And here's to my sweet Satan...

by Lucy Doyle

Conspiracy theories surrounding music date back as far as the Middle Ages, when the Church suppressed a musical technique labelled the Devil’s Interval, which allegedly encouraged sexual urges, thought to be the work of the Devil.

The Devil’s Interval relies on tritones, a musical interval, that spans three whole tones.

Contemporary examples, such as Black Sabbath‘s self-titled song, and even the theme tune to the Simpsons, are acknowledged as using the effect.

In the documentary Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, rock producer Bob Ezrin says: “It apparently was the sound used to call up the beast.

"There is something very sexual about the tritone.

"In the Middle Ages because people were ignorant and scared - when they heard something like that and felt that reaction in their body, they thought, ‘uh oh, here comes the Devil’.”

Heavy metal pioneers Black Sabbath made use of tritone to achieve their dark sound, rendering the Devil’s Interval more associated with heavy metal than any other musical genre.

Bands such as Slayer are also advocates of – and consciously uses – the tritone.

However, Black Sabbath bassist Tony Iommi claims not to have purposefully used the technique, and said he was just aiming for something “that sounded really evil and doomy.”

He told the BBC: “When I started writing Sabbath stuff, it was just something that sounded right. I didn’t think I was going to make Devil music.”

Backward masking

Backward masking – the deliberate insertion of backward messages in music – was popularised in the late ‘60s, when the Beatles experimented with backward vocals and instrumentals on their seventh album, Revolver.

The group’s use of the technique famously fuelled rumours that Paul McCartney was dead, after fans listened to the song Revolution 9 backwards, and claimed to find cryptic messages prophetically suggesting the star’s demise.

In the ‘80s, backward masking became a topic of controversy, with Christian groups accusing rock acts of using it for ‘satanic’ purposes.

As a result, the 1983 California Bill was introduced to prevent backward masking, which is said to "manipulate our behaviour without our knowledge or consent, and turn us into disciples of the Antichrist."

The Bill was later revoked by President Bill Clinton.

Led Zeppelin‘s 1971 classic Stairway to Heaven was said to contain the words, “Here’s to my sweet Satan", while Queen’s Another One Bites The Dust was alleged to say “It’s fun to smoke marijuana,” when played backwards.

Both bands vehemently denied the allegations, with Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant saying in an interview: “To me it’s very sad, because Stairway To Heaven was written with every best intention, and as far as reversing tapes and messages, that’s not my idea of making music.”

In 1990, claims of subliminal messaging became more serious for Judas Priest, who were taken to court for their 1978 album Stained Glass, which contained alleged hidden suicidal messages, responsible for the suicide pact of two young men from Nevada (one of whom survived, but died three years later after an overdose).

The parents’ of the two men, claimed that the words “do it” in the song Better By You, Better Than Me spurred them on.

Cult comedian Bill Hicks referred to the case in his stand-up, asking: “What musician wants his audience dead?”

Similarly, Judas Priest commented on the case, which was eventually dissmissed, that if they were to include subliminal messages in their music, a command for fans to “buy more of our records” would be more productive than wishing them dead.

Contemporary readings

With contemporary music, there is arguably less of a need for the use of back masking and subliminal messages, as constraints on subject matter have been relaxed over time.

However, artists nevertheless employ various tactics in order to avoid the censors.

Kings of Leon’s second album Aha Shake Heartbreak miraculously dodged “parental advisory” stickers when released in 2004, despite the use of the dreaded ’C’ word in the third track Taper Jean Girl, perhaps masked by singer Caleb Followill’s southern and slightly inaudible drawl.

Meanwhile, Britney Spears recently caused controversy with the single If You Seek Amy which, in song, sounds like the spelling-out of something else entirely.

The website The Vigilant Citizen dedicates itself to decoding and revealing what it claims are occult and prophetic messages in contemporary popular culture.

It claims that record companies like Columbia Records own the image of pop stars like Beyoncé or Rihanna.

The website also alleges these conglomerates are owned by a handful of powerful people who, more often than not, are initiated into occult secret societies.

They are said to "believe in the powers of the mind, channelling spirits, black and white magic, demon possession, sacred rituals and entities populating the ethereal spheres."

The website also claims that Beyoncé’s self-created alter ego ‘Sasha Fierce’ is in fact "a symbolic representation of an artist taken over by evil to obtain success."

Lady Gaga’s persona meanwhile, is asserted to be a tribute to mind control and that her "slightly degenerate persona" embodies all the “symptoms” of a mind control victim.

Extreme readings, such as the above, show that even in contemporary music culture the need to deconstruct and analyse subliminal messages very much exists.

Regardless, part of music’s attraction will always be discovering the alternative meanings behind our favourite songs.