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Rewind & Rock with Sharon Stewart: Trademark Battles, Rock 'n' Roll History and Iconic Gestures · Mega Rock On Demand

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's rewind and rock.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we're going back to June 9, 2017, when Gene Simmons of KISS decided rock and roll needed more paperwork.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: He filed a trademark application for the Devil Horns hand gesture.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Said that he invented it back in 1974.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know about you, I honestly can't remember the exact day I started throwing up the horns, but I do remember my parents got very concerned, so that means it was in the 70s.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And when they got concerned, I felt cooler than I probably was.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Now Gene Simmons' version of the horns has the uh index finger, pinky, and thumb extended, which also looks a lot like the I love you for uh sign language, and me being from Texas looked like hook 'em horns, okay, from University of Texas.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's why I didn't do it that way.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Completely different thing, but uh yeah, rock history had receipts, you know.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Back in uh the 60s, John Lennon flashed a version of the horns, the band Coven had it on an album cover, 1969, and uh Ronnie James Dio, of course.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: I give him credit for it.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: He made the uh the darker thumb-tucked version legendary, yeah.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And Dio says he got that from grandma for the uh with her grandma's uh evil eye.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so did Gene Simmons invent the horns?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Most likely not.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And did he get the trademark?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Also a big no.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: He abandoned the application pretty quickly.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Which means you can still throw the horns freely without sending a nickel to the demon.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's KISS rocking in the USA.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can throw up your horns however you care to do it.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thumbs out or thumbs in, it's rewinding rock on Mega Rock.