- Your favorite song?
It might just have a deeper meaning.
♫ He murdered the master and our business
♫ He murdered them all
Tales of subliminal messages, calls from Satan,
and hidden messages when played backwards
have been swirling around music for a very long time.
But how much of it is actually true?
Well surprisingly many of the most famous songs
that you thought had a positive message
are actually much more sinister than you realized.
Here are 10 songs with creepy hidden messages.
Number one is Every Breath You Take by The Police.
The Police's 1983 hit Every Breath You Take
is still considered by some to be
one of the best love songs of all time.
But if you take a closer listen,
this song is actually a lot more sinister than sweet.
The song sounds like a lot of
other power ballads from its time,
which makes it seem like Sting
is just so in love that he can't
take his eyes off his sweetheart.
But it's actually way creepier than that.
The truth is, his baby is actually his ex,
and yes, he is full on stalking her.
Like full on Big Brother style.
Every step, every smile, every breath,
looking in your windows, watching you sleep stalking.
Sting wrote the song after he left
his wife for her best friend,
and was working through all of the drama
of being an obsessed ex lover.
The interesting thing is he's never
denied the song's real meaning,
even if fans refuse to believe him.
So if you were thinking of using this as your wedding song,
you might wanna reconsider.
Number two is Imagine by John Lennon.
John Lennon's Imagine has become
one of the most well-known songs
and has been likened to a national anthem for the world.
The 1971 hit has inspired generations
to work towards a utopian future
where everyone lives in peace.
But what you may not have noticed
is that the lyrics are basically The Communist Manifesto.
In case you didn't know,
communism doesn't exactly have the best track record
and it was particularly dangerous
to identify with the political movement
during the Cold War era.
Now Lennon claimed that he was always
more of a socialist than a communist,
but he did believe in a world, as the lyrics say,
without countries, religion, or possessions,
which are the major principles in communist ideology.
Because of that, some people consider
the song's message very controversial.
In fact in 2001, the mega media conglomerate
Clear Channel Communications
put Imagine on their post 9/11 do not play list.
Number three is Hit Me Baby One More Time by Britney Spears.
It's not much or a surprise to think of rock and roll
or metal bands declaring their love for Satan
or putting other hidden messages in their songs,
but what about pop singers using
the same trick to become international superstars?
Well that's exactly what some people
think Britney Spears did in her first single
Hit Me Baby One More Time.
Now we all know that sex sells,
but Britney Spears was only 16 years old
when that song came out in 1998.
Record executives were really walking
a fine line when they put Britney
in a skimpy Catholic schoolgirl outfit for the video.
But that's nothing compared to
the secret message in the chorus.
When played in reverse, it pretty clearly sounds
like Britney is telling the audience,
sleep with me, I'm not too young.
("Hit Me Baby One More Time" backwards)
Maybe now it's not so shocking
that on her follow up album,
she told the world outright that she's not that innocent.
Number four is Hotel California by The Eagles.
There's been speculation that The Eagles
hit Hotel California is actually about devil worship
since it was released in 1977.
The bands guitarist Glenn Frey wrote the lyrics
and they're a bit on the nose when
it comes to Satan innuendo.
Some of the lyrics include this
could be heaven or this could be hell,
they just couldn't kill the beast,
and you can check out anytime but you can never leave.
But while the band claims that the song was really about
the hedonistic nature of the music industry,
there's actually another hidden message in this song.
When played backwards, it's claimed that you can hear
the lead singer Don Henley calling to Satan.
("Hotel California" backwards)
And giving him props for starting his own religion.
Number five is Gonna Raise Hell, Cheap Trick.
Cheap Trick released the track Gonna Raise Hell in 1979
during the Satanic panic of the 1970s and 80s.
The moral panic, which was basically
a modern day witch-hunt, was huge in the US,
where fundamentalist Christians
feared the rise of Satanism.
They believed that there was an underground group
of Satanists led by the devil himself
planning to take over the world.
They claimed that when Gonna Raise Hell
was played backwards you could hear the message,
you know Satan holds the keys to the lock.
("Gonna Raise Hell" backwards)
This was discovered using a technique called backmasking,
which is when music or a message is recorded backwards,
but can only be heard when played forwards.
It wasn't really a new idea that rock and roll
was the devil's music but worried parents believed
that rock musicians were filling their music
with hidden messages in order to corrupt young people
and bring them to the dark side.
Or you know, just party really hard,
which is to some people the same thing, I guess.
Number six is Better By You, Better Than Me, Judas Priest.
The heavy metal band Judas Priest released
their cover of Better By You, Better Than Me in 1978,
but it wasn't until seven years later
that the song gained international recognition
for all the wrong reasons.
The song became the center of a lot of controversy
after December 23rd, 1985,
when two of the band's loyal fans,
19 year old Raymond Belknap and 20 year old James Vance
from Reno, Nevada attempted suicide
after allegedly listening to this song.
They boys' parents blamed subliminal messages
in the music for causing the boys
to experiment with drinking and drugs
before turning a shotgun on themselves.
Belknap died instantly but Vance survived
for three more years before eventually
overdosing on prescription pills.
But it gets even crazier because in 1990,
Judas Priest was actually brought to trial
for their supposed role in the suicide attempts.
Vance claimed that they were being controlled
by the music and that when played backwards,
the song was telling them to do it,
do it, do it over and over again.
Number seven is Avoid the Light, Pantera.
Pantera does not mess around with letting you know
exactly who they are and what they stand for.
The band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981
and embraced the sound and aesthetics
of the heavy metal genre,
including all illusions to the occult and devil worship.
They were strongly influenced by Black Sabbath,
who are considered to be the pioneers
of heavy metal and also gave the world
the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne.
Pantera's 2000 song Avoid the Light
was included in the Dracula 2000 movie soundtrack
because it's, well, about Dracula.
So it's fitting that the song also
includes subliminal messages and man are they creepy.
Throughout the song, when it's played in reverse,
you can hear a deep voice saying
Satan's wrath is the only choice
and his stillborn army is impeccable.
♫ Satan's wrath is the only choice
♫ His stillborn army is impeccable
What does that even mean?
I don't want it, I don't like it.
Number eight is Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles.
Though it is one of the most famous songs by The Beatles,
Strawberry Fields Forever is also
the track that helped spur the rumors
that Paul McCartney is actually dead.
One of the most bizarre but maybe
kind of believable music theories out there,
is that Paul McCartney actually died
in an accident in 1966 in a car.
That, just one year before Strawberry Fields was released.
It's claimed that because the band was so popular,
Paul was replaced by a lookalike
to avoid mass hysteria and total emotional breakdown
of millions of teenage girls around the world.
According to legend, the band had left clues
in their music for real fans to uncover.
Apparently if you listen carefully to Strawberry Fields,
you can hear John say I buried Paul, I don't believe it.
But the band actually knew about the claims being made
and it seems likely that they were
just messing around with paranoia
or conspiracy obsessed culture of the times.
Or were they?
Number nine is The White Album by The Beatles.
Now if you thought Strawberry Fields Forever
was trying to tell you something mysterious,
then The Beatles' The White Album released in 1968
must be the holy grail of subliminal messages.
Finding clues to Paul's death throughout the band's work
has become a pop culture pastime
and there are even tons of websites
and fan forums devoted to trying to find the secrets.
In 1969 a Detroit radio station was the first
to say that when Revolution Nine was played backwards,
the phrase turn me on dead man could be heard.
Also between the tracks I'm So Tired and Blackbird,
the mumbling heard is actually meant
to be Lennon saying Paul is dead and I miss him.
The band's press team officially denied the claims
that Paul was dead, calling them absolute rubbish.
But The Beatles had admitted to backmasking
on their 1965 album Rubber Soul,
so it's not much of a stretch to think
that they kept doing it.
But the question remains, is Paul really dead
or is all of it just some psychedelic fun and games?
And number 10 is Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin.
Maybe one of the most notorious
subliminal messages in rock music
is in Led Zeppelin's iconic 1971 song, Stairway To Heaven.
Zeppelin had a reputation as satanic rockers,
which was fueled by guitarist
Jimmy Page's interest in the occult.
Back in the 80s, evangelical TV priest Paul Crouch
accused the song of devil worship.
He claimed that when the lines,
if there's a bustle in your hedgerow
don't be alarmed now are sung,
if the track is played in reverse,
what's actually being said is completely different.
He thinks what's being said is
here's to my sweet Satan,
and I sing because I live with Satan.
Singer Robert Plant and the band both dismissed the claims,
saying that they were totally unfounded and ridiculous.
But if you listen for yourself,
it does really sound like that's what he's saying.
But just in case, next time you're at a bonfire
and some guy busts out an acoustic guitar,
save yourself from potential satanic possession
and tell him to play something else
other than Stairway to Heaven.
So those were 10 songs with creepy hidden messages.
So the question of the day is,
do you know of any other songs
with creepy hidden messages?
And if so, what are they?
Leave your comment below because
I'll be looking through them,
and I'm going to pin the best one to the top.
But as always thank you guys so so much for coming by today.
Remember to come back tomorrow
and every weekday at exactly three p.m.
Eastern Standard Time because
I'll have a brand new video for you.
I'll see you then.