Dayne Nobody IV wrote:interesting points Slacker, I have read similar stories, one account,such as in the Led Zeppelin book "Hammer Of The Gods" authored by Stephen Davis, in which I recall Led Zeppelin all signed some sort of blood pact with Satan to acquire wealth, fame and popularity, only John Paul Jones did not sign in blood.. .
Probably because John Paul was already signed up and committed, as he is still actively a satanist. Have you seen his work with Diamanda Galas?
Lots of english rockers were into Alistair Crowley. It was the "cool" thing for a while, but JPJ was/is a devout follower of satan.
I remember an interview with the bassist of Black Sabbath where he spoke about dabbling in black magic, then the band makes a pact to glorify satan and gets famous almost instantly.
Some of that is the shock factor. Rock music has always been about rebellion from parents, from authority, from God. The most extreme "rebels" are always at the forefront of rock music so every rock band of the 60s/70s was trying to out-shock everyone else, ala Alice Cooper or the The Tubes.
So I don't know that satanism was the root cause of success for them, as much as doing something extreme to be noticed was.