# 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:** 5
**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 7, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/81 "2014-07-07T02:43:21Z")
> [@sara20](#): > > 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. 1. The whole thing is bullshit and people are just hearing what they are told to hear. Ockham’s Razor. ---
**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 7, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/82 "2014-07-07T02:47:48Z")
> [@sara20](#): > > 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. 1. You’re imagining things. And #5 isn’t a “possibility”, it’s a question. ---
**Author:** ![DingoelGringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@DingoelGringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DingoelGringo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/83 "2014-07-07T02:51:03Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > A couple of decades ago, the heavy metal band Judas Priest was involved in a lawsuit where it was claimed that satanic messages hidden in their music drove someone to suicide. In their defense, the band played part of their music backwards showing where it also contained the phrase “I want a lollipop” backwards (or something like that - I’m going from memory here). The lawsuit quickly fell apart after that. > > The human brain is the greatest pattern matching machine in the known universe. If you pick up an apple, your mind instantly recognizes it as an apple and you an instantly recall all sorts of apple-related things, like how it should taste, for example. There isn’t a supercomputer in the world that can even come close to that. The way your brain works, though, if you feed it gibberish it will still try to match it to something that you can understand. If you want to find lollipops, you’ll find lollipops. If you want to find satanic messages, you’ll find satanic messages. > > The fact that you are hearing satanic messages probably says more about you than it says about the band that recorded the music. THat is the way I see it. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/84 "2014-07-07T02:53:10Z")
It’s totally for real, I swear! In a dorm room in Oneonta, N.Y., I once tried playing the LP backward and I suddenly heard clear instructions in an English accented voice on how to gain power over the winds and rains. No joke! ---
**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, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/85 "2014-07-07T02:55:46Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > It’s totally for real, I swear! In a dorm room in Oneonta, N.Y., I once tried playing the LP backward and I suddenly heard clear instructions in an English accented voice on how to gain power over the winds and rains. No joke! Was that before or after the acid kicked in? ---
**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 7, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/86 "2014-07-07T03:03:37Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > 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. That’s true. I guess I assumed that **simster** was asking about “Stairway” in particular and not about backmasking in general. It was a faulty assumption on my part. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/87 "2014-07-07T03:29:10Z")
The world I live in makes more sense and is less frightening. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/88 "2014-07-07T03:31:10Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Was that before or after the acid kicked in? Dude, all I know is that before that happened, the creepy chick who lived in the next building made me eat some pills off of a Buffy St. Marie album cover and then stare at a poster of Che Guavera for an hour with the Necronomicon balanced on my head… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/89 "2014-07-07T03:38:14Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > If you play the Rolling Stones backwards, it says "“Go to church, say your prayers. TITHE!!! TITHE!!!” [Ah, the classics!](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fanKwsR5emg/T7F4TqskF7I/AAAAAAAAAvo/CzzeCplMpKQ/s1600/masking.gif) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/90 "2014-07-07T04:01:21Z")
> [@sara20](#): > > 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? If you played one of those songs for me and told me the chorus is “I am playing patty-cake with Satan,” there’s a pretty good chance I would hear that- even if the chorus was actually “I am eating strawberry shortcake.” The Internet is full of websites about misheard song lyrics, and this is no different. > [@](#): > > 1. Did backmasking even exist in 1971? No. But it’s never existed in the sense you and your sources say it did. > [@](#): > > Most of the other songs with known backmasking were made much later. And almost all of them are jokes. That ought to tell you something. ---
**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 7, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/91 "2014-07-07T04:17:08Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > That’s true. I guess I assumed that **simster** was asking about “Stairway” in particular and not about backmasking in general. It was a faulty assumption on my part. I was asking specifically about Stairway - but the more interesting question is the ‘backmasking’ trope in general - when did it get started? ---
**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, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/92 "2014-07-07T04:58:51Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I was asking specifically about Stairway - but the more interesting question is the ‘backmasking’ trope in general - when did it get started? I clearly remember my parents listening to a Christian radio program in which the clown on the air was claiming this about a Beatles song. The closest I can narrow it down is late 1960s to early 70s, but I think the former. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/93 "2014-07-07T04:59:33Z")
In the realms of ‘Hearing what you’ve been told to hear’ - there’s a whole swag of Bollywood songs given the treatment. https://www.youtube.com/embed/sdyC1BrQd6g?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque&list=RDsdyC1BrQd6g&start=15 ---
**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 7, 2014, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/94 "2014-07-07T05:15:46Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I clearly remember my parents listening to a Christian radio program in which the clown on the air was claiming this about a Beatles song. The closest I can narrow it down is late 1960s to early 70s, but I think the former. Some people who played the Sgt. Pepper album backward claimed they heard “We will fuck you supermen” in the run-out groove. According to _Beatles Monthly_, it was just the Beatles making some chatter that was then mixed up and distorted. They were actually saying things like “Thanks for listening,” and “We’ll see you soon.” ---
**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 7, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/95 "2014-07-07T05:37:44Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > In the realms of ‘Hearing what you’ve been told to hear’ - there’s a whole swag of Bollywood songs given the treatment. > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdyC1BrQd6g&list=RDsdyC1BrQd6g#t=15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdyC1BrQd6g&list=RDsdyC1BrQd6g#t=15) Before going there I’m guessing one will be about “My looney bun is fine” and “who put the goat in there.” Those things are hilarious. ---
**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 7, 2014, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/96 "2014-07-07T05:43:19Z")
On the nosey. Haven’t seen it in quite a while, it’s even funnier than I remembered. I’m going to record and play it backwards, find out what the real message is. ---
**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 7, 2014, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/97 "2014-07-07T08:03:29Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > In the realms of ‘Hearing what you’ve been told to hear’ - there’s a whole swag of Bollywood songs given the treatment. > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdyC1BrQd6g&list=RDsdyC1BrQd6g#t=15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdyC1BrQd6g&list=RDsdyC1BrQd6g#t=15) That was great! You could test it out by closing your eyes and opening them every few seconds. BTW, I love some of the movies and music that comes out of Bollywood, not to mention the many beautiful women. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/98 "2014-07-07T08:54:42Z")
If you play _Black Sabbath_ songs backwards, they say stuff like “Praise the Lord Jesus, our saviour!” ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/99 "2014-07-07T09:15:48Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I was asking specifically about Stairway - but the more interesting question is the ‘backmasking’ trope in general - when did it get started? There is a real psychological effect known as [_backward masking_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backward_masking), but it has nothing to do with sounds being played backwards. Real backward masking occurs when one very briefly experienced stimulus is very quickly followed by another different one. In some circumstances the subject will not be consciously aware of having experienced the first stimulus (despite the fact that they undoubtedly would have been, if it had not been followed by the second) but the first stimulus can still have experimentally detectable subliminal effects on their behavior (although these effects are generally very trivial and short lived). My guess is that someone who had heard about _backward masking_ and its possible subliminal effects, perhaps in a psychology class, but had misunderstood or failed to remember much about it, except for the name, and then heard about backward playing tapes being used in some music (as by _The Beatles_), mistakenly thought that the word for this was “backmasking” and that it could have subliminal effects. They stared using the term that way, and it somehow caught on. (Of course, Satanic, or other, messages played backwards do not have any subliminal effects at all. They are simply not understood.) ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435/100 "2014-07-07T11:00:15Z")
> [@sara20](#): > > 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. Well, **sara20** , no one else posting to this thread believes in this stuff. Now what? You came to this messageboard and started this thread to ask if StH has satanic messages - no, it doesn’t; if you believe it does, you are buying into silliness. Next? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-led-zeppelins-stairway-to-heaven-in-fact-contain-secret-satanic-messages/692435.md?page=6)