The Days of Lore

Hand jive

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008 | musiX | No Comments

I just saw Wu-Tang Clan live for the first time. Not a minute went by where RZA or some Wu-Wear wearer in the audience didn’t flash the Wu-Tang “W” (place thumbs together and hold it high!). I recall seeing photos of people making the same hand sign at Weezer shows. It got me to thinking about all the different ham-fisted hand salutes …

Of course, there’s the classic devil horns, which originated … well, it’s been argued by scholars of metal as to who started it. Some say it was Ronnie James Dio. Gene Simmons claims it was He who first drew devil horns as illustrated on the cover of 1977’s Love Gun album … of course, according to Gene Simmons, he also started the concept of sex with groupies. And sex in general … oh, and breathing.

But there are others. Van Halen had one—sort of a variation of the devil horns where you form a diamond by placing your pointer fingers and thumbs together and formed what I guess was a “VH.” And then there’s the lovable li’l heart sign, shown left at an M.I.A. concert. If you go to a metal show, they’ll maybe raise a clenched fist or simply flip the classic I’m-pissed-at-the-world (i.e. my parents) middle finger.

I think next time I go to a rock show I’m going to drop the “OK” sign. It just says, “Hey, nice job.” Unless you’re in Brazil or Spain, where it means “asshole” or “cuckoldry.” I think Gene Simmons invented those, too.

Tags: Gene Simmons, KISS, Love Gun, M.I.A., Ronnie James Dio, RZA, Van Halen, Weezer, Wu-Tang Clan