Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s

I was there and remember. Great historical account of the culture wars in 1980s era America. We’ll written and a good read.

The 20 essays cover topics such as Michelle Smith's 1980 bestseller Michelle Remembers, Russ Martin's 1970s-1980s paperback novels such as Rhea and The Devil and Lisa Black, crusades against roll playing games and the syndicated television series cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Jack Chick, Geraldo River's 1988 TV special, 1980s hard rock bands and music videos, Mike Warnke, Bob Larson, and HBO's 1995 production, The McMartin Trial. As the above paragraph shows, the book is mulit-media in it's coverage. Novels, cartoon books, music, movies and TV all get coverage. The chapter on role playing games includes a look at the case of James Dallas Egbert III and a book about him by William Dear that inpired the novel Mazes and Monsters that was adapted as a TVM in 1982. One essay focuses on Evilspeak (1982) and 976-Evil (1988) and their ties to technophobia, computers for the former and phones for the latter. One essay covers heavy metal in horror movies. Almost all movies that tie heavy metal in some ways to Satanism or merely feature a band that were accused of being Satanic such as KISS are covered. Another covers obscure home video pseudo-documentaries such as Not Just Fun & Games and Hells Bells : The Dangers of Rock 'n' Roll. Quebec, Canada is the focus of one chapter, which includes coverage of Le Diable est paron nour (1974), The Pyx (1975), Mondo Montreal (1990), and a few books and documentaries. Australia is the focus of another chapter with coverage of TV specials, two teleserial crime dramas, and Ozploitation flicks as diverse as Australia After Dark (1975), Alison's Birthday (1981), The Occult Experience (1985), Night of Fear (1972), Horwitz paperback books such as Kings Cross Black Magic. etc. The final chapter is on the movie The Burbs. As with all FAB Press books, a ton of pics to savor, Photos, posters, paperback book covers, video box covers and more. First rate, and those who lived during the 1980s will find this to be worth getting.

This is a bit of twisted nostalgia for anyone who grew up in the 70s and 80s. If you were under 16-ish, you likely recall the “threat” of everything from backwards masking on records and Dungeons and Dragons to your impending kidnapping and sale into a satanic cult. Technology, from VCRs to the *gasp* telephone were also thought of as sinister mechanisms to lure us to the dark side. We couldn’t even trust our toothpaste manufacturer, since Proctor and Gamble had THAT mark on their products.If any of the above rings a bell, you’ll likely enjoy this well researched and well written collection of essays that dig into the root cause for much of the hysteria and deftly illustrates that keeping people scared is an excellent tool for manipulation.

I love this book. I borrowed it from the library years ago and started reading it. I’ve long wanted to own a copy. It’s a sturdy book, good quality cover and pages and the print is attractive. The content in this book about the satanic panic years of the 1980s mostly is a major trip back to my childhood. My obsessions were Dungeons & Dragons and heavy metal — both targeted by the media and scared parents who blamed the mental health issues of the day on cultural elements of the day like these. Nothing beats good parenting and limited exposure to the media and communication with your kids! Stop blaming and trying to change society before trying to change yourself. Anyway, great book!

I for the most part liked it being a Generation X. Some of it was a little boring but the parts of the PMRC and the parts on heavy metal were amusing and nostalgic. Easy read and I recommend it for a metal fan.

I was born in 1988 so I missed out on most of the satanic panic that is discussed here. However, being the researcher that I am, and with so much information online, I became a bit of an expert. I had seen the Geraldo special, read and own all the so-called true stories of satanic rituals and abuse (The Satan Seller, Michelle Remembers, Satan's Underground, The Ultimate Evil, etc etc) and watched every McMartin/Kern County Prescool doc I could find. So none of this was particularly new to me. What's great is to have all these different subjects and more (D&D, horror paperbacks/movies, heavy metal music) presented in essay form from several different writers. I have to admit, for as much research as I did, I really hadn't looked into certain areas (Dungeon & Dragons) for lack of interest but even that essay kept my interest. Each piece works wonderfully it's own, but it's best to go from beginning to end. Possibly in one sitting, as I did.

Satanic Panic is a collection of essays with lots of pictures that discuss the panic about Satanism that took hold in the 80s. Overall the pieces are excellent, though they cover a broad range of topics so some may be more interesting than others. I especially enjoyed the chapters about music, and the evils of Saturday morning cartoons such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.I attended a very conservative church while growing up in the 80s, so this book brought back a lot of memories. I saw a lot of the VHS tapes describing the evils of rock and roll during "evening church." What a crazy time.

Such a great book. It’s very well written and is interesting.

Excelente abordagem da influencia da midia no panico das pessoas a respeito de figuras satanisticas e rituais macabros

Forty years ago, a coalition of fools and crooks generated a moral panic over satanism to enhance their power and line their own pockets. It was from first to last dishonest, and eventually fell apart, but not before doing a great deal of damage to innocent persons. Today the same playbook is being used against gay and trans people. Let's not fall for it again.

Great quality, fun read

A fascinating exploration of a particularly fraught strand of conspiracy theory and exaggerated media reaction, Satanic Panic: Pop Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s delves into the different ways and means devil worship infiltrated so many aspects of life. Anybody who grew up in that decade will remember the hysteria that was aroused from young people's apparent obsessions with all things the Devil. The moral panics that arose from such "threats" as heavy metal music and the horror "video nasties" furore were seemingly prevalent everywhere, and were frankly ludicrous. Intelligently written, hugely informative, and generously illustrated, the various perspectives to be found in this book edited by Kier-La Janisse and Paul Corupe offer a remarkable glimpse at a confusing and fear-filled period. Get thee behind me Satan!

un texto obligado para todos los amantes del tema satanico y sus panicos