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.