Everyone knows the Kiss Army and Metallica’s Metal Militia. But do you know about some of rock’s darker and more ritualistic secret societies and cults? Here’s a look at four of the most notorious. Beware!
The Manson Family is certainly the most well-known cult to emerge from the dark and seedy rock and roll underbelly. Their story is well documented in books and the movie
Helter Skelter . Leader Charles Manson was a peripheral figure on the L.A. rock scene of the mid-to-late 1960s. Dennis Wilson and the Beach Boys hung around with Manson and even covered one of his songs on their record
20/20. A charismatic personality, Manson’s dark hippie folk actually isn’t half bad … albeit it’s only really half good. When he failed to make headway in the music business Manson embarked on a far darker career. With his “family” of followers they wreaked havoc on some of Hollywood’s most glamorous socialites. The
Sharon Tate murders were a climactic end to a bizarre ride that began when Manson and the family overran and appropriated Wilson’s L.A. home. In their wake everyone from
Guns N’ Roses to the aptly named Marilyn Manson have namechecked Manson and his songs―the go-to place when one wants to grossly offend critics and the PMRC alike. The house where the Tate murders occurred played another key role in rock history when the Red Hot Chili Peppers used it as their home studio for the seminal
Bloodsugarsexmagik record.
Circle One was the cult-like group that sprung up around Darby Crash and
L.A.’s most notorious punk band, the Germs. Both Crash and guitarist Pat Smear met while attending an alternative high school with loose affiliations to scientology and a curriculum vaguely centered on methods of mind control. Crash took these lessons to heart and over the course of the band’s lifespan attracted a large contingent of punk rock outcasts, disaffected teens, and runaways who followed Crash’s every word. The mark of “Circle One,” as they were dubbed, was a cigarette burn or “Germs Burn” as it’s better known. The burn originated from Darby and you could only get a burn from someone who already had one. This intrepid reporter once approached Pat Smear and asked for one but was sadly shot down. Those interested in the full story that unfolded around the Germs are urged to check out the book
Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs, which documents the rise and eventual premature fall of the L.A. punk originators.
The Source Family and their musical arm
Ya Ho Wa 13 were led by one very charismatic fellow by the name of
Father Yod. Based between Los Angeles and Ha
waii,
The Source Family is the only cult we can think of that ended in a hang gliding accident. Through their vegan restaurant (which legend has it was home to a salad dressing that in and of itself was a religious experience!) and their literally hundreds of records, the group spread a positive message of peace and love to eager fans and converts all throughout the ’70s. Many of the band’s records were recently reissued to a whole new generation of avid music enthusiasts eager to hear the mantra-like psychedelia of this family band. Today the family is still alive and well, though with far fewer active members. Tee Pee Records is set to release the first new Ya Ho Wa 13 album in several decades; two of the more prominent members Isis and Electricity have authored a book on the family’s history; and the group is playing shows on both coasts every so often. Do catch them if they come to your town.
Norwegian Black Metal is without a doubt
the most extreme form of heavy metal around. While your average metalheads are content to either sing about the dark side (see: Slayer, King Diamond, et al.) or make a mockery of it (see: GWAR) the original contingent of Norwegian bands such as Burzum, Mayhem, and Emperor took things a few steps further. The music, which is really an acquired taste, has always played second fiddle (or double bass drum blast, rather) to the band’s extra-curricular activities. Ritualistic church burnings, murders, and cannibalism were
de rigueur in the early ’90s. In a power grab for a handful of hotly contested scene points the singer of one band murdered the owner of a local black metal record store called Helvete … and then ate his brain! The movement has been well-documented in the very excellent
Lords of Chaos, and today many of the style’s key players such as Burzum’s Varg Vickernes spend their time behind bars.