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’s 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.
Electric Light Orchestra singer and songwriter Jeff Lynne responded to allegations by calling this accusation (and the related charge of being “devil-worshippers”) “skcollob”.
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.”
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.
Evil Eye by Ash
Message: “She’s giving me the evil eye, suck Satan’s c*ck.”
Said at the beginning of the song. Lead singer Tim Wheeler remarked that “Yeah, we did hide a secret message in ‘Evil Eye’, but it’s not that bad…”
Detour Through your Mind by The B-52’s
Message: “I buried my parakeet in the backyard. Oh no, you’re playing the record backwards. Watch out, you might ruin your needle.”
Rain by The Beatles
Message: “…the sun shines. Raaain. When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads”
Lennon stated that, while under the influence of marijuana, he accidentally played the tapes for “Rain” 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 “Tomorrow Never Knows”, and later in the coda of “Rain”. Note that the last line is the reversed first verse of the song.
Lift Your Head Up High (and blow your brains out) by The Bloodhound Gang
Message: “Devil child will wake up and eat Chef Boyardee Beefaroni”
Said in a deep, odd-sounding voice. Preceded by “I hope you take this the wrong way / And misinterpret what I say / Rewind and let me reverse it / Backwards like Judas Priest first did”
Hate Yer State byChoking Victim
Message: “You think you’re alive motherf*cker? You’re just the walking f*cking dead, you’re a f*cking sheep, stepping on my back to stay alive. West coast, East coast, you’re 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.”
Reversal of undecipherable gibberish at beginning of song.
Rocket by Def Leppard
Message: “We are fighting with the gods of war”
A preview of another song, “Gods of War”, on the album Hysteria.
Fire On High by Electric Light Orchestra
Message: “The music is reversible, but time… (violin note) is not. Turn back! Turn back! Turn back! Turn back!”
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.
Hot Poop by Frank Zappa
Message: “Better look around before you say you don’t care. Shut your f[censored]ing mouth about 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”.
Michael by Franz Ferdinand
Message: “She’s worried about you, call your mother.”
Right before the second verse. A reference to bassist Bob Hardy’s homesickness during the recording of the album. The band “wanted to do the exact opposite [of Satanic backmasking], put the most positive thing we could think of as a backwards message.”
Echo Side by Insane Clown Posse
Message: “Fuck the Devil! Fuck that shit! We believe in life legit. If you diggin’ what we say, why you throw your soul away?”
Everybody Rise by Insane Clown Posse
Message: “Yeah, if you flip this message cuz you think there’s some secret message, there ain’t shit!”
Reversal of gibberish at the end of the track. Said by Violent J.
Boys in Black by L7
Message: “All beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun. Two all beef patties.”
The formula for a Big Mac.
Nightmare/The Dreamtime by Motorhead
Message: “Now 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, ‘coz we will fight forever[incoherent].” “In a single stroke, you poor, stupid, running dogs. Why is it…”
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.
Bloodbath In Paradise by Ozzy Osbourne
Message: “Your mother sells whelks in Hull”
A parody of the most famous line from The Exorcist, in which the possessed child screams “Your mother sucks c*cks in hell.”
Empty Spaces by Pink Floyd
Message: “Dear Punter. Congratulations. You’ve just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chalfont.” (voice in background) “Roger! Carolyne is on the phone!”
Coup d’Etat by Plasmatics
Message: “The brainwashed do not know they are being brainwashed”
After the Song “The Damned” (at the end of the album).
Perfect Sense by Roger Waters
Message: “Julia, 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.”
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.
665 by Soundgarden
Message: “Hail Santa. Santa, I love you baby. My Christmas king. Santa, you’re my king. I love you, Santa baby. Got what I need.”
Throughout the song. Obviously parodies the claimed Satanic messages.
Which Describes How You’re Feeling (Demo ) – They Might Be Giants
Message: “They Might Be Giants wanted to include a verse about the suffering people of the world, but we couldn’t figure out where to put it into this song.”
Towards Destiny by Tiger Army
Message: “Tiger 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.”
After the first verse, at around 0:36. Never Die was a song on the band’s first LP, and “Tiger Army Never Die” has since become the band’s motto. The title of Tiger Army’s third release, III: Ghost Tigers Rise was taken from this message as well.
Courtesy of: Sean Bluestone