The Influence of Satanism of Pop Culture & SocietyAnton Zsandor LaVey -Founded The Church of Satan Wrote The Satanic Bible

Anton LaVey Influence of Pop Culture and Music

Conservative Evangelical polemics against popular culture has often argued that it is a recruiting ground for Satanism. Popular culture, especially horror film and horror-inspired heavy metal music, has often been singled out as being the most explicit expressions of this recruiting strategy. Although the premises (and most of the conclusions) of the argument are untenable, they are not all wrong. Popular culture does play a role in how satanic identities are constructed. The cultural marketplace constitutes a “scene” that religious networks may draw on more heavily when traditional arenas for socialization are absent, thus making these networks stronger. This is an important point that applies to many kinds of late modern, privatized religion. The article addresses these broader issues by way of Satanism as a more specific example. It takes a look at which elements of and how popular culture plays a role in satanic socialization through a focus on the strategies for guiding consumption and production.

LaVey

With his creation of the infamous Church of Satan in 1966 and his bestselling book The Satanic Bible in 1969, Anton LaVey (1930-1997) became a controversial celebrity who basked in the attention and even made a successful career out of it. But who was Anton LaVey behind the public persona that so easily provoked Christians and others intolerant of his views? He was an actor, musician, philosopher, activist, sometime political commentator and a menace to every God fearing Christian everywhere. 

 

------------------------------------------------------Aleister Crowley(The ORIGINAL Sgt. Pepper)

Alistair was a self confessed occultist who was known for his excess drug use, for his bisexuality & fir his bohemian lifestyle. He wrote a number of books which were quite ‘dark’ and left of centre. Some of his children were known to have denounced him. He was a bohemian and lived in a time when people were experimenting with the supernatural, certain drugs & religion. I cannot answer why he was so popular, he was somewhat eccentric & different, perhaps that is why. People are often attracted to what appears to be mysterious & rebellious.

Aleister Crowley has won his place in history as the ‘wickedest man in the world’ — allegedly. He was a noted – and controversial – occultist. He wrote widely, founded his own religious order, and designed a set of tarot cards that are still used today. Defiantly unconventional in every respect, he lived life according to his own dictum: ‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.’ Crowley’s interests combined the erotic and the esoteric.

Gradually he evolved his own set of beliefs which drew on Oriental, ancient Egyptian, and an assortment of other traditions. His sexual preoccupations were equally various. He took many lovers – both male and female – and practised a form of sex magic, including a volume of verse described by one critic as ‘the most disgusting piece of erotica in the English language.’ He also became involved in secretive groups like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

I suppose that to many he represented nonconformism and rebellion. His secret societies and involvement with sex and magic would have seemed alluring to a rebellious pop culture.

He was taken up by the counter culture of the 1960s and can be seen on the cover of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

In light of the above, is it any wonder that he was influential on pop culture.