The Number of the Beast: the adoption of apocalyptic imagery in heavy metal. Rupert Till Introduction: What is this that stands before me? This paper asks in what ways apocalyptic imagery, characters, and other material from the biblical Book of Revelation, and more specifically reference to the Devil or Satan, are evident in the cultures and occultures of heavy metal. It asks in what way the original meanings of the text have been sustained or altered, and why it is that this is the case. It asks what implications this has for our understanding of how religion and meaning operate within contemporary society, and what this tells us about changing patterns of belief and consciousness in popular culture. Bayer (2009a: 2-6) provides a useful survey of scholarly books on the popular music genre of heavy metal, providing a relevant bibliography (Bayer 2009a: 9-13), and Weinstein has provided a useful definition of metal (1991: 22-35). It is an international cultural field with a history of at least 40 years, with innumerable cultural operators and outputs, and millions of participants and fans. This book begins by outlining the origins and nature of the Devil in Revelation and apocalyptic Christian writing. It discusses the popular conception of a single contemporary character known as the Devil, Satan or the Antic-Christ, and how he fits into the apocalyptic, drawing upon Cohn (1995) in particular. It goes on to investigate briefly how the blues became associated with the Devil, before moving on to discuss how a popular (oc)cultural conception of the apocalyptic has come to be a key feature of heavy metal. Headbanging, a heavy metal dance form, is then considered alongside the Jungian concept of the shadow. This is followed by a study of the incorporation of the apocalyptic into the work of the band Black Sabbath, who are usually credited as being the inventors of heavy metal. This develops into a more detailed look at the lead singer of the band, Ozzy Osbourne, and what the implications are of him being known as ‘the Prince of Darkness’, discussing the characters he and other rock stars play in the popular imagination. This paper will focus on the origins of the apocalyptic in heavy metal. Black and death metal acts focus on the Devil, the Anti-Christ and Satan more specifically, some time after the musical period that this chapter discusses. These forms of extreme metal, although more overtly linked to the apocalyptic, are not discussed here in great depth, for more information see Extreme Metal by Keith Kahn Harris (2007). This chapter does not claim that the apocalyptic, and links to subjects such as the demonic or to death, are what define or uniquely explain metal, but that they are clearly and often present, and are an interesting feature that is not inevitably negative. It is acknowledged that metal has various elements of light and optimistic material, but this chapter aims to focus on its dark side, its shadow. The book focuses on western European culture, and on the development of heavy metal culture in Britain in particular. Figure in Black that Points at Me: The Apocalyptic Devil Before we can discuss the Devil, we must first look at who he is and where this familiar apocalyptic character comes from. The last book of the new testament of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, is often attributed to Jesus’ disciple John the apostle, and yet it is almost certainly not written by him. It is included in the Bible as John’s Revelation, but was probably written about 95 AD (Cohn 1995: 212) by a different John. It is perhaps the primary apocalyptic text of Western Europe of the last 1800 years. The falsity of this link to Jesus reinforces the implicit criticism by heavy metal of the Christian approach to the apocalypse that will be discussed later. Revelation is a typical apocalyptic document, Cohn explains in some detail its position in the history of the apocalyptic. Over the years, the purgatory it describes has been elaborated and expanded upon, filled with beasts, otherworldly creatures, devils, demons, and other