Comments on: Spears is Dead

Spears is Dead

drezdn — Tue, 18 May 2004 17:54:32 -0800

Sleep with me, I'm not too young. Backmasking in Britney Spears song?

By: Mach3avelli

Mach3avelli — Tue, 18 May 2004 17:57:51 -0800

I'm too lazy to do it myself, but someone tell us about how fake it is.

By: matteo

matteo — Tue, 18 May 2004 17:59:54 -0800

oliver, repent

By: drezdn

drezdn — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:03:23 -0800

I've been tempted to try it with soundforge and see if it's the same... If I do, I'll post my take here.

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:05:48 -0800

"Stay in school. Obey your parents."

By: Bdave

Bdave — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:06:20 -0800

It's all true, all of it. If you listen to portions of Toxic backwards Britney can clearly be heard saying: 'Justin is dead, Justin is dead etc.' I hear she's moving in with Anton La Vey.

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:09:44 -0800

Jesus and your bush; that's no titchy marrow. (Scroll down, like all monged be, and slipping through ink blacky to slip slip slip...)

By: keswick

keswick — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:10:10 -0800

"Gooo to chuuuurrrrchh... Say your prayerrrrsss... Tithe! Tithe!"

By: inksyndicate

inksyndicate — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:10:27 -0800

Can you believe there were once Congressional hearings on backwards masking?

By: jonmc

jonmc — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:17:05 -0800

"That Justin guy...is really a girl..and she's the devil"

By: davidmsc

davidmsc — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:19:30 -0800

This "Britney" -- is it something you would need a radio to understand or appreciate? This "Britney" -- it vibrates? And so on. Back on topic -- I don't buy it. If you play enough songs backwards, you're bound to "hear" anything you want to hear. Um...and even if it IS true - WHO CARES? What would be the point? What possible impact could it have on anyone? None.

By: eddydamascene

eddydamascene — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:23:08 -0800

When you overlay overt messages with subliminal ones, the effect is, like, TWO TIMES STRONGER.

By: Ufez Jones

Ufez Jones — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:23:21 -0800

Yvan eht niojjjjjjjjj!!!

By: Space Coyote

Space Coyote — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:27:43 -0800

Damn you, Ufez, you speedy devil you.

By: tapeguy

tapeguy — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:28:55 -0800

'I believe it was Satan in me'.

By: reklaw

reklaw — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:32:27 -0800

I'd just like to say that I actually downloaded this song and reversed it with (cough) Sound Recorder, and you actually can hear "sleep with me I'm not too young" in the relevant places. That is all.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Tue, 18 May 2004 18:35:29 -0800

I reversed it myself, and it definitely sounds like it's there. Grant I believe there is a psychological effect when you're told what to listen for.

By: Dark Messiah

Dark Messiah — Tue, 18 May 2004 19:08:59 -0800

I find it amusing that there has to be the promise of subliminal dirtiness before most people will bother listening to this song. Well, back to my grindcore. No need to be subliminal with a song like "Engineering A Pill Frenzy".

By: Hypharse

Hypharse — Tue, 18 May 2004 19:15:30 -0800

Cthulhu fhtaaaaggggnnnnn

By: yhbc

yhbc — Tue, 18 May 2004 19:17:41 -0800

Stig has been dead for ages, honestly. Great post title, drezdn.

By: shoepal

shoepal — Tue, 18 May 2004 19:18:41 -0800

FWIW, (like drezdn) I downloaded it, reversed, and played it for my roommate and he didn't hear "it" until I told him what "it' was supposed to be. Why was somone listening to that track backwards, anyway?

By: artlung

artlung — Tue, 18 May 2004 19:21:24 -0800

There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we'd all love one another. -- Frank Zappa

By: matteo

matteo — Tue, 18 May 2004 19:31:36 -0800

seriously though, dont want to turn this into AskMeFi: but anybody know anything scientific about the alleged subliminal power of this play-it-backwards thing? cause it sounds really flimsy.

By: yhbc

yhbc — Tue, 18 May 2004 19:47:56 -0800

The argument by the true believers generally boils down to "we don't know how it works, but it must, because those evil satanists are doing it so much!" "The nature of the backtracked messages in many modern pop songs is so sinister as to leave no doubt to the intentions and affiliations of these singers" On closer examination, though, even most religious-types have to admit the whole backmasking thing is most likely 99.4% crapola. This last link does have some more explanation of some of the "real" theories behind the thing, though, including the notion that Satan puts the voices on there himself! (begging the question: does the Dark Lord get royalties?)

By: Pockets

Pockets — Tue, 18 May 2004 19:49:49 -0800

A radio station I was listening to did a big segment on this. The general consensus was the "I'm not too young" was easily heard, but the "Sleep with me" part was stretching it.

By: hipnerd

hipnerd — Tue, 18 May 2004 19:59:45 -0800

I downloaded the mp3 and reproduced the experiment on my Web page. It's completely legitimate. Here's my version: http://www.badmouth.net/

By: ChasFile

ChasFile — Tue, 18 May 2004 20:07:56 -0800

There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we'd all love one another. -- Frank Zappa Talking about music is like dancing about architecture. -- Frank Zappa

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Tue, 18 May 2004 20:08:01 -0800

I, for one, welcome our backmasking overlords!

By: smackfu

smackfu — Tue, 18 May 2004 20:15:08 -0800

How do you even do this intentionally, if you wanted to?

By: John Kenneth Fisher

John Kenneth Fisher — Tue, 18 May 2004 20:24:43 -0800

mmmm... schoolgirl britney.... oh, wait? what? sorry. got distracted.

By: gramcracker

gramcracker — Tue, 18 May 2004 20:33:49 -0800

The Stairway/Satan reference creeped me out even more (I reversed this one myself; it's legit.

By: Dark Messiah

Dark Messiah — Tue, 18 May 2004 20:35:40 -0800

So Satan will only corrupt me if I mistakenly listen to my music in reverse. I almost feel a little bit sort of safer.

By: Ufez Jones

Ufez Jones — Tue, 18 May 2004 20:38:23 -0800

Thanks for that, hipnerd. I agree with those that can hear it, but wouldn't if not prompted....or I suppose that's the point?

By: Ethereal Bligh

Ethereal Bligh — Tue, 18 May 2004 20:38:45 -0800

Many years ago, when I was a radio disc-jockey and was playing around in the studio, I had a neat idea. I recorded something I said, reversed it, and painstakingly transcribed the reversed phonemes as best I could. Then, I recorded myself speaking the reversed version, and then reversed that. The result was really cool. It was like an alien speaking English.

By: hipnerd

hipnerd — Tue, 18 May 2004 21:04:23 -0800

Ufez Jones: No problem. Someone forwarded it to me this morning, and I heard the backtracking clear as a bell. It was so clear, that I doubted it's authenticity. So I had to prove it myself. I'm not sure what the point of backtracking is today. In the old days, kids screwed up their albums playing them backwards and had to buy another. Good marketing strategy for the bands. Can't ruin a CD like that, though.

By: eddydamascene

eddydamascene — Tue, 18 May 2004 21:15:31 -0800

Then, I recorded myself speaking the reversed version, and then reversed that. The result was really cool. It was like an alien speaking English. They also used that trick in dream sequences in Twin Peaks ("I've got good news").

By: GriffX

GriffX — Tue, 18 May 2004 21:18:52 -0800

Etheral Bligh - that's how the dialogue for 'The Little Man From Another Place' in the show "Twin Peaks" was done as well. Did you have a co-worker named Lynch who observed you doing this?

By: GriffX

GriffX — Tue, 18 May 2004 21:20:02 -0800

dang - eddydamascene beat me to the pedantry! Oh well, you are doubly INFORMED.

By: abcde

abcde — Tue, 18 May 2004 21:25:19 -0800

Couple things: First, see the "authority" on subconscious backmasking. Second, to Ethereal Bligh, sure, I've done that too. Held little conversations with friends on AIM that way (they were just typing, mind you, and were annoyed ;) ). I believe some avant-garde composers in the 60's tried that technique too. Radiohead made their song "Like Spinning Plates" by Thom singing the whole song backwards, then playing it backwards. They didn't use that for the final - he just learned from that and did a dead-on imitation of how it sounds. It fits with the song's overall musical theme of backwardsness, too, especially because the melody was composed in part by reversing the backing track of "I Will," a song they ended up releasing in its original form on the next album.

By: matteo

matteo — Tue, 18 May 2004 21:48:58 -0800

begging the question: does the Dark Lord get royalties?) "but, mr Valenti, you don't underrstand! I'M FIGHTING AGAINST SATAN!"

By: Nothing

Nothing — Tue, 18 May 2004 21:54:09 -0800

Etheral Bligh, I used to do that too. I used windows sound recorder though, no access to a radio station. It was pretty cool.

By: whoshotwho

whoshotwho — Tue, 18 May 2004 21:58:41 -0800

1.) If a song is filled with terribly satanic and sexual lyrics when it is played forwards, what will it say when it is played backwards? 2.) Listen to any of these songs backwards without looking at your monitor. Suddenly those words you could hear before are gone, because you can't read along! Magic! (Although, I must admit, I could hear Britney's words. But not the Led Zeppelin, or the Michael Jackson, until I read along with it.)

By: Hackworth

Hackworth — Tue, 18 May 2004 22:02:22 -0800

So, matteo, you're fighting for Mr. Valenti then? Zing!

By: mary8nne

mary8nne — Tue, 18 May 2004 22:08:46 -0800

nitpicker: That quote about Music and Dancing is not I believe actually a Frank Zappa quote. some randon quote commentary

By: wfrgms

wfrgms — Tue, 18 May 2004 22:18:22 -0800

Britney knows the names of all the ancient gods...

By: bingo

bingo — Tue, 18 May 2004 22:36:03 -0800

Um, she's over 18, and by and large her only appeal to men is that she's hot. I think that if there was backmasking going on in a Britney Spears song, it would be to get across a message that isn't being gotten across rather well already.

By: drezdn

drezdn — Tue, 18 May 2004 23:14:16 -0800

Um, she's over 18 She actually wasn't over 18 when the song was recorded/released. Not that this proves anything, or somehow makes it wrong, but if it was done on purpose (which would be really strange/conspiratorial) does make it extra creepy.

By: pandaharma

pandaharma — Tue, 18 May 2004 23:35:34 -0800

My fave backwards masking moment was the gospel-esque ditty at the end of darling nicki. Here's something you can try in the comfort of yr home which will reveal the secret message God is sending all of us. Record yrself or a loved one saying "Jesus Loves You." Now play it backwards. You will clearly hear "We smell sausage." The theological implications are quite terrifying.

By: NedKoppel

NedKoppel — Wed, 19 May 2004 07:33:08 -0800

I once played a Steve Martin album backwards ("Comedy Is Not Pretty"). If you play the bit backwards about the "googlophonic stereo with the moonrock needle," he clearly says "Yeah, and we will play in the woods." Ominous. Indeed.

By: mcgraw

mcgraw — Wed, 19 May 2004 07:45:16 -0800

Ohhhhhhh--I will SING because I live with SATAN!

By: mcgraw

mcgraw — Wed, 19 May 2004 08:30:26 -0800

Yeah, that's right, I said SING!

By: oissubke

oissubke — Wed, 19 May 2004 08:41:03 -0800

I don't get it. Here's my rough ASCII transcription of the phonetics: "..with you I lose my mind, give me a si-" wIT ju aj luz mE majnd, gIv mi E saj And backwards: jas E im vIg, dnEm Em zul ja uj TIw Or, roughly: yoss uh eem vig, dnum um zool ya ooi thew I'm thinking what we're hearing is a more slurred version, something like: sss w ee, num um zoo ew or, to those so inclined: sleep with me, I'm not too young

By: shoepal

shoepal — Wed, 19 May 2004 08:43:47 -0800

Ethereal Bligh, seems a lot of us have tried the reverse phoneme reversed recording for fun. Clearly, we have/had too much time on our hands. Raise your hand if you downloaded Missy Elliot's track and reversed it to see if indeed she had flipped it and reversed it as she declared.

By: bargle

bargle — Wed, 19 May 2004 08:54:43 -0800

There was a little toolshed where Britney Spears made me suffer with sad Satan.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Wed, 19 May 2004 09:43:11 -0800

She actually wasn't over 18 when the song was recorded/released. 17, legal in Texas...STATE AGE OF SEXUAL CONSENT LAWS. Where is she from, Louisiana 17.

By: thomcatspike

thomcatspike — Wed, 19 May 2004 12:51:05 -0800

Debunk this. NSFW, saw it last week.

By: mcgraw

mcgraw — Wed, 19 May 2004 17:19:56 -0800

my GOD thomcatspike. you know that shit ain't real. but if it is... 80

By: quarantine

quarantine — Wed, 19 May 2004 22:02:18 -0800

you know that shit ain't real. No, it's not. But good grief, convincing, isn't it? It's actually this girl (semi-nudity). Fake Detective has another shot (nudity) from her photo shoot that should pretty much debunk the claim.

By: nasim

nasim — Fri, 21 May 2004 15:54:22 -0800

How about "He's lost his clothes = Don't you know that you're toxic." From toxic. (Warning ogg sound file)