May 23: The sign of the Beast!
Ronnie James Dio, singer of bands like Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own bad self has spoken out about a hand gesture, lamely known as
The Devils Horns. You know the one, you make a fist, and then extend your pinky, and index finger, emulating the great horned one himself. Well RJD is pretty well synonymous with the creation of the said symbol See live Sabbath footage with Dio manning the mic as far back as 1980 and Dio is raising the horns as it were. Well in an interview with Kerrang magazine, Dio has spoken out about the widespread abuse of his creation.
"It's all right as long as it's accepted for what it was," Dio told the magazine. "It was a more serious thing at the time, when I was with Sabbath. That was a band that was very dark, and that's what I wanted it to be. It was symbol of the darkness of that band, and not something to be passed on to Britney Spears! An invention is an invention, I guess. It's become so damn polluted now. The people who are doing it don't know what it means and they have no idea that they shouldn't be doing it.
"It's a trend," Dio addded. "It's a popular trend and so it will probably become like the hula hoop. During a show, I sometimes think 'Maybe I won't do that tonight', because it's become so damn ludicrous now. Everyone's doing it and it has no meaning anymore. Now I wait until two or three songs into the show, and until there's a stop in the music and I'm doing something on my own, and then the response is incredible because people are wanting that from me. It's like Ozzy and the peace sign, you know? So I never find myself not doing it, but I'm definitely doing it less and less these days.
"The point is that you can't just flash it. You have to a face that goes with it. There has to be some emotion behind it. It can't just be the raising of the arm, trying to get your fingers in the right position. And you'll notice that a lot of people are using the thumb now, too. When the thumb comes out it means 'I love you' either in Hawaiian or in sign language - I'm not sure which! So that's proof, once again, that these celebrities don't really have a clue. As stupid as this might sound, I never once did that on stage unless it was to punctuate something that was a little more dark. So when I did it, it was never about starting a trend. It's a natural thing for me to do. It's important to know that it's not something I did frivolously it was just a spontaneous response to something that I sang. A lot of times, bending of the knees always puts it in a slightly different perspective. It puts you in the Sumo position. Now you're ready to charge!"
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Man, that is sooo true, and I have thought it myself on quite a few occasions. At the same time though, it's a damn funny article.
Ronnie James Dio, singer of bands like Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his own bad self has spoken out about a hand gesture, lamely known as
The Devils Horns. You know the one, you make a fist, and then extend your pinky, and index finger, emulating the great horned one himself. Well RJD is pretty well synonymous with the creation of the said symbol See live Sabbath footage with Dio manning the mic as far back as 1980 and Dio is raising the horns as it were. Well in an interview with Kerrang magazine, Dio has spoken out about the widespread abuse of his creation.
"It's all right as long as it's accepted for what it was," Dio told the magazine. "It was a more serious thing at the time, when I was with Sabbath. That was a band that was very dark, and that's what I wanted it to be. It was symbol of the darkness of that band, and not something to be passed on to Britney Spears! An invention is an invention, I guess. It's become so damn polluted now. The people who are doing it don't know what it means and they have no idea that they shouldn't be doing it.
"It's a trend," Dio addded. "It's a popular trend and so it will probably become like the hula hoop. During a show, I sometimes think 'Maybe I won't do that tonight', because it's become so damn ludicrous now. Everyone's doing it and it has no meaning anymore. Now I wait until two or three songs into the show, and until there's a stop in the music and I'm doing something on my own, and then the response is incredible because people are wanting that from me. It's like Ozzy and the peace sign, you know? So I never find myself not doing it, but I'm definitely doing it less and less these days.
"The point is that you can't just flash it. You have to a face that goes with it. There has to be some emotion behind it. It can't just be the raising of the arm, trying to get your fingers in the right position. And you'll notice that a lot of people are using the thumb now, too. When the thumb comes out it means 'I love you' either in Hawaiian or in sign language - I'm not sure which! So that's proof, once again, that these celebrities don't really have a clue. As stupid as this might sound, I never once did that on stage unless it was to punctuate something that was a little more dark. So when I did it, it was never about starting a trend. It's a natural thing for me to do. It's important to know that it's not something I did frivolously it was just a spontaneous response to something that I sang. A lot of times, bending of the knees always puts it in a slightly different perspective. It puts you in the Sumo position. Now you're ready to charge!"
_________________________________________________
Man, that is sooo true, and I have thought it myself on quite a few occasions. At the same time though, it's a damn funny article.
