Backward message

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Reverse messages (English Backmasking , Backward messaging or Backward Masking ) are intended or perceived voice messages on recordings (vinyl records , audio tapes , audio CDs and audio files) that are stored in the reverse direction and not when playing in the normal direction or a make other sense. Backward messages can be deciphered by playing the sound carrier against the intended direction.

history

One of the first popular, intended backward messages is on the B-side of the 1966 single paperback writer by British band The Beatles . Since then, several other musicians have also added backward messages to their pieces for artistic or satirical reasons.

In addition to intended backward messages, some consumers found speech sequences in various media that were suspected of being backward messages. When playing back these sequences, which are usually recognizable as part of a normal spoken and not artificially generated language, messages are hidden that are more or less clearly and coherently perceptible.

The topic received increased attention in 1969 by a radio presenter from England. He had spread the rumor that Paul McCartney , bassist for The Beatles, had been dead for three years. In his place, a man named William would play, who had been made to look like his predecessor through plastic surgery. He considered the message "Turn me on, dead man" to be a strong indication of this , which is supposed to be heard when you hear the Beatles song Revolution No. 9 hears the words "Number nine" backwards. McCartney's death note is hidden here. The Paul is dead article delves into this conspiracy theory at length .

As a result, there was widespread interest in backward messages in rock and pop music , and songs were searched for such hidden messages. In the 1980s, especially from Christian American groups, the first claims arose that such messages were hidden in the songs of popular music, especially rock music. The messages had an occult , suicidal , drug-glorifying or sex-related content and would drive the listeners, mainly adolescents, to delinquent forms of behavior and moral decay through unconscious influence (see subliminal (psychology) ). In North America, such allegations against the musicians have been the subject of lawsuits and legislative proposals. As with the alleged subliminal advertising in the 1950s, however, by the 1960s science was of the predominant opinion that this method was ineffective. It is almost impossible for the subconscious to filter out the message from the other sounds while listening in order to recognize its backward-conveyed content, and it is denied that such messages have an unconscious effect on the listener.

In contrast, there is relatively little interest in backward messages in the rock music and metal scene . There, backward messages for the purpose of seducing young people are considered a myth, which at best serves to brand the music. Backward messages are therefore usually inserted into songs to make fun of the above-mentioned allegations or to increase sales through conscious provocation. These backward messages can be clearly understood by everyone when the data carrier is played backward. Supposed, unconfirmed backward messages, on the other hand, can usually only be recognized and understood with a great deal of imagination and are not intended by the author and are therefore considered urban legends .

Coding

Backward messages can be produced using various methods:

One possibility is to record one of the audio tracks in the opposite direction of the other tracks during audio recording. Then the sound engineers transfer all tracks to a tape with normal width. This is not a problem with modern studio technology. Although encrypted text can be understood in this way when played backwards, it is correspondingly incomprehensible in normal playing direction.

Encrypted speech can also be generated by saying and recording a text in such a way that it sounds like the original text played backwards. However, when listening in the opposite direction, there are usually audible differences to the normally recited original text in terms of speech melody , intonation and the phonetic structure of the sounds. Avoiding or correcting this takes practice. The difference can be made clear by saying a palindrome and playing it backwards: the word “storage shelf” sounds audibly different when played backwards than it is forwards.

An even more complicated approach builds on this method. In this case, the words of a spoken text are selected in such a way that they appear unsuspicious in the normal listening direction, but when they are heard backwards they produce the desired different content.

A non-coding method of the backward message combines a forward text with a mirrored backward text to form an "acoustic palindrome" so that this sequence sounds identical forwards and backwards.

Decoding

There are also different procedures for decryption.

The simplest way of decryption is to run the sound carrier backwards.

With vinyl records, only the turntable platter has to be turned in the opposite direction while the cartridge is in place. A special CD player, such as that used by disc jockeys , is required to play audio CDs in reverse . Digital audio formats such as MP3 can be played backwards using music editing and playback software.

Examples

Most intended or supposed backward messages are perceived in rock songs, some even by pop artists.

Deliberate reverse messages

Examples intended by musicians, in which one usually only hears incomprehensible noises during normal playback, are:

  • Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Fire on High : "... the music is reversible ... but time (is not) ... turn back ... turn back ... turn back."
  • Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Secret Messages : "Welcome to the show"
  • Petra , Judas' Kiss : "What are you looking for the devil for, when you ought to be looking for the Lord?"
  • Pink Floyd , Empty Spaces : “Congratulations. You have just discovered the secret message. Please send to [...] "
  • Iron Maiden , Still Life : "What ho said the t'ing with the three 'bonce', do not meddle with things you don't understand ..."
  • Linkin Park , Announcement Service Public : "You should brush your teeth and you should wash your hands."
  • Böhse Onkelz , Enie Tfahcstob Rüf Ediona-rap (“A message for paranoids”): “Congratulations. It must have been a lot of work playing this song backwards. Either you're one of the paranoid assholes we made this song for, or you're just curious. The former should be said: Anyone looking for backward-speaking satanist or fascist messages on our records must be downright stupid and also suffer from extreme paranoia. Poor pig, we're really sorry for you. Lock yourself in and throw away the key. "
  • Karat , companion of the storm wind : "Don't go alone, get in line"
  • Die Doctors , Westerland (to the Max) : "On Westerland women have breasts full of tits"
  • The doctors , a song for you : "Except Campino"
  • Propaganda , Dr. Mabuse : " Why does it hurt, why does it hurt when my heart misses the beat?" (Literal translation of "Why does it hurt when my heart misses the beat?" From the same song)
  • Grave Digger , Fanatic Assassins : Some vulgar expressions in German
  • Nina Hagen , Fall in Love with me ( discomfort , first edition): "We have seen various artists come and go"
  • Opeth , Hessian Peel : “Out of the court yard, come back tonight; my sweet Satan, I see you. "
  • Scooter , CIFL : "Copyright is for losers"
  • Darkthrone , As Flittermice as Satans Spys : "In the name of God, let the churches burn!"
  • Slayer , Hell Awaits : "Join us, Join us, Join us ..."
  • Prince , Darling Nikki : “Hello, how are you? I'm fine. 'cause I know that the Lord is coming soon, coming, coming soon. "
  • Chris de Burgh , The Vision (from the album Into the Light) : "A Man - A Vision"
  • Alligatoah , funeral service (from the Triebwerke album) : "emotional manipulation, I am probably an Illuminati"
  • Eric Stuart , English dubbed version of the 128th episode of the Pokémon anime : " Leo Burnett and 4Kids are the devil, Leo Burnett!"

Alleged backward messages

The following are examples of supposed backward messages that are not officially intended by the respective artists, but are perceived by some listeners as being intentionally incorporated through appropriate pronunciation (phonetic reversal) . If you listen to the corresponding musical sections backwards without knowing the text to be expected, you would usually not be able to understand them.

Parodies

  • In the Simpsons episode New Kids on the Blecch (German title Die sensational Pop-Gruppe ), Bart is a member of the boygroup Party Posse , which started with the single Drop da Bomb! becomes famous. The hypnotic chorus of this song is “Yvan Eht Nioj”, which Lisa exposes as a subliminal message (back- coded Join the Navy ).
  • In 1990 the Hessian comedy duo Badesalz processed the concern about backward messages, especially in heavy metal pieces, parodically on the album Och Joh : Herbert understands the messages “ribs with cabbage” and “blood sausage” as “stab in the bride” and “blood thirst ".
  • On the published in 2000 album Sex Sex Sex of JBO a voice is heard, the played-back in the opposite direction reverse spoken sounds: "Warning! If you play this CD forwards, you might hear Satanic Messages. ” Later on, there are actually three short titles Satanic Messages , but expected to be rather comical in nature.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b History: Backward Messages and Evil Influence , Metal Hammer , March 27, 2009
  2. ^ R. Gary Patterson: Take a Walk on the Dark Side: Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses , pp. 172-173, Fireside 2004, ISBN 0-7432-4423-0
  3. ^ William Poundstone: Backward Messages on Records . Bigger Secrets. Houghton Mifflin, pp. 227-232, ISBN 0-395-45397-6 . http://www.skepticfiles.org/mys1/backmsk2.htm
  4. ↑ Jeff Milner's Backmasking site . Jeff Milner. Retrieved February 3, 2010.
  5. ↑ Caroline Gerlach: KARAT Pop nonstop, 1985, page 34
  6. ↑ interview with King Diamond conducted by Bill Zebub ( December 20, 2013 memento in the Internet Archive ) - The Grimoire of Exalted Deeds Magazine, accessed November 16, 2013.

literature

  • Michael Buschmann: Rock in reverse. Manipulation through "backward masking". Schulte & Gerth, Asslar 1987, ISBN 3-87739-663-1
  • Heinz Buddemeier & Jürgen Strube: The inaudible suggestion. Research results on the influence of rock music and subliminal cassettes on humans. Urachhaus, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-87838-614-1
  • Dierk Heimann: Backward masking. Curse or flop. Memra, 1990, ISBN 3-89437-145-5
  • Werner Helsper: Occultism - The New Youth Religion ? The symbolism of death and evil in youth culture. Leske and Budrich, Opladen 1992, ISBN 3-8100-0872-9
  • Ralf Ott: Subliminale Acoustic Influence - Facts and Fictions ( Memento from July 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ). In: Hypnosis and Cognition. No. 15, 1998, pp. 57–78 (therein Chapter 3: Backmasking in popular music ( Memento of July 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) )
  • Christoph Reuter, Michael Oehler: Backward messages in rock, pop and heavy metal music . In: Music in the Spectrum of Technological Developments and New Media, ed. v. Arne Bense, Martin Gieseking, Bernhard Müßgens. epOs-Music , Osnabrück 2015, pp. 323–336
  • Helmut Rösing: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Punk: Secret messages to the unconscious? In: Contributions to popular music research. Vol. 12, 1992, pp. 163-185 ( PDF; 1.08 MB )
  • Wolfgang Weirauch: nataS - Satan. Texts spoken backwards on rock records. in Flensburg booklets. No. 19, 1989, ISBN 3-926841-06-0 , pp. 162-169

Web links