Led Zeppelin's classic rock song “Stairway to Heaven” is perhaps one of the most controversial songs of all time – it has long been alleged that a backmasked message is contained in "Stairway to Heaven." It occurs during the middle part of the song where the lyrics start as “If there's a bustle in your hedgerow, don't be alarmed now…”.
A backmasked message is a message beyond the perception of regular human awareness - i.e. a subliminal message – so when you play the verse backwards you hear different words. Here is the stairway to heaven subliminal verse in full:
- Oh here’s to my sweet Satan.
- The one whose little path would make me sad, whose power is Satan.
- He will give those with him 666.
- There was a little toolshed where he made us suffer, sad Satan.
The controversy all started when a Baptist preacher blasted the song on his radio show in 1982.
This brought on lots ofcontroversy and several people analyzed the song including the Consumer Protection and Toxic Materials Committee. William Yarroll, a self-identified neuroscientist, also supported the theory that the song contained messages when played in reverse.
Led Zep mostly ignored these criticisms and for years and years the only statement about the issue was from Swan Song Records: "Our turntables only play in one direction—forwards". The sound engineer Eddie Kramer supported this, calling the claims "totally and utterly ridiculous. Why would they spend studio time doing something so dumb?" Led Zep Writer Robert Plant also got angry with all the accusations: "To me it's very sad, because it was written with good intentions, and as for reversing the music and putting messages in, that isn't my idea of making music.
Here is the infamous video, so you can decide for yourself. Visit our blog for more subliminal songs.
