0:00:09 - (Matt): Ah, heavy metal. Love it or hate it if you can believe it, it's now been a part of our culture for five decades. And when you think of visual cues and accoutrements that go along with heavy metal, maybe long hair, denim jackets, studded leather, and white high top sneakers come to mind. But you'd be correct, that's a pretty standard heavy metal uniform. Not that one would be uninvited to the listening party if they didn't wear the right clothes.

0:00:35 - (Matt): But maybe even more universal is something more basic, the double horns hand gesture. Oh, yeah. You know, the one where the tips of the middle and the ring finger touch the thumb like this. Well, right on cue. Something so widely understood to mean rock on the heavy metal. Or this music is evil. Or maybe more generally, it's party time, and its ubiquity to the spirit of heavy metal had to get its own icon.

0:01:06 - (Matt): So we got to work. There's a lot of lore behind where the hand gesture came from, what it originally meant, and who popularized it to be so universal to heavy metal culture. So throw up those horns and let's rock and roll, because this is fa one behind the icon. Well, well, well. Here we are, podcast. Awesome listener. If you have been listening in for the last couple weeks, you know that when it comes to these behind the Icon series podcast, I will be recommending you to YouTube to check out the episode there because there are some fun visuals that we add to the video version. So you want to check that out. But of course, you can go ahead and listen in here on the regular old audio, which is also welcome.

0:02:08 - (Matt): But anyway, without further ado, please enjoy the rest of the hand horns behind the icon podcast. If you dig deep enough into the origin of the devil horns gesture, you'll find that it's not always universally known as a heavy metal hand signal. In some cultures, it's meant to ward off evil spirits. But for our purposes, we're going to follow the hand horns down into the deep, dark heavy metal dungeon. So who popularized the devil horns? In the world of heavy metal?

0:02:49 - (Matt): Most people would say Ronnie James Dio, the powerhouse vocalist, frontman of the D O band and the second vocalist of Black Sabbath after Ozzy Osbourne. And for those keeping score, Dio also fronted seventies acts Elf and Rainbow prior to Sabbath and Dio. During Dio's time in Black Sabbath, at the time of the Heaven and Hell release, it's said that he flashed the devil horns during a show and he just kept doing it.

0:03:16 - (Matt): He wanted to differentiate himself from Ozzy. He used to notoriously double peace signs, but he also wanted to keep some frontman continuity, obviously. So while Dio doesn't claim to have invented the hand sign, he reluctantly agrees. He was probably the one to popularize it. In fact, the history of the hand sign goes about as deep as you'd like to go. Geezer Butler, the bassist of Black Sabbath, is found flashing the sign in a picture from as early as 1969.

0:03:44 - (Matt): But there are other bands with Skin in the game, too. The occult tinged band coven is pictured on the COVID of their 1969 album witchcraft destroys minds and reaps souls. So, fun fact, kiss bass man Gene Simmons once tried to trademark the devil horns, but sorry, Gene, nice try. Kiss didn't appear on the scene until 1974, so the fox of all this lore are a little bit debated, but we're going to go with Dio on this one.

0:04:13 - (Matt): Though he was by no means the originator, Dio told the media more than once that he got the hand sign from his italian grandmother.

0:04:21 - (Ronnie James Dio): I'm of italian extraction, and my grandmother, my grandfather on both sides of both my mother's and father's side, came to America from Italy, and they had superstitions. And I would always see my grandmother when I was a little kid, you know, with her holding my hand and walking down the street. She would see someone and go, what's that? And eventually learned that it was called the Maloik. And the Maloik was someone was giving us the evil eye, so she's giving it protection against the evil eye. Or you can give someone the evil eye, too. So invent it. No, but perfect it and make it important.

0:04:55 - (Ronnie James Dio): Yes, because I did it so much, especially within the confines of that great band Sabbath, which had this incredible name already, and you put that together with what people think it is, but for me, because I'm lucky enough to have kind of just have done it so much, it's been more equated with me than anyone else.

0:05:11 - (Matt): So maybe it's a bit like avoiding stepping on cracks so you don't break your mama's back throwing salt over your shoulder or knocking on wood. So going back to the idea of the evil eye, I've got a personal anecdote, actually, of my own. I recently spent a months living in Greece with my family, and the evil eye seemed to be a prevalent superstition among the Greeks. I was curious to learn more about it, and after reading up and asking the locals about it, about its origin and its meaning.

0:05:41 - (Matt): So imagine this, that you're minding your own business, you're strolling down the bustling markets and suddenly you feel that chill down your spine. You turn around to see someone giving you the stink eye. But it's not just any old glare. It's the evil eye. And it's packed with centuries of superstition and folklore. It was believed that certain individuals possessed the power to cast curses simply by looking at someone with envy or malice.

0:06:08 - (Matt): Others trace its roots to ancient Egypt, where the eye of the God Horus was believed to protect against malevolent stairs. But regardless of its origins, one thing's for sure, it's a symbol of envy, jealousy and all around bad juju, bad vibes. That's why you'll find it everywhere. From amulets dangling off doorways to intricate designs adorning pottery and jewelry, all of the tourist trap areas. You found these evil eyes everywhere we went. So the next time you feel that chill down your spine or catch somebody giving you the hairy eyeball, remember the ancient origins of the evil eye. It's not just a superstition, it's a cultural phenomenon steeped in history and mystery lurking in the shadows of mediterranean folklore. So keep your eyes peeled and may the evil eye never darken your doorstep.

0:06:56 - (Matt): However, one uses the devil horns. Whether as a way to ward off or project the evil eye, just know it's not your regular hand gesture or a chance for you to show off your latest manicure. It's the metal head's three finger salute, imbued with the power to summon the rock gods. It's a sign of mosh pit camaraderie and the universal sign that the party is indeed in full effect. So to get to the part of this that is actually icon and tech design related, we're going to talk to our icon designer, Jori Raphael, to give us the background on when he created the hand horns icon.

0:07:41 - (Matt): What's the.

0:07:42 - (Jory): Isaac, could I get some more coffee?

0:07:43 - (Matt): Yeah, please. I mean, we can't. We. This takes a little. It takes energy. It takes energy to do this and we, we have to have. We gotta have some caffeine, man. So. So, hand horns icon, tell me a little bit about the making of the hand horns icon. What's the story behind that?

0:08:08 - (Jory): This story is not nearly as exciting. We were making a bunch of hand icons and I was looking at the existing hand icons and emoji sets, and one of the icons was this. And I made this icon. And what I didn't know when I made this icon is how near and dear it would be to your heart.

0:08:28 - (Matt): Yeah, very much so. Yeah.

0:08:31 - (Jory): So we included it because emoji. Include it. And we were making a bunch of hand icons, and it just was a natural fit. And so, yep, it's there.

0:08:57 - (Matt): He wanted to differentiate himself, and so he started doing the evil eye, and it just caught on, and here we are.

0:09:04 - (Jory): So this is. Horizontal is really the proper.

0:09:08 - (Matt): I don't think it matters.

0:09:09 - (Jory): Well, because you're, you know, unless you're, you know, this is. I've always been like this, but. But it feels like. And that's maybe because you're raising your hand up. Right, but, like, feels like it's a little bit more pointy.

0:09:21 - (Matt): Yeah. Right.

0:09:23 - (Jory): Isaac, get me some coffee.

0:09:26 - (Matt): This is ridiculous.

0:09:27 - (Jory): Like that?

0:09:28 - (Matt): Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like that. Yeah, that's good.

0:09:31 - (Jory): Interesting.

0:09:31 - (Matt): Well, thanks for sharing the story.

0:09:34 - (Jory): Anytime. Anything that I can. Anytime. You're welcome.

0:09:39 - (Matt): Thank you.

0:09:40 - (Jory): Great being here. Yeah, and it's ridiculous I don't get any coffee.

0:09:56 - (Matt): So we don't see our oddball icons in the wild often, but we believe in you, font awesome community. Now's your chance and show us what you've got. With an appropriate use of the hand horns icon. And did you know that you can commission an icon to be officially added to font awesome? It's true. All font awesome users will have access to the icon and will note you as the official sponsor. Get in touch with us for more details and next steps.

0:10:21 - (Matt): Or you can make an icon request and vote it up the ranks of our icon leaderboard to get it officially added to font awesome. And maybe I'll just give you a quick little sneak peek of something that I've been working on. It is a metal version of the font awesome theme song. You know that cool electronic song that rolls at the beginning and the end of the podcast? That's right. An extreme metal version of it, which is composed by the my old buddy Andy Mayer, who plays in the metal band opponent.

0:10:52 - (Matt): So I'm hoping that there's going to be a legitimate use of this version of the theme song. But we'll see how it goes, we'll see where it fits and if the bosses sign off on it. But for now, enjoy. All right, so it's time to roll credits. If you enjoyed this video rendition of podcast awesome, pass it on to your friends. We're gonna do more of these behind the Icon special series, which are super fun, so keep an eye out for that. As always, podcast awesome is produced and edited by yours truly, this guy, Matt Johnson.

0:12:36 - (Matt): The podcast awesome theme song, the original one that is, was composed by Ronnie Martin, and audio mastering was done by Chris Enz. Oh, and I should also mention that the editing of this video version of the podcast was completed by our very own Isaac Chase. Good job, Isaac.