Coven is an American rock band formed in

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the late 1960s. They had a top 40 hit in 1971 with the song " One Tin Soldier", the theme song of the movie ''

Billy Jack ''Billy Jack'' is a 1971 American action drama independent film, the second of four films centering on a character of the same name which began with the movie '' The Born Losers'' (1967), played by Tom Laughlin, who directed and co-wrote the s ...

.'' Coven was composed of vocalist Esther "Jinx" Dawson, bassist Greg "Oz" Osborne, guitarist Chris Neilsen, keyboardist Rick Durrett (later replaced by John Hobbs), and drummer Steve Ross. In addition to pioneering

occult rock Occult rock (also known as doom rock or witch rock) is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the late 1960s to early 1970s, pioneered by bands such as Coven and Black Widow. The genre is influenced by hard rock, proto-metal, psychedelic ...

with lyrics and aesthetics that explicitly dealt in themes of Satanism and

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have u ...

, they are recognized by

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typi ...

fans and metal historians as being the band that introduced the "

Sign of the horns The sign of the horns is a hand gesture with a variety of meanings and uses in various cultures. It is formed by extending the index and little fingers while holding the middle and ring fingers down with the thumb. Religious and superstiti ...

" to rock, metal and

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ...

, as seen on their 1969 debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

release ''

Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls ''Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls'' (also known as simply ''Witchcraft'') is the debut studio album by the American rock band Coven. Released in 1969, it was unusual in that it dealt with overtly occult and satanic themes. It was removed ...

''.

History

Dawson and Osborne, after playing together in the group Him, Her and Them, formed Coven with Ross in

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in the late 1960s. In 1967 and 1968 they toured, playing concerts with artists including

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page is prolific in creating guitar riffs. His style involves various ...

's Yardbirds, the

Alice Cooper Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, February 4, 1948) is an American rock singer whose career spans over five decades. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusions, including pyrotechnics, guilloti ...

band, and

Vanilla Fudge Vanilla Fudge is an American rock band known predominantly for their slow extended heavy rock arrangements of contemporary hit songs, such as their hit cover of The Supremes' " You Keep Me Hangin' On". The band's original line–up—vocalist ...

. Coven signed with

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

and released their debut album, ''

'' in 1969. The music on the album was considered underground rock; what made it distinctive was the heavy emphasis on diabolical subject matter, including songs such as "The White Witch of Rose Hall" (based on the story of Annie Palmer), "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", "Black Sabbath" and "Dignitaries of Hell". The album concluded with a 13-minute track of chanting and Satanic prayers called "Satanic Mass" (written by their producer,

Bill Traut William Raymond Traut (March 20, 1929 – June 5, 2014) was an American jazz musician, rock music producer, manager and record label executive. He co-founded the Dunwich and Wooden Nickel record labels, and produced The Shadows of Knight, The ...

, of

Dunwich Productions Dunwich Records was an independent American record label started by Bill Traut, Eddie Higgins and George Badonsky in Chicago in 1965. Dunwich was also a production company which licensed recordings to other labels, including Atlantic, Atco, Co ...

, and described as ''"the first Black Mass to be recorded, either in written words or in audio"''). This Satanic Mass was also the first time Latin phrases such as "

Ave Satanas ''Hail Satan'', sometimes Latinized as ''Ave Satanas'' or ''Ave Satana'', is an exclamation used by some Satanists to invoke the name of Satan in contexts ranging from sincere expression to comedy or satire. The Satanic Temple uses the phrase a ...

" were used in

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism ...

rock music, and later

Satanic Satanic may refer to: * Satan * Satanism * ''Satanic'' (2006 film), a 2006 American horror film * ''Satanic'' (2016 film), a 2016 American horror film * Operation Satanic, when the DGSE bombed the Rainbow Warrior in Auckland Harbour See also * ...

and

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

bands continued this innovation (see

List of songs with Latin lyrics This is a list of songs having lyrics in Latin. This list contains songs that are performed in Latin by the named performers. Songs that sample other recorded music in Latin do not become eligible only by virtue of that sampling. Songs with only ...

for some examples). Also included inside the album was Coven's infamous Black Mass

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. ...

, showing members of the group displaying the sign of the horns as they prepared for a Satanic ritual over a nude Dawson lying on an

altar An altar is a Table (furniture), table or platform for the presentation of religion, religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, Church (building), churches, and other places of wo ...

. Unwanted publicity came to the band in the form of a sensationalistic ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'' magazine issue entitled "Evil Lurks in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

" (Esquire, March 1970), which linked

counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Ho ...

interest in the occult to

Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...

and the Tate-La Bianca murders, while also mentioning the ''Witchcraft'' album and its Black Mass material. As a result, the album was pulled from circulation. Dawson recorded the vocals for " One Tin Soldier", the title theme for the 1971 film ''

'', which was credited as "sung by Coven". The song, which went on to reach number 26 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, was written by

Dennis Lambert Dennis Earle Lambert (born 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Lambert began his music career in 1960 when he signed to Capitol Records as a recording artist. By the mid-1960s, he was w ...

and Brian Potter and was originally released by The Original Caste in 1969. Coven's version also reached the top 10 in '' Cash Box'' and was named the Number 1 Most Requested Song in 1971 and 1973 by American Radio Broadcasters. It also peaked at number 45 in Australia. In 1971, the band released a self-titled album that included "One Tin Soldier". Their third album, ''Blood on the Snow'', was produced by

Shel Talmy Sheldon Talmy (born August 11, 1937) is an American record producer, songwriter and arranger, best known for his work in the UK in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks and many others. Talmy arranged and produced hits such as "You Really Got Me" ...

and released by

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foundi ...

in 1974.

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

produced a music video for the title track. After multiple unlicensed CD releases of the ''Witchcraft'' album over the years, it was officially released on the band's own Nevoc label in 2007. The following year, Coven released ''Metal Goth Queen: Out of the Vault 1976–2007'' on Nevoc, an album composed of previously unreleased recordings. ''Jinx'', an album of new recordings, was self-released on Nevoc in 2013. Jinx Dawson recruited a new line up of musicians in late 2016 - early 2017 in order to perform at Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, The

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on April 20, 2017. This was Coven's first performance in

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Discography

* ''

'' (1969, Mercury) * ''Coven'' (1971, MGM) * ''Blood on the Snow'' (1974, Buddah) * ''Metal Goth Queen: Out of the Vault 1976–2007'' (2008, Nevoc) * ''Jinx'' (2013, Nevoc) * ''Light The Fire'' EP (2016, Nevoc)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Acid rock music groups American psychedelic rock music groups American occultists Musical groups established in 1969 1969 establishments in Illinois Musical groups disestablished in 1975 1975 disestablishments in Illinois Musical groups reestablished in 2007 Musical groups from Chicago Mercury Records artists MGM Records artists Buddah Records artists Occult rock musical groups