Bruce Dickinson , renowned vocalist of Iron Maiden , has teamed up with Oxford University psychologist Dr. Kevin Dutton for a new podcast called Psycho Schizo Espresso . New episodes will be released every other Tuesday, with the premiere taking place on Halloween, October 31st.
For the first episode, Bruce and Kevin welcome Professor Steven J. Friesen , a scholar of the New Testament of the Bible and an expert on the Book of Revelation, to discuss the satanic symbolism associated with metal and the secret meaning of the number 666, the number of the Beast, which is a significant part of Iron Maiden's history.
In a preview released for the episode, Bruce Dickinson explains why so many heavy metal bands have explored satanic symbolism in their art. “Because it’s very dramatic,” he says. “I’m 62 years old, so in the late 1950s, Europe was largely Christian; far more people went to church back then than they do now. And, in general, they believed in things like absolute good and absolute evil, even though nobody knew anyone who was absolutely good,” he reflects.
“What heavy metal bands did by adopting these images was to shock people,” he continues. “In the same way that Hammer reintroduced Dracula , but with sex – so they had Dracula, blood, fangs, sex, the devil – all these things were very shocking, but they secretly excite us. And, of course, as a child you would be forbidden from watching and that, obviously, would make it all interesting and you would watch and use your imagination to create stories.”
“Then, many films came out, like The Omen and The Exorcist , and they had this idea of a physical form of evil. And it was quite exciting, actually – not because you wanted it to be, but because you could imagine yourself in the drama and put that into the music and dramatize it,” Bruce concludes.
The full podcast episode will also be available on YouTube after its release.
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