HIM (Finnish Band) - Heartagram

Heartagram

The heartagram is the trademarked symbol of HIM, created by Ville Valo on the day of his twentieth birthday. It has been used on the covers of the Love Metal, Dark Light and Screamworks: Love in Theory and Practice albums. Valo has said that "the heartagram stands for HIM as a band, as an entity, and for 'love metal' in general." 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. A lot of people around the globe are also wearing tattoos of the symbol, including Ville Valo himself. In a video interview, Ville has stated that the heartagram is a "Modern Yin Yang," the heart being the Yin and the inverted pentacle being the Yang.

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. 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.