Subliminal messages in music, myth or reality?

The topic of subliminal messages in music has always been surrounded by controversy. For some it is a simple myth; for others, an unimportant anecdote. There are also those who think that it is a manipulation mechanism that is capable of changing people’s behavior and influencing their values.

There is still no definitive conclusion in this regard, neither regarding subliminal messages in music nor those that have to do with image. . In fact, the available data are contradictory. Several governments have banned this type of messages, but at the same time most researchers have distorted their real effectiveness.

The topic has become fashionable at times and has caused everything from laughter to enormous concern. At some points, it has been pointed out that subliminal messages in music incite crime, practice satanism, and use drugs. etc. What truth is there in this?

some history

Let’s say first that subliminal messages are those that are designed to be captured below the normal limits of perception.. In other words, these messages cannot be perceived consciously, but are received in such a way that we do not realize that we are receiving them.

Everything indicates that these messages are being talked about Thousands of years ago. Specifically, there are Aristotle’s allusions to impulses that go unnoticed when we are awake, but then reappear with force when we are asleep. Michell de Montaigne, O. Poetzle and later Sigmund Freud also referred to this type of unconscious phenomena.

However, advances in technology made these phenomena much more evident. Thus, It was in the 20th century when it became really clear that this type of communication it was possible.

In 1957, a famous experiment was done with images and almost a decade later the Beatles got everyone talking about subliminal messages in music or backmasking.

Subliminal messages in music

Subliminal messages in music, or backmasking They are encoded using a recording technique. Consists in record or record a sound or message backwards, on a track that is designed to be heard forwards. This means that such a message can only be consciously captured if the track is run backwards.

There were two decisive factors in the birth of subliminal messages in music. The first was the emergence of “concrete music” in France. In this genre, the sounds of electronic instruments were combined with recorded sounds from the environment or industry and combined in the recording studio.

The second incident factor was the use of recording tapes to record and preserve the musicians’ original performances. This allowed fragments to be combined, cut, superimposed and pasted onto the original recording.

The seventh album of the Beatles For the first time, it included a song in which there were texts recorded backwards. The topic was called Rain and appeared in 1966. The band’s goal was to satirize, experiment and offer new sounds. Since then, a good number of artists turned to the same resource and subliminal messages in music became frequent.

Doubts that persist

Several religious movements quickly began to speak out against this type of resource. Several urban legends also began to gain strength.. Many people listened to the tapes backwards and found hidden meanings, but most of the time they were pure guesses, without any concrete basis.

The religious, in particular, accused several rock groups of inducing youth to worship the devil, commit crimes or use drugs. The debate became very heated until 1985 when psychologists John R. Vokey and J. Don Read carried out an experiment. They recorded a Psalm from the Bible backwards and observed the listeners’ reactions.

The researchers concluded that the subliminal messages in music did not cause any appreciable effect on the receptors.. In 1996 C. Trappery did 23 experiments and concluded basically the same thing. However, researchers Johan C. Karremansa, Wolfgang Stroebeb and Jasper Claus, from Utrecht University, did a new experiment in 2006 and apparently proved that these messages do change people’s behavior. The debate is still open.

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