Styx "Snowblind"

[AM Matt]

When my brother got Styx "Paradise Theatre" back in the Spring of 1981, there was a song called "Snowblind". Some DJ from a radio station back then played the song backwards & that song speaks the devil! Is that true? Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Rudy]

No, it was just some paranoia that some self-righteous types were dishing out back then. In other words, you can listen to a LOT of songs and hear what you want to hear.

 

[W.B.]

No, it was just some paranoia that some self-righteous types were dishing out back then. In other words, you can listen to a LOT of songs and hear what you want to hear.

Like on Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35":
"What's exhuming out my bay" -- backwards for "Everybody must get stoned."
"No, we're all asleeph(?) on the water" -- backwards for "But I would not feel so all alone."

There's not necessarily anything to be read from each of those examples. My ears just notice things.

 

[jfiedler17]

And as has been pointed out by music writers over the years, how exactly DO you play a record backwards, anyway?
Actually, James Young mentions the "Snowblind" controversy on the "Caught in the Act" live album from '84 when introducing the song.
Suddenly wanting to break out "Paradise Theater" to listen to "Snowblind" and "She Cares" ...

 

[Captain Bacardi]

And as has been pointed out by music writers over the years, how exactly DO you play a record backwards, anyway?

Well, first you get really, really stoned and then you come up with ideas like "You know what would be really cool? Play this backwards. Far out, man!"

The first time I heard something played backwards was when an album was put on a reel-to-reel tape, and the reverse had two speeds - fast and normal. We put it on the normal reverse (I think it was the Dark Side Of The Moon LP) and started to try to interpret what it all meant. Of course, the only thing it meant was that we were really, really stoned.


Capt. Bacardi
...not remembering a lot of the 70's online...

 

[Rudy]

Even more weird (and it works without being stoned ): start Dark Side Of The Moon after the MGM lion's third roar at the beginning of Wizard of Oz. I was a skeptic when I heard about it, but it's really weird how much of the music coincidentally fits the film.

 

[Captain Bacardi]

Even more weird (and it works without being stoned ): start Dark Side Of The Moon after the MGM lion's third roar at the beginning of Wizard of Oz. I was a skeptic when I heard about it, but it's really weird how much of the music coincidentally fits the film.

I hear that all the time, but haven't rented the movie yet. We actually had a theater here in Austin that played the movie with the Pink Floyd "soundtrack". Anything to make a buck...


Capt. Bacardi

 

[Rudy]

A bit astray here topic-wise, but...I've learned that the better version of Wizard of Oz to own is a certain laserdisc copy of it, since it was made from a technicolor print. Luckily, the one I have. Definitely one I'll archive to DVD one of these days. Would be neat to put Dark Side Of The Moon on the same DVD as an alternate audio track!

 

[W.B.]

And as has been pointed out by music writers over the years, how exactly DO you play a record backwards, anyway?

I happen to have a three-speed (33/45/78 ) turntable by Numark with built-in pitch adjuster and the ability to play records both backwards and forwards. You can get it (if you look real hard) in certain high-end audio stores (more likely on the order of, say, Sam Ash in New York where I got mine).

 

[Rudy]

I could probably use a turntable like that with one of my older cartridges (like the Shure M44-7), but it would cause a backward "scrubbing" effect with some of my newer ones and would probably snap my Shure V15's stylus right off. Nowadays I can dump it into the computer and reverse it using software.

 

[Mike Blakesley]

We actually had a theater here in Austin that played the movie with the Pink Floyd "soundtrack". Anything to make a buck...

That should say 'Anything to give the people what they want...."

It's amazing what people will pay for. I never did understand the appeal of things like the Oz thing, and the "sing-along Sound of Music" thing. Whatever happened to just watching a good old movie??

 

[Rudy]

It's more of a novelty, the Oz thing. Better done at home for kicks.

 

[Mr Bill]

It makes me wonder how many people sit around playing every record with every movie to find a "match." Must be a "druggie" thing...

--Mr Bill

 

[daveK]

There was a lot of talk about "backward masking" in the late 70s and early 80s. I remember Styx' "Paradise Theater" being singled out as one of the many "devil records" out at the time. On their next album, they addressed the issue with the song "Heavy Metal Poisoning". If I remember right, there are some backward messages on that song to parody the whole issue. I haven't heard the song since high school and that was a long, long time ago.

 

[Dave]

There was a lot of talk about "backward masking" in the late 70s and early 80s. I remember Styx' "Paradise Theater" being singled out as one of the many "devil records" out at the time. On their next album, they addressed the issue with the song "Heavy Metal Poisoning". If I remember right, there are some backward messages on that song to parody the whole issue. I haven't heard the song since high school and that was a long, long time ago.

Well, one way to hear songs played backwards is to "hear" to the opposite side of a cassette tape during the blank sections of the side you are actually playing--or if the tape is REALLY AGED you'll easily hear the other side right over what you're trying to listen to.

I found discarded, a blank Casette Tape of the first LED ZEPPELIN album lying in a vacant lot and it took me until I actually bought the LP to know what it was, aside from "Led Zeppelin" being written on the label on Side 1 and 2 of the tape. It was a pretty old tape with a lot of "bleed throughs".

I'm sure you've heard about LED ZEPPELIN IV having "backward messages" on it, too. Hence the ZOSO subtitle the group gave it?

Dave

 

[Rudy]

There was a lot of talk about "backward masking" in the late 70s and early 80s. I remember Styx' "Paradise Theater" being singled out as one of the many "devil records" out at the time. On their next album, they addressed the issue with the song "Heavy Metal Poisoning". If I remember right, there are some backward messages on that song to parody the whole issue. I haven't heard the song since high school and that was a long, long time ago.

It's been years since I listened to "Heavy Metal Poisoning", but didn't realize they'd planted messages in it. I'll have to find the disc and run it backward through the audio editor.

Back to "Snowblind", I THINK the source of the rumor is the line, "Won't you throw me a lifeline", which Shaw didn't sing all that clearly. (It precedes "...I'm going down for the third time.") I do know someone who might shed some light on it--I should see if he'd pop in and discuss it with us.

 

[Rudy]

From the source:

http://www.jamesyoung.ws/newsltrs/sept1986.htm

(Thanks to Allan of StyxCollector.com for passing the link on to me. )

 

[jfiedler17]

Went back and looked it up to see exactly what prompted the Satanic-message charges against "Snowblind." Supposedly (emphasis on "supposedly"), the line "How did I ever get into this mess?" played backwards becomes "Satan, move in our voices." I don't know anyone who buys INTO any of this Satanic-message stuff, but it's intriguing what some people will come up with, huh?

 

[Rudy]

The point is: people will hear what they want to hear. You could take any song with lyrics, play it backwards and imagine something that could sound similar to those backward lyrics. Usually someone with an agenda will dig up this rot.

Funny, though, that they rant about the satanic messages, but make no mention of the fact that it's a song about cocaine addiction.

 

[jfiedler17]

Great point!