The Inverted Freudian Slip By Joel Ever since recorded sound has become a technology, many people have made a strange discovery about the way people talk. I'm sure that everyone has heard stories about secret massages that have been found backwards in some popular music. The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, KISS, Judas Priest, and many other rock bands have been accused of deliberately putting backwards messages in their songs. Many people, especially fans of rock music, have argued that the concept of these backwards messages is preposterous, and that incomprehensible vocal sounds found in any songs can be twisted to sound like a dark message, usually of satanic themes. All of these rock artists have also claimed that they've never deliberately recorded these messages. That is, they've never deliberately done it. But now, lots of research has been conducted on these claims, and there are some people who believe in a concept of "reverse speech". This concept claims that when people talk, sing, and in any way vocally communicate, they always say things backwards in their speech. These people claim that you can even hear people say things when you reverse public speeches, music, and any other vocal recording. They also suggest that many of the fiendish backwards messages in songs are real, actual 'reverse Freudian slips'. After looking into the matter for a while, I've come to the conclusion that reverse speech is real. There are plenty of rock songs out there in which perfectly comprehensible messages have been found backwards, which were not deliberately placed in the recording with technology, but are actual reversed parts of the lyrics. And after a strange night of experimentation with computer recording programs and two other witnesses, I've actually witnessed a possible reversed message from a recording of a friend talking, and now, along with other evidence found in popular recordings, I can say that reverse speech is real. The first example that I'd like to present comes from a popular song by the rock band Queen, in the song Another One Bites the Dust (from the album The GameÕ). I've picked it, because it is probably one of the most comprehensible reverse messages of any rock song. When Freddie Mercury (singer) sings the words "another one bites the dust!" in a part of the song with nothing but drums and vocals playing, combined with the pitch levels in which he vocally presents it, and the vocal noises he makes (breath noises, length of vowels, etc.) you can reverse the part, and hear, very clearly, the strange message "It's fun to smoke marijuana!". I believe this is well known, for it is found sometimes on the Internet, and it was even told to me by a friend who had heard the sound clip on the Internet. My next example is a real life occurrence that me, and two friends experienced when experimenting one night on my computerÕs built-in recording system. My friend Aaron Sargent (who likes using strange comical catch phrases like Òyour face!Ó) was recording some playful gibberish through my computerÕs microphone. While he was talking, he started to imaginarily auction off a chair. He said ÒChair for 5 dollars! Chair for 10 dollars!Ó Well, later, when we were finished recording, we reversed the recording, and made a strange discovery. We distinctly heard him say, backwards Òyour face!É..your face!Ó We were shocked. Apparently, the phrase Òchair forÓ backwards is Òyour faceÓ. Scary, huh? Well, ever since then, IÕve believed in reverse speech. You can ask Aaron Sargent or Tom Ward, they were both there. And so, after studying the subject for a long time, IÕve concluded that reverse speech is very real, and when you want to know what someone is really telling you, just record them and reverse the tape.