More Into Backmasking

As promised, I'm going to take a closer look at the process of backmasking in recording music.

The first band to gain fame for backmasking was Judas Priest. They went to court over the matter, with conservatives alleging that hidden messages in their album "Stained Class" convinced a couple of teenagers to commit suicide. The so-called subliminal influences were phrases such as "Do it", "Fuck the Lord, fuck all of you" and the like. (Corbin & Ganger) However, when the tapes were actually reversed in court, not a single instance of these suicidal influences could be found. One song included the phrase "I asked her for a peppermint/I asked her to go get one", which I daresay does not make me want to kill myself. Besides, during the trial no evidence of the effect of backmasked messages on the human mind was ever presented, because the prosecution couldn't acquire any.  Lately it has actually been proven that it is impossible for a backwards recorded message to have any kind of influence over the listener. (Moore) Fortunately for heavy metal lovers out there, including me, the judge decided that while messages might have been present in the recordings, they were unintentional, and had no effect on the two victims whatsoever. This was not the victory the band had hoped for, but they managed to hold the line for all other bands that once have snuck in secret messages in their music. If they would've lost the case, the floodgates for an invasion of lawsuits against bands and media in general would have opened, unleashing what could have been a devastating attach on the industry.

Thankfully, both their lawyers and the band held their own against the accusations, and music of all types continues flourishing every day.

Moore, Timothy E. "Scientific Consensus and Expert Testimony: Lessons from the Judas Priest Trial." CSI. Nov.-Dec. 1996. Web. 25 Aug. 2011. <http://www.csicop.org/si/show/scientific_consensus_and_expert_testimony>.

Dean, Corbin, and Joshua Ganger. "Backmask Online." Backmaskonline.com. Web. 25 Aug. 2011. <http://www.backmaskonline.com/index.php?page=home>.

First!!!1!

As instructed by my English professor, I will be keeping a blog about Subliminal Messages for the semester. Even though this controversial tactic has been disproven in recent years, it caused quite a stir back in the 60's, when certain brands used it to feed people the desire to buy their products, some bands hid messages in their music and some movies included a plethora of words, pictures and ideas hidden in their content (Disney, I'm looking at you). Nowadays, this tactic is illegal in most countries when applied to people without their knowledge, but the self-improvement business has started using subliminal messages for everything from weight loss to self-confidence, and some artists still backmask things into their tracks. Backmasking is the practice of recording words and phrases into a record that are only heard when played backwards, more common and obvious in vinyl records (as it was easier to play it back than with CD's, for example). I will delve deeper into backmasking later on, but for now, I hope to learn something new and practice my English writing skills in the process. Max out.

PD: Mr Josh, you suggested we make a hobby out of this investigation. Are you condoning my illegal actions? If so, I must inform you that that is very wrong, especially from a figure of authority like you!

PDD: If you disapprove of the title of the blog, listen to Queen's Another One Bites the Dust backwards first.