• eronth@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It likely is. There’s a long present conspiracy theory that the “rock on” symbol is actually a demonic hand symbol that cultists use to signal one another. It’s not a particularly prominent theory (any more) but it’s lasted literal decades.

    • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      Here is my understanding of that tiny grain of truth to that “conspiracy theory”:

      The earliest known use of the Sign of the horns (and the source of that name) is the “occult rock” band Coven, and specifically lead singer Jinx Dawson. There is at least one photograph of her dated from 1967 displaying the Sign of the horns.

      A lot of rock and heavy metal bands went with satanic or occult aesthetics but made it clear it was performance art, especially during the various moral panics. Coven didn’t. I’m not going to definitively say the members are or were Satan worshippers, but I would say they walked the walk more convincingly than the KISSes and Black Sabbaths of the world. Their first album titled Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls included a poster showing the band’s members performing a “satanic ritual” throwing up the horns around Jinx lying naked on an altar.

      So that’s where the bible thumpers probably got the idea from.