The question of whether or not there are subliminal messages in music has always been a subject of controversy; for some, this is just a myth. For others, however, this is an unimportant anecdote. There are also those who think that these messages are a manipulative mechanism capable of changing people’s behavior and influencing their values.
There is not yet a definitive conclusion about subliminal messages in music or images, in reality the available data are contradictory. Several governments have banned such messages, but at the same time, most researchers are distorting their true effectiveness.
- The topic focuses from time to time.
- Causing laughter and concern.
- Sometimes people accuse subliminal messages of music of inciting crime.
- Practicing Satanism.
- Or using drugs.
- How true is that?.
“Because the media and the dissemination of ideas are regulated, like market prices, and they are also commodities. “Arturo Jauretche.
Subliminal messages are designed to be captured below normal perception limits, i. e. people cannot consciously perceive them, so they receive them inadvertently.
Everything indicates that people have been talking about these messages for thousands of years, in particular, there are Aristotle’s allusions to impulses that go unnoticed when people are awake, but reappear strongly when they are asleep. Michell de Montaigne, O. Poetzle and Sigmund. Freud also evoked this kind of unconscious phenomenon.
However, technological advances have made these phenomena much more evident, so it was in the twentieth century that it was really clear that this type of communication was possible.
In 1957, scientists conducted a famous experiment with subliminal images. Nearly a decade later, the Beatles made everyone talk about subliminal messages in music or backmasking.
Subliminal messages in music or backmasking are inserted using a recording technique that consists of recording a sound or message upside down on a track designed to be heard normally, this means that the listener can only receive this message if he listens to the music backwards.
Two decisive factors led to the birth of subliminal messages in music: the first was the emergence of ‘concrete music’ in France, which combined the sounds of electronic instruments with the sounds of the environment in recording studios.
The second factor of incidence was the use of tapes to record and preserve the original performances of the musicians, which allowed to combine, cut, assemble and paste fragments in the original recording.
The Beatles, and John Lennon in particular, experimented with concrete music, opening up a new chapter in history.
The Beatles’ seventh album included for the first time a song in which the lyrics were recorded backwards. The song “Rain” was released in 1966. The band’s goal was to satire, experiment and deliver new sounds. Since then, many artists have adopted the same feature and subliminal messages in music have become common.
Soon, several religious movements began to denounce this type of recourse. Several urban legends have also begun to gain strength. Many people listened to the tapes backwards and found hidden meanings, but most of their statements had no concrete basis.
Clerics, in particular, have accused several rock bands of inciting young people to worship the devil, commit crimes or use drugs. The debate became very hot until in 1985, psychologists John R. Vokey and J. Don Read conducted an experiment. a Psalm of the Bible upside down and observed the reactions of the listeners.
The researchers concluded that subliminal messages in music did not have a noticeable effect on their recipients. In 1996, C. Trappery conducted 23 experiments and basically completed the same thing.
However, researchers Johan C. Karremansa, Wolfgang Stroebeb and Jasper Claus of the University of Utrecht conducted a new experiment in 2006 and apparently demonstrated that these messages actually change people’s behavior. The debate continues!