Jeff Godwin is a Christian fundamentalist preacher and author from Bloomington, Indiana, USA. He is best known for his numerous books critical of both secular and Christian rock music. Godwin is a former drug addict and rock musician. [1] He claims that he survived the stampede that claimed the lives of 12 fans of The Who at their Cincinnati concert on December 3, 1979. [2]
Godwin was converted to fundamentalist Christianity in 1984 by his future wife's family. Subsequently, Godwin became a King James Only fundamentalist very much in line with Jack Chick, who published his first three works. [3]
According to Godwin, rock and roll music traces its origins back thousands of years. Its rhythms were written by Satan and his demons and have a subliminal power to control a listener's mind. The rhythms eventually found their way, via Africa, into blues, jazz and other forms of African American music before they appeared in rock music. In addition, rock music is loaded with references to sexual behavior of all kinds, and he believes it encourages fornication amongst youths and inspires lust. [4] He also believe it inspires rage and it preaches "rebellion, hatred, drug abuse, suicide, fornication and the dark things of Satan". [4]
When Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a dove, Godwin viewed it as Osbourne's desire to destroy the Holy Spirit, which is often represented by a dove. [5] Satanic symbols dating back centuries, Godwin maintains, can be found in the album covers of rock music, testifying to Satan's power. While Godwin believes that Satanic messages have been backmasked (recorded backwards) on rock albums, he believes that Satan's presence in rock music has rarely required hiding. Godwin sees Satan's influence in music as being maintained by secret alliances between rock musicians, producers and promoters uniting with demons and Satan himself. He further believes that Christian rock is another diversion created by Satan, as the rock music industry itself is compromised by Satan. [6] The Christianity preached in Christian rock, he says, is feel good, inoffensive and does not genuinely preach Christ. [6]
Satan, also known as the Devil, is an entity in Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood. In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the yetzer hara, or "evil inclination". In Christianity and Islam, he is usually seen as a fallen angel or jinn who has rebelled against God, who nevertheless allows him temporary power over the fallen world and a host of demons. In the Quran, Shaitan, also known as Iblis, is an entity made of fire who was cast out of Heaven because he refused to bow before the newly created Adam and incites humans to sin by infecting their minds with waswās.
Satanism refers to a group of religious, ideological, and/or philosophical beliefs based on Satan – particularly his worship or veneration. Satan is commonly associated with the Devil in Christianity, a fallen angel often regarded as chief of the demons who tempt humans into sin. The phenomenon of Satanism shares "historical connections and family resemblances" with the Left Hand Path milieu of other occult figures such as Chaos, Hecate, Lilith, Lucifer, and Set. For centuries, the term was used by various Christian groups as an accusation against ideological opponents, a slur for assorted heretics, freethinkers, and pagans. By contrast, self-identified Satanism is a relatively modern phenomenon, largely attributed to the 1966 founding of the Church of Satan by Anton LaVey in the United States – an atheistic group that does not believe in a supernatural Satan.
Jack Thomas Chick was an American cartoonist and publisher, best known for his fundamentalist Christian "Chick tracts". He expressed his perspective on a variety of issues through sequential-art morality plays.
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English musician and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adopted the nickname "Prince of Darkness".
Randall William Rhoads was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albums Blizzard of Ozz (1980) and Diary of a Madman (1981). Rhoads was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021.
"War Pigs" is an anti-war protest song by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in 1970. It is the opening track from the band's second studio album Paranoid (1970).
Black Sabbath is the debut studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released on 13 February 1970 by Vertigo Records in the United Kingdom and on 1 June 1970 by Warner Bros. Records in the United States. The album is widely regarded as the first true heavy metal album, and the opening track, "Black Sabbath", was named the greatest heavy metal song of all time by Rolling Stone, and has been referred to as the first doom metal song.
The popularity and worldwide scope of rock music resulted in a powerful impact on society in the 20th century, particularly among the baby boomer generation. Rock and roll influenced daily life, fashion, social attitudes, and language in a way few other social developments have equated to. As the original generation of rock and roll fans matured, the music became an accepted and deeply interwoven thread in popular culture. Beginning in the early 1950s, rock songs began to be used in a few television commercials; within a decade, this practice became widespread, and rock music also featured in film and television program soundtracks. By the 1980s, rock music culture had become the dominant form of popular music culture in the United States and other Western countries, before seeing a decline in subsequent years.
Bark at the Moon is the third studio album by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released on 18 November 1983 in the US and on 2 December 1983 in the UK. The album marks Ozzy's change to a synth infused pop-metal sound, with both its "sonic production, and in Ozzy's imaging".
"Black Sabbath" is a song by the English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, written in 1969 and released on their eponymous debut album in 1970. In the same year, the song appeared as an A-side on a four-track 12-inch single, with "The Wizard" also on the A-side and "Evil Woman" and "Sleeping Village" on the B-side, on the Philips Records label Vertigo. In Japan and the Philippines, a 7-inch single on the Philips label was released with "Evil Woman, Don't Play Your Games with Me" on the A-side and "Black Sabbath" on the B-side.
Richard Allan "Ricky" Kasso Jr., also known as The Acid King, was an American murderer who killed his 17-year-old friend Gary Lauwers in Northport, New York on June 19, 1984. Two other teens, Jimmy Troiano and Albert Quiñones, were present at the murder, which took place in the Aztakea Woods of Northport while all four were under the influence of what they believed to be mescaline, but was most likely LSD.
Lee Gary Kerslake was an English musician, best known as the longtime drummer and backing vocalist for the rock band Uriah Heep and for his work with Ozzy Osbourne in the early 1980s.
Theistic Satanism, otherwise referred to as traditional Satanism, religious Satanism, or spiritual Satanism, is an umbrella term for religious groups that consider Satan, the Devil, to objectively exist as a deity, supernatural entity, or spiritual being worthy of worship or reverence, whom individuals may believe in, contact, and convene with, in contrast to the atheistic archetype, metaphor, or symbol found in LaVeyan Satanism.
Backmasking is a recording technique in which a message is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to be played forward. It is a deliberate process, whereas a message found through phonetic reversal may be unintentional.
Hail Satan, sometimes Latinized as Ave Satanas or Ave Satana, is an exclamation used by some Satanists to invoke the name of Satan in contexts ranging from sincere expression to comedy or satire. The Satanic Temple uses the phrase as a sincere expression of rational inquiry removed from supernaturalism and archaic tradition-based superstitions.
John Wayne Todd, also known as "John Todd Collins", "Lance Collins", "Kris Sarayn Kollyns", and "Christopher Kollyns", was an American speaker and conspiracy theorist. He claimed to be a former occultist who was born into a 'witchcraft family' before converting to Christianity. He was a primary source for many Chick Publications works against Dungeons & Dragons, Catholicism, Neopaganism, and Christian rock.
Saturninus or Satornilus was an early Syrian Gnostic Christian from the 1st century Simonian school. He is quoted in the works of Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and Hegesippus. The movement he established was called Saturnians.
"In League with Satan" is the first song released by the English extreme metal band Venom. It was released on 17 April 1981 as a single with the B-side "Live Like an Angel" by Neat Records and later appeared on the band's first album, Welcome to Hell. The song has been cited as the first black metal song and is also often cited by critics who claim a connection between heavy metal and Satanism.
Joy of Satan Ministries, also referred to as Joy of Satan (JoS), is a western esoteric occult organization founded in 2002 by Andrea Herrington. Joy of Satan Ministries advocates "Spiritual Satanism", an ideology that presents a synthesis of theistic Satanism, Nazism, gnosticism, paganism, western esotericism, UFO conspiracy theories and extraterrestrial beliefs similar to those popularized by Zecharia Sitchin and David Icke.
Patient Number 9 is the thirteenth studio album by English heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne. It was released on 9 September 2022 through Epic Records and was produced by Andrew Watt.