Backmasking Assignment

          To be completely honest, I have mixed feelings in regard to the whole question surrounding backmasking and reverse lyrics. While there are many examples of songs where phrases or single words can be loosely picked out of the song played in reverse I believe the large majority of these examples were not intentional but merely discovered coincidentally. However, I also believe that there are examples which were intentionally crafted; I do hold a small criterion for such examples to fall into this category: the message must be clearly audible (not scratchy or too ambiguous like grabbing at straws for example), must be a logical phrase, and must contain some sort of relevancy to a concrete subject or topic and not just gibberish or random words.

Examples and Opinions:

1. Stairway to Heaven

·       This is one of those rare examples I feel to be legitimate. The message stays consistent with itself, its relevance to Satan, and other satanic things such as suffering or the number of the beast 666. Due to the level of sophistication in this example I feel quite certain it was no doubt intentionally crafted by Led Zeppelin.

2. Imagine

·       Due to the shortness of the message I strongly doubt the legitimacy of the message. Although it is audible the words are quite distorted and unclear. Had the message been longer or perhaps further developed I may have thought otherwise and believed Lennon crafted it intentionally.

3. I’m So Tired

·       While I was at first quick to discard this example as illegitimate I found that when played forward what is heard is practically gibberish as if it was recorded backwards initially. The message “Paul is a dead man” while at first seeming crazy or fake, actually ignited further buzz in controversy surrounding Paul in 1966 in which the media claimed he was dead and replaced with a look-alike. The Beatles likely intentionally crafted the message.

 4. My Name Is…

·       Had any other artist other than Eminem made this song, the message would never have arisen; it would have appeared as gibberish in relevance to the artist performing it. However, since the message repeats the words “Eminem” and “Slim”, both titles of the artist Eminem, it is blatantly obvious the message was intentionally crafted.

5. Empty Spaces

·       This could very well be one of the first pioneering examples of backmasking. When listened to forward, it is impossible to make out any words. When played backwards, a clean and crisp message is unveiled – “Congratulations. You have just discovered the secret message.” This part of the song was intentionally recorded then played backwards within the normal version of the song so that when reversed, the audio could be understood. Good job Pink Floyd, way to be original…again.

6. Baby One More Time

·       As a result of the choppiness of the message I fail to see the legitimacy. The length prevents it from holding any strong provable evidence.

7. Nature Trail to Hell

·       Weird Al Yankovic’s humorous take on the music industry is quite evident in this example: “Satan eats Cheez Whiz”. The crispness of the message in addition to its comical undertone very common in Yankovic’s music insures the song’s intentionally crafted message.

8. Another One Bites the Dust

·       I feel that this message is an example of “grabbing at straws”. The message is poorly audible and is not apparently associated with any theme relatable to Queen or their other music.

9. Hotel California

·       Like the previous example with Queen, the message is poorly audible and is very likely coincidental and unintentional.

10. Revolution 9

·       The message “Turn me on dead man” seems a bit nonsensical though due to the Beatles of history of backmasked lyrics it’s not out of the question that the message was intentionally crafted. Although I lean towards the message being coincidental due to its lack of a concrete subject or relevant theme.