Slayer and the Devil go together like peanut butter and jelly. Always have. Always will. But how, and why, exactly did the band decide to embed Satanic imagery into their music and aesthetics?
When asked this specific question in a February 2024 interview with Loudwire, Slayer frontman Tom Araya clarified that the choice had nothing to do with trying to “gain notice among the metal community.”
“We used that more to be different from the Hollywood community,” he said. “It was to be different and to scare people. That stuff kind of scares people. That’s kind of fun when you scare people and they [wonder], ‘Oh, are they evil? Are they satanic?’ We did that more for more to f*** with people. That was a good way to f*** with the Hollywood crowd.”
Araya then noted a specific difference from hair metal that the band was trying to achieve. “There were a bunch of guys looking like girls, and we wanted to be the ugly guys that didn’t look like women,” he explained. “They knew how to put makeup on. We look like guys that didn’t know how to put makeup on.”
The interview then quipped, “There was a little makeup in the beginning, to be honest.” Araya laughingly replied, “It was just eyeliner, but I mean, that’s my point. We didn’t do it to look pretty. We did it to look ugly. That was the scene then. We didn’t we didn’t want any part of that. So, we did this different image just to f*** with everybody.”
The men of Slayer have always prided themselves on being inventive
Individuality has long been important to Araya and his Slayer bandmates. In an interview from the late 80s, Araya and Slayer guitarist Kerry King were asked what they “think of other speed metal bands that are on the scene.”
“I don’t,” Araya replied with a smile. King then answered in a manner that showed how much uniqueness was a priority for them. “Depends if they’re original, if they’re trying to be like us, or Metallica or somebody,” he said.
Taking a cue from King’s response, the interviewer asked how they felt about Metallica. “They’re great. We get along with them,” King said. Then, with a sarcastic tone, he added, “I won’t say nothing about their new album.”
The post Slayer Frontman Tom Araya Clarified Why the Band Began Using Satanic Imagery: ‘That Stuff Kind of Scares People’ appeared first on VICE.
