Backwards Masking Led Zeppelin Evil stuff or Not

[spotlightkid]

Well SH Forum members let's discuss backwards masking.i just watched a video i taped about 20 years ago on some tv station
on this show they were discussing the evils of backwards masking by such groups as Led Zeppelin.Ozzy Osbourne,Judas Priest AC/DC and the like.they played the track by Led Zeppelin-Stairway to Heaven and then played part of it back and it sounds like Robert Plant says-Here's to my sweet Satan.Now is this Hogwash or is it the Truth.I remember that when the Paul is Dead theory regarding the Beatles was around radio stations said if you Played Revolution #9 backwards where he says-Number Nine if you played it backwards you can hear-Turn me on Deadman.What other Backwards masking Tracks do SH Forum members know.the video i watched was truly bizzare i completly forgot that i taped it 20 years ago.

[Rspaight]

Most of this was just hooey propagated by church groups trying to get a little free publicity.

We actually had some guy come into our high school many years ago and talk to us about how our rock and roll records were tempting us toward the Dark Side. He went on and on about how pyramids were evil occult symbols. (Alan Parsons wants to drink the blood of your children!) I don't think anyone had the heart to break it to him that the thing on the cover of Dark Side of the Moon was a prism, not a pyramid. Of course, Rush was bad because there was a pentagram on one of their albums.

But the "backmasking" was a real hoot. He'd pull something out, *tell us what to listen for*, then play it to the astonishment of all present. Of course, if we hadn't been primed to hear it, no one would have. It's like finding the face of Satan in the smoke billowing from the Trade Center. The human brain wants very badly to seek out information it can make sense of in the midst of chaos. Listen long enough to *anything* backwards, and you'll start to make out messages that generally say what you expected them to say. If you're looking for the devil, you'll find the devil. If you're looking for bunt cake recipes, you'll probably be able to get Plant to give those up, too. (Though probably on Presence rather than IV.)

Of course, there are several real instances of stuff being placed on records backwards, but they're always obvious -- played normally, they sound like something being played backwards. Examples include "I Am The Walrus," "Revolution #9," The Wall, something by ELO (was it Face The Music?), and many others.

But I have yet to hear something convincing "backmasked" into something that sounds perfectly normal played forward.

Ryan

[Matt]

I don't recall adults bringing it up at the time, but when I was in grade school, I remember seeing a spoof of it in Bloom County. Milo Bloom, a reporter, would be approached by some geek with the same claims about hidden messages. When Milo plays a Billy Joel record backwards, the words "No matter how thin you slice it, it's still bologna" would come out, which would be interpreted by the other guy as a 'satanic riddle.'

[pigmode]

What about playing Black Sabbath at 78 speed? :eek:

[PsychFan]

Wasn't Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" supposed to yield "It's fun to smoke marijuana" when played backwards?

Except for a few cases, a lot of this is nonsense ... And there are much better ways to spend time than hunting rock records for backwards messages ...

[Uncle Al]

I never cared for the phrase "backwards masking". It implies that the message you hear in reverse is the intended message - that it was somehow deliberately placed there. The fact that "number Nine" when played backwards "sorta-kinda-with imagination" sounds like "turn me on dead man" is true, however....

When I was a kid and had access to a reel to reel deck - we just recorded ourselves saying the phrase "number nine" over and over again to see what it would sound like when reversed. Well, it should come as no surprise that it yielded the same mumbling message played backwards whether I said it, my buddy said it or that annoymous engeneer at EMI said it.

To imply that message was placed there on purpose would mean that the Beatles (or Led zeppelin or whoever) would have to come up with hidden messages that sound like proper English sentences when played backwards. Somehow I don't think Robert Plant based the lyrical concept for Stairway to Heaven on what English sentences sound like his hidden satanic message when played backwards. Seems like it would be pretty hard to get a cohesive set of lyrics that way.

In other words - this is all active imagination coupled with coincidence.

[Claviusb]

Posted by Ryan:
...something by ELO (was it Face The Music?)...

The track is "Fire On High" from Face The Music. Jeff Lynne says "the music is reversible but time is not." Later, ELO put out the album Secret Messages which I believe is laced with reversed word bytes.

The instances of intentionally reversed vocals is nowhere near the level some people would want you to believe. Lots of coincidence and imagination, to quote Uncle Al.

[Kym]

I remember hearing that if you played the 45 single of Diana Ross' "Missing You" at 33 rpm, it would sound just like Marvin Gaye, to whom the song is dedicated. Can anyone confirm this (Grant)?

[RDK]

I could swear that there's some backwards masking going on in the DCC cd of Aqualung. Something along the lines of "Buy more DCC gold discs..."

Devilishly good remastering job there, Steve. :)

Ray

[spotlightkid]

yes i just played the dcc lp of Aqualung and sure enough there is a voice that says on not only one but two tracks-buy more dcc.it doesn't sound like ian anderson-maybe the Mastering Guru himself-how he does that is beyond me-amazing!!

[christopher]

the only thing you'll get playing a record backwards is a screwed-up needle.

as bill hicks used to say: "give me the devil-worshipping parents down the block. you know, the ones with the better albums?"

later, chris

[Pat]

..."I buried Flanders!"

*****Homer Simpson*****

;)

[Pinknik]

Let's not forget the recipe to a ripping good lentil soup if you play Maybe I'm Amazed backwards. Another fave of mine is the theory that The Boss is actually Dolly Parton. You never see them together and if you play I'M ON FIRE from the BORN IN THE USA LP at 45rpm, it sounds like Dolly. :D

[Dave B]

While playing a recorded segment of music or vocal backwards may produce an interesting effect; I have serious doubts that it can somehow be subliminally burned into your mind. Afterall, if you can't understand what's being said unless you go to the trouble of playing the message backwards there's little chance your brain will unscramble it subconsciously. Kind of like listening to a foreign language tape over and over. You may be able to imitate the tape but is not likely you will have any better understanding of the language. Turn me on deadman

[Highway Star]

I have an old copy of Skeptical Inquirer from 1988 that did a very good story on this subject. It is titled, "Backward Masking, and Other Backward Thoughts About Music." It debunks the whole thing which comes as no surprise given the title. I'll post some of the songs the article points out.

1. Black Oak Arkansas has a song w/backward message "Satan, Satan, He is God, He is God" (song title not given)

2. "A Child Is Coming" by Jefferson Starship has the words "Son of Satan"

3. Pat Benatar's song "Evil Genius" says in reverse, "Oh-h, Satan, that's why I want you to hear my music. The voice that makes my money"

4. Motley Crue's "Shout At The Devil" album supposedly has the phrase "Backward mask where you are, oh, lost in error, Satan"

5. Venom's "Welcome To Hell" album has "it's better to reign in hell than serve in heaven"

And there's the usual Beatles, Zep etc. stuff. I guess there's some people who have overactive imaginations with way too much time on their hands.

[Tony Caldwell]

UFO TOFU,

No evil shahs live on.:confused:

Yes, that Black Oak Song is called "When electricity came to Arkansas" I think.

Styx "Snowblind" was supposed to contain some sort of Satanic message when played backward. Styx were so disturbed by this rumor that they wrote the entire "Kilroy was here" fiasco about it. Pretty much ended their careers! They put some sort of backward message on Kilroy, but I have forgotten what it was supposed to have said.

On Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, there is a something spoken backward just before the song "Still Life".

There was a preacher in Hot Springs, Arkansas (Don Hutchings) that had a whole "rock seminar" that he had put together. He would *tell you what to hear* and then play the music backward and it would sort of almost nearly sound like what he had told you it said. He was scheduled to come to our high school and save us from rock music, but evil old me and a friend of mine went to the Principal's office and complained about separation of Church and State. The "rock seminar" was cancelled and we were forever believed to be Satanists.

I remember I played my Ray Price album backwards and heard a very clear message. I don't want to mention what it said here, because it was a racial slur. It was pretty funny, though.

I wanted to play one of Hutchings' sermon tapes backward to search for "Satanic Lingo", but I could never get my cassette player to play backwards. I even tried reversing the polarity of the motor! I really had too much time on my hands back then!! I had planned on confronting him with the whole thing if I could pull it off, but I couldn't make it work. ANGER IS QUITE A MOTIVATOR, I guess!!

Ah, to be young again (with Cool Edit Pro)

Tony

[Pat]

How about the guy (can't remember his name) on one of those Vh-1 shows (or something) that said Ozzy Osbourne's Suicide Solution caused a "young lad" to kill himself.

He said that the song's lyrics had the message..."get the gun, get the gun...shoot, shoot, shoot!"



I guess I wasn't hearing THAT message when I played it...Oh Well! ;)

[Paul Chang]

Be careful not to snap the fragile cantilever of your precious little phono cartridge when you put the platter in reverse. :D

[Dave]

Pat,

I sure hope you don't work for the post office.:D :D

[christopher]

as denis leary used to say:

"so, kids are listening to heavy metal music and then killing themselves? what's the problem?"

later, chris

[Gary]

My Hero had this to say about that:

"If they could perfect backwards masking, they'd be saying 'buy more of my albums, more of my albums', not satanic messages"

Alice Cooper


:D

[Patrick M]

Originally posted by Tony Caldwell
On Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind, there is a something spoken backward just before the song "Still Life".

That's a joke -- it's nonsense played forwards.

[lbangs]

A few cases of true backwards masking:

1) The final verse of Rain, by The Beatles.
2) On Side 1 of Prince's Purple Rain, after Darling Nikki. Critics assumed this was sarcastic, but knowing what I know of Prince (The Cross, anyone?), I doubt it.
3) Somewhere on Pink Floyd's Animals album. Can't remember where exactly, but I do remember what it is. One of the few examples pastors could probably get truly upset about.
4) Electric Light Orchestra has one somewhere on Fire on a High. This one is something of a joke.
5) Pink Floyd also has a joke one on Empty Spaces.
6) Petra, a Christian group appealing to 70's arena rock fans (ie, not my cup of tea), has one at the beginning of the song, "Judas Kiss." It says, "What are you looking for the devil for, when you ought to be looking for the lord." I knida like this one. Worth a snicker, at least.

Notice something about all six of these? Played forward, they sound like goobly-gook. They do not sound like real speach. If what you're playing sounds fine forward, then any backward messages you are hearing is a coincidence. In fact, if you say the alphabet onto tape and reverse it, at least 5 letters will sound like English words backwards, including "pray" and "Eden". It just happens that way.

So no, Led Zep isn't praising their sweet satan, and Queen just SOUNDS like they're discussing high times...

Hope that helps. I grew up in Tulsa, OK, a hotbed of Christian reactionism (Oral Roberts is here, you know), so being a young rocker in the 80s, I had a special interest in this one... (They tried to take away my Purple Rain album!!!)

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

[TSmithPage]

I was also very interested in this stuff when I was younger, and can comment on some of the "backwards masking." The Black Oak Arkansas one is truly stupid, with the singer screaming a nonsense phrase on a live album, which when played backwards, says, "Satan, he is god." I think this was just the band being stupid.
On Stairway to Heaven, Led Zeppelin does have an honest-to-god backwards message, in which you can hear the phrase, "I wish it would snow, Bishop." Not exactly satanic, and I have heard it speculated that the band was into Toelkin and was doing a bit of an homage to Lord of the Rings in some of their backwards tracks.
ELO, on Eldorado Overture, has a phrase that sounds amazingly like, "He's the nasty one, Christ you're infernal." Probably an accident, but apparently encouraged the band to do a bunch of other intentional ones, like on Fire on High and culminating in the weak album, Secret Messages.
Styx, on the song Snowblind, has a phrase which, when played backwards, sounds like "Satan, sing through our voices." Not clear enough to say whether it was intentional.
Queen's Another One Bites the Dust, is very muddy and clearly not intentional.
The Beatles clearly experimented with backward messages. On Revolution Number 9, in addition to the "turn me on dead man/number nine" message, Yoko Ono can be heard in a small child's voice say, "Satan, look at me, Satan", in the area where forwards she says, "and they were all naked." I suspect this one was intentional. (Deep down, we all know Yoko is evil, don't we?)
Those are the ones I recall off the top of my head. My old CD burner used to permit me to play CD tracks backwards, and I was able to confirm each of the ones I've noted. Unfortunately, my XP upgrade killed that burner and I can't do it any more. Still, interesting topic....

[Kym]

For years I thought "I Zimbra" from Talking Heads' Fear of Music sounds like a bunch of backwards lyrics. Listen carefully to the beginning of each phrase - they have this "backwards, rushing in a tunnel" quality.

I read later that it was actually based on a Dada poem, but I am curious as to what it sounds like in reverse.