So I recently started downloading some Led Zeppelin and obviously I was very impressed with "Stariway To Heaven". I was looking up the lyrics when I came across this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stairway_to_Heaven

I was reading about the origins and all that when I got down to the end of the page and the "backmasking" controversy. They have an audio clip of the song playing backwards and I gotta tell you, it sounds to me like the lyrics they have listed. I guess Im just curious about your opinions on this thing. I had heard reference to this, but never really paid attention or investigated.

Thoughts?

wrong forum, can a mod move this for me, please k thnx.

Well, I have to say, if you hadn't heard what those words were supposed to be, and had just heard the backmasking, there's just no way you would have been able to come up with those words on your own, except for maybe one sweet satan.




Also, I think the much more interesting part of your link was the part talking about the blatant plagiarism of Spirit's Taurus is more disturbing, and something I did not know about

1. I think you may be right. I read the words before I listened to the backmasking. I had my brother listen without knowing the words and all he heard was satan.

2. Yes, that was rather interesting.

bump

Even more blatant was how they ripped off Dazed and Confused

Supposedly on Sgt Pepper it says "we'll f you like supermen" or something like that

the only real one I know of is a pink floyd track that says "Congratulations you've found the secret message"

Although I did watch the linked up version of Dark Side with the Wizard of Oz and it was pretty amusing

See also all the Paul is Dead clues - fun but absurd

Bill Hicks has a great routine about how Judas Priest decided that they hated being rock stars and decided to put suicide messages in their music

"I'm sick of it. Sick of it. Groupies blowing me day and Night! I know... we'll get out audience to kill themselves."

Not for nothing but Robert Plant or one of the LZ guys bought the house that Allister Crowley wrote the Book of Satan too.


Hmmmm

that was jimmy page

It was Jimmy Page for certain, he was into all kinds of weird Magic.



And Crowley didn't ever write anything called " the book of satan" for the record. He wrote a bunch of retarded magic books, but none of it was "satanic'. Unless, of course, you believe any magical book would be inherently satanic. Mostly Crowley was just a charlatan, com man, drug addict and a fraud.

That one is real, and another real one is at the beginning of ELO's "Fire On High", there is a back masked phrase "The music is reversible, but time is not." I'm sure there are others included in music, mainly in response to the controversy.

One of these kooks came around to my college back in the 80s, playing all the alleged evil messages in music. Half the audience sat there with glassy stares and took it in, and the other half giggled at the stupidity. It even included recordings of *live* music. So apparently, whatever band it was was so evil that they learned how to say words backward and forward *at the same time* in a live concert.

Of course, backward it actually sounded like "mmefrred hgreefes fesefhgvbx", but to their active imagination it sounded like "Satan is our leader" or something like that.

It's not even Zep's best song by a long shot...

^^^^

I disagree. But what do you think is?

Many!

Off the top of my head, Dazed and Confused, No Quarter, Trampled Under Foot, Black Dog, How Many More Times, Communication Breakdown, The Song Remains the Same

For some somewhat obscure LZ trivia though: what was the first #1 hit Jimmy Page played on?

led zepplin: not that great

and stairway is one of their best songs

What!?!? Zep is amazing!
Stairway is definitley in their top 5 songs

But read this article about how much the song is worth
http://www.portfolio.com/culture-lifestyle...eavens-Revenues

I assume it was some yardbird song was page's first number one.


The best Zep song is When the Leeve breaks.

Get outta here with you and your crazy jazz : )


Seriously though, Zeppelin is right up there with the Beatles when it comes to influential/revolutionary music.


Edit: I will admit that Page is probably one of the most over rated guitarist of all time.

D'yer Maker is easily my favorite Zed Lepplin song.

Nope. In fact I dont think the Yardbirds had any #1s, though I think Over Under Sideways Down is one of the greatest songs from the pyschedelic era.

Easily their worst song on their first 5 albums.

Page played on a ton of sessions before the Yardbirds

he was on the Who's Can't Explain

It's arguable whether he was on the Kink's You Really Got Me - although he definitely didn't play the solo

As for the Yardbirds - it was all Jeff Beck - all of it

the beatles: not that great

Fan of more hip hop/R & B stuff?
What do you groove on?

He digs jazz.

Didn't you know that jazz is the only real music out there that takes real talent to play.

Some more Zep goodies are, The Ocean, In the Evening, Houses of the Holy, Whole Lotta Love, Heartbreaker, Ramble On, Misty Mountain Hop, and my personal fav Over the Hills and Far Away.


Stairway is a great song but I can easily rate 5-10 LZ songs better.

music: not that great

That and Black Dog are my two favorite Zep songs to play on the guitar.

well then, we'll all be sure you value your opinion on music highly.

Too bad much of Zeppelin's music was stolen from other groups including Stairway to Heaven.........

http://productshopnyc.com/htdocs/2007/06/l..._tour_stai.html

""Stairway to Heaven" is a direct rip-off of Spirit's "Taurus." In fact, Led Zeppelin was the opening act for Spirit's 1968 tour......."

Also.....

http://arrt.blogspot.com/2007/06/led-zeppe...-or-genius.html

I think I said that in my first post

i could care less if they lifted some notes and lyrics. their shit is good, and to me, thats all that matters.

Regarding the backmasking controversy, there's a video podcast by Michael Shermer of _Skeptic_ magazine. It's in TED Talks, and it's called "Why People Believe Strange Things." He plays the song forward and backward, with the supposed backward lyrics posted on a video screen, and he agrees with the scientist's observations that people can't identify the backward message until prompted, so he concludes it's basically the power of suggestion.

I have had bad hearing ever since having scarlet fever as an infant. Whether it's that or just a plain lack of being observant, but I've never been good at identifying songs, and for some very strange reason, I have never ONCE been able to identify "Stairway to Heaven." Yet every time it's being played, I've asked my husband or someone else, "what's this song?" It's become a long-standing -- not quite joke, but "thing." In fact, we were watching the Michael Shermer video one night and he didn't identify the song before he played it. Of course, I asked.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=juCQ1BteSW4

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=762saJ4O64c&...feature=related

Fairly poor quality - I guess you had to be there...

Luckily I was

My fav Zep songs (some) are;

Heartbreaker
Wanton Song
Custard Pie
Celebration Day
Out on the Tiles

Those are just a few that I prefer to STH...

Zep was one of the top bands/artists of the 70's, along with Bowie, Dylan and some others (I'm referring more to quality output, rather than popularity and such)

Road to love by the Crusaders would be my guess. It was Page's 1st recording, I believe, but I am not sure it wen't to #1

Any LZ list of songs without Kashmir and Immigrant Song is seriously lacking IMOP

I called into a radio interview with Dave Grohl and asked him

"How does it feel to have been part of a senastional, groundbreaking band and now play the lowest common denominator pop crap there is on the radio"? They cut me off.

Foo Fighters are awful.

I probably like them better than STH also, but I got tired of them pretty quickly.

No on Road to Love.

Heres the answer:

Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual"

great song.



nice. but i actually kind of like the foo fighters.



didnt see that coming.

hahahahaha. that is spectacular. I've often wondered the same thing.


best zeppelin song "white summer/black mountainside" off the box set.

lol...you must be joking...

would you rather be kris and just appear on tv shows twice a year talking about the times kurt shot up?

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was tricking america into thinking that Nirvana wasn't pop, just because it had distorted guitars and abstract lyrics. Musically, Nirvana is as simple as it gets.


Also, I generally hate the Foo Fighters.. however that cover of Stairway to heaven was absolute genius.

I think they could've been really good if they had hired a guitar player.

who was that queer guy that played with them towards the end and on the unplugged thing?

Bob Hope

Since I'm not a musician its hard to put myself in the position of not having a career and putting out trash. Id probably write a book

Agreed, but lyrically they werent simple, and with KCs personality dominating the concerts they were far from boring. Foo Fighters are mind numbingly vapid. KC cringes every time the "Learning to Fly" video is shown. (In fact, were there ever two worse songs of the same name both to achieve decent sales/popularity as Foo Fighters and Faux Floyds "Learning to Fly"?

"Tongue tied and twisted, just an earthbound misfit, I". And people still seriously consider "Which one's Pink"?.

Of course Nirvana's music was simple. It's grunge for crying out loud.