Who invented the “devil horns” hand signal? Gene Simmons, Ronnie James Dio or John Lennon?

Lennon_horns1 Everybody is pretty much familiar with the infamous “evils horns” hand signal so popular amongst heavy metal fans but accoring to this article from Blabbermouth (which is in fact a reprint from a piece in Ear Candy magazine) it was not Ronnie James Dio or Genne Simmons that invented this method of expression but none other than John Lennon himself. Is there nothing that those Beatles didn’t do first? Have a great weekend everybody!


  1. Everyone always says its satanic to throw the devil horns up at a rock concert. The way i see it is ”gangstas” get to use gang signs like crip,east/west side to symbolize what they represent so why cant us rockers do it with out getting reconized as satanic freaks. Its what we represent so everyone just needs to shut the hell up about it.

  2. His thumb is clearly sticking out, but mostly cropped out of the picture. Add said thumb, and it’s no longer devil horns; it’s the hand gesture for “I love you”. I think it’s safe to say Lennon giving the “I love you” symbol with his hand is a much more reasonable assumption than his showing off of the devil horns.

  3. Hey Rockers- i’m a fellow rabid rock and roll dude from flag AZ…just wanted to let you know, me and my boy Kritch -aka- “Rock” are the ones who invented the “horns”. Ya see, we are BIG Crue fans and love throwing the horns in every direction while we take a walk on the wild side. So if anyone asks, just tell them ROCK and ROLL are the ones who threw the first horns and just bang your head-

    Rock on fellow bangers stay red hot
    R. ROLL- Flag AZ

  4. the ILY sign faces the other way. This is comparable to the “shaka” sign popularized by Hawaiians. Mainland companies make t-shirts printed with the “shaka” hand in the wrong position too. You do that in Hawaii and they’ll eat your lunch. I suppose john lennon could have not known this about the ILY but I doubt millions of rockers are wrong.

  5. wtf is with this bullshit, what we think satan looks like is just made up, nobody really knows, omg its just horns, how do you kno satan has horns? does he visit you every now and then? if you read the bible it says satan was once a beautiful angel. Those horns are nothing but a sign to say ‘ROCK ON’

  6. nope, this was clearly predated in 1969 by Coven on thier album “Witchcraft – Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls”, they also had a song called “Black Sabbath” that predates the popular metal band with Ozzy in it … and Coven also had a band member named Oz Osborne in it … ironic?

  7. actually the bible clearly states that Satan was the *most* beautiful of angels and still was after his downfall… if you buy that. regardless, the “horns” have been around in ancient history for thousands of years… a Roman & Greek curse, a sign of infidelity… also very common in Hindu usage as is the “OK” sign that Paul shows on the same album cover… and you may recall that they were heavily influenced by a Hindu teacher (yes, a Swami!) at the time.

    Glad to settle that for ya!

  8. Symbols mean what you want them to mean. I change the radio station with my middle finger. Does that mean im flicking of my radio? Nope. I could raise my pinky and say “wooo go satan” and that would be a symbol. Just because two symbols look alike doesnt mean thats why it was created. Gene Sions actually created it. He was waving to his grandma in the crowd but he could only raise 2 fingers. Everyone did it because he did.

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