Backward Masking of Records... Where'd it Go?

Some of you may remember the Bible thumper fad of the 70's and 80's.... backward masking of records.

For those of younger audience, that was when a preacher, parent, rabbi, priest, etc. would take an Alice Cooper, Kiss, ELO, Led Zepplin, among many more, record, and spin it backwards on the turntable. Supposedly, secret messages regarding evil and Satan were heard as the record was being slowly turned the opposite direction.

Here's a link with examples:

www.triplo.com...

I remember my mom taking away Ozzies,"Bark at the Moon" record, because of something she watched on the subject. That really made me mad.

Now, with the advent of mp3's and CD's, what happened to the backwardmaskers? This subject died down alot since then. Did Satan forget to upgrade to the new technology? Did the over pious just move on to something else to try to prohibit and ban and bash, because records aren't being made anymore?

But most importantly: What are we supposed to do now, since the fun of spinning records backwards has left us? hehe

It was discovered that backwards speach is not understood by any part of our brain... so the claims of the rabid lunatics were unfounded and died off.

Originally posted by nathraqBut most importantly: What are we supposed to do now, since the fun of spinning records backwards has left us? hehe

Get yourself a digital audio editing program, all of them will have some sort of reversal effect you can use.

We'll just have to settle for the subliminal messages in disney flicks I guess...

Here's two of my favorites...

The Lion King: when Simba plops down on Pride Rock, to talk to Mufassa, the dust kicks up and spells out SEX briefly.

Aladdin: right before Aladin and Jasmine hop on the carpet, for "A Whole New World", turn up your volume to max, and you'll hear distinctly, in Robin Williams' voice, "All good teenagers, take off your clothes!"

I'm serious....try it, you'll laugh your ass off.....

Since we have limited understanding of the human brain how can we make claims that this does not affect us?

I think it has affected you.

At least I have one, not that I fully understand how it works though.

I would be more suspicious of TV now considering how many watch it. I remember hearing a while back that suggestion of ideas via things like Movies and TV does work, because some movie theaters tested it out with hidden images inticing patrons to buy more soda and popcord, and apparantly it worked and there was a rush on both at the concession stand.

Oh yeah it works!

there is tons of academic proof out there!

the kind of proof that so many people at ATS want to see cause they don't believe anything else of course...

By all means share this proof NEO. I'd be most interested.

Originally posted by Kano
By all means share this proof NEO. I'd be most interested.

I saw a show on Discovery that was about sublimnal(sp) messages in advertising. Movie theaters did flash Coke and buy popcorn messages across the screen. So quick you would never really notice,but it does stick somewhere in your brain. And popcorn and coke sales went up something like 30%.

As far as playing records backwards, I don't think there was ever a lot too it. If it had been a productive way to get a point or a thought across,every politician in America would have something on a record.

its very interesting to also record your voice and play it backwards. Try recording 'my mommy says im special' and reverse it.hehehe, its so funny

It was an 80's thing mainly. Backwards masking itself isn't evil I think, just the message. My favorite group, Apoptygma Berzerk, does it a lot but no messages promoting Satanism. One song is entirely backwards & sounds really cool. It's fun to sit there with Creative Wave Studio and play with that stuff. I'm able to pick it up most of the time after the first play, "Hey, there's something backwards/in the background!"

Originally posted by nathraq
Some of you may remember the Bible thumper fad of the 70's and 80's.... backward masking of records.

For those of younger audience, that was when a preacher, parent, rabbi, priest, etc. would take an Alice Cooper, Kiss, ELO, Led Zepplin, among many more, record, and spin it backwards on the turntable. Supposedly, secret messages regarding evil and Satan were heard as the record was being slowly turned the opposite direction.

Here's a link with examples:

www.triplo.com...

I remember my mom taking away Ozzies,"Bark at the Moon" record, because of something she watched on the subject. That really made me mad.

Now, with the advent of mp3's and CD's, what happened to the backwardmaskers? This subject died down alot since then. Did Satan forget to upgrade to the new technology? Did the over pious just move on to something else to try to prohibit and ban and bash, because records aren't being made anymore?

But most importantly: What are we supposed to do now, since the fun of spinning records backwards has left us? hehe

There is no need for backwards masking anymore. They record satanic lyrics forwards now. The public (especially teens) are desensitized, and the satanism is "in your face".

Here is a good loink as far as subliminal messages go.

Just make sure you have your speakers turned up when they play the song backwards, or you won't hear it.

Warning It could be scary

www.starterupsteve.com...

Originally posted by Gazrok
We'll just have to settle for the subliminal messages in disney flicks I guess...

Here's two of my favorites...

The Lion King: when Simba plops down on Pride Rock, to talk to Mufassa, the dust kicks up and spells out SEX briefly.

Aladdin: right before Aladin and Jasmine hop on the carpet, for "A Whole New World", turn up your volume to max, and you'll hear distinctly, in Robin Williams' voice, "All good teenagers, take off your clothes!"

I'm serious....try it, you'll laugh your ass off.....

well now im getting the dvd's...

got any more...

Claim: An early experiment in subliminal advertising at a movie theater sunstantially increased sales of popcorn and Coke.

Status: False.

Origins: Public awareness of what we now term "subliminal advertising" began with the 1957 publication of Vance Packard's book, The Hidden Persuaders. Although Packard did not use the term "subliminal advertising," he did describe many of the new "motivational research" marketing techniques being employed to sell products in the burgeoning post-war American market. Advertisements that focused on consumers' hopes, fears, guilt, and sexuality were designed to persuade them to buy products they'd never realized they needed. Marketers who could reach into the hearts and minds of American consumers soon found consumers' wallets to be within easy grasp as well.

It was James Vicary who coined the term "subliminal advertising." Vicary had conducted a variety of unusual studies of female shopping habits, discovering (among other things) that women's eye-blink rates dropped significantly in supermarkets, that "psychological spring" lasts more than twice as long as "psychological winter," and that "the experience of a woman baking a cake could be likened to a woman giving birth." Vicary's studies were largely forgettable, save for one experiment he conducted at a Ft. Lee, New Jersey movie theater during the summer of 1957. Vicary placed a tachistoscope in the theater's projection booth, and all throughout the playing of the film Picnic, he flashed a couple of different messages on the screen every five seconds. The messages each displayed for only 1/3000th of a second at a time, far below the viewers' threshold of conscious perceptibility. The result of displaying these imperceptible suggestions -- "Drink Coca-Cola" and "Hungry? Eat Popcorn" -- was an amazing 18.1% increase in Coca-Cola sales, and a whopping 57.8% jump in popcorn purchases. Thus was demonstrated the awesome power of "subliminal advertising" to coerce unwary buyers into making purchases they would not otherwise have considered.

Or so goes the legend that has retained its potency for more than forty years. So potent a legend, in fact, that the Federal Communications Commission banned "subliminal advertising" from radio and television airwaves in 1974, despite that fact that no studies have ever shown it to be effective, and even though its alleged efficacy was based on a fraud.

You see, Vicary lied about the results of his experiment. When he was challenged to repeat the test by the president of the Psychological Corporation, Dr. Henry Link, Vicary's duplication of his original experiment produced no significant increase in popcorn or Coca-Cola sales. Eventually Vicary confessed that he had falsified the data from his first experiments, and some critics have since expressed doubts that he actually conducted his infamous Ft. Lee experiment at all.

As usual, the media (and thereby the public) paid attention only to the sensational original story, and the scant coverage given to Vicary's later confession was ignored or quickly forgotten. Radio and television stations began airing subliminal commercials, leading to two congressional bills to ban the practice being introduced in 1958 and 1959 (both of which died before being voted upon). In 1973, Dr. Wilson B. Key picked up where Vicary left off, publishing Subliminal Seduction, an indictment of modern advertisements filled with hidden messages and secret symbols -- messages and symbols that only Dr. Key could discern (including the notorious example of the word "S-E-X" spelled out in the ice cubes pictured in a liquor advertisement). The old "subliminal advertising" controversy was stirred up again by Dr. Key's book, leading to the 24 January 1974 announcement by the FCC that subliminal techniques, "whether effective or not," were "contrary to the public interest," and that any station employing them risked losing its broadcast license.

For neither the first nor the last time, a great deal of time and money and effort was expended on "protecting" the public from something that posed no danger to them. As numerous studies over the last few decades have demonstrated, subliminal advertising doesn't work; in fact, it never worked, and the whole premise was based on a lie from the very beginning. James Vicary's legacy was to ensure that a great many people will never be convinced otherwise, however.

Sources:
Haberstroh, Jack. Ice Cube Sex.
Notre Dame: CrossRoads Books, 1994. ISBN 0-940121-17-4 (pp. 7-10, 130).

Key, Wilson B. Subliminal Seduction.
New York: Signet, 1973.

Rogers, Stuart. "How a Publicity Blitz Created the Myth of Subliminal Advertising."
Public Relations Quarterly. Winter 1993 (pp. 12-17).

That Aladdin stuff is false too.

I remember, years ago, hearing a self-proclaimed expert saying that Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" contained a backward recording saying "there's no escape, it's my sweet Satan". Since this is one of my all time favorites, I've tried doing the ultimate insult: playing it backwards. Apart from the problems listening to 8.02 minutes of backward music (fatiguing to say the least), I couldn't find a single intelligible word, let alone a whole phrase. So I asked Zep forgiveness and forgot about it. Until last year, when an old time friend told me she got some digital audio equipment and software and she was playing records backwards to find "hidden, subliminal messages". She claimed to have found a lot, even if her husband said he couldn't recognize a single one. Obviously, most of these messages dealt with worshipping the devil, abusing people sexually, etc. Question, if these messages work, why not including one saying "buy ten copies of this album" or "buy our next record"? Nobody ever claimed finding such a message (thanks to Gareth Medway for pointing this out to me). Satanists don't need to hide their messages: the whole Black Metal movement (of which I am a huge supporter) openly deals with worshipping the devil, fighting against the christian god and so. Bands like Emperor, Mayhem, Marduk, Immortal, etc have lyrics openly dealing with the subject, openly use satanic symbols and most of the members proudly boast worshipping the devil. So, you see, there's no need of backward messages here...

I say they quit using the closeted and awkward reverse methode, because society has degraded to a point that Marilyn Manson can spit his Satanic fumes out loud forward style

[edit on 19-1-2005 by Countermeasures]

It's fun to listen to sometimes, but does anyone actually believe it? I just assumed everyone knew nothing was REALLY there, mabye im wrong. Next time I see something even vaguely familiar in the clouds I'll call it satanic and write a book. I'll be filthly rich.