You cannot attend a metal concert and not hear the phrase ‘let me see those horns in the air.’ All of a sudden the air is filled with hands reaching towards the sky, making the sign of the horns..........la mano cornuta. Singer Ronnie James Dio is often credited as being the one to make this sign popular with metalheads, but what does it mean and was he the first to introduce the gesture to the masses?
Symbolism
The sign of the horns is very popular gesture in Mediterranean cultures, especially Italy. It is mainly given to ward off bad luck or the evil eye (malocchio). Hors in Italian are corna, thus the phrase mano cornuta – horned hand. For a good measure the Italians accompany the gesture by the phrase “Tèee!”, derived from the tieni (hold it). The gesture can also come to mean that you are referring to someone as cuckold. Migrants from the Mediterranian region to other parts of the world carried with them their traditions, including superstition such as the mano cornuta.
This sign is not confined only to the Mediterranean region. In neo-pagan religions, such as Wicca, the gesture might symbolise the Horned God and it is considered as a traditional salutation in LaVeyan Satanism. In Hatha Yoga, a similar gesture is believed to rejuvenate the body, whilst in Buddihism this gesture is used to expel demons, ward off evil and remove negative energy.
Use by musicians
One of the first references is a recording by the New Orleans Owls, ‘Throwin’ the Horns’, released by Colombia Records in 1927.
In the series Rock n Roll Renegades (aired during 1995), Ike Turner, while being invterviewd stated that back in1951, he used the sign of the horns while performing Howlin’ Wolf’s blues song ‘How Many More Years’.
In 1969, Chicago-based psychedelic-occult rock band Coven, released their album Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls, through Mercury Records. On the back album cover, band members standing behind singer Jinx Dawson, are pictured giving the sign of the horns. According to Dawson, she used the sign as far back as 1967.
The sign of the horns in heavy metal
When in 1979 Ronnie James Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath he had very large shoes to fill. Some might argue that technically Dio is a far better singer than Ozzy, but the latter has a charisma that is hard to match. Apart from the constant bantering around the stage, Ozzy would raise his hands in the air making the peace or victory sign. On the first tour fronting Black Sabbath, maybe to connect better with the fans, Dio opted to use the sign of the horns as his hand gesture of choice. According to Dio, his grandmother, who was of Italian descent, used it to ward off evil eye (malocchio).
Interestingly enough this was not the first association of Black Sabbath with the sign. There is a photo dating back to 1969, ten years before Dio joined the band, showing founder Geezer Butler raising the horns. This rare photo was included in the cd booklet of ‘Symptom of the Universe: The Original Black Sabbath 1970-1978’ compilation album. This shows that the association of the mano cornuta with metal goes even further than the Dio association, though it was he who popularized it and now it is a uniting symbol for the metal masses. During an interview in 2001 he had the following to say:
“I doubt very much if I would be the first one who ever did that. That's like saying I invented the wheel, I'm sure someone did that at some other point. I think you'd have to say that I made it fashionable.”
Taking it one step back, though the Beatles are not assosciated directly to heavy metal, in 1967 John Lennon was photographed making the sign of the horns during a photoshoot for their upcoming cartoon movie Yellow Submarine. Even on the official movie poster for the movie, issued in 1968, the cartoon character depicting Lennon is making the same gesture.
According to CBS News, Gene Simmons, of KISS fame, made an attempt to patent the ‘devils horns’ as his own through an application filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on June 16, 2017. The version Simmons was alluding to was the ‘I Love You’ gesture in American sign language, with the thumb, index, and pinky finger extended. Seeing that this was a mission impossible, Simmons abandoned his application on June 21st of the same year.
Irrispective of what it means and who ever introduced it to the metal circles the gesture has become part of who we are and what we feel comforatble doing at metal concerts. A hand gesture that unites us against the evil that tries to destroy the music we live for and what we love most dearly. “Tèee!”
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