# Does Led Zeppelin's "stairway to heaven" in fact contain secret satanic messages? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 5, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435 "2014-07-05T22:07:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![sara20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@sara20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sara20)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/61 "2014-07-06T17:01:06Z")
GRR, won’t let me edit my post. I also wanted to add that when writing it he said in a interview it was “driven by some spiritual force.” and “Somebody pushed my pen, I think.” The song was made in 1971, before backmasking became popular, in fact was it even around back then? ---
**Author:** ![Absinthe\_Anecdote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Absinthe\_Anecdote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absinthe_Anecdote)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/62 "2014-07-06T17:03:32Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > the Navy has used this. LOL! The Simpsons, Season 12 - Party Posse - Drop Da Bomb Excellent episode and song! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/63 "2014-07-06T17:12:16Z")
> [@sara20](#): > > The house Alister Crowley lived in was known as “The toolshed” No it wasn’t. Think about how stupid that sounds. Who calls an English estate “the toolshed?” His house was Boleskine House, and the only people who say his house was called the toolshed are people who say Led Zeppelin hid backward messages in their songs. You’d need documentation from people who did real research on Crowley. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/64 "2014-07-06T18:10:20Z")
> [@Crazyhorse](#): > > Almost every example of popularly believed backward messages mentioned so far in this thread have been denied by the artists and written off as being purely the result of our imaginations, but in the case of The Beatles and Judas Priest (and dozens that haven’t been mentioned here) the legends are actually true and have been acknowledged by the artists. Which example of intentional back masking has been acknowledged by The Beatles as “actually true”? ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/65 "2014-07-06T18:18:05Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > When I was a teen in the 70’s, this BSCT stuff was circulated on cassette tapes. But…but…listen to Hotel California! That’s Anton LaVey’s shadow in the window on the cover!! But…the Beast…steely knives…checking out! But the Eagles are mellow guys - what? how?! The line about the steely knives was just the Eagles taking a good natured poke at Steely Dan, who had mentioned them in one of their songs. “Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening.” - Steely Dan - “Everything You Did” ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/66 "2014-07-06T18:27:59Z")
> [@sara20](#): > > The house Alister Crowley lived in was known as “The toolshed”, Jimmy page bought his house and wrote “stairway to heaven” in it. Your first sentence has already been disproven. As for your second sentence, what no one has pointed out yet is that, while Page wrote the music for “Stairway to Heaven,” virtually all of its lyrics were written by Robert Plant. Page, discussing the writing of the song: “…and all of a sudden he [Plant] got up and started singing, along with another run-through, and he must have had 80% of the words there.” Others will know the Zep story better than I, but it seems to me that all of the supposed “Satanic” stuff has revolved around Page, not Plant. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/67 "2014-07-06T18:48:21Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > Which example of intentional back masking has been acknowledged by The Beatles as “actually true”? The Beatles did use reversed tape in a bunch of songs, like Rain and I’m Only Sleeping and Tomorrow Never Knows that may be what he means. They didn’t send subliminal messages through backmasking because nobody did (until the concept turned into a joke later on). ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/68 "2014-07-06T19:06:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The Beatles did use reversed tape in a bunch of songs, like Rain and I’m Only Sleeping and Tomorrow Never Knows that may be what he means. They didn’t send subliminal messages through backmasking because nobody did (until the concept turned into a joke later on). Well yeah, reversing tape can be and is done with no intent to back mask at all. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/69 "2014-07-06T19:54:57Z")
> [@sara20](#): > > The house Alister Crowley lived in was known as “The toolshed”, Jimmy page bought his house and wrote “stairway to heaven” in it. Jimmy wrote the song in Robert Plant’s family cottage in Wales, _Bron-Yr-Aur_. Where are you coming up with all these “facts”? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/70 "2014-07-06T20:22:40Z")
Q: What happens if you play a country-western song backwards? A: You get your truck back, you get your dog back, you get yer girl back and life is good. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/71 "2014-07-06T20:33:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Jimmy wrote the song in Robert Plant’s family cottage in Wales, _Bron-Yr-Aur_. Where are you coming up with all these “facts”? Some fundamentalist BS site, more than likely. Or some idiotic youth pastor stuck in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/72 "2014-07-06T20:52:49Z")
Does anyone know who actually started these rumors? Who was ‘pastor zero’ ? ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/73 "2014-07-06T21:36:41Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Does anyone know who actually started these rumors? Who was ‘pastor zero’ ? He may not be specifically associated with the LZ case, but [this guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Larson) has been at the forefront of this kind of nonsense for decades. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/74 "2014-07-06T22:11:25Z")
Parson Larson? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/75 "2014-07-06T22:46:34Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > Q: What happens if you play a country-western song backwards? > > A: You get your truck back, you get your dog back, you get yer girl back and life is good. What do you get when you play New Age music backwards? A: New Age music. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/76 "2014-07-06T22:49:21Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Does anyone know who actually started these rumors? Who was ‘pastor zero’ ? Paul Crouch, in a program on the Trinity Broadcast Network in January 1982. He was a partner in the network with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Crouch specifically alleged that Stairway to Heaven contains the lyrics “Here’s to my sweet Satan” and “I live because I sing with Satan.” > **[Stairway to Heaven](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_Heaven#Allegation_of_backward_masking)** > > "Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 8 November 1971 on the band's untitled fourth studio album (commonly known as Led Zeppelin IV), by Atlantic Records. Composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy Page with lyrics written by lead singer Robert Plant, it is widely regarded as one of the greatest rock songs of all time and by some as the greatest. > The song has three sections, each one progressively increasing in tempo and volume. The song begins in a sl... ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2014, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/77 "2014-07-06T22:56:15Z")
Many moons ago, Rolling Stone published a letter from some dimwit who informed the world “If anybody wondered, the strange words John Lennon sings in **Across The Universe** are _Love is good hash_ backwards.” Two replies were printed in the next issue: - “Right. Would you like to know what they are forwards? _Jai Guru Deva_…” (followed by a translation and brief explanation) and - “Dear (Dimwit): Don’t be silly. Love, John and Yoko.” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/78 "2014-07-07T00:44:08Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Paul Crouch, in a program on the Trinity Broadcast Network in January 1982. He was a partner in the network with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Crouch specifically alleged that Stairway to Heaven contains the lyrics “Here’s to my sweet Satan” and “I live because I sing with Satan.” Jan and Paul Crouch are hysterically funny. My friends and I used to watch them for laughs. Jan Had pink hair, for a while, and took make-up tips from Tammy Faye. They once hired a helicopter pilot to anoint the Trinity Broadcasting aerial. He flew over it in his helicopter, and dumped a bucket of holy oil on it. He came on the show in his leather jacket (for his 'copter pilot cred), and gave testimony about the spiritual experience of anointing the aerial. It was like an SNL skit. ---
**Author:** ![sara20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@sara20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sara20)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/79 "2014-07-07T02:37:38Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > **sara20** - how do YOU think about this as a topic? Do you believe that musicians did this type of thing, and did it with the goal of being agents of Satan? > > If so, I am not sure what to say: you are asking folks on an anonymous message board to help you accept or reject a Big Satanic Conspiracy Theory (BSCT) based on stuff you see on youtube. So it goes. > > When I was a teen in the 70’s, this BSCT stuff was circulated on cassette tapes. But…but…listen to Hotel California! That’s Anton LaVey’s shadow in the window on the cover!! But…the Beast…steely knives…checking out! But the Eagles are mellow guys - what? how?! > > To paraphrase Paul Simon - people hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest. > > So - **sara20** : what do you want to hear? > > (yeah, yeah, I know: Freebird!!) > > ETA: can you imagine if a band like ZZ Top got into back-masking back in the day? For the actual lyrics, you’d hear something like “She wants a Pearl Necklace!!” and when you play the song backwards, you’d hear “what Mr. Gibbons is actually requesting is for you to let him titty-fuck you - please assume the position.” Led Zeppelin is actually one of my favorite bands, but after I heard that song backwards it was spooky and I don’t think it was just a coincidence. The person who said I can only hear it becasue they link the lyrics (and used that youtube experiment he linked) is wrong, can you hear “screamer metal” lyrics without reading them? Only if you listen to the song 20 times. Who ever found those lyrics probably listened to it backwards 20 times in a row. Anyone would be able to hear it on their own if they listen to it enough. Just like how some guy a million years ago ate some coffee beans and felt a buzz. Now we know coffee is stimulating becasue of him. The way I see it there are only a few possibilities: 1. Jimmy page or Robert plant are in fact satanists are intentionally backmasked the whole song and found words that would rhyme and tell their message backwards, this seems hard to do, but is possible I guess. 2. They are not satanists and just did it for fun, or publicity, but that’s alot of work for fun. 3. They are satanists and Satan wrote the song for them as Robert plant seemed to imply in a interview. ( It was Plant and not Page that said this I double checked it, although it was Page that did own Alister Crowley’s house.) 4. The song was meant to be played backwards, Stairway to heaven forwards, Stairway to hell backwards. Stairway was known as a song that sounded good played backwards or forwards, (although it doesn’t in the youtube video I linked becasue they sped up the guitar solo’s for time constraints) 5. Did backmasking even exist in 1971? Most of the other songs with known backmasking were made much later. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/80 "2014-07-07T02:41:08Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Paul Crouch, in a program on the Trinity Broadcast Network in January 1982. He was a partner in the network with Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Crouch specifically alleged that Stairway to Heaven contains the lyrics “Here’s to my sweet Satan” and “I live because I sing with Satan.” > > [Stairway to Heaven - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_Heaven#Allegation_of_backward_masking) I can’t speak for this particular song, but that certainly wasn’t the first rumor of it’s kind about any song. We were hearing of this sort of thing in the 1970s and maybe even in the '60s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435.md?page=5)