What is interesting is that there was another instance of Backmasking in the 1960s. In fact, as early as 1968:

This album, We’re only In It For the Money was released by The Mothers of Invention on March 4, 1968. The person essentially behind the band was Frank Zappa, and the album cover is clearly a play on Sgt. Pepper’s. The song is called Hot P***. The message is, when the track is reversed:

Better look around before you say you don’t care.
Shut your fucking mouth ‘bout the length of my hair.
How would you survive, if you were alive, shitty little person?

Now I will say that the “song” is 26 seconds long. It starts out with someone muttering in a hushed voice, but the words are intelligible. The tracks speeds up and then, and this is characteristic of all genuine backwards-masked vocals…we’re left with gibberish. This is exactly like Rain. Now it is fascinating that, although Frank Zappa would become involved in the debate about Rock music later on, I have not found a single list of the backwards-maskers which includes Frank Zappa generally, or this track, in particular. This is true even though it was so glaringly obvious, and the song begs to be played backwards. I would attribute this to two factors:
 

A.  In 1968, all inclined to do so, were searching for clues in Beatles’ albums. And that was the year of Revolution #9.

B.  Frank Zappa was an underground band that was not in the mainstream Rock music scene. I’ll bet that Zappa fans easily found the backmasking, and reversed it.  But, despite the cover of the album, Zappa fans may not have been big fans of the Beatles. So, this suggests that the Evangelists would eventually hear about the Beatles’ rumors, and take that as their starting point. As a result, Zappa gets missed.
 

When the search for backmasking went beyond the lowest common denominator…i.e. Beatles’ albums, the next song pulled into the fray was Eldorado by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). This then lead almost directly to the band’s song Fire on High. And this is where the chronology gets a little confusing. The first thing to say is that, like Rain and Hot P***, the backmasking at the beginning of Fire On High is patently obvious…so it was not hidden. The message is:

The music is reversible, but time is not.
Turn back! Turn back! Turn back!

All three of these instances of backmasking have the following in common:
 

1.  The presence of the reversed lyrics is perfectly obvious, and therefore not hidden

2.  When the lyrics are reversed, what is there is in perfect English. In other words, you do not have something in perfect English forward, that is then something else in perfect English backwards. That is impossible…it can’t be done with human language, and is one of the flaws in claims about, e.g. Stairway to Heaven.

3.  The masking is for effect, and nothing else.

Now… ELO will disagree with point number 3. Why? This is where it gets tricky. According to ELO, the only reason why they had added the backwards message at the beginning of Fire on High, is because Fundamentalists had accused them of placing a Satanic backwards-message in the song Eldorado. The Evangelicals claimed that the reversal says:

He is the nasty one…Christ you’re infernal,
It is said we’re dead men,
Everyone who has the mark will live

This claim is nonsense. This is an example of where playing the vocal track backwards yields only gibberish, and the only way to “hear” the very stupid message given above is via the deceptive trick used by the Evangelical Accusers…they don’t play the piece backwards and wait for you to tell them what you heard. And that’s for the very simple reason that you will hear only gibberish..because, unlike the other songs noted above…there’s nothing but gibberish to hear. So, they deceptively use suggestion…they tell you what you will hear. Having placed the suggestion in your mind, you then hear the message. Unless you have a brain in your head, and then you’ll hear…gibberish. But having a brain in one’s head is not a characteristic of Evangelicals. ELO claims that following the accusations about Eldorado, they inserted the reversed vocals in Fire On High. Why is that tricky? The backmasking hype appears to have kicked into gear around 1979, and reached its height in the years 1980-1981. Evangelical critics of Rock music had claimed that Rock music was Satanic ever since the late 1960s when an Evangelist, namely Bob Larson, went around declaring his objections. He even claimed to have been a Rock musician himself.

That is from 1967. Hey! You order it…you pay for it! Not me! And the connection to Dave Wilkerson is a connection to Teen Challenge, which is a connection to Virginia Brandt Berg’s baby boy…later ruler of the Children of God.

Good Heavens! What will it take to get Bob Larson to pick up the meal tab? Form or semi-formal dress? I guess I can’t wear my Beatnik outfit when I fight my way down to the front row. He was concerned about imagery, lyrics, and a syncopated beat. Yes…the beat. It is immoral!

Bob Larson…and everyone knows the 100 Rock songs he wrote. I do! I listen to them backwards all the time. Actually, I will have Regan MacNeill sing them backwards to me. Moral decadence? Moral Decadence! That will be the name of my band’s second album. I think it would be fun to go back to 1966, and see a bit more. This is from an article called “You Don’t Listen to Rock and Roll- You React.” It appears in the Sandusky Register.

So he wrote 100 Rock songs between the ages of 13 and 19? Why does Lawrence Welk sound more likely? Turning teenagers on? Where does he think he is…Alabama? Sorry, I interrupted:

Rock and Roll leads to sex! I sure hope so…I need all the help I can get. Although I would point out that when a couple goes out to “park” it is specifically for exchange a little of affection. That is true before the guy turns on the radio. Although I’m surprised that they didn’t have the radio on during the drive out to Make-Out Point, or Lover’s Lane. That way he could get be sure that everything was ready to go before parking. Most kids listen to the radio while they’re driving. It sounds to me like Bob knows as much about “parking” as he does about non-Lawrence Welk forms of music.

Hearts beating like mad…their bodies going like wild! Glands erupt! Wow, maybe he did write Rock songs. He’s seen couples coming in from their cars during intermissions. It seems to me that he’s a little too into his pseudo-research. They’re really turned on? How does he know? A book? His own records? Money! This is from January 1965, and is particularly interesting:

The ad announcements a youth revival, but nothing is said about his anti-Rock music crusade. This is from March 1966:

We find out that he was also a disc jockey, but then something I didn’t expect…he was studying in college as a pre-med major when he felt called to the ministry. And…the add doesn’t indicate that his presentation in the library was about the evils of Rock music. April 1966:

December 1966:

So now he’s got his anti-Rock crusade in full swing! And he was a night club entertainer. There’s no mention of pre-med studies. Go-go?

Well, maybe that’s not what he had in mind. Still, I’m sure anatomy is covered in pre-med. September 1967:

Rock and Roll Neurosis! The name of my band’s third album. The beat again? Yes, the rhythmic pounding beat suggests another type of rhythmic pounding.

More:

Bob Larson and his team of physicians! I thought he didn’t finish pre-med. And Dr. Bob ordered full bloodwork for the kids coming in from their cars with the glands erupting. Glucose? He checked their glucose levels?

So music isn’t supposed to affect your emotions. Bob’s gospel songs must be pretty boring. I’ve heard of moral fiber, but not moral fibers. But then…I never dropped out of pre-med.

Folk songs spread communism.

He’s got in on the brain. Obscene Movements! Great name for a song.

Self-professed finest guitarist ever! Well, one of them.

Hippie Heresey! Or should it be…Hippie Heresy?

The Rock music world will be thrilled to know that Bob Larson feels qualified to render testimony on their behalf. And since in an earlier article he mentioned the Jefferson Airplane, I thought I’d check with Grace Slick to see if she thinks Geeky Rocker is qualified to speak for her band:

I think that means…no. Surely Led Zeppelin would feel differently...

Well, Paul McCartney wouldn’t

Never mind. By 1979, Bob was on the same bandwagon as nutty guys like the Peters Boys. He added the occult to his strong obsession with the sexual element of Rock music:

Been on the other side? He was not a Rock musician, I do not believe the claims he made. Watch him get called out:

Surprise! Maybe it’s just a memory problem…maybe he should check his glucose level.

This young fellow’s full of it.

Ouch! By 1981, he had branched out into Halloween, a rather easy target:

Yes…Bob Larson is so important that Satan and his demons caused a power outage that affected a large section of the city of Newberg. Maybe God caused the power outage. If Bob couldn’t have his lame talk about Halloween, the audience might just consider it a real blessing. This is my last Bob Larson quote:

You mean the Goonies isn’t some terrible disease linked to glucose levels?

I guess not. And this priceless statement may have been influenced by guys like Bob Larson:

I suppose it’s not too surprising that he branched out into performing exorcisms and touting the Satanic Ritual Abuse fraud. Later, he decided that aliens and UFOs were subjects worthy of writing about too.