Hand-horns: The story behind the popular rock-concert gesture

Who created the heavy metal horns gesture? 

If there is something that characterizes the world of rock (especially in Heavy Metal and Hard Rock) is to make the sign of the horns with the hand (whether the singers themselves, other components of a band, spectators and fans in general of this musical genre). This gesture is commonly known as 'maloik' or 'horned hand' and behind it there is a whole world of interpretations and possible origins, so where does it come from to make this sign?

The most widespread version about who popularized the sign of the horns in the world of rock is the one that includes the famous singer 'Ronnie James Dio', from 1979, when he signed as vocalist in the band 'Black Sabbath', replacing 'Ozzy Osbourne'. It was in one of the first concerts that Ronnie James Dio performed with his new band, at the beginning of the 80's, when he made a gesture with his hand that immortalized him: the sign of the horns or as he later called it: 'malocchio' a symbol that he said he had learned from his grandmother, of Italian origin, and that she made as a superstition to scare away the devil.

The reason why he had specifically made that sign, he answered that just as his predecessor in the band (Ozzy Osbourne) had the habit of making the sign of victory (index and middle fingers in the form of V) he wanted to have his own to differentiate himself from him, so he chose to make the sign of his grandmother. Of course, he ruled out any satanic symbolism in the gesture, no matter how many double readings some have tried to give to the sign of the horned hand. Most sources indicate that the term 'maloik' is an alteration of the Italian 'malocchio'.

Although this is the story about who and when popularized the sign of the horns, it should be noted that a decade before Ronnie Dio did it there are already graphic evidence of other singers or rock bands in which they appear doing it, for example, on the cover of the album 'Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls' that the American Hard Rock band 'Coven' published in 1969 two of its components appear making the sign of the horns.

On the other hand, also in 1969, the British rock band 'The Beatles' reissued their famous album 'Yellow Submarine' (recorded three years earlier) and in which the cover of the new LP (which was changed) was an illustration where John Lennon appeared making the sign. The curious thing is that in the reissue of the single, Lennon made that gesture but with his thumb extended whose meaning is 'I love you' in the sign language used by the deaf and dumb. What is not very clear is which of the two bands (Coven or The Beatles) published their album before (they coincided in date) and the experts do not end up indicating who would take the honor of being the first.

But in the short list of three candidates for claiming the authorship of being who popularized the maloik in the world of rock we find 'Gene Simmons', member of the famous band 'Kiss', who in a concert in 1974 made the gesture with the extended finger (the same that I have explained in the preceding paragraphs) and in 1977 appeared making the sign of the horned hand (with the thumb folded). It is necessary to indicate that many are the concerts and later photographs in which Simmons appears only doing this gesture but with the extended thumb, reason why the fans of Ronnie James Dio defend that this one is the true architect of the popularization of the horned hand and not Simmons.