Archive frequency 09-B

The Music is Reversible!

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 106–120 of 144 recovered cases.

Celebrity cover
Released: 07-23-2001
Archive notes: Thanks to Scottieboy143 for submitting this backmask information. Please post any comments/remarks you may have in the forums.
Case 124 Permanent link

NSYNC

Album: Celebrity Song: Pop

Forward:
cause were just fine doing what we like and we same the same for you

Alleged backward phrase:
oh in your pants were dancing... we want more nights like these

Celebrity cover
Released: 07-23-2001
Archive notes: Thanks to Scottieboy143 for submitting this backmask information. Please post any comments/remarks you may have in the forums.
Case 125 Permanent link

NSYNC

Album: Celebrity Song: Pop

Forward:
going to bring till the end.. come on now

Alleged backward phrase:
I ain't the one who's gay and lesbian

No Rest for the Wicked cover
Released: 10-22-1988
Archive notes: This was a distinctly British parody of a famous vulgar line from The Exorcist. It serves as a textbook example of an artist turning the backmasking controversy into a punchline.
Case 056 Permanent link
Intentional message Documented

Ozzy Osbourne

Album: No Rest for the Wicked Song: Bloodbath in Paradise

Forward:
Undecipherable

Message transcription:
Your mother sells whelks in Hull

Blizzard Of Ozz cover
Released: 09-18-1980
Archive notes: This Tape Vault file preserves two claims that must remain separate: an inherited listener reversal and litigation concerning lyrics or allegedly subliminal normal-direction material. The published appellate opinion did not establish a backward command or recording-caused suicide.
Case 101 Permanent link
Subliminal allegation Artist disputed Field Guide Reel 04

Ozzy Osbourne

Album: Blizzard Of Ozz Song: Suicide Solution

Research / recording source →

Forward:
The archive excerpt contains rapid, disputed speech in the song's normal direction.

Alleged subliminal phrase:
A separate listener reversal of the final “shoot” resembles “Satan”; this was not a court finding.

Vitalogy cover
Released: 11-22-1994
Archive notes: Thanks to Fat Toni of Salt In The Wound for informing me of this! Here is what she had to say about the clip: "I think it's neat, cuz Eddie Vedder grew up being really into The Who (Pete Townsend's band) and so because of that, I guess, he incorporates it into the music."
Case 057 Permanent link

Pearl Jam

Album: Vitalogy Song: Pry, To

Forward:
Eddie sings "P-R-I-V-A-C-Y is priceless to me!" X4, then screams "P-R-I-V-A-C-Y!" X4

Alleged backward phrase:
"Oh he saved my life!" X4, then "Oh Pete Townsend, how he saved my life." X4

The Wall cover
Released: 11-30-1979
Archive notes: A deliberately comic message congratulates the decoder and sends them toward a fictional address. It rewards active reversal rather than hiding an involuntary command.
Case 058 Permanent link
Intentional message Documented Field Guide Reel 06

Pink Floyd

Album: The Wall Song: Empty Spaces

Research / recording source →

Forward:
Vocal in the beginning minute or so

Message transcription:
Congratulations. You have just discovered the secret message. Please send your answer to old pink, care of the funny farm...

Pokémon 2.B.A. Master cover
Released: 06-29-1999
Archive notes: An inherited listener allegation built from the reversal of a repeated forward slogan. No evidence of intentional construction has been located; Reel 05 uses the clip to demonstrate repetition, expectation, and suggested-phrase effects.
Case 102 Permanent link
Alleged phrase Listener allegation Field Guide Reel 05

Pokémon

Album: Pokémon 2.B.A. Master Song: PokéRAP

Forward:
Three different times in the song they chant "gotta catch'em all, gotta catch'em all, gotta catch'em all, gotta catch'em all"

Alleged backward phrase:
O Satan, O Satan, O Satan, O Satan

Purple Rain cover
Released: 06-25-1984
Archive notes: A reproducible intentional message preserved in the original Underground Noize archive. Prince later recalled public discussion of the backward passage and said hidden messages had long been part of his work.
Case 059 Permanent link
Intentional message Artist acknowledged Field Guide Reel 08

Prince

Album: Purple Rain Song: Darling Nikki

Research / recording source →

Forward:
A reversed vocal appears by itself at the end of side one of Purple Rain.

Message transcription:
Hello. How are you? I am fine because I know that the Lord is coming soon. Coming, coming soon.

The Game cover
Released: 06-30-1980
Archive notes: The marijuana reading became a widely repeated backward-message demonstration. Brian May directly denied that Queen intentionally planted it.
Case 060 Permanent link
Alleged phrase Artist disputed Field Guide Reel 05

Queen

Album: The Game Song: Another one bites the Dust

Research / recording source →

Forward:
Another one bites the Dust

Alleged backward phrase:
Start to smoke marijuana

Metal Health cover
Released: 03-11-1983
Archive notes: Thanks to THOF for submitting this information.
Case 109 Permanent link

Quiet Riot

Album: Metal Health Song: Metal Health

Forward:
And I'm a keeper

Alleged backward phrase:
Serve the beast for money

Out of the Cellar cover
Released: 03-27-1984
Archive notes: Another original brought to you by Underground Noize!
Case 061 Permanent link

Ratt

Album: Out of the Cellar Song: Round and Round

Forward:
Round and Round

Alleged backward phrase:
Round and Round

Out of the Cellar cover
Released: 03-27-1984
Archive notes: Another original brought to you by Underground Noize!
Case 062 Permanent link

Ratt

Album: Out of the Cellar Song: Round and Round

Forward:
Out on the streets.. that's where we meet.. You'll make the night

Alleged backward phrase:
Yeah I'm the giving..Satan Worship..

Invasion of Privacy cover
Released: 05-30-1985
Archive notes: Another original brought to you by Underground Noize!
Case 063 Permanent link

Ratt

Album: Invasion of Privacy Song: Your in Love

Forward:
It's not one body..

Alleged backward phrase:
Yeah, I will find Satan...

All American Boy cover
Released: October 1973
Archive notes: Thanks to THOF for submitting this informaiton.
Case 104 Permanent link

Rick Derringer

Album: All American Boy Song: Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo

Forward:
Rock and Roll

Alleged backward phrase:
O Satan

Amused to Death cover
Released: 09-07-1992
Archive notes: Roger Waters explained in a 1993 radio interview that the message answered Stanley Kubrick’s refusal to license the HAL 9000 breathing sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The 2015 remix replaces this passage, so edition identification is essential.
Case 141 Permanent link
Intentional message Artist acknowledged

Roger Waters

Album: Amused to Death Song: Perfect Sense, Part I

Research / recording source →

Forward:
The original 1992 mix opens with a deliberately reversed spoken message.

Message transcription:
Julia, however, in the light and visions of the issues of Stanley, we changed our minds. We have decided to include a backward message. Stanley, for you, and for all the other book burners.

Audio sample needed Sample the opening from an original 1992 mix and document the edition. Do not substitute the 2015 remix, which omits the message.