The Åkerlunds: Shadowy Influences on Modern Music

To fully understand the powerful and shadowy occult influences playing a role in Hollywood and in music today, one must learn about the little-known power couple Jonas and Bea Åkerlund.

The immensely successful couple was dubbed a “modern-day Addams family” by Bon Magazine, but their quiet influence on modern culture cannot be understated.

Jonas Åkerlund is a Swedish-born film and music video director who has become an extraordinarily influential Hollywood power player, having directed and produced wildly successful music videos for Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Coldplay, Ozzy Osbourne, Madonna, the Rolling Stones, Lenny Kravitz, Britney Spears, Pink, Paul McCartney, U2, Smashing Pumpkins, Rammstein, Kid Rock, Prodigy, Roxette, Moby, The Cardigans, Metallica, Jamiroqai, Iggy Pop, Robbie Williams, Blondie, Jane’s Addiction, Maroon 5, Blink 182, Devo, Rihanna, Primal Scream, Duran Duran, and many, many more.

Jonas Åkerlund has also directed/produced major television commercials for Fortune 500 corporations such as Cadillac, Sony, Virgin, Volkswagen, Kmart, Lexus, Dell, Puma, Adidas, etc. He has won Grammy awards, MTV Music Awards and received similar accolades.

Jonas once had a relationship with heiress and fashion designer Nina Philipson, granddaughter of Sweden’s richest woman, Märta Philipson. In fact, Jonas has a daughter, Mini, with Nina. Mini was born in September 2001.

Jonas’ current wife, Bea Åkerlund, is an eccentric yet extremely influential Hollywood production stylist who is responsible for much of the exotic, dark and surreal imagery used by the likes of Britney Spears, Madonna and Beyonce in their concerts and music videos. In 2013, The New York Times dubbed her the “most successful [stylist] of the past decade.”

From Jonas’ website and resume, it would appear that he may be a practicing Satanist.  For example, on his website www.JonasAkerlund.com, there are inverted pentagrams and falling angel icons littering the site. Jonas’ logo contains upside down crosses and inverted pentagrams.

In the 1980’s, Jonas was once the drummer for a Swedish black metal band called BATHORY.  According to Wikipedia, “Bathory’s early work was dark, fast, heavily distorted and lo-fi. The lead singer’s vocals were harsh, high-pitched and raspy with occasional shrieks and screams. The band’s lyrics focused on ‘dark’ topics and included anti-Christian and ‘Satanic’ references.”  For example, Bathory’s song “In Conspiracy With Satan,” has lyrics that summarize its view of the world:

The lies of Christ will lose the ways of hell I chose
I drink the floating blood defy the fury of God

I have turned my back on Christ to hell I have sacrificed
I have made love to the Pagan Queen the gates of hell I have seen

I heard the angels cry
I watched the witches fly I saw the clouds of death Slowly blackening the sky

I read the book of spell
I chimed death’s ancient bell and when I die I have a place reserved in hell

In conspiracy with Satan

I ride the bloodstained goat

I let the brewage float
I have seen the reaper’s face and walked through eternal haze

I have kissed my master’s hand
I have seen the children of the damned I heard the demons call
and seen a thousand virgins fall.

Many fans and reviewers have noted that the heavy metal band Venom was a major influence on Bathory or even accused Bathory of copying Venom.

Here is a recent photo of Jonas Åkerlund, wearing a Venom concert shirt which proudly displays the Baphomet goat head within an inverted pentagram:

And another:

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110123051421/ladygaga/images/0/0e/Jonas_Akerlund.png

Venom’s logo was displayed within its album name “Welcome to Hell”:

Also, note that Åkerlund’s former band Bathory used the goat head of Baphomet in its logo, too:

The band BATHORY was named after Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (8 August 1560 – 21 August 1614) who was a countess from the renowned Báthory family of nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary.  She has been labelled the most prolific female serial killer in history.  Báthory and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls between 1585 and 1610.

Despite the evidence against Elizabeth, her family’s influence kept her from facing trial. She was imprisoned in December 1610 within Csejte Castle, Upper Hungary, now in Slovakia, where she remained immured in a set of rooms until her death four years later.  The stories of her serial murders and brutality are verified by the testimony of more than 300 witnesses and survivors as well as physical evidence and the presence of horribly mutilated dead, dying and imprisoned girls found at the time of her arrest.

But Jonas Åkerlund’s influence was not limited to the Satanic imagery used by his heavy metal band in the 1980’s.  Jonas exported his influences to mainstream media, by becoming the “go-to” director and producer for mainstream acts like Lady Gaga and Madonna.  For example, Lady Gaga’s videos for Telephone and Paparazzi both displayed Åkerlund’s name prominently and used disturbing images of death and suicide:

Further, Jonas’ wife, Bea Åkerlund has had an enormous influence on the styles and gothic transformations of mainstream divas and pop stars, as well.

The New York Times wrote in 2013 that Bea Åkerlund was responsible for some of the stranger costumes worn by Madonna during the SuperBowl halftime show:

Further, the Åkerlunds are collectively responsible for some of the stranger imagery used by Lady Gaga.

Here is a photograph of Bea Åkerlund:

In conclusion, there are undoubtedly influences on music’s elite such as the Åkerlunds, that can best be described as dark and shadowy.

The post The Åkerlunds: Shadowy Influences on Modern Music appeared first on The Vigilant Citizen.