HIM ( His Infernal Majesty )
Heartagram
The heartagram is the trademarked symbol of HIM, created by Ville Valo on the day of his twentieth birthday. Valo has said that "the heartagram stands for HIM as a band, as an entity, and for 'love metal' in general."[21] Many fans of the band have heartagram tattoos, or tattoos of other HIM emblems — such as the single heart on Valo's right wrist, and a number of fan-submitted photos of same decorated the lyric booklet for the limited edition of Dark Light. Ville Valo has allowed his close friend, Jackass star, actor, and professional skateboarder, Bam Margera to share the license on the heartagram image and Margera has accordingly used it for his promotional purposes, including using it on his Adio shoes and Element skateboards. Because of the shared license, the symbol is often thought to belong solely to Margera. Other well known individuals have also received a tattoo of the logo such as Kat Von D. According to Valo, the band has become better known for their logo than their music.[22]
In a video interview, Ville has stated that the heartagram is a "Modern Yin Yang," the heart being the Yang and the inverted pentagram being the Yin.
In the program LA Ink the tattoo parlour has a heartagram on the door.
A heartagram appears at the end of the music video for the song DARE by the band Gorillaz, where Murdoc wakes up, on the wall to the left hand side. It was also parodied, as the "horseagram" — a combination of a horse shoe and a pentagram — in the episode "Ode to Sue" of the video game comedy troupe Mega64.
During the filming of Jackass Number Two, cast member Steve-O got a parody tattoo of a heartagram called a "Dickagram", where the lowest point of the inverted pentagram is shaped like a penis.[23]
The heartagram was also shown in a couple of episodes in season 8 of The WB's Charmed as a demonic symbol and in an episode of Criminal Minds as a heartagram necklace.
Recently, the heartagram can be seen in the cover of the Spanish rock band "Mägo de Oz" new album titled "Gaia III: Atlantia". In which appears a purple octupus that has a heartagram tattoo in one of its tentacles.
Ville created a new style to the Heartagram, inspired by Aleister Crowley's unicursal hexagram.
Name confusion
Their first band name was His Infernal Majesty. HIM, formerly 'His Infernal Majesty', is not to be confused with Infernäl Mäjesty, a Canadian thrash metal band, HiM, an American post-rock band, or4Him, a Contemporary Christian group. The band changed the name to HIM from the "Wicked Game" single onwards, though the single for "Your Sweet Six Six Six" includes a 'His Infernal Majesty' sticker. Their second studio album, Razorblade Romance, was released under the name HER in the United States because the Chicago based post-rock band named HiM held the trademark on the name. While they toured Europe, primarily Germany at the time, they used the name HIM and HER. HIM eventually bought the rights to the name "HIM" in the United States and used it worldwide from there on.
Genre
HIM's genre is debated in some circles; on their CD, Deep Shadows & Brilliant Highlights, it says their genre is "Alternative" but their musical style is also often referred to as "love metal" by Valo and by the group's fans. Ville Valo has stated that the band started as a "Black Sabbath tribute band of sorts".[11] Valo stated in an interview on the Love Metal Archives Vol. I DVD, that he was fed up with journalists and interviewers asking him (Valo), and the rest of the band what the genre of HIM was. He said in answer to that question that they were "love metal" (which was also the name of their 2003 album.) Critics have referred to them as gothic rock,[12][13][14][15] gothic metal,[16][17] alternative rock,[12][18] hard rock[14][15] and alternative metal.[15]
Tours
In the summer of 2007, HIM took the stage with Linkin Park and various other acts, such as My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Placebo, Julien-K, Mindless Self Indulgence, Saosin, The Bled, Styles of Beyond, and Madina Lake for that year's Projekt Revolution. HIM headlined a US tour beginning in October 2007 with a UK tour that followed in December 2007. They have recently finished their "Down Under" tour. They also performed at Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in June 2008 as well as headlining the second stage at Download Festival with bands like Kiss, Disturbed and The Offspring. It was announced in August 2009 that HIM were to play in the Australian music festival, Soundwave in February 2010. In 2010 HIM performed a UK show in Norwich that began on 13 March. The band will be touring the United States on a 28-city concert tour beginning 26 March 2010 in Philadelphia, PA with the band We Are the Fallen opening for them.
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