by VorJack
Alright, show of hands: how many people here remember the 80′s “backmasking” panic? Remember all the people playing Judas Priest backwards in order to hear satanic messages?
Jeff Milner has put together this great bit of flash code which will play selections from some of the songs accused of containing backwards messages. Select a song and listen to the clip. Then hit the “reverse play” button and see if you can figure out the eeeeevil message that it contains. Click on “show reverse lyrics” to see if you got it right.
Note: if the embed code isn’t working, go to Milner’s site to try it out.
well some seem to be obviously real and on purpose, the Wierd Al and ELO ones stand out to me…the others that may also be on purpose would be the ones that said forward the lyrics were indistinguishable…I call shennanigans on the rest, in any event all the ones on purpose were to mess with folks,NOT to be taken as what the artists thought,even if all are real and on purpose I go with that explanation…though perhaps satan DOES eat cheese whizz.
I remember some retarded family sued the band because their teenage kids suicied while listening their albums. The news caught my attention because I was a fan of the band and I couldn’t believe the American legal system was so moronic to admit such a frivolous lawsuit.
I sort of remember that 2 teenage boys shot each other at close range in the face and one died and the other one was severely disfigured but didn’t die.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subliminal_stimuli
(under History — 1970-2000)
In a different trial:
The neat part about it was that I could not “understand” the backwards lyrics at all, until I read what they were! After that, many were perfectly “understandable”.
So, when the religious wackos send their “sheep” notices that Lady Gaga “model(s) it on the arts of lucifer”, they will “understand” exactly what they are being told… Scary.
Oh, yeah. I remember, as a kid in the 70s, when this backmasking was a big deal. It seemed that every record I bought (from E.L.O. to Kiss to Led Zeppelin) had some satanic message.
My revenge came when a visiting pastor was showing us how these messages appeared in all our rock albums/records (we kids were more pissed because he was scratching them) & actually asked us to try it for ourselves so he could show us. I ran upstairs, picked up a few records & did as he asked. Immediately he began pointing out the various evil messages. It was only after I showed him the records that the whole issue came to an end–they were gospel records (the same songs he played at church). For some reason he never came back or spoke on the issue again (at least when we were around).
Further proof that if you’re looking for these “satanic messages” you’re going to find them whether they exist or not.
I dunno – I’d be more inclined to believe gospel records had subliminal messages in them.
Nah, the message is pretty clear — get on your knees and blow Jesus.
Brilliant!
The whole “reverse satanic lyrics” thing seems even more silly today where any rock band with a satanic or blasphemous message will just say it straight out and as often as they like.
Society advances.
I recall it, but I was far more intrigued by Rob Halpert’s preferred attire. Not that I was all that shocked, I already knew that people in rural communities got up to some kinky stuff. What was new to me was the idea that some people actually purchased special styles and gear to engage in kink.
“Beat It”?
Seriously?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
I guess MJ’s message of “FFS, be NICE to one another” is Satanic….
Who buys records/cd’s and plays them backwards? Why play them backwards? Has anyone ever taken “Amazing Grace” and played it backwards? After listening to music played backwards, it’s no wonder kids commited suicide. After all, ever since rock/popular music came on the scene, religious leaders have been saying that it is music of the devil.
There is this movie with Adam Sandler (forget the name) where he is the child of Satan. He meets these people and starts hanging out with them. They ask him to listen to Ozzy albums and ask what he is singing backwards. Adam then says he is saying nothing. Then he picks up the Chicago musical soundtrack and plays it backwards and there are secret messages recorded backwards in it. I found that quite funny. Maybe we should take christian music and play that backwards. Who knows, maybe a message might be to obey the invisible pink unicorn.
I love that the Weird Al, ELO, and Pink Floyd songs actually DO have backwards messages :D
Mind-fuckery for the win!
Hmm, I didn’t know Empty Spaces had a hidden message in it. It was fairly well hidden. Obviously I had already heard the one in Fire on High, though.
Weird Al is hilarious.
WFMU has archived a radio broadcast on this very topic from the early 80′s, and helpfully broken the various bits down for easy iPod shuffling goodness. I always love it when one of these unexpectedly pops up in between some truly blasphemous shit!