Recovered audio index / ongoing restoration

Tape Vault

Search the resurrected collection by artist or song. Every recovered case has a stable link that the Documentary Field Guide can use as evidence.

Need the history behind the noise? Open the Documentary Field Guide →

Archive ready.

Showing 31–45 of 144 recovered cases.

Pornography cover — Released: 05-03-1982

Archive notes: Another original brought to you by Underground Noize!

Case 020 Permanent link

Intentional message

Cure, The

Album: Pornography Song: Pornography

Forward:
Gibberish voice..

Message transcription:
It's hard to hear until it get's near the end... Sounds like a BBC radio broadcast, as the announcer states it is so...

Danzig cover — Released: 08-30-1988

Archive notes: The archive preserves two conflicting interpretations. A 2003 Underground Noize forum contributor called the passage Spanish and supplied the English gloss “The damned; devils that awaken and sacrifice the foolish.” Later lyric transcriptions identify an irregular Latin exorcism formula. The circulated Latin is grammatically uncertain, so neither the exact wording nor a full translation is presented as verified.

Case 021 Permanent link

Intentional message Historical report

Danzig

Album: Danzig Song: Possession

Research / recording source →

Forward:
The released recording opens with a deliberately reversed exorcism-like passage.

Message transcription:
Common transcription (uncertain Latin): “Para dico et dex communi quod actum, et percutio maledictus diabolus in virtutem Sanctissimae Trinitatis: Patris, Filii et Spiritus Sancti.”

Stormbringer cover — Released: 11-08-1974

Archive notes: Bassist Glenn Hughes claims the same backwards dialogue is spoken by Linda Blair's character in the movie The Exorcist. David Coverdale, the singer, has confirmed the connection to The Exorcist.

Case 022 Permanent link

Deep Purple

Album: Stormbringer Song: Stormbringer

Forward:
Slurred gibberish

Alleged backward phrase:
Motherfucker, Cocksucker, Stormbringer

Hysteria cover — Released: 08-03-1987

Archive notes: Hysteria also contains Rocket and Gods of War, but a reported production trick in another track does not establish intent here. This card concerns a short listener interpretation of the opening vocal, not a confirmed instruction about drugs.

Case 024 Permanent link

Alleged phrase Listener allegation

Def Leppard

Album: Hysteria Song: Pour Some Sugar on me

Research / recording source →

Forward:
Step inside

Alleged backward phrase:
I sniff it

Case 023 Permanent link

Def Leppard

Album: Hysteria Song: Rocket

Forward:
Unintelligible

Alleged backward phrase:
We were fighting with the gods of war

Holy Diver cover — Released: 05-25-1983

Archive notes: This occurs at the end of the song as it's fading out

Case 129 Permanent link

Dio

Album: Holy Diver Song: Shame on the Night

Forward:
Gibberish The Diver

Alleged backward phrase:
Crucify Gibberish

Sinner cover — Released: 06-05-2001

Archive notes: This audio occurs at the end of the song.

Case 075 Permanent link

Drowning Pool

Album: Sinner Song: Sermon

Forward:
Unintelligible

Alleged backward phrase:
Laidies and Gentlemen.. Tell me what you believe

Hotel California cover — Released: 12-08-1976

Archive notes: A listener allegation attached to an album already surrounded by ominous imagery. No artist acknowledgement, documented construction, verified source edition, or reliable timecode has been located.

Case 025 Permanent link

Alleged phrase Listener allegation Field Guide Reel 03

Eagles

Album: Hotel California Song: Hotel California

Research / recording source →

Forward:
N/A

Alleged backward phrase:
Satan organized his own religion

Audio sample needed Research the exact source lyric, timecode, and release edition before sampling; preserve the forward master before making a reverse comparison.

Face the Music cover — Released: 09-06-1975

Archive notes: This occurs at the very beginning of the song. These same lyrics are sung as backing vocals in the song Waterfall.

Case 027 Permanent link

Electric Light Orchestra

Album: Face the Music Song: Down Home Town

Forward:
Undecipherable

Alleged backward phrase:
Pass (or maybe 'face') the mighty (or maybe 'parting') waterfall

Eldorado cover — Released: September 1974

Archive notes: An alleged phrase included in material supplied to California lawmakers during the 1982 backmasking hearings. That documents the accusation, not the transcription's accuracy or intentional construction.

Case 107 Permanent link

Alleged phrase Historical report Field Guide Reel 04

Electric Light Orchestra

Album: Eldorado Song: Eldorado

Research / recording source →

Forward:
Here it comes another lonely day in the dream I'll sail away On a voyage of no return to see

Alleged backward phrase:
He is the nasty one Christ your infernal it is said were dead men everyone who has the mark will live

Case 026 Permanent link

Intentional message Artist acknowledged Field Guide Reel 01

Electric Light Orchestra

Album: Face the Music Song: Fire on High

Research / recording source →

Forward:
A frightening voice (for the time)--but you can't understand it

Message transcription:
The music is reversible...but time is not Turn Back! Turn Back! Turn Back! Turn Back!

Secret Messages cover — Released: 06-24-1983

Archive notes: The title track and album turn the backward-message controversy into an overt production concept rather than a concealed allegation.

Case 130 Permanent link

Intentional message Artist acknowledged Field Guide Reel 07

Electric Light Orchestra

Album: Secret Messages Song: Secret Messages

Research / recording source →

Forward:
The released introduction contains deliberately reversed voices and repeated studio fragments.

Message transcription:
Welcome to the show.

Audio sample needed Sample the opening backward voice, including the spoken "and again" bridge and enough surrounding texture to locate it.

Car Trouble / I Wrote a Song (Capitol 4203) cover — Released: 1959

Archive notes: The owner supplied the MP3, approximate song positions, and both transcriptions on September 27, 2026. The first aside addresses listeners reversing the record; the second resumes the father’s warning. A May 2, 1959 Cash Box review independently documents the record and its father-vocal gimmick, not these exact transcriptions.

Case 143 Permanent link

Intentional message Historical report Field Guide Reel 02

Eligibles, The

Album: Car Trouble / I Wrote a Song (Capitol 4203) Song: Car Trouble

Research / recording source →

Forward:
First interruption: roughly 0:27 into the song, just after “Or else.” Second: roughly 1:27, just after “her dad, he yelled.”

Message transcription:
First: “Now, lookie here, cats, stop running these records backwards!” Second: “And you can get my daughter back by 10:30, you bum!”

Case 081 Permanent link

Eminem

Album: The Eminem Show Song: Superman

Forward:
Man kiss my ass.. Kiss my lips bitch white ass.. Kiss my..

Alleged backward phrase:
I'm sick and sad, I'm chicken stew.. I'm sick and sad, I'm sick of them

Them or Us cover — Released: 10-18-1984

Archive notes: One of two inherited Underground Noize source cards for Ya Hozna. Frank Zappa connected the backward composition to the political backmasking debate, and engineer Mark Pinske described the deliberate studio assembly.

Case 028 Permanent link

Reverse-source composition Artist acknowledged Field Guide Reel 08

Frank Zappa

Album: Them or Us Song: Ya Hozna

Research / recording source →

Forward:
A backward vocal layer sourced from Sofa No. 2 is assembled over a new instrumental framework.

Reverse/source relationship:
Reverse playback recovers the German Sofa No. 2 vocal source.

Legacy clip unavailable Replace the dead RealAudio file with an edition-documented Ya Hozna passage and the matching Sofa No. 2 source excerpt. Preserve both untouched masters before deriving the reverse comparison.