# albums spinning backwards **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 27, 2001, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941 "2001-07-27T06:25:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hippy144](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/90db22/32.png) [@Hippy144](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy144)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/1 "2001-07-27T06:25:17Z")
Okay, I’ve heard how people put things backward on some albums, but I don’t know who they are. I heard the beatles put a receipe for tomato soup on one, but that’s it. Anyone have names for these phantom albums? Plus, do these messages really make sense to the subconsious and act subliminally? ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/2 "2001-07-27T06:33:49Z")
There is no evidence that you can hear a message backwards and decode it and be influenced subliminally. Also, you would have to be very concious in your reverse lyrics to have it make objective sense. To his great credit, one of the Christian camp speakers I saw as a teenager tried to battle the myth of the backward masking. He’s play Led Zepplin or something backwards twice, with different lyrics on the slides for each time. His point was that he could make you hear a different message by suggesting it. So, there are bands that have done it, but most “cases” are just people projecting on what they hear. I personally have taped “Stairway to Heaven” on a reel-to-reel tape and flipped the tape, so that I had a perfect-playing backwards version. If you can hear more than three words in a row out of that, you have a very active imagination. I don’t know of any offhand that have tried to put it behind the music, but I heard the rumors of purposeful, publicity-seeking moves like that from some 80s metal bands. ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/3 "2001-07-27T06:45:02Z")
Def Leppard put a deliberately back masked section on one of the tracks on “Hysteria”. Of course since when you played it backwards it said exactly the same lyrics as the the chorus played forwards it was a bit silly. And of course the B side of “They’re coming ot take me away Ha Ha” by Napoleon Bonaparte was cleverly back masked. If you played it backwards to would hear the full version of the A side. Yeah it’s been done a lot deliberately and probably very rarely by random chance/demonic manipulation of the recording equipment. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/4 "2001-07-27T07:39:24Z")
There’s a totally wacko website I saw once where some guy reckons that the back mask effect isn’t deliberate, but is an artifact of the human subconscious; he claims that **any** recorded voice played backwards will reveal truths about the speaker’s thoughts, wish I could find it, there was some beautiful pseudoscience there. ---
**Author:** ![Xixox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/13edae/32.png) [@Xixox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xixox)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/5 "2001-07-27T07:58:24Z")
You’re probably thinking of [http://www.reversespeech.com](http://www.reversespeech.com), Mangetout. Lotsa wacky stuff there… some almost even believable. I was first directed there by an Art Bell program a couple years back. Pretty fascinating how they explain some of the instances there, but I doubt any of it would hold up to scientific method. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/6 "2001-07-27T08:05:45Z")
**Mangetout** , could this be the sight you’re thinking of: [http://www.reversespeech.com/](http://www.reversespeech.com/) As the others have said, most backwards messages you hear rumors about are nonexistent. Some real ones I can think of off the top of my head are _Rain_ by The Beatles, _Empty Spaces_ by Pink Floyd, some song on Prince’s Purple Rain album that I can’t think of, ELO had one on a song I can’t think of (“The music is reversible, but time…Turn Back!”, or something like that), Styx had one on their Kilroy Was Here album, and _…And the Gods Made Love_ by Jimi Hendrix. ---
**Author:** ![FarmerOak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@FarmerOak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerOak)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/7 "2001-07-27T09:06:19Z")
I heard somewhere that if you reverse Pink Floyd’s _Dark Side of the Moon_ and synchronize it with a reversed copy of _The Wizard of Oz_, it can reverse your circumcision and make you a healthy, normal American boy again. That’s what I heard, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/8 "2001-07-27T10:33:40Z")
There is a section on Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” where, if you play it backwards, it says someting along the lines of 'Congratulations! You have found the secret answer. Send your submissions to" … and an adress… ---
**Author:** ![wayward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wayward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wayward)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/9 "2001-07-27T12:04:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hippy144 \* > **I heard the beatles put a receipe for tomato soup on one…** I think that was a joke on a Simpsons episode. Lisa meets Paul and Linda McCartney in a secret garden on the roof of the Kwik-E-Mart and becomes a vegetarian. Paul tells Lisa that one of the Beatles’ songs has this and then on the closing credits the song plays with muffled backwards speech in the background, obviously the aforementioned recipe. I don’t remember which song or series or episode number I’m afraid but I know that’s where it came from. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Propski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/5e9695/32.png) [@Guy\_Propski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Propski)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/10 "2001-07-27T12:57:31Z")
“The Simpsons” joke is a reference to the old “I Buried Paul” rumor. I believe there is a bit of backwards talking at the end of “I Am the Walrus” which everyone git and their mother heard as John saying “I buried Paul.” In fact, it was John saying “strawberry ice cream” played backwards. John said that it was just something that popped into his mind. There are lots of artists who included backward bits as jokes. Robert Fripp’s The League of Gentlemen included a backwards Monty Python quote (“The sheep is not a creature of the air”) on their first album. XTC, as the Dukes of Stratosphear, have some backwards laughing on their “25 O’Clock” EP. If any of you have the album version of “The Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy”, it includes a backwards quote revealing whose arm was bruised during the spaceship attack (it was Arthur’s). I guess this has all gone the way of the silent movie… ---
**Author:** ![FarmerOak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@FarmerOak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FarmerOak)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/11 "2001-07-27T13:02:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guy Propski \* > \*\*In fact, it was John saying “strawberry ice cream” played backwards. \*\* Um… no. In point of fact, John said “cranberry sauce.” ---
**Author:** ![therealblaze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@therealblaze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/therealblaze)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/12 "2001-07-27T13:10:25Z")
Iron Maiden has some…you can check the out \here\. There’s also few links to sites about the issue. ---
**Author:** ![therealblaze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a9adbd/32.png) [@therealblaze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/therealblaze)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/13 "2001-07-27T13:11:37Z")
well that didn’t work. [http://www.truemetal.org/ironmaiden/frames2.html](http://www.truemetal.org/ironmaiden/frames2.html) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/14 "2001-07-27T13:15:43Z")
Because of the nature of human speech, it is impossible to say something that will sound correct forwards and backwards. Not just very difficult, but impossible. In the cases where a backwards message has been inserted on purpose (and as far as I know they’ve all been put there as pranks, not for any sinister purposes), it sounds like garbage when played forward. Incidentally, isn’t there a Weird Al Yankovic song with an imbedded backwards message - something like “Satan eats Cheez Whiz!”? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/15 "2001-07-27T13:22:49Z")
Prince’s _Darling Nikki_, when played backwards, says “Hello, how are you? I’m fine. Bye bye. The Lord is coming.” Laughter then follows. I myself have played it backwards, and will vouch for this. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/16 "2001-07-27T13:27:10Z")
I heard an interview with a rock star once (sorry, don’t remember the name); his idea was that if back-masking worked, every song ever recorded would have it, and the message would be, “BUY THIS RECORD!” ---
**Author:** ![MrDeath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/22d042/32.png) [@MrDeath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDeath)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/17 "2001-07-27T15:23:30Z")
If…and this is a big ‘if’…you can find two late-'70s LPs by Klaatu (you know, the guys who did Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft), the first being their self-titled debut album and the second being ‘Sir Army Suit’, you will find a _really_ neat examply of deliberate backmasking. On ‘Sir Army Suit’, one of the songs (Silly Boys) is (with a few modifications) a song from the first album played backwards. It’s kinda neat. They’re a pretty good band, too, as long as you don’t think of them as the Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/18 "2001-07-27T15:45:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by FarmerOak \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Guy Propski \* > > \*\*In fact, it was John saying “strawberry ice cream” played backwards. \*\* > > Um… no. > > In point of fact, John said “cranberry sauce.” \*\* And even more to the point, he said, “Cranberry Sauce” followed by “I’m very tall.” You can hear it pretty clearly on the _Anthology 2_ version. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/19 "2001-07-27T16:41:13Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by MrDeath_ > If…you can find two late-'70s LPs by Klaatu…you will find a really neat examply of deliberate backmasking. On ‘Sir Army Suit’, one of the songs (Silly Boys) is (with a few modifications) a song from the first album played backwards. The clue for “Silly Boys” was that the lyrics were printed backwards on the liner. You could only read them in a mirror. Not quite the same as backward masking, but still a pretty neat trick that Klaatu used on the _Sir Army Suit_ LP was to play with the stereo balance. At one point in the song “Mister Manson,” they have a speech by Adolf Hitler coming out of one channel while courtroom dialogue is coming out the other–I believe it was taken from a movie about the Manson Family murders, but I’m not sure. Anyway, with the balance set in the middle, the speech and the dialogue sound like gibberish. But adjust your balance to one side or the other, and you can hear what each is saying. I don’t think backwards messages or stereo balance messages have any effect on the subconscious. I don’t understand German, so Hitler’s speech is lost on me; and part of the courtroom dialogue consists of somebody saying, “I am Jesus Christ,” followed by somebody else saying, “Crawl on your hands and knees on broken glass.” I can only speak for myself, but after listening to the LP many times in the past, I know that I’m not Jesus Christ, and I do not have a desire to crawl on broken glass. ---
**Author:** ![Fish42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4da419/32.png) [@Fish42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish42)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2001, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941/20 "2001-07-27T17:05:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Funky McDuck \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by Hippy144 \* > > **I heard the beatles put a receipe for tomato soup on one…** > > I think that was a joke on a Simpsons episode. Lisa meets Paul and Linda McCartney in a secret garden on the roof of the Kwik-E-Mart and becomes a vegetarian. Paul tells Lisa that one of the Beatles’ songs has this and then on the closing credits the song plays with muffled backwards speech in the background, obviously the aforementioned recipe. > I don’t remember which song or series or episode number I’m afraid but I know that’s where it came from. \*\* The song is Paul’s post-Beatles number “Maybe I’m Amazed.” During the episode, he tells Lisa that if you play it backwards, you can hear a recipe for a “ripping lentil soup.” At the end, “Maybe I’m Amazed” is played over the closing credits with noticeable backwards speech added. According to people who have played it backwards, Paul does indeed recite a lentil soup recipe. At the end, he adds, “By the way, I’m not dead.” (A reference to the backwards messages of the old ‘Paul is dead’ hoax.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/albums-spinning-backwards/73941.md?page=2)