Vintage videos, old promo shots & an onstage lesson from Dio settle Devil’s Horns orgins debate once and for all. 

After learning of the “disgusting” recent attempt by Gene Simmons to trademark the famous “Devil’s Horns” salute that is synonymous with heavy metal music, I decided to do a little research to prove who really should be credited for inspiring millions of metalheads for over 30 years to raise their horns in celebration of all that rocks.

Sure, despite the metal hand sign being used nowadays to salute everything from a great set, to hyping soda in a lame Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial, most of us metal loyalists already assumed that Ronnie James Dio started the trend. After all, Dio once revealed in an interview that his Sicilian grandmother often used the sign as a decidedly dramatic way to ward off evil.

Personally, I remember first using the raised Devil’s Horns salute sometime around 1987 at a show on Dio’s Sacred Heart Tour at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in Upstate New York. During the show, Dio saluted us and we sent the respect right back at him, with 16,000 metalheads joined in unison by the same symbolic gesture.

Despite Simmons’ reach to claim ownership of the hand sign, he admits in his memoir, KISS and Makeup, that he lifted his famous Demon salute from Spider-Man.

Even ex-President George Bush knows how to properly sport the Horns sign, which he was often photographed doing in the Nineties and later.

However, he usually only did it at University of Texas at Austin football games to show his support for the Texas Longhorns. The Longhorns’ gesture is identical to Dio’s Devil’s Horns salute. However, the Longhorns hand sign has been a ubiquitous site at UT games since 1950. Nevertheless, those photos of Bush looking like he’d gone full-on metal confused some folks who believed fake news stories.

Adding to the mystique of the iconic Devil’s Horns history, the Prince of Fk’n Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne, has helped to make the hand sign even more famous on a global scale courtesy of near-constant touring since the mid-Seventies, both as the original frontman for Black Sabbath and as a solo superstar who helped to define what heavy metal really is.

However, after careful review of a couple of the metal master’s live videos spanning multiple decades, it is clear that Ozzy never really uses the Devil’s Horns salute. Like ever. It is his fans that often  use the gesture as a sign of gratitude, and many of those fans mistakenly believe that Osbourne is also the mastermind behind the gesture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After reviewing Ozzy’s concerts, it’s clear that it is his fans, not him, that often use the gesture as a sign of gratitude.

 

Also, Ozzy’s fans’ heavy metal salute wouldn’t surface until the mid- to late-Eighties, after Dio already made the Devil’s Horns hand gesture synonymous with heavy metal music.

In fact, while Dio was seen displaying the gesture in countless publicity photos throughout three decades of metal, Ozzy seemed to have been using every gesture except the Devil’s Horns salute.

By the time the global Metal Era was in full-swing around 1988, the Devil’s Horns had spread like sin in a whorehouse and the salute soon became ubiquitous at virtually every show, from pop-metal monsters like Bon Jovi to aural assaults by thrash metal gods like Megadeth.

When it comes to pinpointing exactly when the Horns first surfaced, you only have to check out some of the most popular live videos from late-Seventies and Eighties-era rock and metal concerts.

Black Sabbath’s badass 1970 concert video of the British metal legends tearing through classics like “Paranoid” is awe inspiring. However, his royal Ozzness does not flash the Devil’s Horns  once, nor does the audience. The metalheads were enthralled, of course, but at the time the highest form of respect was still fist-pumping and head-banging.

In another Black Sabbath concert clip, this one from 1980, when Dio had already replaced Ozzy, you can clearly see many audience members using the Devil’s Horns gesture while mimicking Dio’s salutation from the stage.

During the set, while performing the classic “Heaven and Hell,” Dio improvised what can only be considered a lesson in Hornsology 101. The iconic metal frontman flashes his audience a two-fisted Devil’s Horns salute while lecturing his legion of Sabbath fans on exactly what the gesture entails.

“It means, long live rock ‘n’ roll!” Dio proclaims from center stage, looking like a medieval king knighting his soldiers.

Throughout the concert, both Dio and his disciples use the Horns countless times.
Five years later, while touring in support of his 1985 album Sacred Heart, Ronnie James Dio expectedly tossed the Horns endlessly throughout his two-hour showcase of hits. And again, his audience flashed the same salute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘It means, long live rock ‘n’ roll!’ Dio proclaims, looking like a medieval king knighting his soldiers.

 

By the time Dio’s classic concert video for 1985’s “Hungry for Heaven” hit MTV and Headbangers Ball, the band’s frontman had already made the Devil’s Horns a staple of his live shows. In the live clip, he again features the now-famous Horns countless times.

The Devil’s Horns, however, still remained exclusive to Dio’s fans and live shows. The Horns trend did not ignite and become a common sight at virtually every rock and metal concert going forward until a few years and a couple more Dio tours later.

During the Eighties Metal Era, Bon Jovi also showcased the power of its live performances, such as in the New Jersey band’s iconic 1986 music video for “You Give Love a Bad Name.” When the cameras cut away from Jon Bon Jovi and his famous fringed jacket to show the audience pumping their fists in approval, the Devil’s Horns are nowhere to be seen.

A few years later, in Ozzy Osbourne’s 1989 live clip of the rocker performing “Suicide Solution,” there are some intermittent flashes of the Horns coming from the crowd, but not even a hint of a Horn from Ozzy.

Tellingly, a concert video from the same year, also featuring Osbourne performing “Suicide Solution,” shows a noticeable increase in the number of Devil’s Horns on display in the audience despite no visible or aural prodding from the singer.

The difference between Osbourne’s two 1989 shows is that the gig that witnessed a more visible presence of Horns was at the all-star Moscow Music and Peace Festival that showcased a packed roster of metal bands, including the Scorpions, Motley Crue and Skidrow. Therefore, the increase in the presence of Horns likely derived from a mix of metal fans who had been using the gesture even before headliner Ozzy took the stage later in the festival.

In his 2010 memoir, I Am Ozzy, the rock superstar speaks highly of Dio, and not in the book nor publicly has Ozzy attempted to lay claim to the iconic Devil’s Horns. Ronnie James Dio, however, has for decades humbly mentioned his fascination with the Old World Sicilian hand sign.

So, even if Simmons hadn’t already reneged on his attempt to trademark the Devil’s Horn, it’s apparent that the only one deserving of the credit for igniting one of the coolest global trends in history is probably flashing the Devil’s Horns right now from, ironicaly, Heaven.

However, the late, great Ronnie James Dio should not be held responsible for just how out-of-control popular the metal salute has become.

Paul Stanley Shreds like an Ace in Ernie Ball Promo

Multi-talented rocker Paul Stanley effortlessly proves exactly why KISS remains the world’s biggest and most revered rock band for decades by showcasing some stripped-down and undeniably smokin’ guitar work in a great new promo video for Ernie Ball. Ace Frehley would be proud…or envious.

Check out the clip and be prepared to once again get wowed by one of the greatest showmen in rock and roll.

Freddie Mercury Rules…Rock Row!

The spirit of late, great Queen frontman Freddie Mercury watches over the Sunset Strip courtesy of a giant guitar sculpture near Sunset and Doheny, around the bend fom the old Geffen Records building.
It is great to see that the Gibson GuitarTown Exhibit on Sunset, which was initially supposed to be a limited​, one-year exhibit, is still going strong almost a decade after it was launched.

If anything, this awesome artwork stands to educate passing millennials that there was an icon fronting Queen long before that other guy was lucky enough to land the gig.

Rock Row Refugee Alec Monopoly & a Giant Golden Skull Stop Traffic on Melrose

The Sunset Strip’s Rock Row has, of course, helped launch some of the greatest bands on the planet. And while the Whisky and Roxy continue to give rise to the next big rock bands, the venues’ exterior walls and surrounding area have long been a virtual canvas for street artists who often tag the hot spots with their original work. In fact, Sunset and Clark is a longtime fan and supporter of SoCal’s wickedly talented street artists.

Longtime L.A. artist and NYC transplant Alex Monopoly is just one of many high-profile artists whose whimsically socio-political artwork was plastered all over the Sunset Strip long before folks like Miley Cyrus and Snoop Dogg began paying big bucks for his graffiti art. 

Nowadays, the artist also known as Alec Andon, whose work reportedly sells for up to $50,000, is stopping traffic a few blocks away on Melrose Avenue. 

A WeHo staple since 2015, La Galerie Montaigne is featuring some of the elusive artist’s sculptures and graffiti art. Of course, all the usual. Suspects are there, including Monopoly Man and Ri¢hie Ri¢h, the cartoon trendsetter who was using money signs in his moniker long before Ke$ha. 

Check out the display at 8619 Melrose, where one of the best Monopoly pieces sits in the window. A slowly-revolving Monopoly Man sculpture painted in shiny gold and vibrant reds and blues is set front and center facing Melrose and Huntley. And if that isn’t enough to stop traffic, the slick Ri¢hie Ri¢h graffiti art set behind him will do it. 

Competing for the spotlight is artist Philip Pasqua‘s spectacular golden skull sculpture adorned crown-like with butterflys that itself is a must-see for any fan of awe-inspiring pop art. Check it out the next time you’re grabbing a cuppa Joe at nearby and ever-popular Urth Cafe.

Related: Sunset People: The Rockin’ Street Art of L.A. 

Holy Diver! Dio’s Band Is Bringing RJD’s Metal Masterpieces to the Whisky!

The master musicians that backed up the almighty Ronnie James Dio on most of his metal classics will be headlining the Whisky A Go-Go on July 14. Current Def Leppard shredder Vivian Campbell is rejoining his former bandmate, legendary drummer Vinny Appice, and bringing their Dio tribute band, Last in Line, to the Sunset Strip.

The toughest job of the night goes to Andrew Freeman, who will man the mike to help the guys cover RJD’s unforgettable hits, like “Holy Diver” and “Hungry for Heaven.” The band will also be rocking songs from its original album, 2016’s Heavy Crown, which we think the King of Metal himself, Ronnie James Dio, would have approved. In fact, judging by the album’s kick-off hit,”Devil in Me,” the guys in Last in Line should have been appointed knighthood by now.

Formed in 2012, Last in Line was, of course, named after Dio’s 1984 album and was initially comprised of the musicians that famously backed Dio on his first three, career-defining, hit albums. Those timeless treasures include Holy Diver, Last in Line, and Sacred Heart.

“During that first jam it was apparent that the chemistry of the original band was very much intact – even after a 27-year hiatus,” recalls the band on its website. “…Hearing Andrew’s interpretations of the original Dio songs was a revelation and the inspiration to move forward as a band.”

‘If you look at the writing credits on the first three records, it was very, very much a collaborative creative venture.’ 

Bassist Phil Soussan, a legend in his own right, has replaced original member Jimmy Bain, and Erik Norlander will be providing the unforgettable keyboard riffs, having replaced Claude Schnell in 2016.

Although Last in Line may have revised its lineup over the years due to unforeseen tragedies and other reasons, Campbell wants to make it clear that any other Dio tribute band, including the controversial, Wendy Dio-approved Dio’s Disciples, are not the real deal.

“We’re the original band,” guitarist Campbell said in an interview last year. “We’re the guys who formed the band with Ronnie. Not only were we in the band, but we wrote all the songs with Ronnie. If you look at the writing credits on the first three records, it was very, very much a collaborative creative venture. That’s what made the early Dio records so strong.”

EVERY DAY IS GREEN DAY ON SUNSET

Our favorite NorCal pop-punk band, Green Day, is providing the Sunset Strip with a splash of color — green, of course — via huge rockin’ ads adorning the exterior walls of Rock Row’s most famous music clubs.

The attention-grabbing billboards, which are hyping Spotify’s new online video series, Green Day: The Early Years, are covering the exterior walls of both the Roxy and the Whisky A Go-Go.

Sure beats those Lady Gaga billboards that were covering the Whisky.