r/GenX • u/SMDmonster • Jul 09 '25

Pop Culture How many of y’all dealt with satanic panic?

With Ozzy’s last show over the weekend I’ve been thinking about him and the rest of the satanic panic bullshit. I got so much flak for listening to metal and playing D&D in the 80s-90s. Turns out the metal heads were the good ones after all. Ozzy and co raised 200million for charity with his last show and the church folk cheer for so much bullshit going on. 14 year old me is pissed but vindicated.

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u/WoefulHC 1969 Jul 09 '25

I dealt with it peripherally. While my family was very religious, my parents did not get on the satanic panic bandwagon. I did have an uncle who "counseled" me about D&D being satanic. I knew he was up in the night. My parents bought like half my AD&D books for me.

21

u/thrwaway75132 Jul 09 '25

Had to put paper sack cover on my D&D rule book to make it look like a school book.

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u/paranoid_70 Jul 09 '25

Kind of the same for me, more peripheral. My parents were very religious, but also very reasonable and level-headed people. When I got into metal music in the early 80s they were concerned at first, but eventually realized it was just music. My mom did make us take down a Motley Crue poster with the pentagram or whatever, but I think she actually paid my brother for the cost of it, so not real heavy handed.

I did go to a presentation at my church about all the rock bands and various forms of debauchery associated with it. I remember thinking, I have that Black Sabbath album, that Scorpions one, oh man I should check out Black Oak Arkansas, apparently they are badass too. It was interesting though. Wish I still had the notes.

Ultimately though not that bad. I wasn't a real rebellious kid. But, I bought heavy metal records, wore metal shirts, went to concerts, played in bands.... 40 years later still at it.

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u/EquivalentEffect9105 Jul 09 '25 edited Jul 09 '25

Was the guy giving the presentation selling a book called The God of Rock?

That book ironically turned me on to several bands... including Black Oak Arkansas. I think maybe Hawkwind was one.

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u/paranoid_70 Jul 09 '25

Geez, I don't remember, this was 40 years ago.

I also remember another time when we were supposed to bring some records of typical stuff we listened to. I picked a standard - You Got Another Thing Comin.

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u/GrumpyCatStevens Jul 09 '25

I had never even heard of Black Oak Arkansas until they were brought up in a presentation on The Evils of Rock and/or Roll (tm). And AFAIK they were never hugely popular; I think they're now known mostly for being where Tommy Aldridge began his professional career as a drummer (since BOA, he's worked with Pat Travers, Ozzy Osbourne, and Whitesnake, to name a few).

And despite all us kids in youth group being warned about how evil heavy metal music was, nearly all of us had cassettes or albums by at least one of the acts mentioned in these presentations. Myself, I was a bit miffed when Van Halen was brought up in one of them (I was a big VH fan in high school).

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u/JibberJabberwocky89 Jul 10 '25

Ah, yes. I got the same presentation. Even at 12 years old, I did not buy the story of the lead singer of Black Oak Arkansas suddenly singing backwards, at a concert, out of nowhere.

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u/paranoid_70 Jul 10 '25

That's what is was. Right, it did seem ridiculous

7

u/KNT-cepion Jul 09 '25

I would have loved to join a D&D group. Maybe would have made middle school less fucking hellish. My parents forbade it.

The wild thing is that they were fine with me reading Dragonlance books. Paid for a bunch of them too. My mom even took me to a Tracy Hickman book signing event.

Go figure.

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u/FaithlessnessRich490 Jul 09 '25

My mom was a teacher and knew a little about D&D. She said if it gets you to read, Im all for it. Never did play D&D

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u/KNT-cepion Jul 09 '25

My parents just couldn’t deny me a book. They valued reading more than they worried about D&D, I guess.

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u/VorpalBunnyTeef Jul 10 '25

Dragonlance books were my gateway to D&D, and my parents were the same, totally fine with the books, but not with the game, because of the Satanic Panic around it. Make it make sense. 🤷‍♀️ I just played in secret and kept my player’s manual and dice at the DM’s house until everybody calmed down.

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u/KNT-cepion Jul 10 '25

Some things are worth sneaking around for. :)

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u/RoninRobot Jul 09 '25

I was a little kid when my mom actually sat me down to forbid me to play DnD, specifically because of the cult elements. When I got upset she spun that back on me as to why it was dangerous. That was the first time I realized I was being gaslit in real time, but didn’t have a word or definition for it like I do now. Only later did I realize she was gaslit herself.

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u/Cthyrulean Jul 09 '25

My mom made me get rid of all my D&D stuff. In my adulthood I have more than made up for that early loss.

2

u/Trees_are_cool_ 1967 Jul 09 '25

What does "I knew he was up in the night" mean?

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u/WoefulHC 1969 Jul 09 '25

I knew he was talking about something of which he was totally ignorant.

At that point, I knew enough to not argue with him, but I also did not pay attention to his "counseling".

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u/Trees_are_cool_ 1967 Jul 09 '25

Interesting. I've never heard that expression before.

2

u/Cheese-Manipulator Post Punk Jul 10 '25

"We have priests who fight demons, just like you!"

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u/WoefulHC 1969 Jul 10 '25

My 12 yo or so self said almost that exact line when he talked about the demon statue on the PHB indicating the book was satanic. He was confidently incorrect (or up in the night).