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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

How The Devil Influenced Rock and Metal 

Sammy Garcia III 

Department of Sociology 

California State University, Los Angeles 

 

INTRODUCTION 

If folktales are to be believed, the Devil seems to have 

quite the interest in music. From the satanic imagery in metal, the 

legendary fiddle duel in “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” to 

the legend of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the Devil at a 

crossroads. It would appear that the Prince of Darkness likes a 

good tune as much as you and I. He has been present every step 

of the way in popular music throughout the last century. The 

relationship between the Devil and music goes back centuries, but 

this paper begins in the Delta with Tommy Johnson and Robert 

Johnson (no relation) and how they both made deals with the 

Devil, continues with an analysis of how the Devil influenced rock 

and metal as we know today, and concludes with an examination 

of how Satan remains as the most powerful symbol of absolute 

rebellion in music today.  

Erving Goffman and Emilie Durkheim were sociologists 

who each had concepts relating to society and how society viewed 

those concepts and theories of stigma, symbols, ritual, and sacred. 

Stigma is behavior, attributes, or reputation viewed as socially 

discrediting. Basically, stereotyping and negative connotations 

associated with the thing being stigmatized and in this case it’s 

Rock and Metal. Symbols, ritual, and sacred are religious concepts 

by Emile Durkheim which all represent sacredness in a way 

because they are deemed as so by how society views them. Rituals 

and symbols are things that are viewed as highly respected and 

commonly practiced forms of devotion but if we flip it to our point 

of view you can see Rock and Metal as forms of rituals and it too 

has symbols of devotion too. Sacred is something deemed as such 

because society and individuals in society deem it as so. Now as 

these concepts are treated as sacred by how individuals and 

society views them, we can also use these concepts as a way to 

destigmatize how Rock and Metal are viewed as “Devil’s music” 

and how they are misrepresented and how they’re seen through a 

different sociological lens. With the help of these concepts. But 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

first we have to dive into how this stigma got started and the 

person that is commonly associated with the “Devil’s music”. 

 

HISTORY OF THE DEVIL IN JOHNSONS’ MUSIC  

Before we dive into Robert Johnson, we must first have a 

little backstory that led up to him at the crossroads and another 

blues player before him. Tommy Johnson was a blues player from 

1914-1956 who recorded in the late 1920s who came before 

Robert and was so good on the guitar that he was instrumental in 

creating the Delta blues sound along with its accompanying 

mythology. According to the legend, Johnson’s older brother, 

LeDell, claimed that at one point his brother had sold his soul to 

the Devil: 

He returned two years later an accomplished 

performer, which, according to LeDell, Johnson 

attributed to a meeting with a mysterious figure 

at a crossroads. The story involved Johnson 

handing over his guitar to a large black man who 

tuned it for him. (Mississippi Blues Commission 

2022) 

Johnson’s stage presence was one of curiosity that led credence to 

this idea. He showboated on stage like a man overcome by 

something supernatural. He played his guitar behind his head, 

between his legs, and using a falsetto voice unmistakable to 

contemporary blues fans and which can be heard in the tune “Big 

Road Blues.” Tommy even eventually took up the mantle that he 

did indeed sell his soul to the Devil. 

Tommy Johnson’s legend would soon be overshadowed 

by Robert Johnson. The infamous story of Robert Johnson begins 

around 1929 with meeting bluesman Son House and Willie Brown 

in Robinsonville, Mississippi where they had settled and played 

the local area. Johnson would accompany them and play with 

them around the local spots, on some occasions after a gig, Brown, 

House and another accompaniment named Patton would all 

belittle Johnson and his embarrassing lack of guitar skills. Son 

House said of Robert, “Such another racket you never heard! lt’d 

make people mad, you know. They’d come out and say ‘Why 

don’t y’all go in there and get that guitar from that boy?” 

(Compagna 2000). Shortly after crossing paths, Robert left for 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

Martinsville, Mississippi; two years later, Robert returned to 

Robinsonville where his ability to play now blew both locally 

based notable bluesmen Son House and Willie Brown away. By 

the time Robert Johnson became known in the mainstream, his 

myth and legend had already had decades to grow and warp. When 

Tommy Johnson told his tale and when Robert Johnson sang about 

the crossroads, neither of them could have possibly known the 

huge changes they were about to bring on, because the crossroads 

and the Delta blues that they helped to create were not the final 

destination. Instead, they’re a key landmark in the incredible 

journey that brought on rock and roll and metal. In doing so, they 

changed the world forever.  

 

ROBERT JOHNSON’S INFLUENCE IN ROCK  

Robert Johnson is seen by many today as the grandfather 

of rock and roll. That comes not only from how he played but also 

from his mythology. It is foundationally why rock has been 

labeled as “Devil's music.” Many musicians who followed in 

Johnson’s footsteps have since played with occult imagery, 

including The Rolling Stones, who were influenced by Robert 

Johnson, Muddy Waters, and other famous bluesmen. In the book 

Me and the Devil Blues, J.D. Wells connects Johnson and the 

Stones, stating that:  

The influence of Robert Johnson is particularly 

evident in terms of individual values and themes. 

Johnson’s songs, like the Rolling Stones, are 

rooted in honesty and social realism which 

uncovers an often brutal account of the world 

through the expressive characteristics of the 

human voice. (Wells 1983: 17)  

In other words, Johnson sang about what was around him, and 

what others were going through during the Great Depression. The 

Rolling Stones and other popular rock bands of the 60s and 70s 

reflect a consonant attunement to social observation and critique.  

Robert Johnson influenced early rock and roll musicians 

through his musical talent and qualities, lyrics, and legend. Adam 

Compagna (2000) argues that:  

According to black folk culture, Johnson had a 

number of traits that might have been seen as 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

demonic: he had a cataract in one eye; he often 

played with his back turned to other musicians, 

causing people to believe he had something to 

hide; and he favored unusual guitar tunings.  

Even in his music there is Devil imagery. In “Hellhound on My 

Trail,” Johnson sings that he became a traveling vagabond in the 

middle of a run-in with the Devil and that hellhounds are 

following him. You can also see it as the middle of a song trilogy 

and his legend coming to an end. “Cross Road Blues” is the 

beginning of his tale and where he sold his soul, “Hellhound on 

My Trail” in the middle where he has run-in with the devil, and 

then the trilogy ends with “Me and the Devil Blues” in which the 

opening lyrics are Johnson opening his door to see the Devil 

standing there and Johnson replying, “Hello Satan, I believe it’s 

time to go.” A year later, after he had recorded “Me and The Devil 

Blues” on June 19, 1937, on August 16, 1938, the Devil came for 

his part of the deal and took Johnson’s soul. He was poisoned by 

a jealous husband and died at 27 years old. 

 

‘DEVIL MUSIC’ AND STIGMA 

Erving Goffman was a Canadian-born sociologist, social 

psychologist, and writer, considered by some the most influential 

American sociologist of the twentieth century. His theory about 

stigma applies to how others view rock and metal as “Devil's 

music.” Stigma is defined as signs that expose something about a 

person. During the 1950s, when rock and roll was becoming 

popular, parents could have a visual on how they could distinguish 

kids who were listeners of the “Devil’s music.” They could tell by 

rock and roll lovers’ appearance, leather jackets, Levi’s, and boots 

compared to the more conservative kids. That appearance of the 

leather jacket and boots was and still is by some the official 

uniform of rock and roll, punk, and metal. This was a uniform that 

both distinguished and stigmatized them. Goffman said that “A 

stigmatized person is ‘blemished’ and is ‘disqualified from full 

social acceptance.’” Scared parents during this era believed that if 

their kids liked this music, they might also emulate deviant acts of 

the musicians they idolized.  

According to Goffman’s Stigma (1963), “most people 

experience the role of being stigmatized …at least in some 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

connections and in some phases of life." At first, those who loved 

rock and roll were treated as a “blemish” and this disqualified 

them from social belonging in line with societal norms. However, 

the strongly stigmatized often holds the "blemish" as a badge of 

honor, showing others that: yes, I am what I am, and there is 

nothing you can do about it. That type of resistance emerged in 

rock and roll lovers in the 50s and continues to be sort of a battle 

cry of musical rebels today. A great example of this was when 

John Lennon of The Beatles remarked that they were bigger and 

more popular than Jesus Christ. This sparked a ton of controversy 

about the real “message” of the music. The Beatles were 

stigmatized by conservative segments of society for a while but it 

never actually stopped their popularity. 

 

‘DEVIL MUSIC’ AS SACRED RESISTANCE  

Emile Durkheim was a French sociologist and was the 

first academic sociologist. He formally established the academic 

discipline of Sociology along with Karl Marx and Max Weber, 

who are commonly cited as the principal architects of modern 

social science. According to Durkheim, the sacred is defined as 

the extraordinary, that which is set apart from and “above and 

beyond” the everyday world. In other words, anything can be 

deemed sacred if socially defined as such. People who mark blues, 

rock, and metal as sacred see those genres as such specifically 

because they have formed communities around the act of marking 

the art as sacred (Sociology Guide 2023). When rock and roll and 

metal were labeled “Devil’s music,” it did not deter listeners of 

the music. It, in fact, did quite the opposite. It brought more and 

more and more listeners to those genres and made them even more 

popular.  

An excellent example of the concept of sacred put into 

practice was in the 1980s when Tipper Gore and the Parents Music 

Resource Center (PMRC) went after heavy metal bands and their 

songs deemed in their eyes as the “filthy fifteen,” which included 

Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not GonnaTake It”, Black Sabbath’s 

“Trashed”, and Venom “Possessed” to just name a few. The goal 

was to make children not listen to them since they purportedly 

promote violence and occultic activity. Well, like that saying goes, 

tell someone “no don’t do that,” and they’ll do it anyway. This has 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

been called the forbidden fruit effect (Binder, Matthes, Naderer 

2020). That parental advisory sticker did the opposite and caused 

new listeners to go and listen to these songs from these bands and 

any other album that dawned that sticker (“Tipper Sticker”). 

Labeling the music "explicit" made the regular listeners and fans 

that much more adamant and determined never to abandon their 

beloved genre.  

 

ROCK AND METAL AS RITUAL 

Durkheim’s concept of ritual is defined as a highly 

routinized act (e.g. taking communion, praying towards Mecca or 

Jerusalem, and so forth). You could say that listening to rock and 

roll and metal is a ritualistic form for devotees. They listen to it 

religiously because they love the bands, like how Catholics take 

the host every time at Mass because they love Jesus Christ. People 

attend mass or Sunday Service for social support and to rejoice in 

God’s love. When I asked my friend why he loves rock and metal, 

this is what he had to say, “Being at metal shows and rock shows 

breaks down all barriers and allows people who love the music to 

share their passion with others. I have seen and met so many cool 

people at these shows.” As Catholics, Christians, Muslims, and 

Jewish people all go to their places of worship to share their love 

with God, rockers, metalheads, and punks all go to shows to share 

their love with others for the band playing. 

An example of shows being a ritual is when I went to my 

second festival, Punk in the Park. I saw all the older punks and the 

new generation of younger punks like myself all together outside 

at Oak Canyon Park in Silverado, CA. You can even compare it 

to those outdoor churches. In the outdoor churches, you 

sometimes have food and drink offered after service as we did at 

the festival, with food trucks and beer. Everyone was enjoying 

themselves, eating some good food, having some good beer, and 

making new friends over the love of the different bands that were 

playing that day. Again, much like people who go to their places 

of worship to rejoice in their love for their God, rock and metal 

fans rejoice in the love of our musical gods. The fans stuck with it 

because of the aforementioned community bond over deeming the 

genres sacred. 

 



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CALIFORNIA SOCIOLOGY FORUM VOL. 5 

THE ROLE OF SYMBOLS IN MUSIC 

Durkheim’s concept of symbols is defined as something 

that stands for something else, a representation that calls up 

collective meanings. Places of worship have their symbols, such 

as the sign of the cross, as does rock and metal music. The symbol 

for rock on is index finger up, middle fingers down, pinky up, and 

thumb in. A prime example of the rock on symbol being widely 

recognized and popular was through its use by Black Sabbath. In 

1979, Ronnie James Dio replaced Ozzy in Black Sabbath. 

Osbourne had his double peace sign he would do on stage, so Dio 

felt the band would not be Black Sabbath without one. Dio many 

times explained to media outlets that he took the hand sign from 

his Italian grandmother. In an interview he gave with EvilG of the 

online service Metal-rules.com, Dio mentions that “It’s not the 

devil’s sign like we’re here with the devil. ... It’s to ward off the 

Evil Eye or to give the Evil Eye, depending on which way you do 

it. So, it’s a bit like “knocking on wood” (EvilG 2006). Even if 

you have never listened to rock and metal music you have seen 

this symbol of rock on at least once in your life. This is much like 

people who aren’t religious and or atheists know what the symbol 

of the cross is because they too have seen it once in their lives. 

These symbols are engrained in our minds.  

 

DEVIL INFLUENCES IN MUSIC 

Many people say that heavy metal first started and began 

with Black Sabbath, including myself. Black Sabbath's first debut 

album had the most amazing artwork for the album cover: it had 

an inverted cross on the inner sleeve. The distortion of the image 

of the woman in the cloak wearing nothing underneath (the 

photographer mentions that), just added fuel to critics saying they 

were Satanists and occultists. But they rolled with it and brushed 

it off, and now Black Sabbath are considered the fathers of heavy 

metal. To add to the play of Satanists and occultists, the album 

was released on Friday 13th in February 1970. As we know Friday 

13th is associated with the horror franchise but it was also 

controversial because of the number 13 being a superstitious 

number and bad luck. Since then, the imagery of the Devil has 

been prominent, from Venom having a goat head in a pentagram 

in their Welcome to Hell album, to Ghost having an inverted cross 



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which they call the Grucifix, to countless other metal bands. Many 

other people would say that the Devil is playing the instruments, 

putting hidden messages in songs. In the 80s, Christian 

organizations and TV shows were against heavy metal and against 

their child listening to such ‘vile Devil music’. One anonymous 

critic said, “listen to heavy metal music and the devil will make 

you kill your mom.” In the article “Heavy Metal Kids: Are they 

playing with the devil?” it talks about how listening to heavy metal 

will promote violence, suicide, and Satanism, as said by the 

author, “The popularity of heavy metal music with young people 

has grown dramatically; among adults, concerns about its 

influence have also grown. It is alleged that heavy metal promotes 

violence, suicide, Satanism, and the occult” (Trzcinski 1992). This 

is roughly the same thing parents of the 50s said about rock and 

roll: that it promotes sex, violence, delinquency, and crime. The 

Satanic panic of the 1980s helped fuel the rebellious nature of 

heavy metal and gave kids something that could really piss off 

their parents, just like early rock and roll did in the 1950s. 

When thinking of The Beatles, you wouldn’t think of 

Satan, would you? Well, my friends, you would be wrong. In the 

book Lucifer Rising, Sin, Devil Worship & Rock and Roll, the 

author Gavin Baddeley (1994) mentions this about The Beatles:  

Christians suspicious of the Beatles were 

confirmed by detailed perusal of the cover of their 

catchy, innovative Sgt. Pepper album. The cover 

design is a collage of people admired by The 

Beatles, all standing behind the band: among 

them, in the top row can be seen Aleister 

Crowley. (2016)  

Crowley himself is a prominent force in metal songs such as “Mr. 

Crowley” by Ozzy Osbourne to Iron Maiden's song “Moonchild.” 

The reason why is that Crowley had such a rock star mystique 

about him, shocking everyone with his indulgence in sex and 

drugs until his death at the age of 72. When The Beatles were 

recording their album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, 

they were on a spiritual rebellion, because as I mentioned before, 

Lennon had remarked that they were more popular than Jesus 

Christ. Because of that remark they had a somewhat terrible U.S. 

tour and vowed that they wouldn’t tour again and be a studio-only 



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band. In my opinion, I think John Lennon saying that was a good 

thing because we wouldn’t have this amazing album, where they 

expanded on their sound and experimented with different 

instruments. This was also a time of expanding on the mind as 

well through mind-altering, eye-opening drugs such as LSD. So, 

The Beatles took that label of being Satanists and Devil’s music 

and ran with it, releasing an amazing album.  

 

CONCLUSION 

Satan is one of the strongest concepts that any artist could 

draw on. From Tommy Johnson’s tale, to Robert Johnson’s 

legend, to Elvis’ gyrating hips, to The Beatles infamous long hair, 

Satanic concepts have riled up the public - promoting the bands 

more than any advertising could instead of keeping their children 

away from the “Devil's music.” Durkheim’s and Goffman’s 

concepts help to paint rock and metal in a different picture; a 

picture of understanding instead of misunderstanding. We saw 

how Durkheim’s concept of ritual applied to places of worship, 

but we also saw how it can also apply to these genres. As long as 

art and music exist, Satanic themes and imagery do not equal 

Devil worship. They are just that: themes and imagery, nothing 

more nothing less. Stories of the Devil are essential in the history 

of human creativity and the Devil has helped to shape pop culture. 

Without the Devil we wouldn’t have the blues and without the 

blues, we wouldn’t have the amazing genres that followed the 

blues pattern. No rock and roll, no punk, no metal, no country, no 

pop, no R&B, and no rap to just name a few of the big genres.  

Even at the 2023 Grammys, we saw another return of the 

Devil back in the music game. Sam Smith and Kelly Petras did a 

duo performance of the song “Unholy” to some backlash by some 

conservative people, as this news article talks about the highlight 

of the night:  

Surrounded by long-haired acolytes in identical 

red sheaths, Smith kicked off the performance in 

an outfit of latex and a devil-horned top hat before 

Petras made her grand entrance in a giant cage 

guarded by a trio of she-devils. ‘Mummy don’t 

know daddy’s getting hot/ At the body shop, 

doin’ something unholy,’ the duo belted in hellish 



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harmony as a wall of fire erupted on stage behind 

Petras’ personal prison. (Rowley 2023)  
I think the Devil should be awarded a Grammy for his help in the 

music business, that is if he is real. It all comes back to that age-

old question, is the Devil real? As is said, the greatest trick the 

Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. 
 

REFERENCES 
Anon. n.d. “Sacred and Profane.” Sociologyguide.com. Retrieved 

March 7, 2023 https://www.sociologyguide.com/socio-

short-notes/sacred-and-profane.php.  

Baddeley, Gavin. Lucifer Rising: Sin, Devil Worship & 

Rock’n’Roll. London, England: Plexus Publishing, 1999. 

Print.  

Binder, Alice, Brigitte Naderer, and Jörg Matthes. 2020. “A 

‘Forbidden Fruit Effect’: An Eye-Tracking Study on 

Children's Visual Attention to Food Marketing.” 

International Journal of Environmental Research and 

Public Health. Retrieved April 30, 2023 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC714281

4/. 

Compagna, Adam. 2000. The Devil in Robert Johnson: The 

Progression of Delta Blues to Rock and Roll. Loyno.edu. 

N.p., n.d. Web.  

EvilG. 2013. “Ronnie James Dio.” MetalRules. Retrieved March 

7, 2023 https://www.metal-rules.com/2006/09/14/ronnie-

james-dio-2/.  

Goffman, E. 1963. Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled 

identity. London: Penguin.  

Rowley, Glenn. N.d. 2023. “Sam Smith & Kim Petras Deliver 

Fiery Performance of ‘Unholy’: 2023 Grammys.” 

Recording Academy. Retrieved March 7, 2023 

https://www.grammy.com/news/sam-smith-kim-petras-

2023-grammys-performance-unholy.  

“Tommy Johnson.” The Mississippi Blues Trail. Retrieved 

September 5, 2022 https://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-

markers/tommy-johnson.  

Trzcinski, Jon. 1992. “Heavy Metal Kids: Are They Dancing with 

the Devil?” Child & Youth Care Forum 21(1):7–22.  



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Wells, John D. 1983. “Me and the Devil Blues: A Study of Robert 

Johnson and the Music of the Rolling Stones.” Popular 

Music & Society (9)3:17–24. Print. 

Williams, Steve. 2017. “Rock 'n' Roll and ‘Moral Panics’ - Part 

One: 1950s and 1960s.” University of Southern Indiana. 

Retrieved March 7, 2023 

https://www.usi.edu/news/releases/2017/02/rock-n-roll-

and-moral-panics-part-one-1950s-and-1960s 


