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The first known instance of backwards recording is in "[[They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!]]", a 1966 [[novelty song]] by [[Napoleon XIV]]. The [[A-side and B-side|B-side]] of the release is a reversed version of the complete forwards version.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://homepage.mac.com/bavala/reverse.htm |title=Reverse Speech: A Short Introduction |accessdate=2007-03-10 |last=van den Bos |first=Willem |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20060207055856/http://homepage.mac.com/bavala/reverse.htm |archivedate=2006-02-27}}</ref>
[[The Beatles]], who incorporated the techniques of ''concrète'' into their recordings, were responsible for popularizing the concept of backmasking.<ref name="robinson">{{cite web |title=Backmasking on records: Real, or hoax? |last=Robinson |first=B.A. |url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_cul5.htm |accessdate=2006-07-04}}</ref> Singer [[John Lennon]] and producer [[George Martin]] both claim they discovered the backward effect during the recording of "[[Rain (The Beatles song)|Rain]]", from 1966's ''[[Revolver (album)|Revolver]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mugan |first=Chris |title=Subliminal advertising: The voice within |publisher=''[[The Independent]]'' |date=[[2006-10-13]] |url=http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/features/article1847509.ece |accessdate=2007-03-10}}</ref> Lennon claims that, while high on [[cannabis]], he accidentally played the tapes for "[[Tomorrow Never Knows]]" in reverse, and enjoyed the sound. The following day he shared the results with the other Beatles, and the effect was incorporated first into the guitar solo for "Tomorrow Never Knows",<ref>{{cite web |title=05-20-06 Footnotes |publisher=[[Sound Opinions]] |url=http://www.soundopinions.com/shownotes/2006/052006/shownotes.html |accessdate=2007-03-10}}</ref> and later into "Rain".<ref>{{cite web|title=Revolver|publisher=The Beatles Ultimate Experience|url=http://www.geocities.com/~beatleboy1/dba07revol.html|accessdate=2007-03-10}}</ref> According to Martin, the band had been experimenting with changing the speeds and reversing the "Tomorrow Never Knows" tapes, and Martin got the idea of reversing Lennon's vocals and guitar, which he did with a clip from "Rain". Lennon then liked the effect and kept it.<ref name="ev">{{cite web|last=Olcott|first=Ev|title=Audio Reversal In Popular Culture|url=http://www.triplo.com/ev/reversal/|accessdate=2006-08-26}}</ref> Regardless, "Rain" was the first popular music track to feature a true backmasked message.
=== Backmasking rumors ===
The Beatles were involved in the spread of backmasking both as a recording technique and as a controversy. The latter began in the autumn of 1969, when [[WNIC|WKNR-FM]] DJ [[Russell Gibb]] received a phone call from a student at [[Eastern Michigan University]] who identified himself as "Tom". The caller asked Gibb about a rumor that Beatle [[Paul McCartney]] had died, and claimed that the Beatles song "[[Revolution 9]]" contained a backward message confirming the rumor. Gibb played the song backwards on his turntable, and heard "Turn me on, dead man... turn me on, dead man... turn me on, dead man..."<ref>http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail~bookid~25150.aspx</ref> Gibb then found various other [[clues]], and began telling his listeners about what he called "The Great Cover-up".<ref>http://www.gadflyonline.com/archive/MayJune00/archive-mccartney.html</ref> This incident popularized both the "[[Paul is dead]]" [[urban legend]] and the idea of backmasking in [[popular music]].
Following Gibb's show, many more instances of alleged hidden backwards messages were found (see [[#Alleged backmasking|alleged backmasking]]). Initially, the search was done mostly by fans of [[rock music]], but in the late 1970s and early 1980s, during the rise of the [[Christian right]],<ref name="nyt">http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E5DF1339F934A15750C0A965948260</ref> some [[fundamentalist Christian]] groups began to claim that backmasked messages could bypass the conscious mind and reach the [[subconscious]], where they would be unknowingly accepted by the listener (see [[#Subliminal persuasion|subliminal persuasion]].<ref name="poundstone86">{{cite book|last=Poundstone|first=William|title=[[Big Secrets|Bigger Secrets]]|
The furor led to legislation by the state governments of Arkansas and California, and calls for investigations in the legislatures of Texas and Canada. The 1983 California bill made the distribution of records with undeclared backmasking an invasion of privacy for which the distributor could be sued. The Arkansas law, passed unanimously in 1983, referenced albums by [[The Beatles]], [[Pink Floyd]], [[Electric Light Orchestra]], [[Queen (band)|Queen]], and [[Styx (band)|Styx]]<ref name="nyt" />, and mandated that records with backmasking include a warning sticker: "Warning: This record contains backward masking which may be perceptible at a subliminal level when the record is played forward."<ref name="vokey">{{cite journal |last=Vokey |first=John R. |coauthors=J. Don Read |title=Subliminal messages: Between the devil and the media |journal=[[American Psychologist]] |year=1985 |month=November |pages=1231-9 |url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=4083611}}</ref> House Resolution 6363, introduced in 1982 by Representative [[Bob Dornan]], proposed mandating a similar label.<ref name="poundstone83">{{cite book|last=Poundstone|first=William|title=[[Big Secrets]]|
With the advent of [[compact disc]]s, it became more difficult to listen to recordings backwards, and the controversy died down. However, websites that play songs backward have led to a recent resurgence in interest.<ref name="wsj">{{cite web |last=Searcey |first=Dionne |title=Behind the Music: Sleuths Seek Messages In Lyrical Backspin |publisher=''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' |date=[[2006-01-09]] |url=online.wsj.com/article_email/SB113677367081541303-lMyQjAxMDE2MzA2OTcwNzkzWj.html |accessdate=2007-02-28}}</ref>
== Alleged backmasking ==
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{{further|[[Subliminal message]]}}
Various [[fundamentalist Christian]] groups have claimed that Satan uses backmasked messages to alter behavior. [[Gary Greenwald]], a fundamentalist Christian preacher, claims that backmasked messages can be heard subliminally, and can induce listeners towards, in the case of rock music, sex and drug use.<ref>{{cite book|title=Psychological Sketches|editors=John R. Vokey and Scott W. Allen|edition=6th edition|
In 1990, British [[heavy metal music|heavy metal]] band [[Judas Priest]] was sued over a [[suicide pact]] made by two [[Nevada]] schoolboys. The lawsuit by their families claimed that the 1978 Judas Priest album ''[[Stained Class]]'' contained hidden messages, including the words "Do it", allegedly audible when the song "Better By You, Better Than Me" was played backwards. The case was dismissed, and the judge's ruling stated that "The scientific research presented does not establish that subliminal stimuli, even if perceived, may precipitate conduct of this magnitude. There exist other factors which explain the conduct of the deceased independent of the subliminal stimuli." Judas Priest members also commented that if they wanted to insert subliminal commands in their music, killing their fans would be counterproductive, and they would prefer to insert the command "Buy more of our records."<ref>[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5636910946432086857 ''Dream Deceivers: The Story Behind James Vance Vs. Judas Priest'']</ref><ref>http://www.meta-religion.com/Secret_societies/Conspiracies/Mind_Control/<!-- -->subliminal_suicide.htm</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.csicop.org/si/9611/judas_priest.html | title=Scientific Consensus and Expert Testimony: Lessons from the Judas Priest Trial | publisher=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |date=November/December 1996 | first=Timothy | last=Moore | accessdate = 2006-11-18}}</ref>
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=== Skepticism ===
In [[1985]], [[university]] [[psychologist]]s John R. Vokey and J. Don Read conducted a study using [[Psalm 23]] from the [[Bible]], [[Queen (band)|Queen]]'s "[[Another One Bites the Dust]]," and various other sound passages made up for the experiment. Vokey and Read concluded that if backmasking did indeed exist, it was ineffective. Their volunteers had trouble even noticing the backmasked phrase when the tape was played forward, were unable to judge the type of message (whether it was Christian, Satanic, or commercial) it contained, and were not led to behave in any certain way as a result of being "exposed" to the backmasked phrase<ref>"[W]e could find no effect of the meaning of engineered, backward messages on listeners’ behaviour, either consciously or unconsciously". {{cite book|title=Psychological Sketches|editors=John R. Vokey and Scott W. Allen|edition=6th edition|
Audio engineer Ev Olcott claims that messages by artists including Queen and Led Zeppelin are coincidental phonetic reversals, in which the spoken or sung [[phoneme]]s form new combinations of words when listened to backwards.<ref name="ev" />
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[[Michael Shermer]] claims that the emergence of the [[Paul is dead]] phenomenon, including the alleged message at the end of "I'm So Tired", was caused by faulty perception of a pattern. Shermer argues that the human brain evolved with a strong [[pattern recognition]] ability that was necessary to process the large amount of [[noise]] in man's environment, but that today this ability leads to [[false positive]]s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Shermer |first=Michael |title=Turn Me On, Dead Man |year=2005 |month=May |publisher=[[Scientific American]] |url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000EB977-12BE-1264-8F9683414B7FFE9F |accessdate=2007-02-28}}</ref>
[[Stanford University]] psychology professor Brian Wandell claims that the observance of backward messages is a mistake arising from this pattern recognition facility. Wandell argues that subliminal persuasion theories are "bizarre" and "implausible."<ref>{{cite news |last=Holguin |first=Jaime |title=Backmasking unmasked! Music site's in heavy rotation |date=[[2006-02-27]] |publisher=[[Seattle Times]] |url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2002828774_backmasking27.html |accessdate=2007-02-28}}</ref> Psychology professor Mark D. Allen says that "delivering subliminal messages via backward masking is totally and ridiculously impossible".<ref>{{cite news|last=Glover|first=Melanie|publisher=[[The California Aggie]]|title=Backmasking: Satan, marijuana and Cheez wp Whiz|url=http://media.www.californiaaggie.com/media/storage/paper981/news/2006/01/19/ArtsEntertainment/<!-- -->Backmasking.Satan.Marijuana.And.Cheez.Whiz-1477952-page2.shtml|accessdate=2007-03-01}}</ref>
== Deliberate backmasking ==
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{{see also|Reverse tape effects}}
Though not strictly backmasking, backwards recording of sound effects or instrumental audio is a common technique used by record producers.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=''The [[Skeptic's Dictionary]]''|title=Reader comments: backwards satanic messages|url=http://skepdic.com/comments/backcom.html|accessdate=2006-08-26}}</ref>
Backwards effects are often used to [[censorship|censor]] words and phrases deemed as inappropriate on [[radio edit]]s and edited album releases.<ref name="nelson">{{cite web |last=Nelson |first=Chris |title=Sticker Ban Policy: Family Values Or Consumer Fraud? |publisher=[[VH1]] |date=[[1998-09-08]] |url=http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/501064/19980908/story.jhtml |accessdate=2007-02-03}}</ref> This practice is most often applied in [[hip hop music|rap music]]. One particularly common example involves the word "[[shit]]" being backmasked to sound like "ish". As a result, "[[ish]]" has become a [[euphemism]] for "shit". [[The Fugees]]' clean version of the album ''[[The Score (album)|The Score]]'' contains various backmasked [[profanity|swears]].<ref name="nelson" /> Thus, when playing the album backwards, the swears are clearly audible among the backwards gibberish.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Everything2]]|title=Music that sounds better backward than forward|url=http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=677630&lastnode_id=0|accessdate=2006-08-26}}</ref>
Various bands have reversed entire tracks. [[The Stone Roses]] have made heavy use of the technique: their eponymous debut album features a track entitled 'Don't stop' which was a backwards version of the preceding track 'Waterfall' overdubbed with new vocals.<ref>http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/s/stoneroses-st.shtml</ref> Three of the bands' other singles, "Elephant Stone", "Made of Stone", and "Where Angels Play", were accompanied by B-sides of the original A-side tracks ("Full Fathom Five", "Guernica", and "Simone") played backwards and overdubbed with new vocals and instrumentation.<ref>http://www.pdmcauley.co.uk/FFF.htm</ref><!-- --><ref>http://adamwalton.co.uk/mmt_arc/int-ianbrown.htm</ref> On heavy rock act [[Korn]]'s track "Am I Going Crazy", from their fourth album, ''[[Issues (album)|Issues]]'', the recorded music is played forward in one channel and backward in the other.<ref>http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2852</ref>
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