In Denmark, you have thirteen or more political parties, so it's not too difficult to find a party who reflect your views.
— King Diamond
I often mention Alice Cooper. I don't wanna sound like Alice Cooper or be confused with him at all, and I certainly don't think we are.
One day, I found this book at a used bookstore with 'Satanic Bible' written on the cover, and I thought maybe I should read it and see what it is. I thought it was like a religion, but then I read the book, and what was in it was pure life philosophy - and it was a life philosophy that described how I felt at that point.
I went to basic school for 10 years, and then I went to college.
I don't take for granted that I wake up. I appreciate it when I do, those times when it still happens.
I have not thrown my money away on unnecessary things in my life, so I'm okay.
I don't believe in heaven, and I don't believe in hell as a place with flames where people are burning and having eternal pain. I don't believe in that at all. I believe in a place I call 'beyond.'
If you sing the way I do, I get about one-fifth of the oxygen that the other guys in the band get. It doesn't make anything easier.
People from all walks of life that you might find as a King Diamond fan - you don't look a certain way; you don't have to say certain things. It can be anyone.
I am actually a trained lab assistant.
I welcome the powers of the unknown.
I don't take anything for granted anymore, I'll tell you that.
I hate touring. But being onstage is one of the absolute best things I know in my life. And it is so good, it makes up for all the bad.
'The Shining' has always been my favorite horror movie. It is scary and incredibly psychological without relying on blood and gore. Jack Nicholson's performance is absolutely mind-blowing. And the mood and the feel is definitely metal.
I have this dream where I get chased through a park by Nazis in the Second World War. They finally catch up to me in an apartment somewhere, but I don't know what happens next.
I am an entertainer and don't believe I should use this position to preach to anyone about who they should be voting for. Others might disagree, but that's the way I feel.
Led Zeppelin is what made me buy my first electric guitar: the Jimmy Page guitar sound.
Me and my parents would watch old 'Frankenstein' and 'Dracula' and all those old black and white movies - as a kid, I'd lie in bed thinking that they would come out at night.
I don't believe in one God, and I would be the last person to say there is one because there is no real proof there is a God, and there has been no one person to prove to the world there is a God.
I don't take tomorrow for granted.
When we are on the road, we do a real horror show - and it's pure entertainment. That's it.
When I use the word 'Satan,' it doesn't stand for a guy with horns. To me, that word means the powers of the unknown, the powers of darkness.
I once, when I was in the middle of making the move from Europe to the U.S., I started trying to put 'Them' and 'Conspiracy' into a novel. I got into three chapters in, and those who've seen that little bit said I really need to finish it, but time is an issue.
I was interested in music since I was 14 years old. What really got me started was the first Led Zeppelin album... absolutely.
I was a made an eternal member of the Church of Satan by Anton LeVey himself in 1988.
I lived in a house in Copenhagen that was uber-haunted for many years, with flying teacups and things like that; there was a time when I saw glasses rising off the table, and I took it as a sign of something saying, 'Hey, we're with you.'
Taking walks sometimes bring back memories of my childhood because a smell might trigger a memory.
I don't like being away from home.
When you hear 'From the Other Side,' it's like being on an operating table. Suddenly, you're on the ceiling looking down at the doctors who are fighting for you. Are you gonna get a second chance or not?
When you have a nightmare, you think, 'What caused this?' And then you can sometimes get the same scenario two or three nights, back to back. Or something really bad happens, and you feel absolutely sad and do not want it to be real. You don't want to fall asleep and get sucked back into that same dream.
I never talk openly about my political beliefs.
I am very inspired by the Seventies.
I've always been fascinated by horror.
You are not worshipping anything when you are a Satanist.
I don't need five Ferraris in my garage to feel great; that's not what matters to me.
I don't force anything onto other people, because you'll never get a good satanist out of forcing somebody to be one.
I see myself as a spiritual person, but I don't think anyone should claim proof of a god. No one can prove it. That's why I don't claim to know whether there are one, many or no gods.
Texas is more laid back, like Denmark is. So it was easier to adjust to that than to Los Angeles or New York for me.
I have a braided metal wire going down the middle of my chest underneath my skin. I saw it on an X-ray of it; it looks like a piece of jewelry.
King Diamond was always more satanic than Mercyful Fate. And I'm not saying anything bad about Mercyful Fate - I love that band but sometimes people forget that King Diamond is the satanic philosophy through and through.
I lived in L.A. for a year and a half, and it was too different for me from Denmark.
What I really like to do with my music is these concept stories, and I always like to have some life philosophies in the lyrics.
I don't like award ceremonies.
My dad was a freedom fighter in Denmark against the occupational forces - the S.S. and the Gestapo and all that.
I was lucky that I had parents that had had supernatural experiences, so I could talk to them openly without them looking at me as some lunatic.
