Aleister Crowley in popular culture

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Aleister Crowley exerted a significant influence in modern pop culture and therefore is referenced, reinterpreted, and even parodied numerous times in various pop culture mediums. Some appearances are "important," i.e., meaningful and widely promulgated. Others are simple homages or only locally known. Crowley indeed remains a popular icon of libertines and those interested in the theory and practice of magic.

Contents

[edit] In music

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.

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

  • Graham Bond, keyboard player and leader of the Graham Bond Organisation recorded Holy Magick, a "Thelemic Mass" drawn from Crowley's writings.
  • 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..."
  • Crowley features in the opening lyrics [1] of the song Bal-a Versailles, recorded by Australian pub rock band, Cold Chisel.
  • 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 and sampled his voice on the track "Golden Dawn" from their Land of Rape and Honey album. The band reiterated in their album Psalm 69, in the eponym song the last lines "The way to succeed or the way to suk eggs" are borrowed from the Book of lies.
    • Legendary British heavy metal band, Iron Maiden, also show influnce and draw imagery from Crowley in some 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.
    • Swiss black metal / thrash metal pioneers Celtic Frost released a (now classic) album named "To Mega Therion". Crowley had adopted this title, which means "the Great Beast".
    • The German power metal band Edguy has a song, "Out of Control", which refers to Crowley by name.
  • 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.
  • Liverpool, UK grindcore band Carcass (band) repeats "Hate is the law, love under will", a slight variation on the phrase from Liber AL vel Legis in the song "Firm Hand" on the album Swansong.
  • 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. Group leader David Tibet even wrote an article on Crowley's influence in contemporary music for Flexipop magazine [2].
  • 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."
  • 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 Extension" (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 heavily 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. In his film House of 1000 Corpses, Rob Zombie used an actual recording of Crowley himself reading his poem "The Poet".
  • 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.) This may be a misinterpretation of the signatures left by master cutter George Peckham.
  • Page also composed the original music for Lucifer Rising, a film by Kenneth Anger heavily influenced by Crowley.
  • Mick Jagger composed the soundtrack to another Crowley inspired Kenneth Anger film, 'Invocation of my Demon Brother'.
  • The track Synchronicity II, from the album Synchronicity by The Police, is said to be partly inspired by strange events at Boleskine House while Jimmy Page was the owner.
  • 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 and his songwriter Paulo Coelho were 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.
  • 'Anti-folk' musician Kimya Dawson depicts hell as a place "where Aleister Crowley milks cows in the dairy" in the song "Velvet Rabbit"
  • John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is an admirer of Crowley, and the songs, '666' , 'I'm Around' , 'Emptiness' and 'Look On' (from his solo album, 'Inside of Emptiness') are all inspired by Crowley.
  • American Heavy Metal band, Devildriver, also reference Crowley in the lyrics of their song, 'Nothings Wrong?': "Do what thou wilt, Shall be the whole of the law, Do what thou wilt, All they understand is the claw."
  • The alternative scottish rock band Primal Scream refrases a sentence from Crowley's Liber Al vel Legis (I, 3: "Every man and every woman is a star") in the refrain of their song 'Star': "Every brother is a Star, Every sister is a Star"
  • Krautrock legends Can recorded a song named "Augmn" (Crowley's ultimate word of power) on the Album "Tago Mago" (which itself is a rock formation off the coast of Ibiza, reputedly part of the Crowley legend).
  • Alternative-rock band 311 uses the quote "do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law" in their song "offbeat bare ass" from their sophmore "grassroots" album.

[edit] In print

  • Crowley is the protagonist of British playwright Snoo Wilson's drama, The Number of the Beast (1982), which includes a magical contest between Crowley and Jack the Ripper.
  • In the first issue of The Sandman. Roderick Burgess, the shaven-headed and notorious "Daemon King" of England's occult scene, prior to his "success" in evoking and binding the Endless named Dream, remarks upon his rivalry with a contemporary mage, "Aleister." The attentive reader will notice that, later in the book, in the frame with the bouncers, there is a T-shirt sporting the disembodied head of an obvious Daffy Duck reject, who is pronouncing with so much spittle to "Do what thou wilt, Buster!"
  • In the novels of Robert Rankin, the character Hugo Rune is partially inspired by Crowley.
  • In David St. Clair's 1989 novel, Bloodline, the main character, Lois, discovers that her family bloodline is linked inextricably with that of Crowley.
  • In the Japanese manga D. Gray-man, there is a vampire-like exorcist named Aryster Krory who falls in love with an akuma (demon).
  • Somerset Maugham, who knew Crowley socially, used him as the inspiration for Oliver Haddo, the main character in Maugham's novel The Magician.
  • Aleister Crowley, explicitly identified by name, is a major character in F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre's 1994 novel The Woman Between the Worlds, and also appears in "The Enigma of the Warwickshire Vortex", a 1997 short story by MacIntyre. In both of these fictional works, MacIntyre divulges obscure but accurate facts about Crowley: for example, the surprising fact that the American author Ambrose Bierce was residing near the home of Crowley's parents in Leamington Spa in February 1875, nine months before Crowley's birth.
  • Crowley appears in the comic book Hellblazer (in the Critical Mass storyline, #92-96), where John Constantine merges the dark part of his own soul with the body of Crowley, and the new merged being sends itself to hell.
  • Piers Anthony used Crowley as the character of Master Therion in his Tarot science fiction trilogy first published in the early 1980s (God of Tarot, Vision of Tarot, and Faith of Tarot) as a satanist trying to convince the main character, a monk named Brother Paul, of the superior merits of Satanism. The series is filled with odd bits and trivia concerning Crowley and the Golden Dawn. The character Therion even derides "old Arthwaite," the name derisively given by Crowley to A. E. Waite, a ceremonial magician with whom Crowley had a relationship of mutual detest.
  • Crowley is briefly mentioned in two books by Mercedes Lackey, "The Fire Rose" and "The Serpent's Shadow."
  • In the Italian comic series "Martin Mistere", the character of Mabus is quite similar to Aleistar Crowley.
  • Scary Go Round, a webcomic by John Allison, features a character named "Bob Crowley" who is referred to as the "wickedest man in the world", and knows how to summon demons from other dimensions.

[edit] In film

  • In an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, a character posing as an evangelical style minister shouts "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law."
  • Crowley's name was also mentioned in the 2004 film "Scooby-Doo 2 Monsters Unleashed".
  • In V for Vendetta (film), "VVVVV", a motto used by Aleister Crowley, features prominently in full on a mirror. Thelema is a significant influence on Alan Moore. Crowley claimed to have invented the "V for Victory" hand gesture popularised by Churchill. "E.V." - "Evey", a prominent character in the film - or "Era Vulgaris" is Crowley's selected abbreviation used in place of "A.D."
  • Images of Crowley and many of his rituals are shown in the films of Kenneth Anger, most notably 'Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome', 'Invocation of My Demon Brother' and 'Lucifer Rising'
  • Toward the end of Rob Zombie's movie "House of the 1000 Corpses", after Denise and Jerry are lowered into Dr. Satan's Lair, Otis sends a tape player down after them that is playing the slowed down (looped) first line of Crowley's poem "The Poet" which is "Bury me in a nameless grave"

[edit] On television

  • In the Simpsons episode: "Pokey Mom", Marge tries to help an artistic ex-con called Jack Crowley, but he later turns out to be an incorrigible psychopath.
  • The Kids in the Hall sketch "The Pit of Ultimate Darkness" featured Kevin McDonald as Sir Simon Milligan, a would-be Crowley who boasted that he was "a man possessed by many demons—polite demons that would open a door for a lady carrying too many parcels—but demons, nonetheless."
  • Early in Mystery Science Theater 3000's airing of the film Devil Fish, Tom Servo proposes the subtitle "The Aleister Crappie Story!"
  • In the X-Files season two episode Die Hand Die Verletzt, Mulder and Scully travel to "Milford Haven", New Hampshire to investigate the ritualistic murder of a student who attends the local "Crowley High School".

[edit] On internet

  • In the recent Haunted Woods plot on Neopets, one of the main antagonists of the story is a Krawk named Mr. Krawley, a peddler of a magic potion that casts a curse upon an entire town.
  • Crowley appears as a picture of an occult figure in the infamous videoblog of Lonelygirl15.

[edit] In video games

  • In the playstation game Suikoden a mysterious magician hidden in a dark cave, the strongest magic user in the game, goes by the name Crowley.
  • In the Videogame Tales of Symphonia, the hooded master wizard who teaches you the "meteor swarm" spell is named Crowley.
  • A recent episode of the video game-reviewing show X-Play featured Aleister Crowley attempting to open a portal to Hell using old, discarded ET: The Extraterrestrial video game cartridges.
  • Aleister (disguised with the name "Adam") Crowley was the key villain in the video game Nightmare Creatures by Kalisto Entertainment originally released in Europe on 12/17/97. A sequel was made and released on 05/24/00. Both portrayed Crowley as a madman stirring Black Magic.
  • In the videogame Clive Barker's Undying, the main villain Otto Keisinger mentions his contempt for his rival occultist Aleister Crowley.
  • In City of Heroes and City of Villains, Crowley's "research in chaos magics led to the creation of various artifacts that bear his name". Heroes and villains whose powers came about through magical means are able to purchase Dual-Origin Enhancements that are, indeed, artifacts that Crowley himself supposedly used while working with magic. Also in City of Villains, Crowley's apparent love of arcane cuisines is made public, as he is the author of manuscripts "Chaos Cook Book" and "How to Serve Man".

[edit] In role-playing games

  • In the World of Darkness role-playing game metaverse, the mage faction known as the Cult of Ecstasy claims Crowley as one of its own, though holding him up as an example of what not to do.

[edit] External links

  • LAShTAL.COM is devoted to Thelemic cultural news and comment, with galleries, forums and more...
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