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title: Backmasking
slug: backmasking
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snapshot: enwiki-001377010505
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license: CC BY-SA 4.0
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1377010505
tags: [102876480, 104542533, 104542534, 129826521, 20183244, 20196556, 22952143, 23262396, 23272838, 23603337, 24745113, 26220375, 26862821, 32842236, 90832492, 92194045, 96369911]
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# Backmasking

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Backmasking is a recording technique in which a message is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to be played forward. It is a deliberate process, whereas a message found through phonetic reversal may be unintentional. Artists have used backmasking for artistic, comedic and satiric effect, on both analogue and digital recordings. It has also been used to censor words or phrases for clean releases of explicit songs. In 1969, rumors of a backmasked message in the Beatles song "Revolution 9" fueled the "Paul is dead" urban legend. Since at least the early 1980s, Christian groups in the United States alleged that backmasking was being used by prominent rock musicians for Satanic purposes, leading to record-burning protests and proposed anti-backmasking legislation by state and federal governments during the 1980s, as part of the Satanic panic movement of the time. Many popular musicians were accused of including backmasked messages in their music. However, apparent backmasked messages may in fact be examples of pareidolia (the brain's tendency to recognize patterns in meaningless data), coincidental phonetic reversal, or as deliberate responses to the allegations themselves.

Backmasking is a recording technique in which a message is recorded backward onto a track that is meant to be played forward. It is a deliberate process, whereas a message found through phonetic reversal may be unintentional. Artists have used backmasking for artistic, comedic and satiric effect, on both analogue and digital recordings. It has also been used to censor words or phrases for clean releases of explicit songs. In 1969, rumors of a backmasked message in the Beatles song "Revolution 9" fueled the "Paul is dead" urban legend. Since at least the early 1980s, Christian groups in the United States alleged that backmasking was being used by prominent rock musicians for Satanic purposes, leading to record-burning protests and proposed anti-backmasking legislation by state and federal governments during the 1980s, as part of the Satanic panic movement of the time. Many popular musicians were accused of including backmasked messages in their music. However, apparent backmasked messages may in fact be examples of pareidolia (the brain's tendency to recognize patterns in meaningless data), coincidental phonetic reversal, or as deliberate responses to the allegations themselves. ==History== ===Development=== The backwards playing of records was advised as training for magicians by occultist Aleister Crowley, who suggested in his 1913 book Magick (Book 4) that an adept "train himself to think backwards by external means", one of which was to "listen to phonograph records, reversed". In the movie Gold Diggers of 1935, the end of the dancing-pianos musical number, "The Words Are in My Heart," is filmed in reverse motion, with the accompanying instrumental score incidentally being reversed. s allow backward recording in recording studios.]] In 1959, a vocal group called The Eligibles released a record called "Car Trouble", which contains two nonsense passages. When reversed, they reveal the phrases "And you can get my daughter back by 10:30, you bum!" and (perhaps inevitably) "Now, lookit here, cats, stop running these records backwards!" Peaking at #107 on the Billboard magazine charts that summer, "Car Trouble" is believed to be the first hit record to contain backmasking. The Beatles, which began incorporating musique concrète-inspired tape manipulation techniques into their recordings in the mid-1960s, were responsible for popularizing the concept of backmasking. Singer John Lennon and producer George Martin both claimed that they had discovered the backwards recording technique during the recording of 1966's Revolver (specifically the album tracks "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "I'm Only Sleeping") and the single "Rain". Lennon stated that, while under the influence of marijuana, he accidentally played "Rain" in reverse and enjoyed the sound. After sharing the results with the other Beatles, the effect was used on tape loops and the guitar solo on "Tomorrow Never Knows" and later on Lennon's vocals in the coda of "Rain". According to Martin, the band had been experimenting with changing the speeds of and reversing the "Tomorrow Never Knows" tapes, and Martin got the idea of reversing Lennon's vocals and guitar, which he did with a clip from "Rain". Lennon then liked the effect and kept it. "Rain" was the first Beatles song to feature a backmasked message: "Sunshine... Rain... When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads" ( ; the last line is the first line of the song in reverse). ===Controversies=== The Beatles were involved in the spread of backmasking both as a recording technique and as the center of a controversy. The latter has its roots in an event in 1969, when WKNR-FM DJ Russ Gibb received a phone call from a student at Eastern Michigan University who identified himself as "Tom". The caller asked Gibb about a rumor that Beatle Paul McCartney had died, and claimed that the Beatles song "Revolution 9" contained a backward message confirming the rumor. Gibb played the song backwards on his turntable, and heard the phrase "turn me on, dead man". Gibb began telling his listeners about what he called "The Great Cover-up", and listeners cited other alleged backmasked phrases, including "Paul is a dead man, miss him, miss him, miss him", on "I'm So Tired". The "Paul is dead" rumor popularized the idea of backmasking in popular music. After Gibb's show, many more songs were found to contain phrases that sounded like known spoken languages when reversed. Initially, the search was done mostly by fans of rock music. In the late 1970s, during the rise of the Christian right in the United States, fundamentalist Christian groups began to claim that backmasked messages could bypass the conscious mind and reach the unconscious mind, where they would be accepted subliminally by the listener. In 1981, Christian DJ Michael Mills began stating on Christian radio programs that Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" contained hidden Satanic messages that were heard by the unconscious. In 1982, the Trinity Broadcasting Network's Paul Crouch hosted a show with self-described neuroscientist William Yarroll, who argued that rock stars were cooperating with the Church of Satan to place backmasked messages on records, and fundamentalist Christian pastor Gary Greenwald held public lectures on dangers of backmasking and at least one mass record-smashing event. 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. Allegations of demonic backmasking were also made by social psychologists, parents, and critics of rock music, as well as the Parents Music Resource Center, which accused Led Zeppelin of using backmasking to promote Satanism. ===Legislation=== One result of the furor was the firing of five radio DJs who had encouraged listeners to search for backward messages in their record collections. A more serious consequence was legislation by the state governments of Arkansas and California. The 1983 California bill was introduced to prevent backmasking that "can manipulate our behavior without our knowledge or consent and turn us into disciples of the Antichrist". Involved in the discussion on the bill was a California State Assembly Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee hearing, during which "Stairway to Heaven" was played backwards, and William Yaroll testified. The successful bill made the distribution of records with undeclared backmasking an invasion of privacy for which the distributor could be sued. The Arkansas law, which referenced albums by the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Electric Light Orchestra, Queen and Styx, and mandated that records with backmasking include a warning sticker, passed unanimously in 1983, but was vetoed by Bill Clinton and failed a second vote to override his veto. United States House Resolution 6363, introduced in 1982 by Representative Bob Dornan, proposed mandating a similar label federally; the bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Commerce, Transportation and Tourism and never passed. Government action was also called for in the legislatures of Texas and Canada. made finding backward messages difficult, causing interest in backmasking to decline.]] With the advent of compact discs in the 1980s, but prior to the advent of sound editing technology for personal computers in the 1990s, it became more difficult to listen to recordings backwards, and the controversy died down. ===Resurgence=== Although the backmasking controversy peaked in the 1980s, the general belief in subliminal manipulation became more widespread in the United States during the following decade, with belief in Satanic backmasking on records persisting into the 1990s. At the same time, the development of sound editing software with audio reversal features simplified the process of reversing audio, which previously could only be done with full fidelity using a professional tape recorder. The Sound Recorder utility, included with Microsoft Windows from Windows 95 to Windows XP, allows one-click audio reversal, as does popular open source sound editing software Audacity. Following the growth of the Internet, backmasked message searchers used such software to create websites featuring backward music samples, which became a widely used method of exploring backmasking in popular music. In January 2014, the first backmasked video was released as part of a Grammy Awards promotional campaign. A customized video player allowed the user to watch a piece of film accompanied by a music soundtrack both forwards and backwards. The backwards content contained a hidden visual story and the words 'music unleashes you' embedded into the reversed audio track. ==Use== Backmasking has been used as a recording technique since the 1960s. In the era of magnetic tape sound recording, backmasking required that the source reel-to-reel tape actually be played backwards, which was achieved by first being wound onto the original takeup reel, then reversing the reels so as to use that reel as the source (this would reverse the stereo channels as well). Backmasked words are unintelligible when played forward, but when played backwards are clear speech. Listening to backmasked audio with most turntables requires disengaging the drive and rotating the album by hand in reverse (though some can play records backwards). With magnetic tape, the tape must be reversed and spliced back into the cassette. Compact discs were difficult to reverse when first introduced, but digital audio editors, which were first introduced in the late 1980s and became popular during the next decade, allow easy reversal of audio from digital sources. ===Censorship=== used backmasking to avoid censorship.]] Backmasking has been used to avoid censorship. On Frank Zappa's track "Hot Poop", from We're Only in It for the Money (1968), the released version contains at the end of its side "A" the backmasked message "Better look around before you say you don't care. / Shut your fucking mouth 'bout the length of my hair. / How would you survive / If you were alive / shitty little person?" This profanity-laced verse, originally from the song "Mother People", was censored by Verve Records, so Zappa edited the verse out, reversed it, and inserted it elsewhere in the album as "Hot Poop" (though even in the backward message the word "fucking" is censored). On the same album, a backwards message can also be heard in "Harry, You're a Beast" with Madge saying, "Don't come in me, in me" repeatedly before she starts crying. In at least one bootleg version of the album, these words are very clear. Another example is found in Roger Waters' 1992 album Amused to Death, on which Waters recorded a backward message, possibly critical of film director Stanley Kubrick, who had refused to let Waters sample a breathing sound from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The message appears in the song "Perfect Sense Part 1", in which Waters' backmasked voice says, "Julia, however, in light and visions of the issues of Stanley, we have changed our minds. We have decided to include a backward message, Stanley, for you and all the other book burners." On the other hand, backmasking can be used to censor words and phrases deemed inappropriate on radio edits and "clean" album releases. For example, the Fugees' clean version of the album The Score contains various backmasked profanities; thus, when playing the album backwards, the censored words are clearly audible among the backward gibberish. When used with the word "shit", this type of backmasking results in a sound similar to "ish". As a result, "ish" became a euphemism for "shit". In Britney Spears' 2011 song "Till the World Ends", Spears says "if you want this good shit". However, on the official version, "shit" is reversed, creating the "ish" sound; therefore, the official version says "if you want this good ish". Backmasking is also used to censor the word "joint" in the video for "You Don't Know How It Feels" by Tom Petty, resulting in the line "Let's roll another tnioj". ==Accusations== Artists who have been accused of backmasking include Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, Styx, Judas Priest, the Eagles, The Rolling Stones, Jefferson Starship, AC/DC, Black Oak Arkansas, Rush, Britney Spears, and Eminem. Electric Light Orchestra was accused of hiding a backward Satanic message in their 1974 album Eldorado. The title track, "Eldorado", was said to contain the message "He is the nasty one / Christ, you're infernal / It is said we're dead men / Everyone who has the mark will live." ELO singer and songwriter Jeff Lynne responded by calling this accusation (and the related charge of being "devil-worshippers") "skcollob", and stating that the message "is absolutely manufactured by whoever said, 'That's what it said.' It doesn't say anything of the sort." The group included several backward messages in later albums in response to the accusations. In 1981, Styx was accused of putting the backward message "Satan move through our voices" on the song "Snowblind", from Paradise Theatre. Guitarist James Young called these charges "rubbish," and responded, "If we want to make a statement, we'll do it in a way that people can understand us and not in a way where you have to go out and buy a $400 tape player to understand us." The vinyl reproduction of Paradise Theatre had laser etching on side one, spelling out Styx at the top, and two ladies facing each other on the sides. But on side two, the side with the song (Snow Blind) it had a black label with a small hole cut out where you could place the eraser side of a pencil, and play the album backwards to hear the backward message. In 1983, the band released a concept album, Kilroy Was Here, satirizing the Moral Majority. A well-known alleged message is found in Led Zeppelin's 1971 song "Stairway to Heaven". The backwards playing of portions of the song purportedly results in words beginning with "Here's to my sweet Satan" ( ) and "Because I live with satan". Swan Song Records issued a statement to the contrary: "Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards." Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant denied the accusations in an interview: "To me it's very sad, because 'Stairway to Heaven' was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and putting messages on the end, that's not my idea of making music." Another widely known alleged message, "It's fun to smoke marijuana", in Queen's song "Another One Bites the Dust", is similarly disclaimed by the group's spokesperson. ===Subliminal persuasion=== ====Fundamentalist Christian groups==== Various fundamentalist Christian groups have declared that Satan uses—or Satan-influenced musicians use—backmasked messages to subliminally alter behavior. Pastor Gary Greenwald claimed that subliminal messages backmasked into rock music induce listeners towards sex and drug use. Minister Jacob Aranza wrote in his 1982 book Backward Masking Unmasked that rock groups "are using backmasking to convey Satanic and drug related messages to the subconscious." Christian DJ Michael Mills argued in 1981 that "the subconscious mind is being successfully affected by the repetition of beat and lyrics—being affected through a subliminal message." Mills has toured America warning Christian parents about subliminal messages in rock music. Some Christian websites have claimed that backmasking is widely used for Satanic purposes. The web page for Alabama group Dial-the-Truth Ministries argues for the existence of Satanic backmasking in "Stairway to Heaven", saying that the song contains the backward message, "It's my sweet Satan&nbsp;... Oh I will sing because I live with Satan." ====PMRC==== In 1985, Joe Stuessy testified to the United States Congress at the Parents Music Resource Center hearings that: Stuessy's written testimony stated that: ====Court cases==== Serial killer Richard Ramirez, on trial in 1988, stated that AC/DC's music, and specifically the song "Night Prowler" 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 "I'm the law", "my name is Lucifer", and "she belongs in hell". AC/DC's Angus Young responded that "you didn't need to play [the album] backwards, because we never hid [the messages]. We'd call an album Highway to Hell, there it was right in front of them." In 1990, British heavy metal band Judas Priest was sued over a suicide pact made by two young men in Nevada. The lawsuit by their families claimed that the 1978 Judas Priest album Stained Class contained hidden messages, including the forward subliminal words "Do it" in the song "Better by You, Better than Me" (a cover version of a Spooky Tooth song), and various backward subliminal messages. The case was dismissed by the judge for insufficient evidence of Judas Priest's placement of subliminal messages on the record, and the judge's ruling stated that "The scientific research presented does not establish that subliminal stimuli, even if perceived, may precipitate conduct of this magnitude. There exist other factors which explain the conduct of the deceased independent of the subliminal stimuli." Judas Priest members commented that if they wanted to insert subliminal commands in their music, messages leading to the deaths of their fans would be counterproductive, and they would prefer to insert the command "Buy more of our records." ===Skepticism=== Skeptic Michael Shermer says that the emergence of the "Paul is dead" phenomenon was caused by pareidolia. Shermer argues that the human brain evolved with a strong pattern recognition ability that was necessary to process the large amount of noise in man's environment, but that today this ability leads to false positives. Stanford University psychology professor Brian Wandell postulates that the observance of backward messages is a mistake arising from this pattern recognition facility, and argues that subliminal persuasion theories are "bizarre" and "implausible." Rumors of backmasking in popular music have been described as auditory pareidolia. James Walker, president of Christian research group Watchman Fellowship, states that "You could take a Christian hymn, and if you played it backwards long enough at different speeds, you could make that hymn say anything you want to"; Led Zeppelin publicist BP Fallon concurs, saying "Play anything backwards, and you'll find something." Eric Borgos of audio reversal website talkbackwards.com states that "Mathematically, if you listen long enough, eventually you'll find a pattern", while Jeff Milner recounts, "Most people, when I show them the site, say that they're not able to hear anything, until, of course, I show them the reverse lyrics." Audio engineer Evan Olcott says that messages by artists including Queen and Led Zeppelin are coincidental phonetic reversals, in which the spoken or sung phonemes form new combinations of words when listened to backwards. Olcott states that "Actually engineering or planning a phonetic reversal is next to impossible, and even more difficult when trying to design it with words that fit into a song." In 1985, University of Lethbridge psychologists John Vokey and J. Don Read conducted a study using Psalm 23 from the Bible, Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust", and other sound passages made up for the experiment. Vokey and Read concluded that if backmasking does exist, it is ineffective. Participants had trouble noticing backmasked phrases when the samples were played forwards, were unable to judge the types of messages (Christian, Satanic, or commercial), and were not led to behave in a certain way as a result of being exposed to the backmasked phrases. Vokey concluded that "we could find no effect of the meaning of engineered, backward messages on listeners' behaviour, either consciously or unconsciously." Similar results to Vokey and Read's were obtained by D. Averill in 1982. A 1988 experiment by T.E. Moore found "no evidence that listeners were influenced, consciously or unconsciously, by the content of the backward messages." In 1992, an experiment found that exposure to backward messages did not lead to significant changes in attitude. Psychology professor Mark D. Allen says that "delivering subliminal messages via backward masking is totally and ridiculously impossible". The finding of backward Satanic messages has been explained as caused by the observer-expectancy effect. The Skeptic's Dictionary states that "you probably won't hear [backmasked] messages until somebody first points them out to you. Perception is influenced by expectation and expectation is affected by what others prime you for." In 1984, S. B. Thorne and P. Himelstein found that "when vague and unfamiliar stimuli are presented, [test subjects] are highly likely to accept suggestions, particularly when the suggestions are presented by someone with prestige and authority." Vokey and Read concluded from their 1985 experiment that "the apparent presence of backward messages in popular music is a function more of active construction on the part of the perceiver than of the existence of the messages themselves." ==See also== List of backmasked messages Programming the Nation? Reverse speech Subliminal stimuli ==References== ===Notes=== ===Bibliography=== Chapter also available with commentary by Malinda McCall. ==External links== Backmasking essay on backmasking & a small survey about perception of alleged satanic messages in the song "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin Backmask Online clips and analysis of possible backmasked messages Jeff Milner's Backmasking Page a Flash player with forward and backward versions of songs claimed to contain backmasking; the focus of the Wall Street Journal article Subliminal Audio Database Another flash player with forward and backward versions of songs claimed to contain backmasking TalkBackwards.com allows uploaded music to be reversed Hidden and Satanic Messages In Rock Music 1981 radio interview with Michael Mills Excerpt with alleged backward messages by Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Queen "Backwards Messages in Rock Music Revealed!" podcast featuring The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Rush, Jefferson Starship, Wings, Queen, Phil Collins, Britney Spears, Judas Priest, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Electric Light Orchestra, Xuxa, Prince and Information Society Radio program exploring backmasking by announcer Joe Kleon, broadcast on WRQK-FM, with audio samples from Britney Spears, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Styx, Cheap Trick and others A Touch Radio podcast made of backmasking, both as a tribute and as an artistic approach Decoding Led Zeppelin: Backmasking References — backward lyric videos for Led Zeppelin I, II, III, IV and Houses of the Holy