The Hidden Messages in Records Played Backwards
In the early 1980s, Americans were told that rock records hid satanic messages, audible only when played backwards. Lawmakers held hearings.
What was reported
Backmasking means recording sounds backwards onto a song, and some musicians did it deliberately as a joke or an experiment. But in the early 1980s, some American preachers and campaigners claimed that rock bands were hiding satanic messages in their music, which listeners would absorb without knowing.
The most famous claim was about Led Zeppelin's 'Stairway to Heaven', which some said contained lines about Satan when played in reverse. In 1982, a committee of the California State Assembly held a hearing about it, and bills were proposed to put warning labels on records.
Explanations offered
Researchers found that people hear 'messages' in reversed speech mainly when they're told what to listen for, an effect of pareidolia, and that hidden backward messages have no effect on listeners. The warning-label bills were not passed.
- When
- Early 1980s
- Where
- Sacramento, California, USA
- Witnesses
- Preachers, politicians and record buyers
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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