In the 1930s, a rumour travelled the world that claimed that blues legend Robert Johnston had obtained his musical skills after making a pact with the Devil at a deserted country crossroad. The very same rumour was later repeated in the 1970s, alleging that Jimi Hendrix had made a pact with Satan for his phenomenal guitar talent.
In the late 1960s Christian fundamentalist preachers accused record companies of being fronts for Satanic organisations that were hiding secret subliminal messages in the records. Of course, many groups thought that these accusations were a good publicity gimmick, and bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin revelled in all the paranoia. There was even a rumour that Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page was a black magician, although it is true that Page once bought and lived in a huge mansion on the banks of Loch Ness that was owned by the prominent Devil worshipper Aleister Crowley. Around this time, the Beatles released their landmark Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, which contained many mysterious tracks which have never been satisfactorily explained. Some fans say there is the sound of a car crash being played in reverse in 'Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite', and the allegedly rude message - "we'll fuck you like supermen" - that is played backwards at the end of the album was once thought to be a message from the Devil himself. The album's producer George Martin has always maintained that the end-track is nothing sinister at all; merely a random collection of spliced tapes of sounds and conversations. The fans of the Beatles thought otherwise, and made much of the fact of Satan-worshipper Aleister Crowley being included in the famous crowd scene on the album cover of Sergeant Pepper. When the Beatles released their widely-acclaimed White Album a year later, Charles Manson claimed one of their songs - Helter Skelter had driven him and his band of followers to go on a killing spree which culminated in the grotesque murder of heavily-pregnant actress Sharon Tate. Manson also claimed that another Beatle song called Blackbird contained disguised messages about a race war. Manson said one lyric line in the song: "Take these broken wings and learn to fly" was actually referring to a future time when the blacks of America would revolt.
By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the heavy metal music scene became another source of bizarre rumours. There were stories in the world-wide media of youths committing 'heavy-metal suicide' after listening to certain tracks on heavy metal albums. The tracks were said to contain suicidal instructions to the listener that had been 'back-masked', or played backwards, just below the audible level. In 1990, the families of two dead youths sought damages of over œ3 million from heavy metal band Judas Priest and CBS records, claiming that their two teenaged sons had shot themselves after being inspired by the band's evil-sounding music.
And the dark legends about popular music is ongoing. In June 1997, the Internet was buzzing with news of a fascinating discovery. It was alleged that if you play Pink Floyd's album, 'Dark Side of the Moon' to a video of the Wizard of Oz, you will see that the band's music is actually a sound track to the film. Pink Floyd were quizzed about this bizarre musical discovery, but refused to comment, and sales of their old album trebled.
For more strange stories from Liverpool writer Tom Slemen, go to these sites:
www.ghostcity19.freeserve.co.uk
The Liverpool Valentine Ghost
The Devil in the Cavern Club
The Song that can Kill You
The Last Dance
The Welsh Werewolf
The Wail of the Banshee
The Phantom Matchmakers
The Thing in Berkeley Square
The Zodiac Murders Mystery
Cheshire Timewarps
Merseyside Timeslips
The Penny Lane Poltergeist
The Kennedy and Lincoln Coincidences
The UFO that Crashed in Wales
The Mysterious Spring-Heeled Jack
George Washington's Vision of the Future
Mystery of the Liverpool Mass Graves
Was the Titanic torpedoed by a German U-Boat?
The Finger of Suspicion
Halloween Tales
Haunted by his Future Wife
A Marriage Made In Hell
The Enigma of the Green Children
Feel free to e-mail Tom personally with any comments or queries:Tom Slemen
