Kier-La Janisse and Paul Corupe – “Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s” [Book Review]

Satanic Panic caught my attention right away because, as someone who is a child of the ’80s, not only am I very familiar with the topic, but I was also somewhat part of it.

The book takes an in-depth look at the “Satanic Panic” that spread rapidly throughout the world during the ‘80s. The Devil and his followers literally became the scapegoats for all of society’s wrong doings. Murders and rapes were blamed on everything from board games and music to movies and books. Pretty much the world, and more specifically parents, the church and the Moral Majority, were convinced that indulging and or immersing oneself in pop culture of any kind would cause you to lose your mind and want commit horrible crimes against nature and humanity.

Edited from a particularly dark-sided view, it is clear the editors are attempting to come from the opposite end of the spectrum, but do a fantastic job with great pictures, informative interviews and chats with people in “the scene” at the time.

As I mentioned earlier, I lived through this era of record burning, the PMRC and the lectures on the evils of Dungeons and Dragons and, while I may be located a little bit to the right of where these guys appear to be, I think the book does an accurate and phenomenal job of capturing the feel and the essence of the times.

Written by: Kier-La Janisse (Editor), Paul Corupe (Editor)
Format/Length: Paperback, 368 pages
Publisher: FAB Press; 2 edition (August 1, 2016)

Check out the “Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s” book trailer