Backwards messages, known as Backmasking, in songs have been around since the Beatles (Tomorrow Never Knows is the first known song to contain a backwards message) and were at times surrounded by incredible media and public hysteria. In early 1982, the Praise the Lord Network\u2019s Paul Crouch hosted a show William Yarroll, who argued that rock stars were cooperating with the Church of Satan to place hidden subliminal messages on records. Also in 1982, fundamentalist Christian pastor Gary Greenwald held public lectures on dangers of backmasking, along with at least one mass record-smashing. During the same year, thirty North Carolina teenagers, led by their pastor, claimed that singers had been possessed by Satan, who used their voices to create backward messages, and held a record-burning at their church.<\/p>\n
Electric Light Orchestra singer and songwriter Jeff Lynne responded to allegations by calling this accusation (and the related charge of being \u201cdevil-worshippers\u201d) \u201cskcollob\u201d.<\/p>\n
Serial killer Richard Ramirez, on trial in 1988, stated that AC\/DC\u2019s music, and specifically the song \u201cNight Prowler\u201d on Highway to Hell, inspired him to commit murder. Reverse speech advocate David John Oates claimed that Highway to Hell, on the same album, contains backmasked messages including \u201cI\u2019m the law\u201d, \u201cmy name is Lucifer\u201d, and \u201cshe belongs in hell\u201d. AC\/DC\u2019s Angus Young responded that \u201cyou didn\u2019t need to play [the album] backwards, because we never hid [the messages]. We\u2019d call an album Highway To Hell, there it was right in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the majority of famous backmasks have been imagined (a phenomena caused by the human brains need to explain everything, similar to how ink blot pictures work), there are several which have been acknowledged and confirmed by the artists who created them. Here are 20 of such backmasked messages.<\/p>\n
Evil Eye by Ash<\/strong> Said at the beginning of the song. Lead singer Tim Wheeler remarked that \u201cYeah, we did hide a secret message in \u2018Evil Eye\u2019, but it\u2019s not that bad\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Detour Through your Mind by The B-52\u2019s<\/strong> Rain by The Beatles<\/strong> Lennon stated that, while under the influence of marijuana, he accidentally played the tapes for \u201cRain\u201d in reverse, and enjoyed the sound. The following day he shared the results with the other Beatles, and the effect was used first in the guitar solo for \u201cTomorrow Never Knows\u201d, and later in the coda of \u201cRain\u201d. Note that the last line is the reversed first verse of the song.<\/p>\n Lift Your Head Up High (and blow your brains out) by The Bloodhound Gang<\/strong> Said in a deep, odd-sounding voice. Preceded by \u201cI hope you take this the wrong way \/ And misinterpret what I say \/ Rewind and let me reverse it \/ Backwards like Judas Priest first did\u201d<\/p>\n Hate Yer State byChoking Victim<\/strong> Reversal of undecipherable gibberish at beginning of song.<\/p>\n Rocket by Def Leppard<\/strong> A preview of another song, \u201cGods of War\u201d, on the album Hysteria.<\/p>\n Fire On High by Electric Light Orchestra<\/strong> Electric Light Orchestra were taken to court over an alleged backmasking message on their 1974 album Eldorado. This was during the time when media hysteria surrounded backmasking and many bands were taken to court, often for nonsensicle reasons. In response Electric Light Orchestra included 2 backmasked messages in their next album Face The Music, the more coherent of which is above.<\/p>\n Hot Poop by Frank Zappa<\/strong> This profanity-laced verse, originally from the song \u201cMother People\u201d, was censored by Verve Records, so Zappa edited the verse out, reversed it, and inserted it elsewhere in the album as \u201cHot Poop\u201d.<\/p>\n Michael by Franz Ferdinand<\/strong> Right before the second verse. A reference to bassist Bob Hardy\u2019s homesickness during the recording of the album. The band \u201cwanted to do the exact opposite [of Satanic backmasking], put the most positive thing we could think of as a backwards message.\u201d<\/p>\n Echo Side by Insane Clown Posse<\/strong> Everybody Rise by Insane Clown Posse<\/strong> Boys in Black by L7<\/strong> The formula for a Big Mac.<\/p>\n Nightmare\/The Dreamtime by Motorhead<\/strong> Throughout various sections of the song. Reputedly a message to the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). The PMRC claimed that popular music, and especially rock and heavy metal music, was partially responsible for the contemporary increase in rape, teenage pregnancy, and teen suicide. The PMRC also advocated against supposed subliminal backmasking in records, and accused bands including Led Zeppelin, Rush, Pink Floyd and Queen of backmasking to promote Satanism and drug use.<\/p>\n Bloodbath In Paradise by Ozzy Osbourne<\/strong> A parody of the most famous line from The Exorcist, in which the possessed child screams \u201cYour mother sucks c*cks in hell.\u201d<\/p>\n Empty Spaces by Pink Floyd<\/strong> Coup d\u2019Etat by Plasmatics<\/strong> After the Song \u201cThe Damned\u201d (at the end of the album).<\/p>\n Perfect Sense by Roger Waters<\/strong> Waters deliberately recorded a backward message critical of film director Stanley Kubrick, who had refused to let Waters sample breathing sounds from 2001: A Space Odyssey.<\/p>\n 665 by Soundgarden<\/strong> Throughout the song. Obviously parodies the claimed Satanic messages.<\/p>\n Which Describes How You\u2019re Feeling (Demo ) \u2013 They Might Be Giants<\/strong> Towards Destiny by Tiger Army<\/strong> After the first verse, at around 0:36. Never Die was a song on the band\u2019s first LP, and \u201cTiger Army Never Die\u201d has since become the band\u2019s motto. The title of Tiger Army\u2019s third release, III: Ghost Tigers Rise was taken from this message as well.<\/p>\n Courtesy of:<\/em> Sean Bluestone <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Backwards messages, known as Backmasking, in songs have been around since the Beatles (Tomorrow Never Knows is the first known song to contain a backwards message) and were at times surrounded by incredible media and public hysteria. In early 1982<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[185,121],"series":[],"class_list":["post-1419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-taboo","tag-backmasking","tag-eyeplug"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1419"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eyeplug.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=1419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMessage: \u201cShe\u2019s giving me the evil eye, suck Satan\u2019s c*ck.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cI buried my parakeet in the backyard. Oh no, you\u2019re playing the record backwards. Watch out, you might ruin your needle.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201c\u2026the sun shines. Raaain. When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cDevil child will wake up and eat Chef Boyardee Beefaroni\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cYou think you\u2019re alive motherf*cker? You\u2019re just the walking f*cking dead, you\u2019re a f*cking sheep, stepping on my back to stay alive. West coast, East coast, you\u2019re all just a bunch of f*cking fools, you and the rest of this greedy f*cking world. Kill yourself! So remember, stay in school, say no to drugs, oh yeah! Hail Satan! Good night boys and girls, pleasant dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cWe are fighting with the gods of war\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cThe music is reversible, but time\u2026 (violin note) is not. Turn back! Turn back! Turn back! Turn back!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cBetter look around before you say you don\u2019t care. Shut your f[censored]ing mouth about the length of my hair. How would you survive, If you were alive, Shitty little person?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cShe\u2019s worried about you, call your mother.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cFuck the Devil! Fuck that shit! We believe in life legit. If you diggin\u2019 what we say, why you throw your soul away?\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cYeah, if you flip this message cuz you think there\u2019s some secret message, there ain\u2019t shit!\u201d
\nReversal of gibberish at the end of the track. Said by Violent J.<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cAll beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Two all beef patties.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cNow tell me, about your miserable little lives. I do not subscribe to your superstitious, narrow minded flights[incoherent] of paranoia. I and people like me, will always prevail! You will never stifle our free speech in any country in the world, \u2018coz we will fight forever[incoherent].\u201d \u201cIn a single stroke, you poor, stupid, running dogs. Why is it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cYour mother sells whelks in Hull\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cDear Punter. Congratulations. You\u2019ve just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont.\u201d (voice in background) \u201cRoger! Carolyne is on the phone!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cThe brainwashed do not know they are being brainwashed\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cJulia, however, in the light and visions of the issues of Stanley, we changed our mind. We have decided to include a backward message. Stanley, for you, and for all the other book partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cHail Santa. Santa, I love you baby. My Christmas king. Santa, you\u2019re my king. I love you, Santa baby. Got what I need.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cThey Might Be Giants wanted to include a verse about the suffering people of the world, but we couldn\u2019t figure out where to put it into this song.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMessage: \u201cTiger Army Never Die, Tiger Army Never Die, Tiger Army Never Die. As the last tiger dies, the Ghost Tigers rise. Heed the call of the werecat Transylvania. We fight on the side of fate. Toward destiny, we ascend to it forever. Hail Satan.\u201d<\/p>\n