Backmasking is a recording trick that reverses words and phrases, inserting them into songs. When played backwards, these secret messages with hidden meanings can be heard. Right-wing Christian groups in the '60s, '70s, and '80s claimed that major recording artists used backmasking to convert people to the Devil, believing that reversed lyrics could seep into a person's subconscious and alter their minds. This concept is also known as subliminal messaging, which doesn't work that way. Here are notable examples of music with backwards lyrics - some real and intentionally inserted, others purely imagined.
About this list
- 1
The song starts with gibberish. Reversing it reveals a voice saying, "You think you're alive, motherfucker? You're just the walking fucking dead, you're a fucking sheep, stepping on my back to stay alive. West Coast, East Coast, you're all just a bunch of fucking fools, you and the rest of this greedy fucking world."The song includes another intentional backmasking: "Kill yourself! So stay in school, say no to drugs, oh yeah! Hail Satan! Good night boys and girls, pleasant dreams."
239 - 2
Two minutes and fourteen seconds into the song, playing it backward reveals a voice saying, "A God with hooves, a God with horns." This backmasking is clearly intentional.
173 - 3
This is the lead-in and title track from Slayer's second record.Hell AwaitsThis track has a backwards Satanic incantation. Voices repeat "join us" forty-five times. Then, they intone "Welcome back," all backwards and hard to understand.Slayer vocalist and bass player Tom Araya stated the message was meant to invoke Satan. He said "welcome back" showed the invocation worked and Satan walked among the living.Slayer vocalist and bass player Tom Araya stated the message was meant to invoke Satan. He said "welcome back" showed the invocation worked and Satan walked among the living.
He admitted adding this helped boost the album's Satanic imagery, not because the band genuinely wants to conjure Satan.
172 - 4
This song has "The Lord's Prayer" reversed. Playing the song backward lets you hear a voice recite the prayer. This is a direct message, not just hidden: reciting "The Lord's Prayer" backward is apparently a custom in some Satanic rituals.
172 - 5
Old school Norwegian black metal group Darkthrone attacks Christianity by backing Satan. "As Flittermice as Satans Spys" appears on the group's third album.Transilvanian Hunger, written by murdered, arsonist, and white supremacist Varg Vikernes. The song ends with aThis song sends a clearly anti-Christian reverse message.: "In the name of God, let the churches burn."
Because the title includes "Satan," the message seems aimed at Satanism.
169 - 6
Floridian death metal heretics Deicide love Satan. The band attacks organized religion, especially Christianity, at every chance. The start of "Satan Spawn, the Caco-Daemon," from the band's second album, Legion, it opens with aa reversed utterance of the song's pro-666 chorus, "Satan spawn, cacodaemon, cacodaemon, cacodaemon, satan spawn, cacodaemon, cacodaemon, cacodaemon," accompanied by a sheep's bleating.
123 - 7
This is another secret message, possibly the crudest: "She's giving me the evil eye. Suck Satan's cock." No decent video exists online, but the phrase starts the song, so find it and reverse it if you are curious.
78 - 8
LA-based psychobilly trio Tiger Army joked about supposed Satanic backmasking with "Towards Destiny," the second track on their second album.Tiger Army II: Power of Moonlite.The track contains the backwards message.The track contains the backwards message.:
"Tiger Army never die"
Tiger Army never dies.
Tiger Army never dies.
As the last tiger dies, ghost tigers rise.
Heed the call of the werecat Transylvania.
We fight on the side of fate.
Toward destiny, we ascend to it forever.
Hail Satan!74 - 9
This song is an infamous example of supposed backmasking. The message is supposedly, "So here's to my Sweet Satan / The other's little path / Would make me sad / Whose power is faith / He'll give those with him 666 / And all the evil fools / They know he made us suffer sadly." Many other people find different meanings because the words don't make sense when you play the song backward. I thought I heard Robert Plant say, "I wish it would snow." Read what you want into that.
61 - 10
Don Henley apparently said, "Yes, Satan organized his own religion," or something like that. Another message in the song is "Satan hears this, he had me believe." It sounded like a "Seattle Englishman nursery," not anything Satanic.
-51 - 11
The title track from the band's 1974 album has a supposed message: "He is the nasty one / Christ, you're infernal / It is said we're dead men / Everyone who has the mark will live." ELO singer and songwriter Jeff Lynne found this idea ridiculous. He later put backmasked messages in other songs to mock the original argument.
-57 - 12
The band faced accusations of inserting the phrase "Satan move through our voices," which members called "rubbish." There is no clear YouTube video example. Use your vinyl or software like Audacity to reverse it yourself and decide.
-66 - 13
A song called "Gonna Raise Hell" must have a secret Satanic message. Many people claim this message is "You know Satan holds the key to the lock." No online link exists. Decide if you want to check if Satan holds the lock.
-68 - 14
Interpretations of this song's supposed backwards lyrics vary widely. Some people claim to have heard "my name is Lucifer" and "she belongs in Hell," but two YouTube users translated their own versions, most of which is nonsense. Listen to the version above.andanother take.See what you can come up with.
-96 - 15
Weird Al Yankovic's backmasked message is hard to judge.backmasked message. "Nature Trail To Hell" contains Satanic content or references Satan. The message reads "Satan eats Cheese Whiz." Verifying this information proves difficult. Is Weird Al being silly, or does he know secrets others lack?
Satan eating Cheez Whiz is not unlikely. Al's specific statement implies he knows something about Mr. 666.
-98
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