll, preferring the pop music of his own youth in the 40's to what he saw as un-pretty, brutish noise. It wasn't so the other way around: The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath all dappled in Satanism at the high points of their careers, and once heavy metal arrived on the stage, it was forever to be associated with The Dark One. This tendency peaked with black metal's two incarnations in the early 80's and early 90's, where it all went corpse paint, bullet belts, church burnings, and murdering, before its key figures, respectively the late Quorthon of the mighty Bathory and the twat Varg Vikernes of Burzum, went into Norse paganism.

While most of the musicians that took up Satanism as a shtick soon abandoned it in favour of more serious and mature (read: commercial) subject matter, "Lucifer Rising" is an attempt at showing Satanism as a philosophy and a force to be reckoned with, and if Baddeley doesn't even pretend to be objective - during the writing of the book, he was ordained a Priest in the Church of Satan - he's not afraid of all the problems that lay within the Satanic philosophy. One is the image bands like Venom and Immortal have given Satanism as nothing much but a gimmick, an evolution of Alice Cooper's shock rock tactics, another, much worse, is the media myth of Satanic killings, while the worst, from a philosophical viewpoint, is Satanism's link to Neo-Nazism. Being a good Satanist with an open mind and contempt for moral judgment, Baddeley never openly condemns people like Boyd Rice or Michael Moynihan, for whom he holds a lot of respect despite their flirting with Nazi imagery and thought, while White Supremacy groups like Luciferian Light or Order of the Nine Angels are given a chance to express themselves, but emphatically not advocated here.

If anything, "Lucifer Rising" is overwhelming in its thoroughness: Not only does Baddeley start at the very beginning in the first millennium A.D., he has interviewed most of the key players in the scene, from Euronymous and Vikernes to Quorthon, Abaddon, and King Diamond, Kenneth Anger, spokespersons from the leading sects within Satanism, and, most notably, Anton Szandor LaVey himself. "Lucifer Rising" tells the story of Aleister Crowley, or The Great Beast, as he would have it, and LaVey, the Black Pope, while filling in the scenery in which Satanism was formed, not least with the Charles Manson killings. Manson himself is something of an icon to many within Satanism, Moynihan included, and his Satanism is discussed, though Baddeley must conclude:

"Certainly, Manson has said 'Satan to me would be God', and 'You could say I'm kinda like Satan'. But he's also keen on comparing himself to Jesus Christ, as well as a host of other historical figures including Eleanor Roosevelt. While obviously articulate and bright, Charlie is rarely consistent and sometimes thoroughly incoherent."

Inevitably, "Lucifer Rising" has its shortcomings: Much like Nietzsche and LaVey, Baddeley lets himself be ruled by his own idiosyncrasies at times, ranting hard against punk at several points for no other apparent reason than it's not heavy metal and they're not Satanists, while elsewhere he mixes up his own ideas with reality, as when he shows a picture of Tony Iommi "with trademark inverted crosses", the picture showing Iommi not only standing before two perfectly normal, if slightly askew, crosses, the neck of his guitar even decorated with silver crosses. It's also a blunder that he interviews Danzig, for once not sounding like too much of a jackass, but never gets to touch upon the Satanic punk rocker's fetish for Marilyn Monroe, which he shares with LaVey.

On the whole, though, "Lucifer Rising" is an impressive piece of work that fully deserves this new edition. Recommended to those that like Zeke, High On Fire, Slayer, or just naked women covered in blood. Don't we all?

Jon A

Available from Politikens Boghal

Rednecks & Bluenecks : The Politics Of Country Music (Chris Willman)This excellent book is as much about America as it’s about country music. Looking through country artists’ views and lyrics is a great way to take the temperature of America’s poltical landscape post-9/11. ”Redneck & Bluenecks” immidiately takes off with the Dixie Chicks controversy and their anti-Bush/Texas statements, Willman interviews them AND über-patriot Toby Keith ("Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue”) to get both views on the issue. This is basically what make the book such a great read cause takes his time to talk to both liberal and conservative C&W stars, from Willie Nelson and Steve Earle to Clint Black (“Iraq and Roll”). The author also take a well researched look at 20th century’s political conflicts and C&W’s responses to them. From WWII and outrageous songs like Carson Robison’s ”We’re Gonna Have To Slap The Dirty Little Jap (And Uncle Sam’s The Guy Who Can Do It)” to Korea and Vietnam. Many C&W artists are hard to place politically, both Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard (”The Fighting Side Of Me”, ”Okie From Muskogee”) have each stated completely different and contradicting views on Vietnam over the years. That was actually the one major thing that bothered me, these country folks are businessmen first and foremost, so in order not to turn away Democrats (or Republicans) from their show and record sales, many water down their views when Willman confronts them. Still, a highly recommended read, not just for C&W fans, but for anyone curious about what ‘Middle America’ or ‘The Silent Majority’ is about right now, since it’s them who in the end elect presidents who run the world.

Jens