Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley (12 October 1875 - 1 December 1947) was an occultist, mystic, sexual revolutionary, and drug addict (especially heroin).

Crowley and Rock & Roll

A number of rock musicians have been fascinated by the persona and ideas of Aleister Crowley, and several have made reference to him or his work in their own.

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Popular music groups who have made passing references to Crowley include:

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• The Beatles, who placed him among dozens of other influential figures on the cover of their concept album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
• Graham Bond, keyboard player and leader of the Graham Bond Organisation recorded Holy Magick, a "Thelemic Mass" drawn from Crowley's writings.
• Iconic pop star Michael Jackson, whose 1991 album Dangerous featured a drawing of Crowley on the cover.
• David Bowie, whose song "Quicksand", featured on his album Hunky Dory, makes the reference "I'm closer to the Golden Dawn, immersed in Crowley's uniform of imagery..."
• Numerous heavy metal rockers have incorporated Crowley in their lyrics, though their interpretations more often follow the tabloid "Satanist" image of Crowley and not his actual writings. Such lyrics dwell on Crowley's sometime use of Christian eschatological imagery such as the number 666. Ozzy Osbourne in his solo album Blizzard of Ozz released the song Mr. Crowley which was about Crowley's struggles and beliefs. Ministry have also referred to Crowley in lyrics. Legendary British heavy metal band, Iron Maiden, also made references to Crowley in many of their songs (most obviously "Moonchild", on the "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" album); Bruce Dickinson, their lead singer, who is an ardent follower of mystical teachings, also frequently refers to Crowley's work in his solo projects. Bruce Dickinson's Man of Sorrows song from the Accident Of Birth album, is also about Crowley. Swiss black metal / thrash metal pioneers Celtic Frost released a (now classic) album named "To Mega Therion". This title was possibly a reference to Crowley's bombastic self-naming.
• Entertainer and rock star Marilyn Manson, who once stated that Crowley was one of his favourite authors. On his album Antichrist Superstar, the sentence "When you are suffering, know that I have betrayed you" supposedly rephrases a line from Liber AL vel Legis: "Begone! ye mocker; even though ye laugh in my honour ye shall laugh not long: then when you are sad know that I have forsaken you." The line from Disposable Teens "I never really hated a one true god but the god of the people I hated" is believed to be a rephrased version of the line from Confessions "I did not hate God or Christ, but merely the God and Christ of the people whom I hated." Also, in the song Misery Machine the chorus goes, 'We've gotta ride to the Abbey of Thelema.'
• Experimental group Coil, near the end of the video for their eerie, funereal remake of Tainted Love (as a metaphor for AIDS), flash the phrases LOVE IS THE LAW and LOVE UNDER WILL, from Crowley's Liber AL vel Legis, or The Book of the Law.
• British music group Current 93, fronted by a former member of the OTO, takes their name from a mystical term referring to Thelema itself, and has drawn extensive inspiration from Crowley's writings and works.
• Polish death metal band Behemoth: a record of theirs is entitled Thelema.6.
• The British gothic rock band Fields of the Nephilim, who make numerous indirect references to Crowley and to Thelema in their works, with the songs "Moonchild" and "Love Under Will" being more obvious examples. The album Elizium features a sample taken from a Phonograph cylinder of Crowley reading from one of his works.
• German pop group Alphaville, noted for mystical references of various sorts, who penned a song about Crowley's wife Rose, entitled "Red Rose", which makes coded reference to a number of Thelemic and otherwise occult ideas.
• The San Francisco-based Folk-Rock band Annwn, who have performed a similarly themed song, "The Scarlet Muse", about Leila Waddell, one of Crowley's mistresses. Some of the same performers, under the band name Nuit, have produced an album, Mother Night, based in part on Thelemic mystical concepts.
• There is a reference to the Diaries of Crowley in the song "Liezah" by The Coral.
• The American nu metal quartet Mudvayne references one of Crowley's books in their song "Mercy, Severity". On their album The End of All Things to Come, the sentence "Pain of division is nothing, joy of dissolution is everything." rephrases a line from the Liber AL vel Legis: "This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all." Also, the Thelemic teaching, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" is rephrased in the song "(K)now F(orever)" as "Do what you will, make it the whole of your law."
• British rock band Manic Street Preachers feature Crowley in the video for their song You Love Us.
• American rock band Murder City Devils titled their last album "Thelema" and featured the phrase "Do what thou wilt" on the back cover of the CD case.
• Aleister Crowley also had a heavy influence on the band Tiamat, a Swedish metal group, in their album "Prey" with songs like "Light in Extention" (a direct quote from Crowley), and "The Pentagram" where Crowley was directly quoted from one of his recorded lectures.
• American progressive metal band Tool is very influenced by Crowley's works, ranging from Danny Carey's Enochian Magic Board, supposed references to Qabalah in Lateralus, and citations by Blair MacKenzie Blake on the Tool newsletter to name a few.
• Several bands have used samples of Crowley reading his own works, including British band Paradise Lost and Finnish band Babylon Whores.
• Perhaps most curiously, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page owned Crowley's Loch Ness estate, Boleskine House, from 1971 to 1992. It is also said that on some pressings of the Led Zeppelin III album, one or more Aleister Crowley quotes are inscribed into the runoff matrix of the vinyl (the space between the last groove and the label.)
• Crowley is the old man pictured on the cover of Led Zeppelins fourth album (IV, Zoso, Runes etc).
• Rocker and Director, Rob Zombie also used an actual recording of Crowley himself reading his poem "The Poet" in Zombie's film, House of 1000 corpses.
• Former Pantera frontman Philip Anselmo used the alias "Anton Crowley", (In reference to Anton LaVey from "Satanic Bible" fame, and Aleister Crowley), to avoid lawsuits while recording for his many side-projects.
• Brazilian rock singer Raul Seixas was influenced by Aleister Crowley. The influence extended not only to music, but also the creation of the "Alternative Society", which was to be a thelemic community. The project was considered subversive by members of the Brazilian military, which imprisoned all prospective members of the group.