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The Rolling Stones were the first rock band to unashamedly declare their "Sympathy For The Devil" back in '68, but rock'n'roll has always had ties to the Prince of Darkness. Probably every major rock act, from Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, etc., has been accused at one time or another of doing the devil's deed.

But in hindsight, it's almost comical looking back at how innocent a lot of those acts were. Many times, they were unfairly labelled or bullied due to misconceptions or hyberbole as a result of something being taken out of context, such as Lennon's bigger than Christ quote.

Because in reality, an older generation was threatened by how "scandalous" these kids were behaving. Elvis shaking his hips in a sexually, provocative manner on national TV! My God, what is the world coming to? Today, we look back and laugh at how anyone could take offense to such a fine young man showing his youthful exuberance being looked at in a satanic light.

About a decade later, Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath would have the satanic tag applied to their names due to innuendo, media conspiracy theorists, and the bands themselves through some of their actions. Jimmy Page was known to have an interest in the occult, wore outfits during tours that displayed satanic imagery, and let's not forget his "red eyes" during "The Song Remains The Same".

Black Sabbath? Just the name of the band evoked cries of impending doom from the holier than thou's that were positive that these barbarians were part of a biblical apocalypse. But in hindsight, if "War Pigs" was composed by Dylan or Lennon, it would have been heralded as one of the greatest anti-war songs of all times. I don't know about you, but I find it hard to believe that Ozzy could be viewed as a threat to anything as he appears to be such a sincerely sweet person.

But by the time MTV came onto the scene, and we had the video imagery accompanying bands' music, there was a real fear in certain circles that we were all being lead down the path to hell. It seemed like all the new heavy metal acts, from Ozzy to Motley Crue, Billy Idol to Ratt, had some type of satanic imagery or references aligned with their names.

But I've always had the opinion that in a free society, it is up to each individual to decide for themselves what they choose to believe. We are all intelligent beings that can differentiate between right and wrong, and I for one am not going to be lead blindly down a path that I don't want to go. And I'm not going to be seduced by anything sublimely because I never played my albums backwards or anything, 'cause that seemed really strange to me that a lot of these guardians of right and wrong seemed to like to do that.

So if Jimmy Page or Ozzy have a thing for the dark side...I don't really care. I listen to their music and respect their right to believe whatever they want to believe in. And as an intelligent and responsible adult, I take more offense to ANYBODY telling me what I should or should not listen to, because of what THEY believe in. I'll come to my conclusions about who's working for the dark side based upon how many lives are lost due to that person's actions.

Learn more about this author, Shane Christensen.
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