Yesterday while watching several religious programs on TV, I noticed that Prince has used a lot of religious keywords. He seems to maybe have covered them all:

• God
• Jesus
• Messiah
• Saviour
• Mary
• Moses
• Matthew
• Heaven
• Hell
• Devil
• Angel
• Saints
• Prophets
• Spirit
• Son
• Father
• Afterlife
• Everafter
• Prayers
• Amen
• Christmas
• Easter
• The Word
• The Lord's Prayer in its entirety

Has he ever used the word Satan? I can't recall. The list is impressive; I doubt many Christian pop/rock bands have covered this much.


[Edited 4/8/07 8:09am]

The Wicked 1?

He's said "Devil".

UCantHavaDaMango said:

Spooky electric?

theodore said:

In several songs. But I don't recall hearing him say Satan. I'll have to research that one.

UCantHavaDaMango said:

I don't think he ever said Satan on a song

Se7en said:

Umm, you might want to rephrase that... He's maybe used a lot of Christian keywords but in the grand scheme of things, Prince hasn't covered very many religious terms at all. In fact, he's been rather narrow in that regard.

jtfolden said:

The Rainbow Children cd is full of religious terms in my opinion.

sitruk7 said:

All relating to the same religion though, aren't they?

Thought of this line from Muse 2...

'Get busy big baby, cuz when dem devil come,
dem devil come dressed as light'

jtfolden said:

Do you mean other religions? I was talking about Christianity in particular - hence the "Easter" thread title.

Se7en said:

Yes, but Easter is made up of more than just Christian aspects... The holiday itself originates from before Christianity and many of the symbols and traditions people celebrate today have nothing to do with Christianity. So, just having Easter in the title does not automatically equate with a purely Christian thread.

Se7en said:

You forget to mention "Jehovah" which he often mentions at his shows.

jtfolden said:

I didn't mean to offend - I honestly did not know that Easter was anything BUT Christian. Knowing that Prince is Christian, that's the context I meant to convey.

Se7en said:

I thought he was a JW

UCantHavaDaMango said:

"Nothing can stop this satanic lust" - Possessed

fms said:

Possessed

All that backward stuff sounds satanic.



Alistair Crowley who founded the
satanic church said in his book Magic 'learn to speak backwards learn to write backwards, learn to play
records backwards..'

Backtracking, or backmasking is the form of inserting hidden messages into tracks which can only be consciously heard when played backwards. Most of the time these messages are inserted purposefully, sometimes by accident, some people even believe that the subconscious can actually pick up these messages. But the nature of the backtracked messages in many modern pop songs is so sinister as to leave no doubt to the intentions and affiliations of these singers.

Backmasking in popular music became infamous in the 1980s when fundamentalist preachers started saying that Satan was speaking to teenagers through subliminal messages hidden in rock music. One only needed to play the record backwards to hear such diabolical ranting as "It's fun to smoke marijuana", "I am Satan", "Serve the Beast for money", "I love Satan, alright. And Satan knows I love Him" and who can forget the famous, "Glory, glory to my sweet Satan, there was a little child born, it makes me sad, whose power is Satan", from Led Zeppelin’s "Stairway to Heaven".

There were 3 trains of thought at the time in regard to backmasking in popular music:

1. Satan was using musicians as demonic pawns. The messages were put in the music unwillingly by the devil himself.

2. The musicians were Satan worshipers who purposefully planted the messages into the songs.

3. Hogwash

The controversy instigated teenagers across the country to play their records backwards in search of the next new "Satanic message". Most certainly a boom for the record industry as well as record needle manufactures.

On the not-so-humorous side, the band Judas Priest actually had to defend themselves in court for the suicide pact of Raymond Belknap, 18, and James Vance, 20 in 1985.

Supposedly, the subliminal messages "Try Suicide," "Let's Be Dead," and "Do it, Do it" found on the band’s "Stained Class" album drove the youths to put shotguns to their heads and pull the trigger. Not only did the band win the lawsuit, but the case helped set a precedent. Law students study the case to this day in order to help them understand the difference between real science and junk science.

After this all unfolded musicians did what you would expect them to do. They began putting more subliminal messages into their songs on purpose. Sometimes in jest, sometimes as a marketing device and yes, even to glorify the devil.

1999: Forward: 'I won't hurt you..'

Reverse: 'O Satan!'

The list is long, and many backward messages have not yet been discovered.

wtf is that shit

Last night, I wanted 2 listen 2 TGE becuz I thought Prince was trying to tell me something thru it but I had 2 listen 2 be sure. I thought of him of a "saviour"... which was a little too much to ask for.

Last night by the time I finished, I saw him as a friend. That's never happened b4 and I liked it.

theodore said:

christos7 said:

theodore said:

Damn this satanic talk, damn it 2 hell
Got me playin 'Ride the lightnin'

And then people wonder why his lawyers want to shut sites down, that is horrible nobody has the right to judge that man!

christos7 said:

I think somebody better call an Exorcist!

wlcm2thdwn said:

Take a chill pill man. The only 1 bein judgmental here is u.

PleasurePrinciple said:

JW is still Christian.

Se7en said:

thats not what I learned in church but whateva...

In 5 Women,
Prince mentions the Easter Bunny.