Are there backwards messages in Stairway to Heaven?
You're far from the first to ask. This rumor has persisted ever since a California committee of parents and religious leaders set out to prove that rock music was leading our children down the path to the devil. For reasons still unknown to rational minds, they decided to play some albums backwards, and professed to hear all sorts of messages in songs like Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust," anything and everything by Styx and ELO, Rush's "Anthem," the Stones' "19th Nervous Breakdown," Skynyrd's "Freebird," The Eagles' "Hotel California," and most notably the (at that point) most-requested rock song of all time, Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven."
definition is useful here -- "backmasking" is the process of either: 1) recording a backwards message on a track meant to be played forwards, or 2) the "hiding" of messages within forward phrases so that, when played backwards, another phrase is revealed.
So does backmasking exist? Andy Johns, the producer of IV, says that not only is "backmasking" a myth, but that there was no such nonsense while he was present. Certainly, since the advent of the "backmasking" scandal, groups such as ELO and Pink Floyd have used the technique to poke fun at people who would actually play records backwards. Most of the bands named in such accusations tend to ignore the outcry, for as Jones commented in Rolling Stone, there's absolutely no arguing someone out of something they really want to believe. But the idea of backmasking is uniformly considered ludicrous by musicians and producers alike, and they're the ones that would be responsible for the process. Despite the denials of the people involved, let's assume that these messages do exist. Are they effective? If they were subliminal messages played forward, then scientists agree that the brain could and would process the information. But scientists are also convinced that the brain cannot decipher backwards information unless it is specifically engaged for that purpose. Therefore, even if backmasking did exist, it would be useless. So much for Satanic intent. And specifically, as regards "Stairway To Heaven" -- there are many messages that various groups have claimed to hear while playing the song backwards, but the most uniformly cited is the phrase "Here's to my sweet Satan." Not all listeners that hear backward phrases are in agreement here, however, and not even close to all who hear the song backwards hear any message at all. Many of those who do hear "something" dismiss it as a mere phonetic coincidence. And few of those who do hear the actual message were unaware of the accusations against Zeppelin and "Stairway To Heaven" before they listened to the song. Therefore, overwhelming evidence supports the conclusion that such messages do not exist, and if they did they would be useless, and even if they weren't they are almost assuredly accidents aided by the power of suggestion. But still, this rumor will not die. Often, a listener will comment, "I heard the message, and it's really there, but I think it's just an accident." This is faulty reasoning. If the message is a phonetic accident, then the message is not really "there"--instead, a series of sounds that are _similar_ to the phrase "here's to my sweet Satan" are all that are embedded in the lyrics. If the message is really there, then it cannot be an accident, for a phonetic reversal of the lyrics ("There's still time to change the road you're on") does not produce the correct vowel and consonant sounds (even _given_ Plant's pronunciation) for the phrase in question. So unless one believes that the message is there on purpose (despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary), one _must_ conclude that the message is not "there"--purposefully or accidentally.
:devil2:
