The fun obviously continued for ELO with the release of the Secret Messages album. This LP was an evident parody of the entire phenomena of backward masking. On the back cover, the viewer will notice a series of ads including the following names: “F. Y. J. Ennel, T. D. Ryan, V. Nabbe, and G. U. Ruttock.” These purported names are actually a series of anagrams that, when properly arranged, become the proper names of ELO members. For instance: “F. Y. J. Ennel” is Jeff Lynne, “T. D. Ryan” becomes R. Tandy, “V. Nabbe” rearranges to B. Bevan, and “G. U. Ruttock” is K. Groucutt. In this way each band member secretly places his name in code that can be deciphered.
The liner notes from the LP contain other hidden messages. The cupid is holding an ELO insignia. From this symbol a series of dots and dashes spells out ELO in Morse code. The opening song of the album is appropriately titled “Secret Messages.” At the beginning of the song the listener can hear a keyboard methodically tapping out “ELO” in Morse code to complement the liner note image. (The use of musical instruments to pass along coded messages was also used by John Lennon in “Strawberry Fields Forever,” in which he places his own name in code. Many listeners believed that this was John’s way of claiming his complete ownership of this rock and roll masterpiece.) After the keyboard section opens “Secret Messages,” a backward track can be heard with the phrase “Come again” immediately afterwards. Of course a voice intones secret messages to help the first-time listener discover the location of the backward track. When the track is reversed a voice says, “Welcome to the big show.” At the conclusion of the album a voice states, “Welcome to the show,” and then there is another backward track. When this track is reversed, the hidden message is “Come again.” During “Rock ’n’ Roll Is King” another backward track is heard. This message played backward simply becomes a very cordial “Thank you for listening.” And finally, in the song “Danger Ahead,” a hidden message can be reversed, stating “Look out there’s danger ahead.” It was apparent that Jeff Lynne and the ELO were having a great deal of fun with those individuals with little more to do than play their records looking for secret messages. The Secret Messages LP in Great Britain included a tongue-in-cheek warning to youths about secret hidden messages contained within the album. The American distributors were said to have become so upset that they deleted the warning for all American releases. Perhaps the British thought that only in America would people spin their records backward looking for hidden messages or clues for yet another conspiracy. Perhaps this is why the “Paul is dead” rumors were regarded in England as an altogether American phenomenon.
Not everyone saw the humor in Secret Messages. Those individuals who had always blamed the excesses of rock and roll for all of society’s ills produced the twentieth-century equivalent of spectral evidence when the reversed word salad of phonetic sounds was put on display as hymns to Satan. No popular song was safe. The Eagles were accused of hiding a Satanic message in the pop classic “Hotel California.” When the lyric “This could be heaven or this could be hell” is reversed some listeners claim that the backward track proclaims, “Yeah Satan. How he organized his own religion. Yeah, well he knows he should. How nice!” Of course to the detractors who believed the bizarre rumor that “Hotel California” was merely a code word for “the Church of Satan,” this was yet more proof of a hidden Satanic agenda.
When the original House Bill 6363 was first read, the group Styx was also accused of being minions of Satan. Supposedly, “Snowblind” (a song against drug abuse) contained a hidden message that stated “Satan move through our voices.” Listen as closely as possible and there is no way that this message can be understood! With the release of Kilroy Was Here, a red sticker proclaimed “By Order of the Majority for Musical Morality, this album contains secret backward messages …” Styx, true to their word, includes a backward track at the beginning of “Heavy Metal Poisoning.” When reversed, the “mysterious” message becomes the Latin phrase Annuit coeptis. Novus ordo seclorum. This message is not from a Black Mass but is found instead upon the back of the one-dollar bill. The translation? “God has favored our undertakings. A new order for the ages.” Of course this message referred to the founding of the United States government, and our new order was based upon our belief in democracy. The other occult symbols upon the dollar bill, the unfinished pyramid of Solomon and the eye of the Universal Architect, are apparent references to the ancient rite of Freemasonry. To some conspiracy buffs these very symbols represent the mysterious Illuminati, an organization said to be dedicated to a one-world government and blamed for every revolution and injustice suffered by the human race.
Another ludicrous charge was made that Satanists were summoned to recording studios to place hidden chants within the recordings to conjure forth demons. A character whose name is given only as Elaine gave this testimony: “I was, for seventeen years, a servant of Satan…. I attended special ceremonies at varying recording studios throughout the U.S. for the specific purpose of placing Satanic blessings on the rock music recorded. We did incantations which placed demons on every record and tape of rock music that was sold. At times we also called up special demons who spoke on the recordings—the various back masked messages.”2 It’s hard to imagine that if a conspiracy of this magnitude existed, nothing has been documented to prove these absurd allegations. If it were true, it would only make sense that these newfound agents of supernatural powers would have taken each recording to the top of the charts. This apparently didn’t take place; however, these sensational charges could be just the thing to trigger an appearance on a tabloid television show.
It was not only the heavy-metal bands that were condemned for backward masking. In the Plasmatics’ “Coup d’état” a backward message states “Consensus programming is dangerous to your health. The brainwashed do not know they are brainwashed.” Perhaps this message was a political statement that warned us to not become the Winston Smiths of George Orwell’s 1984 and question whether Big Brother was now in firm control of our government and media.
The pop band Cheap Trick was also placed under fire. Some listeners became convinced that a backward mask in “Gonna Raise Hell” actually exclaimed, “Satan holds the keys.” On Cheap Trick’s Heaven Tonight the track “How Are You?” contains a high-speed subliminal message that rushes by during the lyrics that begin “I heard your voice I couldn’t stand it you know you talk too much,” and when this high-speed gibberish is slowed down, the hidden message becomes “The Lord’s Prayer,” in this case a very appropriate reference to an album entitled Heaven Tonight. The Christian rock act (many fundamentalists would consider this an oxymoron) Petra includes a backward track on their More Power to You LP. The track is found just before “Judas Kiss.” When the track is reversed a voice states, “What are you looking for the devil for? When you ought to be looking for the Lord?”
The rock star formerly known as Prince (yet another hidden message) contains a religious reversal following the risqué “Darling Nikki.” The backward track is found at the conclusion of the track amid the musical swells, and when reversed declares “Hello. How are you? I’m fine. ’Cause I know that the Lord is coming soon. Coming. Coming soon.” Of course this may relate to Prince’s belief that the world would end in the year 2000. Remember the lyrics from “1999”? “Two thousand zero, zero, party over/Oops out of time/So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999.”
Other groups accused of placing hidden Satanic messages by way of the backward mask included the following: the Cars, whose “Shoo Be Doo” reversed was supposed to state “Satan” eleven times; Jefferson Starship’s “A Child Is Coming,” supposedly contained the hidden message “son of Satan” when the lyric “It’s getting better” is played backward; Black Oak Arkansas’s “When Electricity Came to Arkansas” from the live album Raunch and Roll was said to contain a backward subliminal that exclaims “Satan, Satan, Satan, Satan, Satan. He is god. He is god.” What is surprising about this is that the album was recorded live and the
grunting syllables would have to be well thought out in advance and pronounced very clearly and phonetically to give the hidden message. Not surprisingly, I find it very hard to hear anything that would effectively prove that this message, as well as many others mentioned here, actually exists and is not simply in the ear of the beholder.
Another band that seems to get a laugh out of placing hidden messages in their music is none other than Pink Floyd. In their Animals LP, released in 1977, Pink Floyd included a parody of Psalm 23. This was accomplished by using a synthesized voice, probably a Vocoder, and if you listen carefully the following message becomes rather plain:
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want
He makes me down to lie through pastures green
He leadeth me the silent waters by
With bright knives he releaseth my soul
He maketh me to hang on hooks in high places
He converteth me to lamb cutlets
For lo, He hath great power and great hunger
When cometh the day we lowly ones
Through quite reflection and great dedication
Master the art of karate Lo, we shall rise up
And then we’ll make the bugger’s eyes water.
The release of Pink Floyd’s The Wall in 1979 contains a true backward mask. The track is found at the beginning of “Empty Spaces,” just after the fadeout of “Goodbye Blue Sky.” When the track is reversed, the listener can hear a voice stating “Congratulations. You have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to Old Pink, care of the funny farm, Chaford [Chalfont?]” Another voice is heard to say, “Roger, Carolyn’s on the phone.” Some fans believed the reference to Old Pink was directed toward Pink Floyd founding member Keith (Syd) Barrett. Barrett had devised the band’s name from two Georgia bluesmen: Pink Anderson and Floyd Council. With Barrett at its head the group explored the fertile musical fields of psychedelia. Outrageous stage shows were perfected with the first extensive use of lighting. It was the era of acid rock, and Barrett became a victim of his own excesses. As he consumed more and more LSD he would stare transfixed at the audience and at times would only repeat the same chord throughout the duration of each song, as the group was bathed in the eerie glow of projected moving liquid slides. On April 6, 1968, Barrett left the band and was temporarily hospitalized. Rumors of a “mental breakdown” followed the band. In this case the reference to Old Pink at the funny farm may be an affectionate accolade given to Barrett by fellow founding member Roger Waters. In 1975 the Pink Floyd album Wish You Were Here was another tribute to Syd Barrett. The LP opens and closes with “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” which is also dedicated to Barrett. With the release of The Wall in 1979, Pink Floyd’s brilliant thematic album concerns the story of a rock star driven into madness and become “Comfortably Numb.” By this time, the group, under the creative control of Roger Waters (David Gilmour had replaced Barrett in 1968) began its Orwellian journey into the nothingness of life. We each become victims of a unrelenting society personified by sadistic schoolmasters who practice mind control, or in the case of the earlier release Animals, a society divided and controlled by three groups: the Dogs, the Pigs, and the Sheep. This was a fable or allegory dedicated to the exploitation of the classes until “the sheep learn karate” and fight back against their oppressors (the dogs) and those that represent the materialistic society (the pigs). Some messages do not always have to be hidden in a backward mask.
Those individuals who are determined to find all the hidden messages of the past thirty years may be interested in taking another look at Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. Recently there have been reports that this Pink Floyd masterpiece is actually keyed as a sound track to MGM’s The Wizard of Oz. Incredible as this may sound, there are a number of rather interesting coincidences when the album is played along with the movie. An article by Helen Kennedy from the New York Daily News May 13, 1997 states “When deejay George Taylor Morris at WZLX-FM in Boston first mentioned the phenomenon on the air six weeks ago, he touched off a frenzy. ‘The phones just blew off the wall. It started on a Friday, and that first weekend you couldn’t get a copy of The Wizard of Oz anywhere in Boston,’ he said, ‘because everyone knows the movie, everyone was staying at home to check it out.’ … Dave Herman at WNEW-FM in New York mentioned the buzz a few weeks ago. The response—more than 2,000 letters—was the biggest ever in the deejay’s 25-year on-air career.” All right, are you ready to begin? To make sure the LP and film are in proper sync, the album needs to be started with the third roar of the famous MGM lion (don’t get this confused with the Cowardly Lion). Why the third roar? How many times did Dorothy click her heels and say “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home, …” This may take a few tries but you’ll notice some strange coincidences that include:
During “Breathe,” Dorothy is balancing on a fence at the time of the lyric “balanced on the biggest wave.”
As Dorothy falls from the fence, “On the Run” starts.
At the sound of bells and chimes, “Miss Gulch” appears riding her bicycle.
During “Time,” Dorothy begins to run during the lyric “No one told you when to run.”
Also during the “Time” selection the fortune-teller is first seen with a sign that reads “Past present and future” (the three states of time).
When Dorothy leaves the fortune-teller to return to Auntie Em’s farm, the album is playing “home, home again” from “Breathe Reprise.”
When the tornado is seen in the background, the line “And I am not afraid of dying” can be heard (strangely, the tornado may be the Gig in the Sky). The tornado also seems to pulsate in time with the musical track.
The female vocalist quiets down as the window frame hits Dorothy’s head.
As the house is in the sky, “The Great Gig in the Sky” continues.
Side one of the LP ends at the exact time as the black-andwhite section of the film.
When Dorothy opens the door and beholds Oz in glorious color, the cash register rings and signals the beginning of “Money.” The “yellow brick road” and “Emerald City” could represent a materialistic society based upon gold and paperback currency.
Glenda, the good witch, appears in her bubble with the lyric “Don’t give me that do-goody good bullshit.”
The Munchkins appear to be dancing in perfect time to “Us and Them.”
At the sound of “Forward he cried from the rear” Dorothy abruptly turns forward.
During the repeated phrase “black . . black . . black,” the Wicked Witch of the West appears, and on “blue … blue … blue,” the camera shows Dorothy, who just happens to be wearing a blue dress.
The phrase “And who knows which is which and who is who” occurs as the Wicked Witch of the West gazes down upon her recently deceased sister, The Wicked Witch of the East. This could be taken as an obvious play on the word “witch.”
With the line “Out … out … out,” the Good Witch of the North leaves.
“Brain Damage” begins at about the same time as the Scarecrow starts to sing “If I Only Had a Brain.”
During the lyric “The lunatic is on the grass,” the Scarecrow frolics across the green meadow. (The line “And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes/I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon” probably relates to Syd Barrett.)
As the LP ends with “Eclipse,” the most interesting coincidence occurs as Dorothy places her ear against the Tin Woodsman’s chest to listen for a heartbeat. It is at this time that a heartbeat is heard on the album.
Another coincidence concerns the album cover. The cover shows a triangular-shaped prism (like the dinner bell at Auntie Em’s) set against a black background. A white beam of light strikes the triangle, and passing through the prism the beam is transformed into a brilliant rainbow. Does this hint at the movie, which also undergoes a transformation from black-and-white into color? Of course, it is only appropriate that the rainbow makes its appearan
ce on the cover, since Judy Garland’s timeless “Over the Rainbow” is from the same film.
After these clues were brought up across the country from local classic rock stations to MTV, listeners wanted to know if this was an incredibly planned stunt or simply a coincidence. Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright swore on his family that it indeed was only a strange coincidence. Dark Side of the Moon engineer Alan Parsons, in an interview with Dave Herman on WNEW-FM in New York, denied any intentional parallels and said that the whole thing was mere chance. Still, those who believe in the theory feel that Roger Waters had the necessary skills needed to choreograph a sound track to the popular movie since he had worked on movie scores earlier in his musical career. What does all this mean? In the worst-case scenario, it gives music fans the opportunity to enjoy two classic works in a way probably not thought possible before.
In retrospect, I suppose we haven’t come too far since everyone was looking for “Paul is dead” clues. From what I’m told, many people are still looking. Recordings by Beck, Metallica, and of course Marilyn Manson are now being played backward for hints of current hidden messages.
It is also refreshing when one of rock and roll’s great classic albums is given new life by yet a new generation of fans. It is also amazing to many of us that looking at a cloud, or into the ebony swirls of an inkblot, so many of us see our own anxieties and fears. There is a scene in Shakespeare’s Hamlet where the Prince of Denmark asks Polonius if a certain painted cloud was in the shape of a weasel? A camel? Or a whale? Of course, the foolish chancellor is only too happy to agree that he sees the shapes that Hamlet has shown him. Perhaps it is only the need to agree to become one of the insiders that allows us to see the hidden shapes that someone points out to us. How many individuals constantly stand staring into a “Magic Eye” drawing waiting for the image to leap out from the frame in all its 3-D glory? We want to see and we would like to believe. And just at that moment, when the first obscure mass becomes more and more intelligible and we finally recognize that certain familiar image or sound, the icy pinpricks rush up our spines and we give that knowing little shiver of complete recognition. We may never listen to that song or see that picture in quite the same way, because it has now expanded our perception.
Take a Walk on the Dark Side Page 18
