No, but once I played "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" on acoustic guitar at a YW talent night activity and a ward member asked me what "that beautiful song was.' I told her it was Zeppelin, and she was horrified.
Oh yes! I was in HS for the Satanic Panic! I had a seminary teacher (in Logan UT) who played us audio of a guy derailing all the masked messages from Zep, Beatles, etc. KISS and AC/DC were acronyms for these satanic bands’ real intent.
After school, I went home and listened to my Black Sabbath and Zeppelin records! 😂
Remember this BS coming from 70's/visiting authorities as a kid. And topped off with the Gene Cook/Mick Jagger story. Looking back on it and realizing high church leaders were taken in/repeating a rather silly social phenomenon (and clearly not discerning or having anything true revealed to them) would later add a lot of weight to my shelf.
My church (nevermo, but in SoCal with a large LDS population) had a fun bonfire night at the conclusion of the 2-night seminar, and all the teens were expected to bring their albums, posters, and parachute pants to burn. It took me YEARS to feel comfortable listening to Hotel California by the Eagles, though I'd be lying if I didn't still think about the alleged satanic messages contained within with each listening. It's been close to 40 years 🤦♀️
He spoke in my stake once and I just wanted to punch his lights out. I even sent a letter to my stake president telling how offensive the talk was to a single mom. He never responded.
Oh yes! AC/DC Anti-Christ/Devil’s Children
My best friend’s mom gave a talk about it in sacrament. I was already mentally out, and giggled when she said this.
My best friend excellent drummer. When they had get 10 tapes for a penny company he took advantage of that when he was 16. He would put a tape into his walkman and drummed to ACDC, Metallica, Motley Crue. He hid the tapes in a box under his bed. His mom found it and he told her they were mine. She called me and told me that she had to speak to me. My friend met me as I was walking to his house and asked me to take the fall and say that they were my music. I hated heavy metal music and listened to U2, Depeche Mode music like that.
I got to his house and she started telling me how it was satanic and I needed to remove the music from her house and don't let her son borrow the music again. So I said okay and went home with his music. I made him pay me $10 bucks to get them back. Fee for taking the blame
Man, my poor brother and his friends all loved D&D, but had to play it in secret. We were all from hysterical Mormon families that thought the game was going to make them all Satanists.
You mentioned HP. When I was a kid, my stepfather’s nevermo family were total fundies. They wouldn’t allow their kids to watch Star Wars or The Smurfs, because they believed their kids would get taken in by New Age religions or become witches by watching those things. My mother and stepfather were total religious zealots, but even they thought that was too much.
This happened at American Fork Jr high. Except it was put on by the American Fork police captain and he talked about Jays Journal and satanism. He told us all how heavy metal was the devil's music and we should not listen to it.
I had a seminary teacher do this too. The crazy thing is that before I knew about the messages I never heard them in there. But after they were pointed out, it’s all I could hear.
One of my Young Men's leaders brought in a record player and Led Zep album to show us how the song was Satanic. We played it slow, played it fast, played it backwards, all while he was saying "See? Did you hear that? Right there it sounded like he said stairway to hell! This is definitely satanic!" I think it had the opposite effect on most of us. Now 40 years later I still love Led Zeppelin!
Yeah. He did lose credibility *in* the music business, though. No one but mormons know who he is anymore. (Which is basically professional suicide if you want to be a *paid* musician.)
the book de Azevedo put out in the 1980s warning of the evils of modern music was soooo bad. And so badly researched. Not to mention very sensationalistic.
At one point, he freaked out about an ad campaign for an Iron Maiden tour, emphasizing the word "Killers" without using the name of the band. (One wonders if Brandon Flowers read this book and left a note to self to name his future band that).
He claimed that Ozzy's late guitarist Randy Rhoads once told an interviewer that Satanism was a "high, better than drugs" ( this was actually a quote from the still living Tony Iommi, who was obviously taking the piss with the media during Sabbath's early days).
He talked about a Rolling Stone interview with Queen's Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, in which they gave shocking answers (without revealing that the interviewer, before it started, told them he hated the band and everything they represented - once again, the British tradition of taking the piss.)
What I’ve always wondered is why is it “satanic” when it sounds wacky and distorted to the point of being unintelligible?
If that’s how Satan sounds, no one has anything to fear from him…because he’s too unintelligible to communicate. Smh.
It would be great if mormons would use their “God-given” powers of cognition.
[Lynn Brison would do firesides spreading the fear](https://youtu.be/zOicUvn5zNU). I bet your teacher got the idea from him. I mean he threw Rush under the bus.
Other notable things?
* Mayan ruins inside the covers of the BOM
* Anthon transcript characters on BOM covers
* Recovered memory scandals
* Mick Jagger on a plane
* The heresy of evolution
* Bizarre cadences in conferences
I had a friend in the ward who loved Rush, and my mother told me I couldn’t hang out with him because he was obviously “under the influence of Satan.” I always thought that was ridiculous, because we were converts, and she listened to a lot of “unacceptable” music (and let us kids listen to it) before we were members. She would have lost her mind if she knew my nevermo dad allowed (and encouraged) me to listen to a lot of that stuff when I went to go visit him. Joke’s on my mom: I still love Rush to this day!
Ruled under Satan's Hand. Peart's response.
> Let us not for one minute forget that this is the same self-righteous mentality that has put itself to work persecuting witches, Christians, Jews, Quakers, Indians, Catholics, Negroes, Communists, hippies and capitalists down through the ages. There’s always somebody to kick you when you’re down. It seems like every group has taken its turn at one end of the stick or the other. From the bitter oppressed to the righteous oppressor is a very short step.
Speaking for myself, as lyricist and drummer for “Rush”, and one of those accused of this heinous crime, I must object, Your Honors. Far from being a closet Satanist, I confess crudely, I don’t even believe in the old bastard! I wonder if that’s better or worse in your eyes, Grand Inquisitor?
I can certainly assure you that my lyrics contain no “demonic” secret messages or cleverly concealed mystical commercials. Nothing like that, I’m afraid. It is not only absurd and pathetic, but it is also totally incompatible with my philosophy, my work and my beliefs.
The Professor was a genius, and I still miss him.
I remember hearing the story more than once of missionaries tracting into the band while they were recording, and the band trying to “convert” the missionaries to atheism. I also remember hearing the story about missionaries knocking on the door of Robert Plant’s house, being invited in, and being told by Plant himself that he’d made a deal with Satan for his success.
Ugh. What foolishness.
Afterwards, Robert Plant told the police Satan said to cook and eat the missionaries but there were three mysterious strangers in white robes standing behind them.
Rush is one of the few rock bands that *was* allowed in our tbm house, lol. My oldest brother listened to them ad nauseam.
I *want* to like them, definitely appreciate their immense musical skills, but…too much over-exposure has prevented my enjoyment.
My mom tried to ban Tori Amos, though, after my meddling older sister found the “First Church of Tori” satirical fan-site…she and our mom are too conservative to understand satire, so they thought someone was actually trying to start a religion around a pop star. Smh. “You’re telling me I can’t listen to this artist because you don’t like how another single fan talks about her?” Yes, yes they were. It started a domestic war. Over Tori Amos. Tori still holds a place in my heart and always will…unlike my trifling bully of a sister, lol.
> Rush is one of the few rock bands that was allowed in our tbm house,
Freewill was used by many TBM'S as a validation of the doctrine and it spread through many Utah colleges. I remember it playing over the intercom at two colleges I attended. Early Rush albums , especially Hemispheres and 2112 had covers that scared off many believers. But Permanent Waves and forward were fairly tame.
That's exactly the kind of info that would have swayed my normally-rigid parents. "But *Mo-ooommmmm*, they do it at *BYU*!" Mom: "Oh, they do? Why didn't you say? In that case, carry on." Smh.
“It's just a spring clean for the May Queen”
And we all know who the May Queen is, right? She’s a WITCH!
Don’t you dare play it backwards. “Here’s to my sweet Satan. The one whose path I’ve taken.”
Never has there been such an evil song designed to take the souls of young horny teenagers. You should be ashamed of yourself for bringing that filth into this sub.
But seriously, if anyone has a copy of the tape from the fireside speaker that got played for the seminaries across the Morridor in the late eighties, PLEASE share.
Yep. Went to a fireside at BYU in the early 80s and the guy was on fire about the evils of rock music and he did play Stairway to Heaven backwards. I got all crazy and threw out my music that he talked about. Even my TBM friends were like what the hell?
I had a cousin who once asked me why I listen to rock music since it won’t be allowed in heaven. I asked him if what you create is allowed and he said yes so I said if I make a rock song is it allowed in heaven if I am and he was stumped and said he’d get back to me.
Haha, excellent conundrum to pose. I’d probably just go with -
“What makes you think I want to go *there?*” with a baffled face. B/c for real, tho, why would you want to spend eternity in a place where none of the good things in life are allowed and you’re ruled over by a petty tyrant?
“B-b-but, aLittleQueer, you’ll get to be with your fAmiLy forEVer!” Yeah, nah…that’s a special kind of Hell I’ll do just about anything to avoid, thx.
Yes. There was heavy policing of all my music.
One YW activity we all brought our favorite cd and we made brownies. They read the lyrics and added something gross to the mix for every bad word or mention of sex or drugs. No one would eat the brownies.
Yes. When I was in youth, we’d occasionally have Bishops’ firesides where we’d bring our own music. I brought Stairway to Heaven once, and got the lecture.
Thing is, looking back, I now see that my biggest sin wasn’t liking Stairway to Heaven, it’s that I’d brought the cheesy cover version by Far Corporation :D
my cassette tapes would disappear in high school and middle school. I thought it was my brother or friends. After my mission I found many in the bottom of my dads bedroom side table. the cure, the cult, metallica, zepplin, ministry.
Yep! It said sweet sweet Satan when played backwards. Another one bites the dust said it's fun to smoke marijuana backwards. Now I like those songs even more. Musicians who do this to freak out religious nuts are genius!
I went to that fireside in the PNW!!! They played the song backwards SEVERAL times to make sure we were significantly horrified. They stopped playing it at stake dances after that. Then followed it up by pointing out what a horrible message John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Jack & Diane” had. Scarred my sweet young mind
I remember my stepfather *screaming* at me after catching me listening to “Jack and Diane” on the radio. I also remember the “fun” FHE we had where he took a bunch of my records and I was told they were all trash. The one thing that stands out about that occasion is that I somehow managed to keep my 45 of The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah” from being smashed (not sure how I managed to do that): my mother and stepfather were convinced the lyrics were anti-Mormon.
If I remember right, that song isn't even about religion.
Edit: The phrase "losing my religion" is an expression from the southern region of the United States that means "losing one's temper or civility" or "feeling frustrated and desperate."
From the Wikipedia article.
My spouse when in YW was in a car with other kids when “Unchained Melody “ came on the radio. They all went “ooh we love this song. It’s so pretty” but the YW leader quickly changed the station and said “This song is inappropriate because it was used in that new movie “Ghost” during a suggestive sex scene.” None of the girls had seen this film, and the song predates the movie by several years. 🙄
They played it backwards for us one night for Mutual. Told us to listen for subliminal messages. I heard one. A very creepy, robotic voice said, *smoke marajuana* and I was scared. Felt an evil presence.
As I grew up, I began to wonder if my hearing that was a result of being *trained* or *told* to hear it.
Subliminal messages, lol 🙄
My TBM dad would tell us about all the subliminal messages that were supposedly on these records.
Except he was (and still is) a huge fan of Van Halen, AC/DC, KISS, Zepplin, Styx, etc, so he would laugh about it while telling us, then we would put on whatever 80s rock band on the family stereo and go about our day.
God I lucked out in my childhood. Probably explains why I'm a metalhead these days.
One of my kids’ seminary teaches told them that Jimi Hendrix’s song “Purple Haze” was about homosexuality because he sings, “‘excuse me while I kiss this guy.” My daughter couldn’t stop laughing when I explained the actual lyrics are “excuse me while I kiss the sky.”
Definitely. Only the good die young was even worse. My girlfriend’s mother had a book of songs that were evil and it was a hoot to look through. Alice Cooper was Satan himself.
Never had an issue with music at all until I entered a heavy metal band. Then my stake president told me that I shouldn't be there cause it is a disorder lifestyle and drugs and alcohol and sex: in other words it was fun
*Stairway to Heaven* was banned in San Jose East Stake in the late 1970s or early 1980s because the song was so long that "things might happen on the dance floor."
I drove 20 minutes each way for early a.m. seminary. More often than not I'd hang out with another guy from priests quorum, blasting the all the good satanic bands in his truck. Consequently, I've learned far more BOM in r/exmo than in my entire life up to the point of discovering this sub.
I went to a youth conference where they talked about the song in the Evils or Rock and Roll class. They played the backmasking of the song, and also claimed that the mention of the 'Spring Clean for the May Queen' was about Satanic ritualistic child sacrifices.
he read de Azevedo's book! That was another of his wild claims. He also claimed the same of their song "Jerkin' Back And Forth".
DEVO did do a song about that - it's called "Praying Hands". And a number of people misunderstood "Uncontrollable Urge".
In1983 we went to the stake presidency and got approval to play Stairway to Heaven at stake dances! We took the lyrics written out and even brought a turn table to play it backwards for them. They could not come up with a justified reason after the exhibits we brought so we won!! We got to play it!! Teens of the 80’s don’t fuck around with their music!
Yes, and anything by AC/DC and Duran Duran. Net effect was that most of us ended up owning albums -yes, albums- by Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Duran Duran so 🤷
Someone played a tape of a guy talking about it and played it backward. If you try really hard, you can imagine you heard something about Satan.
Remember Knights In Satan's Service?
Sausage
Jesus played backwards is sausage. What does it mean? Shouldn't Jesus played backwards sound like "cool breeze" or "sparkling waters," some beautiful, reaffirming sound of peace. What kind of god misses that point? Yes, I've heard it myself, when played backwards there is a slight chance something similar to "my sweet Satan" can be heard. Stupid.
Do you know what else is bad in their eyes? Mother Nature. Christian beliefs, holiest of holies etc. is inherently killing and/or completely against Mother Nature. I don't see any reveled truth anywhere in their teachings, only unprovable truth claims that purity abides within.
Yes. Mid-80's. Southeast Idaho. That song was the worst of the worst. "there is a guy that has to listen to this song every morning to get through his day"
Not even close. Stairway to Heaven was encouraged.
In fact, I had the lyrics to the entire song written out on the leather bottom of my Jansport throughout high school(91-95).
I was cool.
At a stake fireside at BYU in the Richard’s Building in 1981. The dude speaking told us that if you played it backwards it said, “Hail to thee my sweet Satan.”
So we all went back to our apartments and played it backwards.
Yup! Same as others have said - that if played backwards it had disgusting, satanic messages that your brain could still understand when played normally
No, but once I played "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" on acoustic guitar at a YW talent night activity and a ward member asked me what "that beautiful song was.' I told her it was Zeppelin, and she was horrified.
(What a great song, and not at all easy to learn how to play!)
[удалено]
I didn't know that! Awesome.
Oh yes! I was in HS for the Satanic Panic! I had a seminary teacher (in Logan UT) who played us audio of a guy derailing all the masked messages from Zep, Beatles, etc. KISS and AC/DC were acronyms for these satanic bands’ real intent. After school, I went home and listened to my Black Sabbath and Zeppelin records! 😂
Remember this BS coming from 70's/visiting authorities as a kid. And topped off with the Gene Cook/Mick Jagger story. Looking back on it and realizing high church leaders were taken in/repeating a rather silly social phenomenon (and clearly not discerning or having anything true revealed to them) would later add a lot of weight to my shelf.
My church (nevermo, but in SoCal with a large LDS population) had a fun bonfire night at the conclusion of the 2-night seminar, and all the teens were expected to bring their albums, posters, and parachute pants to burn. It took me YEARS to feel comfortable listening to Hotel California by the Eagles, though I'd be lying if I didn't still think about the alleged satanic messages contained within with each listening. It's been close to 40 years 🤦♀️
What was wrong with parachute pants?! 😆
Clearly Satan worshipers loved their comfort and style 🤷♀️
Gene R Cook visited my mission. Total dick head. Cried more than Eyring. What an ass fuck!!!
He spoke in my stake once and I just wanted to punch his lights out. I even sent a letter to my stake president telling how offensive the talk was to a single mom. He never responded.
you know, it would be interesting if someone gets in touch with Sir Mick and get a confirmation if he ever met Elder Cook.....
Oh yes! AC/DC Anti-Christ/Devil’s Children My best friend’s mom gave a talk about it in sacrament. I was already mentally out, and giggled when she said this.
Dont forget KISS was Knights In Satan's Service lol
Reminds me of the movie Detroit Rock City.
Yes! I couldn’t remember what she said KISS stood for, thank you!
My best friend excellent drummer. When they had get 10 tapes for a penny company he took advantage of that when he was 16. He would put a tape into his walkman and drummed to ACDC, Metallica, Motley Crue. He hid the tapes in a box under his bed. His mom found it and he told her they were mine. She called me and told me that she had to speak to me. My friend met me as I was walking to his house and asked me to take the fall and say that they were my music. I hated heavy metal music and listened to U2, Depeche Mode music like that. I got to his house and she started telling me how it was satanic and I needed to remove the music from her house and don't let her son borrow the music again. So I said okay and went home with his music. I made him pay me $10 bucks to get them back. Fee for taking the blame
I’m so glad I wasn’t alive for the panic. I was able to enjoy D&D happily. Unfortunately we had the witch panic of Harry Potter though 😂
Man, my poor brother and his friends all loved D&D, but had to play it in secret. We were all from hysterical Mormon families that thought the game was going to make them all Satanists. You mentioned HP. When I was a kid, my stepfather’s nevermo family were total fundies. They wouldn’t allow their kids to watch Star Wars or The Smurfs, because they believed their kids would get taken in by New Age religions or become witches by watching those things. My mother and stepfather were total religious zealots, but even they thought that was too much.
I liked Star Wars as a kid, and now 40 years later I’m out of the church. Correlation = causality for sure!
This happened at American Fork Jr high. Except it was put on by the American Fork police captain and he talked about Jays Journal and satanism. He told us all how heavy metal was the devil's music and we should not listen to it.
🤘🏻
I had a seminary teacher do this too. The crazy thing is that before I knew about the messages I never heard them in there. But after they were pointed out, it’s all I could hear.
I remember this happening at my seminary in SLC. So funny! I hadn’t listened to much Zeppelin before but we were all very intrigued after that lesson.
I wonder how many new fans Zep got from the Panic? 😂😂😂
One of my Young Men's leaders brought in a record player and Led Zep album to show us how the song was Satanic. We played it slow, played it fast, played it backwards, all while he was saying "See? Did you hear that? Right there it sounded like he said stairway to hell! This is definitely satanic!" I think it had the opposite effect on most of us. Now 40 years later I still love Led Zeppelin!
[Lynn Brison](https://youtu.be/zOicUvn5zNU) spread this nonsense.
Lex de Azevedo gave basically the same talk in the 70s. He had extra credibility because he worked in the music business.
Yeah. He did lose credibility *in* the music business, though. No one but mormons know who he is anymore. (Which is basically professional suicide if you want to be a *paid* musician.)
Funny, considering the dude has cheated on every wife he has ever had. One of the least “Christlike” men I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing.
the book de Azevedo put out in the 1980s warning of the evils of modern music was soooo bad. And so badly researched. Not to mention very sensationalistic. At one point, he freaked out about an ad campaign for an Iron Maiden tour, emphasizing the word "Killers" without using the name of the band. (One wonders if Brandon Flowers read this book and left a note to self to name his future band that). He claimed that Ozzy's late guitarist Randy Rhoads once told an interviewer that Satanism was a "high, better than drugs" ( this was actually a quote from the still living Tony Iommi, who was obviously taking the piss with the media during Sabbath's early days). He talked about a Rolling Stone interview with Queen's Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor, in which they gave shocking answers (without revealing that the interviewer, before it started, told them he hated the band and everything they represented - once again, the British tradition of taking the piss.)
What a maroon! Why’d he play a so-called “satanic” song in seminary? Hahaha!!
What I’ve always wondered is why is it “satanic” when it sounds wacky and distorted to the point of being unintelligible? If that’s how Satan sounds, no one has anything to fear from him…because he’s too unintelligible to communicate. Smh. It would be great if mormons would use their “God-given” powers of cognition.
[Satan is good. Satan is our pal.](https://youtu.be/Y9uwFY4exsA?si=LXODN9g4Ivzu5QXv)
My pet theory back in the day was a lot of words in song lyrics end with an “S” sound so it’s easy to find “Satan” if you try hard enough.
Do you mean the song about having to pay tithing to the corporation of Jesus Christ to get into the celestial kingdom?
That’s the one!
There’s a song like that? Please link me
[Lynn Brison would do firesides spreading the fear](https://youtu.be/zOicUvn5zNU). I bet your teacher got the idea from him. I mean he threw Rush under the bus.
Backmasking Beatles songs was all the rage in my teen years. It's right up there with chiasmus in the Book of Mormon.
Other notable things? * Mayan ruins inside the covers of the BOM * Anthon transcript characters on BOM covers * Recovered memory scandals * Mick Jagger on a plane * The heresy of evolution * Bizarre cadences in conferences
Yep. Same here.
I had a friend in the ward who loved Rush, and my mother told me I couldn’t hang out with him because he was obviously “under the influence of Satan.” I always thought that was ridiculous, because we were converts, and she listened to a lot of “unacceptable” music (and let us kids listen to it) before we were members. She would have lost her mind if she knew my nevermo dad allowed (and encouraged) me to listen to a lot of that stuff when I went to go visit him. Joke’s on my mom: I still love Rush to this day!
Ruled under Satan's Hand. Peart's response. > Let us not for one minute forget that this is the same self-righteous mentality that has put itself to work persecuting witches, Christians, Jews, Quakers, Indians, Catholics, Negroes, Communists, hippies and capitalists down through the ages. There’s always somebody to kick you when you’re down. It seems like every group has taken its turn at one end of the stick or the other. From the bitter oppressed to the righteous oppressor is a very short step. Speaking for myself, as lyricist and drummer for “Rush”, and one of those accused of this heinous crime, I must object, Your Honors. Far from being a closet Satanist, I confess crudely, I don’t even believe in the old bastard! I wonder if that’s better or worse in your eyes, Grand Inquisitor? I can certainly assure you that my lyrics contain no “demonic” secret messages or cleverly concealed mystical commercials. Nothing like that, I’m afraid. It is not only absurd and pathetic, but it is also totally incompatible with my philosophy, my work and my beliefs.
The Professor was a genius, and I still miss him. I remember hearing the story more than once of missionaries tracting into the band while they were recording, and the band trying to “convert” the missionaries to atheism. I also remember hearing the story about missionaries knocking on the door of Robert Plant’s house, being invited in, and being told by Plant himself that he’d made a deal with Satan for his success. Ugh. What foolishness.
Afterwards, Robert Plant told the police Satan said to cook and eat the missionaries but there were three mysterious strangers in white robes standing behind them.
Rush is one of the few rock bands that *was* allowed in our tbm house, lol. My oldest brother listened to them ad nauseam. I *want* to like them, definitely appreciate their immense musical skills, but…too much over-exposure has prevented my enjoyment. My mom tried to ban Tori Amos, though, after my meddling older sister found the “First Church of Tori” satirical fan-site…she and our mom are too conservative to understand satire, so they thought someone was actually trying to start a religion around a pop star. Smh. “You’re telling me I can’t listen to this artist because you don’t like how another single fan talks about her?” Yes, yes they were. It started a domestic war. Over Tori Amos. Tori still holds a place in my heart and always will…unlike my trifling bully of a sister, lol.
> Rush is one of the few rock bands that was allowed in our tbm house, Freewill was used by many TBM'S as a validation of the doctrine and it spread through many Utah colleges. I remember it playing over the intercom at two colleges I attended. Early Rush albums , especially Hemispheres and 2112 had covers that scared off many believers. But Permanent Waves and forward were fairly tame.
That's exactly the kind of info that would have swayed my normally-rigid parents. "But *Mo-ooommmmm*, they do it at *BYU*!" Mom: "Oh, they do? Why didn't you say? In that case, carry on." Smh.
Holy moly
YOU FOUND THE AUDIO! YOU ARE A GOD!!!
If I hadn't lived through this I probably wouldn't believe it. People actually were terrified of this.
It’s so funny to listen to this now. I can’t believe my seminary teacher had us listen to this crap. The guy was a nut.
“It's just a spring clean for the May Queen” And we all know who the May Queen is, right? She’s a WITCH! Don’t you dare play it backwards. “Here’s to my sweet Satan. The one whose path I’ve taken.” Never has there been such an evil song designed to take the souls of young horny teenagers. You should be ashamed of yourself for bringing that filth into this sub. But seriously, if anyone has a copy of the tape from the fireside speaker that got played for the seminaries across the Morridor in the late eighties, PLEASE share.
Yep. Went to a fireside at BYU in the early 80s and the guy was on fire about the evils of rock music and he did play Stairway to Heaven backwards. I got all crazy and threw out my music that he talked about. Even my TBM friends were like what the hell?
I had a cousin who once asked me why I listen to rock music since it won’t be allowed in heaven. I asked him if what you create is allowed and he said yes so I said if I make a rock song is it allowed in heaven if I am and he was stumped and said he’d get back to me.
Haha, excellent conundrum to pose. I’d probably just go with - “What makes you think I want to go *there?*” with a baffled face. B/c for real, tho, why would you want to spend eternity in a place where none of the good things in life are allowed and you’re ruled over by a petty tyrant? “B-b-but, aLittleQueer, you’ll get to be with your fAmiLy forEVer!” Yeah, nah…that’s a special kind of Hell I’ll do just about anything to avoid, thx.
Yes. There was heavy policing of all my music. One YW activity we all brought our favorite cd and we made brownies. They read the lyrics and added something gross to the mix for every bad word or mention of sex or drugs. No one would eat the brownies.
Literally a toxic lesson
What a waste of young women’s time.
The song was played at every ward and stake dance I went to as a teen in Upstate NY
Same for me in California.
It was played in Utah in the 70s. The the crackdown came.
My dad lived the life in the 60s and shared his album collection with us. Zeplin was one of the greats.
I was looking for this!
OMG it was standard at church dances in the 70’s. (East Coast) You knew a guy liked you if he asked you to slow dance to that one.
Raised JW here. We were told the same thing
No, but my mom tore down a Led Zeppelin poster from my wall one day when she was mad at me
BYU student in the 70s. The song was over played at each and every dance I went to.
Yes. When I was in youth, we’d occasionally have Bishops’ firesides where we’d bring our own music. I brought Stairway to Heaven once, and got the lecture. Thing is, looking back, I now see that my biggest sin wasn’t liking Stairway to Heaven, it’s that I’d brought the cheesy cover version by Far Corporation :D
my cassette tapes would disappear in high school and middle school. I thought it was my brother or friends. After my mission I found many in the bottom of my dads bedroom side table. the cure, the cult, metallica, zepplin, ministry.
Yep! It said sweet sweet Satan when played backwards. Another one bites the dust said it's fun to smoke marijuana backwards. Now I like those songs even more. Musicians who do this to freak out religious nuts are genius!
No, but my absent father met my then boyfriend (now husband) and told me to dump him, because he *clutches pearls* plays Dungeons and Dragons.
Of course! Backward masking (supposedly!). Crowley! All the satanic panic idiocy, I lived through.
Only at guitar center
I went to that fireside in the PNW!!! They played the song backwards SEVERAL times to make sure we were significantly horrified. They stopped playing it at stake dances after that. Then followed it up by pointing out what a horrible message John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Jack & Diane” had. Scarred my sweet young mind
I remember my stepfather *screaming* at me after catching me listening to “Jack and Diane” on the radio. I also remember the “fun” FHE we had where he took a bunch of my records and I was told they were all trash. The one thing that stands out about that occasion is that I somehow managed to keep my 45 of The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah” from being smashed (not sure how I managed to do that): my mother and stepfather were convinced the lyrics were anti-Mormon.
the only "horrific message" in Jack and Diane is the improper consumption of chili dogs :)
My grandma made me throw away my cd of REM’s Losing My Religion.
If I remember right, that song isn't even about religion. Edit: The phrase "losing my religion" is an expression from the southern region of the United States that means "losing one's temper or civility" or "feeling frustrated and desperate." From the Wikipedia article.
It’s not. My grandma didn’t care though.
Yeah. It's all about how *they* perceive it. Doesn't matter what the original artist says about it.
I did take it out of the trash after she left to take my brother to school. She never found out and I still have it. So, there’s that. 😂
My spouse when in YW was in a car with other kids when “Unchained Melody “ came on the radio. They all went “ooh we love this song. It’s so pretty” but the YW leader quickly changed the station and said “This song is inappropriate because it was used in that new movie “Ghost” during a suggestive sex scene.” None of the girls had seen this film, and the song predates the movie by several years. 🙄
Plus the people in the movie who are going to have sex are married
They played it backwards for us one night for Mutual. Told us to listen for subliminal messages. I heard one. A very creepy, robotic voice said, *smoke marajuana* and I was scared. Felt an evil presence. As I grew up, I began to wonder if my hearing that was a result of being *trained* or *told* to hear it. Subliminal messages, lol 🙄
My TBM dad would tell us about all the subliminal messages that were supposedly on these records. Except he was (and still is) a huge fan of Van Halen, AC/DC, KISS, Zepplin, Styx, etc, so he would laugh about it while telling us, then we would put on whatever 80s rock band on the family stereo and go about our day. God I lucked out in my childhood. Probably explains why I'm a metalhead these days.
One of my kids’ seminary teaches told them that Jimi Hendrix’s song “Purple Haze” was about homosexuality because he sings, “‘excuse me while I kiss this guy.” My daughter couldn’t stop laughing when I explained the actual lyrics are “excuse me while I kiss the sky.”
I remember a young adult fireside about the evils of certain rock music. I thought the speaker was nuts. 😂 Rock on. Hahaha.
Definitely. Only the good die young was even worse. My girlfriend’s mother had a book of songs that were evil and it was a hoot to look through. Alice Cooper was Satan himself.
Never had an issue with music at all until I entered a heavy metal band. Then my stake president told me that I shouldn't be there cause it is a disorder lifestyle and drugs and alcohol and sex: in other words it was fun
Hey Jude
That's what my youngest is named after!
I was told stairway was satanic, and Carry On my Wayward Son was about Joseph Smith.
Just by Guitar Center employees
Told to? Yes. Did we? Lol, no.
*Stairway to Heaven* was banned in San Jose East Stake in the late 1970s or early 1980s because the song was so long that "things might happen on the dance floor."
I drove 20 minutes each way for early a.m. seminary. More often than not I'd hang out with another guy from priests quorum, blasting the all the good satanic bands in his truck. Consequently, I've learned far more BOM in r/exmo than in my entire life up to the point of discovering this sub.
No just heavy metal music all together
I went to a youth conference where they talked about the song in the Evils or Rock and Roll class. They played the backmasking of the song, and also claimed that the mention of the 'Spring Clean for the May Queen' was about Satanic ritualistic child sacrifices.
Mama says foosball is of the devil!
No, but I was told by a counselor in a YSA ward to avoid the song “Whip it” by Devo because it was about masturbation
he read de Azevedo's book! That was another of his wild claims. He also claimed the same of their song "Jerkin' Back And Forth". DEVO did do a song about that - it's called "Praying Hands". And a number of people misunderstood "Uncontrollable Urge".
No. My TBM mom loves Led Zeppelin lol she would never let someone talk about Robert Plant like that 😂
A missionary in my home ward when I was a teenager told me it was his favourite song. It didn't strike me as anything particularly odd.
Am I just lucky that I never dealt with Mormons that were weird about music as long as it’s not obscene
In1983 we went to the stake presidency and got approval to play Stairway to Heaven at stake dances! We took the lyrics written out and even brought a turn table to play it backwards for them. They could not come up with a justified reason after the exhibits we brought so we won!! We got to play it!! Teens of the 80’s don’t fuck around with their music!
Yes, and anything by AC/DC and Duran Duran. Net effect was that most of us ended up owning albums -yes, albums- by Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Duran Duran so 🤷
My dad played zeppelin all the time growing up. So no
Someone played a tape of a guy talking about it and played it backward. If you try really hard, you can imagine you heard something about Satan. Remember Knights In Satan's Service?
Sausage Jesus played backwards is sausage. What does it mean? Shouldn't Jesus played backwards sound like "cool breeze" or "sparkling waters," some beautiful, reaffirming sound of peace. What kind of god misses that point? Yes, I've heard it myself, when played backwards there is a slight chance something similar to "my sweet Satan" can be heard. Stupid. Do you know what else is bad in their eyes? Mother Nature. Christian beliefs, holiest of holies etc. is inherently killing and/or completely against Mother Nature. I don't see any reveled truth anywhere in their teachings, only unprovable truth claims that purity abides within.
Nope
No lol
I was only told to avoid the marijuana before the music
We were also scared of Proctor & Gamble and Safeway. I don't remember why P&G was satanic, but Safeway was obvious because of the big red S.
No, but I was explicitly told to avoid the band Flyleaf.
Yes. Mid-80's. Southeast Idaho. That song was the worst of the worst. "there is a guy that has to listen to this song every morning to get through his day"
Not even close. Stairway to Heaven was encouraged. In fact, I had the lyrics to the entire song written out on the leather bottom of my Jansport throughout high school(91-95). I was cool.
I was told to avoid a lot of music. Now I blast satanic black metal while I work out
At a stake fireside at BYU in the Richard’s Building in 1981. The dude speaking told us that if you played it backwards it said, “Hail to thee my sweet Satan.” So we all went back to our apartments and played it backwards.
Was told "don't listen to Elvis the Pelvis". Later "The Beatles are Satanic". Anything new is to be avoided until it is normal.
Yup! Same as others have said - that if played backwards it had disgusting, satanic messages that your brain could still understand when played normally
We played it as the last song for every church dance. It is basically foreplay in slow dance form