Subliminal Messages : What's the big deal?

[e-cue]

The DUC closed my account for typing a post that requested 392K sampling rates (half jokingly) and it got me thinking about censorship. This opened up a dialog with my assistant about several things including the fact that their was a time when I could be arrested if I purchased a 2LiveCrew record, Q sound charging royalties, and so called subliminal messages.

Remember back in the 80's when Ozzy & Judas Priest were getting sued for allegegidly brainwashing kids with subliminal messages into killing themselves? He's something I've never been able to understand:Even if I sneak "Kill Yourself" backwards into a song, how can this force someone into taking their own life? I mean, if all I had to do to get someone to do something is record it backwards & add it into a song, I'll record myself whispering "Buy this record and tell 20 people to buy it as well".


P.S.: As I recall, the Judas Priest lyric in question was "Do it". Why didn't the parents go after Nike? I'm sure they got more money...

[mwagener]

The DUC closed my account for typing a post that requested 392K sampling rates

Huh???

[Dave Martin]

Originally posted by e-cue
He's something I've never been able to understand:Even if I sneak "Kill Yourself" backwards into a song, how can this force someone into taking their own life? I mean, if all I had to do to get someone to do something is record it backwards & add it into a song, I'll record myself whispering "Buy this record and tell 20 people to buy it as well".

The idea of subliminal messages gained national attention in the mid 1960's, when ad agancies were doing things like airbrushing the shape of naked women, phallic symbols, etc. into advertising (the naked women would be in things like the ice cubes of a drink...) So the US congress, in it's usual lack of wisdom, held hearings and passed legislation. Double blind testing later proved (rather conclusively) that subliminal messages weren't particularly effective, and have fallen (more or less) out of favor.

But the reason that rock bands got sued has more to do with lawyers looking for easy money money and parents refusing to accept the reality - that some kids commit suicide for no apparent reason. So they have to blame somebody, and the band was available. The US is in dire need of tort reform to stop that sort of nonsense. Unfortunately, most legislators are also lawyers, and would never cut off such a lucrative practice.

[Diginerd]

So what about subliminal pictures in the audio?!

I'm sure others have done it, but Aphex Twin has had some of the most publicised.

You can find out more at: http://www.tp.spt.fi/~cleth/projects/aphexface/


But for now, this from the Window Licker Album:-

[e-cue]

Wow... I've been a fan of Richard's music, but had no idea it went this deep...

[Diginerd]

Must admit it's very cool. It was done with Metasynth, which is sadly no longer with us (Unless someone can tell me otherwise)

[Diginerd]

I was wrong..

http://www.uisoftware.com/PAGES/acceuil_meta.html

[digitaltoast]

This is too eerie, all of this talk about subliminal messages...and I have the new TC Electronic ad, "Halls of Fame" open on my desk - and I swear that the Photo of Lennon from the cover of Imagine is subliminally superimposed. I keep seeing John out of the corner of my eye...

[e-cue]

You got me tinkering with metasynth (I actually took the Gearslutz logo & made a trippy demonic synth pad sound). Anyone know of any programs similar to metasynth that take an audio input, and say, though use of a vocoder effect, allow you to do the same type of thing?

[Mad John]

A note to all:

Please realize that the real Subliminal messages are unconscious. They can have goo or bad effect, depending on where and who they are comming from.

I believe songs such as "Stairaway to Heaven" are a great example of a band that used borrowed ideas to create something uniqe. Led Zeppelin was not out to make a bargin with the "Devil", so to speak, as much as Robert Plant and Jimmy Page carried out exactly what they were expected to do, given thier incredible position w/ the listening public at large.

Check out from - There are 2 paths you can go by...ect... and backwards there are frightening sentances that you can here quite clearly! This was not masked, that is too naive. This is what the power of words can do when you are after POWER!

Only those who hope to gain control or great power over others would step into the same Crossroads (the 2 roads?) that is the underworlds secret alphabet:Slavery,Masochism, Perversion of the sexes: the Evil that has always been with us remains in men's hearts; for they are the ones that chhose to speak to the Soul.....Oh, and how they do it!


Peace & Dreams,

[Midlandmorgan]

I for one firmly believe in subliminal communication...shoot, everytime I browse through this site, there's a subliminal message forcing me to buy more stuff...

"I'm getting sleepy.....SLEEPY..... "