There are some tremendous resources on the Internet for those of you interested in subliminal effects. In fact, I owe a lot of this site to information I gleaned from the Internet. In fact, many of the sound clips on this site are recreations of soundclips I found on the Internet. Rather than violate copyright by simply copying sound clips I found on the Internet, I extracted and reversed my own audio clips. Of course, wherever I simply used someone else's resources, I gave them credit. Anyway, here are a series of sites that should lead you to some fascinating information on subliminal effects.
Audio Reversal in Popular Culture - One of the best sites out there for information on backmasking. I aspire to be as well done as this site. It provides a serious, but interesting look at speech reversal and provides a lucid explanation of why backwards speech is bound to result in phrases that sound similar to other phrases spoken forward. The discussion of phonemes is fascinating. To top it off, the site is generously peppered with audio clips that bring the explanations to life.
Bob Crispen's Rant - An interesting note that suggests that the term "backmasking" is misused when referring to auditory stimuli. Apparently, the term belongs in the arena of visual perception. Make sure you follow the interesting link from this page to an excerpt from William Poundstone's book Big Secrets.
Led Zeppelin Backwards - Here's a brief page that is tongue-in-cheek and points out that there are some weird non-satanic messages in Stairway to Heaven too!
The Backwards Masking Home Page - An interesting page with a bunch of audio clips. Only negative is that the site suffers from poor design (sorry :-))
The Definitive Paul Is Dead Website - A fun, detailed web site on the famous rumor that Paul McCartney died in 1966. The site includes some interesting examples of supposed backmasked "clues" that the Beatles placed in their recordings.
The Judas Priest Trial:
Lessons from the Judas Priest Trial - an excellent article by Timothy Moore on his testimony in the Judas Priest trial published in the Skeptical Inquirer.
Subliminal Suicide - One of several articles in the section "Subliminal Scares" at Parascope Magazine. This one deals with the Judas Priest Trial.
Judas Priest - More information on the trial from the "Reverse Speech" web site. This page includes an article published in the San Francisco Examiner as well as an excerpt from the "Reverse Speech Book." This one claims that there are many more subliminal messages in the songs on the Judas Priest album that were completely overlooked in the trial.
Subliminal World - An excellent multimedia site with lots of examples and explanations of subliminal effects. Makes important distinctions between true "subliminal" cues and unattended stimuli. Contrary to this site, Subliminal World presents the view that advertisers ARE using subliminal messages to improperly influence consumers and (more importantly) that these messages can influence you to do things you otherwise wouldn't do. If you have a fast internet connection which can handle this graphics-heavy site, it is definitely worth a look.
Home
| Research | Web Links
| References
The Subliminal Site:
http://sbe.d.umn.edu/subliminal/
© 2001 Rajiv Vaidyanathan