Beatles to record vocals or instruments backwards within a song for artistic effect. Pareidolia made finding backmasked Satanic messages as easy as finding Jesus on a grilled cheese sandwich. Dan Rather even reported finding backmasked messages in rock music on the CBS Evening News in 1982.
A 1983 bill was introduced in California to prevent backmasking which“ can manipulate our behavior without our knowledge or consent and turn us into disciples of the Antichrist.” Weird Al Yankovic is the only artist to ever backmask any mention of Satan in the parody Nature Trail to Hell by backmasking the phrase“ Satan eats Cheez Whiz.” For those who believe in demons and other such nonsense, playing a record backwards might sound like a Satanic message. To me it just sounds like a toothless drunk trying to give directions.
The Satanic Panic of the‘ 80s gave some murderers a convenient scapegoat for their crimes. Anytime someone wanted to avert responsibility for their crime, they just blamed it on Satan. The media ate it up. In 1988, Geraldo Rivera hosted the highest rated two hour news special of its time, Devil Worship: Exposing Satan’ s Underground. Rivera seized upon the hysteria of the day by exploiting a handful of murderers blaming their crimes on“ Satanism” and claimed Satanic links with Iron Maiden, Megadeth and W. A. S. P. Ozzy Osbourne made an appearance to call out the witch hunt for what it was and state explicitly he had no intentions of promoting Satanism.
Infinite Stupidity
My aunt once told me AC / DC stood for“ After Christ, Devil Comes” and Kiss stood for“ Knights in Satan’ s Service.” I grew up hearing how Metallica were Satanists. Such baseless stupidity played at least some small part in my abandonment of faith. I remember thinking very clearly, if my parents and other family— who are all Christians— really believe my music is about worshiping Satan, they are all morons.
Such silliness continues to this day. Lady Gaga and Beyonce are accused of being members of the“ Illuminati.” There are entire Islamic webpages devoted to discussing the evils of Rihanna. My nephew has been told the music of Escape the Fate is Satanic. One would have thought after the Satanic Panic of the‘ 80s failed to provide any evidence of the global Satanic
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