Virtual Memories Show 609:
Doug Brod
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“I wanted to approach LaVey from a journalistic point of view . . . I wanted to try to get to the real story, to humanize this guy who was seen as a demonic character.”
Hail Satan! It’s spooky season, and writer/editor Doug Brod joins the show to celebrate his fantastic new biography, BORN WITH A TAIL: The Devilish Life and Wicked Times of Anton Szandor LaVey, Founder of the Church of Satan (Hachette). We talk about the line between huckster and believer, the history of the Church of Satan, why Doug didn’t want to puncture the mythology LaVey built around his life, and the fun of writing a chapter about Sammy Davis Jr. exploring Satanism. We also get into how LaVey’s philosophy of self-deification and aesthetics managed to penetrate American culture, how Doug balanced reporting & cultural history for the book, the people he wishes he could’ve interviewed, how LaVey reveled in spreading his gospel to the post-punk/’zine generation in the ’90s, what it takes to create one’s own aesthetic world while still going out to Olive Garden, Doug’s first book about ’70s hard rock, what it means to consider Satan as metaphor rather than incarnated being, and more. Give it a listen! And go read Born with a Tail: The Devilish Life and Wicked Times of Anton Szandor LaVey, Founder of the Church of Satan!
“At a certain point, you say so what if this guy embellished his résumé. He was building up a myth, like so many other celebrities do in our culture.”
“The Church of Satan wasn’t a Satan-worshipping or devil-worshipping church; it was a self-empowering group that acted out psychodramas, and gave people confidence.”
“I’m inclined to think a lot of it was performance art, but there was also genuine feeling behind the philosophy, a genuine attempt to form a movement or group that would take his philosophy seriously and use it to better themselves.”
“He had the perception of wealth without being wealthy, and the perception of power without being powerful. It was all about perception to him.”
Enjoy the conversation! Then check out the archives for more great episodes!
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About our Guest
Doug Brod is the former editor in chief of SPIN and TV Guide magazines and the author of They Just Seem a Little Weird: How KISS, Cheap Trick, Aerosmith, and Starz Remade Rock and Roll. He has also been an editor at Entertainment Weekly and Condé Nast and has written for The New York Times, Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, and Fangoria. A native New Yorker, he lives with his family in Toronto, where he is an editor at the Toronto Star.
Follow Doug on Instagram.
Credits: This episode’s music is Fella by Hal Mayforth, used with permission from the artist. The conversation was recorded remotely via Zencastr. I used a Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone feeding into a Zoom PodTrak P4. All processing and editing done in Adobe Audition CC. Photo of Doug by . . . someone else. It’s on my instagram.