{"id":160,"date":"2025-04-28T22:01:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T22:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/?p=160"},"modified":"2025-05-02T02:13:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T02:13:55","slug":"a-satanic-panic-electric-boogaloo-the-band-ghost-and-satanism-as-satire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/2025\/04\/28\/a-satanic-panic-electric-boogaloo-the-band-ghost-and-satanism-as-satire\/","title":{"rendered":"A Satanic Panic (Electric Boogaloo): The Band Ghost and Satanism-As-Satire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Aether Sickles<\/p>\n\n\n

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The first frontman, Papa Emeritus I\/\u201cPrimo\u201d and his Nameless Ghouls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Midnight, March 5th: \u201cSatanized\u201d by the band Ghost premiered on Youtube. I watched the premiere alongside hundreds of others\u2013 and I was enraptured. My attention was largely on how excited I was to be seeing something new from my favorite band. In the following days\u2013 okay, weeks (all month, actually)<\/s>\u2013 I scoured Tumblr, Twitter, and Discord for the reactions of other fans. While I saw all the reactions I expected to see (people were freaking out about the new full-body uniforms for the band; they were gossiping about the meanings of the song; all of the members of the band were in the music video playing the characters, their faces on display for the world to see, a thing that has never been done before in the history of Ghost<\/em>) I also saw that a great amount of people felt that the song was speaking to them on a personal level. See, Ghost uses Satanism as satire and metaphor, delving into the taboo to make statements about religious, cultural, and social current events. But as much as Ghost is about making a point through Satanism, it\u2019s equally about having fun: giving people the chance to forget about the horrors of the world around them\u2013 and feel like they aren\u2019t the only ones drowning in it. These two goals\u2013 satire and happiness\u2013 work together to create a space for people who feel othered by the world around them, and I\u2019ll be considering the band\u2019s history, created Lore, and the most recent song \u201cSatanized\u201d (off the upcoming Skelet\u00e1 <\/em>album) to demonstrate this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghost is a Satanic rock band hailing from Sweden known for its theatrics, on stage and off. The members dress up in costumes, take up personas, and play Satanic-themed songs in concert (called, thematically, Rituals<\/em>) while surrounded by flashy lighting<\/a> and pyrotechnics<\/a>. The lead singer, Tobias Forge, takes up the persona of the Antipope\u2013 the Antichrist but for the Catholic Pope\u2013 named \u2018Papa\u2019 (Papa Emeritus, more precisely), with outfits to match this clerical title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The character of \u2018Papa\u2019 has changed several times throughout the years, although Forge is the only singer Ghost has had\u2013 he wore full-head, realistic masks to disguise himself (and remained successfully anonymous until 2017). Technically, Forge is the only member of Ghost; the other musicians are hired only for touring. They go by the personas the Nameless Ghouls, wearing near-identical uniforms that makes it almost impossible to tell them apart (die-hard fans, though, find ways to tell them apart). These uniforms started with dark robes and black cloth face coverings; currently, the Nameless Ghouls sport the look of skeletal bodysuits and half-face masks with the choice between headdresses or tophats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to the songs, they have multiple meanings: the face value meaning and the satirical one, the third, fourth and so on\u2026 \u201cMummy Dust,\u201d<\/a> for example, features a character (the Antichrist) proclaiming their goal \u201cto corrupt humanity,\u201d while also scrutinizing predatory Churches and pyramid schemes\u2026 and <\/em>being one of the most sexually charged songs when performed on stage. \u201cPrime Mover\u201d<\/a> both describes the making of the Antichrist\u2013 and satirizes the idea of women only as babymakers. \u201cJigolo Har Megiddo<\/a>\u201d\u2013 well, this one is about sex and sexual liberation, all hiding under the guise of \u2018the Antichrist is doing evil things like tempting women into sex\u2019. These multi-meanings give the audience the chance to interpret and enjoy as they please, taking what they want from whichever songs they wish\u2013without impeding the satirical messages Ghost is trying to impart to their audience.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The fourth frontman, Cardinal Copia, before his ascension to Papa along with his Nameless Ghouls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Cardinal Copia after his ascension to Papa Emeritus IV along with his Nameless Ghouls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The tongue-in-cheek Satanism also exposes and criticizes social taboos: in an interview with LiveNationTV, a Nameless \u201cSpecial\u201d Ghoul says \u201cA couple of record pressing plants, they didn\u2019t want to print our previous record. It was not the upside down cross or anything. It was a vagina\u201d (Nameless \u201cSpecial\u201d Ghoul). Everyone expects the Satanism to be what people have issues with\u2013 and it is, often\u2013 but just as often, it\u2019s just female anatomy and sexuality people have a problem with, and have historically labeled as Satanic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghost likes to take less-than-stellar actions that organized religions (mostly Catholicism) have done, give them a Satanic makeover, and dare said religions to say something about it; Ghost calls them hypocrites<\/em>. Ghost does the same for political figures, usually conservative: \u201cTwenties\u201d<\/a> charges in, ready to take over the world as Satan demands, while very plainly making fun of Donald Trump. On a technical level, too, Ghost likes to corrupt religious texts and doctrines to fully make this point stick. For example, according to P.C.J.M. Paulissen, their song \u201cSatan Prayer\u201d<\/a> changes the words to the Nicene Creed (a creed that summarizes the faith of the Christian Church) from \u201cby whom all things were made\u201d (referencing God) to \u201cby whom all things will be unmade\u201d (now referencing Satan) (Paulissen 7). One of my favorite songs, \u201cHe Is,\u201d<\/a> sounds on first listen like any song you\u2019d hear sung in Church, until you listen closer to some of the lyrics and realize it\u2019s about Satan, not God. A third example of Ghost twisting religious text, doctrine, and behaviors is the song \u201cCirice\u201d<\/a> (Old English for Church). \u201cCirice\u201d in one analysis is about one person understanding another at the deepest level\u2013 during concerts Papa picks someone from the crowd and holds his hand out to them (while maintaining eye contact) as he sings to further this effect. However, the lyrics are similar to the ways that abusers, cults, and often Churches <\/em>talk to their partners and followers to manipulate them. So what Ghost is saying is: what better way to challenge beliefs and actions than taking them upon yourself and dressing like a clown, forcing others to gaze upon you like a mirror?<\/p>\n\n\n

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The fifth frontman, Papa V Perpetua, and his Nameless Ghouls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

LINK TO MUSIC VIDEO OF \u201cSATANIZED\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LINK TO THE LYRICS OF \u201cSATANIZED\u201d<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A deeper dive into Ghost\u2019s recent song \u201cSatanized\u201d will give us a more specific look into the multi-meanings of Ghost\u2019s songs and how they work together to generate satire and community simultaneously. \u201cSatanized\u201d is more introspective compared to most of Ghost\u2019s other songs, but nonetheless continues to use Satanism to make a point. The video is almost entirely greyscale and features a Monk believing he\u2019s possessed while confessing his sins\u2013 suggested to be of a sexual\/romantic nature, seen when the Monk stares wondrously, lustfully, at a nun\u2019s bare ankle. It begins with the Monk confessing to a Priest in a confessional; he\u2019s then overheard by nuns, who continuously tell him off throughout the video, even after he flees the confessional. The other monks\/nuns exorcise him\u2013 twice. The video ends with the Monk\u2019s image replaced with that of the newest Papa, Papa V Perpetua, and the first look at Papa and his Ghouls for the new era\u2013 the only part of the music video in color.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The first album cover, Opus Eponymous<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In an interview regarding \u201cSatanized,\u201d Forge says plainly \u201cIt’s a song about being in love and how that can potentially be mistaken as demonic possession\u2026” (Forge). But Ghost outright stating a meaning doesn\u2019t mean there aren\u2019t more, nor that people can\u2019t find their own personal meanings. There are three lyrical interpretations that I\u2019ll be focusing on, all interconnecting and countering each other. In the first interpretation, the Singer (synonymous with the Monk) is possessed; in the second, he only thinks <\/em>he\u2019s possessed, but isn\u2019t really (a slight but important distinction); and, in the third, more complicated interpretation, he begins the song believing he\u2019s possessed with something wrong with him\u2026 and ends it accepting (even proud of) the way he feels\/is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first face-value interpretation, that the Monk is possessed, hinges on the fact that Ghost parades itself as Satanic. In this interpretation \u201cSatanized\u201d is about someone possessed, forced into doing sinful actions. The first verse begins \u201cthere is something inside me\u201d later naming it as \u201ca demonic possession\u201d; the verse ends with him proclaiming he has been praying to be cured.<\/a> The chorus continues \u201cSave me from the monster that is eating me.\u201d Many won\u2019t bother to look any deeper, just like they don\u2019t acknowledge that the Satanism isn\u2019t serious. The \u201cSerious Satanists\u201d interpreters are the same kind of people that show up to Ghost concerts and protest (yes, it\u2019s happened).<\/p>\n\n\n

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The fourth album cover, Prequelle<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In the second analysis, the Monk only thinks <\/em>he’s possessed. The pre-chorus repeats \u201cI should have known\/Not to give in,\u201d suggesting that there is some element of control within the situation\u2013 that he had a choice in his actions. One could parallel this to having a midnight snack when you\u2019re on a diet, or a more sinister fall into drug addiction or alcoholism, or even someone who has internalized the message of work=life finally giving in to the temptation of taking a break (maybe, just maybe, there\u2019s something more to life than The Grind) and then feeling guilty about it afterwards, doubling down on the work=life attitude to compensate. The second verse goes \u201cThrough a life of devotion\/I\u2019ve been quelling my urges to burst,\u201d which is similar to religious celibacy or the idea that sex can only be used for reproducing, not for pleasure. For someone to break that celibacy (or even just heavily consider it) creates guilt and shame, and the confusion as to why they couldn\u2019t abstain when seemingly everyone else faithful can\u2026 and an easy explanation is that they were possessed. The song again suggests the Monk has choice and a form of control when it says \u201cI\u2019ve been fighting the notion\/To, by love, be coerced.\u201d The third verse adds \u201cI have begged God for the Remedy,\u201d supporting that the Monk feels<\/em> a lack of control despite his other statements (like the line from the pre-chorus). In this second interpretation, the Monk thinks he\u2019s been possessed by a demon that\u2019s been wearing him down over time, moving away from treating his body as God\u2019s. In reality he\u2019s more likely experiencing regular human feelings\u2026 and is ashamed of them, and convinces himself that it wasn\u2019t ever in his control to begin with\u2013 only the being possessing him. By using the Satanic theme (here, of possession) Ghost brings attention to the fact that actually, there are a lot of religious people who try to make others feel guilty for\u2026 having premarital sex? Not going to Church? Not being the perfect Man of God? Clearly, those people are Different, Weird, Satanic<\/em>! They need to be exorcised. Anyone growing up surrounded by this kind of thinking may very easily learn to blame their perceived shortcomings as temptations of the Devil or possession; or, they\u2019ll simply learn to feel guilty about things that are actually completely normal human behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the song evolves, so does the view of the Monk regarding his situation, which leads into the last interpretation. It begins with fear, the claim of possession, and a wish to be freed from this \u201cdeadly affliction\u201d; it ends with the acceptance that he cannot be freed\u2013 and perhaps he doesn\u2019t need to be.<\/em> The chorus remains largely the same throughout the song\u2013 a repeat of \u201cblasphemy, heresy,\u201d which mean speaking against and holding beliefs against those of God. \u201cFrom the bottom of my heart I know\u201d is also repeated, showing an understanding of the situation, which in this interpretation has negative connotations in the beginning and positive ones in the end. \u201cI\u2019m Satanized\u201d follows immediately after and is repeated at least three times per chorus. The only line that changes is the line after \u201cSave me\u2026 eating me\u201d: in the first chorus it says \u201cI\u2019m victimized,\u201d in the second \u201cI\u2019m paralyzed,\u201d and the third \u201cI\u2019m laicized.\u201d (Laicized means to withdraw clerical (priestly\/church leader) status.) This change from chorus to chorus shows a slow change in mindset: from a man looking for God to save him from \u2018possession\u2019 (AKA humanly desires, perfectly normal personality traits, and so on) to a man letting go of the idea that he needs to be saved. This is supported further by the last line in verse three: \u201cbut I\u2019m no longer sure.\u201d He slowly changes his mind from the beginning to the end, accepting the way that he feels. One could say that he becomes a worse person\u2013 casting away God and becoming a Sinner\u2013 but a gentler interpretation is simply that he\u2019s realized that there was nothing that needed to be fixed in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The sixth album cover, Skelet\u00e1<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The differences between these three interpretations highlight part of why Ghost is so popular. Plenty of \u2018othered\u2019 people have felt that there was something inherently wrong with them\u2013 Queer people, Neurodivergent people, more\u2013 when more accurately it is those around them that are the cause for that feeling of wrongness simply because they\u2019re different<\/em>. But not everyone deals with that feeling of being \u2018Other\u2019 the same way. Some think they must be possessed; others, that \u2018it is what it is\u2019 and they have to deal with it alone; yet more move through the world insisting that there\u2019s nothing about them that needs to change. A vast amount of queer people, in fact, felt that \u201cSatanized\u201d was an allegory for being queer, and their experiences with accepting that part of themselves. Being queer myself\u2026 yeah, I get it, too. But not once was queerness mentioned in the song, no pride flags or keywords at any point. \u201cSatanized\u201d isn\u2019t about being queer\u2026 but also, it absolutely is, and that\u2019s the magic of Ghost\u2019s songs. <\/em>So I ask: is \u201cSatanized\u201d a song about Catholic guilt, a man being in love with a woman, demonic possession, or a kid who hasn\u2019t yet realized he\u2019s transgender? Trick question: it\u2019s all of the above and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if some people don\u2019t look past the \u2018Satanic band having a song about possession\u2019, and others take the band\u2019s stated meaning of the song as gospel, there are still plenty of other ways a person can find their own independent interpretation. And having specific and serious morals and messages in their songs doesn\u2019t take away from the goal of making people happy, nor does wanting to make people happy take away from the more serious meanings behind their music. The two go hand-in\u2013hand, offering community and escape all in one. We get to choose what we get from these songs, just like we get to choose how we live our lives. Maybe we\u2019ll take a page from Ghost\u2019s book\u2013 be kind, be helpful, and don\u2019t put up with the people who try to drag you down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blabbermouth. \u201cGhost\u2019s Tobias Forge Says \u2018satanized\u2019 Is \u2018a Song about Being in Love.\u2019\u201d BLABBERMOUTH.NET<\/em>, 10 Mar. 2025, blabbermouth.net\/news\/ghosts-tobias-forge-says-satanized-is-a-song-about-being-in-love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghost. \u201cSatanized\u201d. Skelet\u00e1. <\/em>Loma Vista Recordings, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGhouls Just Wanna Have Fun.\u201d YouTube<\/em>, YouTube, 29 Aug. 2016, www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XEHhoHBntIU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paulissen, P.C.J.M. (Jarell). \u201cThe devil\u2019s music: Satanism and Christian rhetoric in the lyrics of the Swedish heavy metal band ghost.\u201d Religions<\/em>, vol. 12, no. 3, 21 Mar. 2021, p. 214, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rel12030214<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aether Sickles <\/strong>(they\/he) is a current English major at SUNY Cortland, and alum of Tompkins Cortland Community College. In 2023, they had an article published in Skeptical Inquirer Magazine<\/em> on cattle mutilations as part of a class project on pseudoscience, and in 2021, they had multiple class films\/projects featured in the Cayuga Film Festival. Currently, they\u2019re working on a short fiction story in-between class projects\u2013 and being obsessed with Ghost.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Aether Sickles Midnight, March 5th: \u201cSatanized\u201d by the band Ghost premiered on Youtube. I watched the premiere alongside hundreds of others\u2013 and I was enraptured. My attention was largely on how excited I was to be seeing something new from my favorite band. In the following days\u2013 okay, weeks (all month, actually)\u2013 I scoured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-issue1","8":"entry"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2025\/04\/Papa_V-600x400.png","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/49\/2025\/04\/Papa_V-600x600.png","author_info":{"display_name":"danica.savonick","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/author\/danica-savonick\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/442"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.cortland.edu\/emblaze\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}