I know that Prince's instances of "backmasking" have been covered here in the org., but my question is this:

Why do you think he feels the need? His music already entrances us. The controversy is apparent and more to the point: obvious in most of his songs.

Is there something more that we're to understand or further more; to be lead to believe?

Maybe he does stuff like that just so people will talk about the song/his music/him.

Interesting question. I think the backmasking is for himself, mostly, to make certain that his work is discovered and rediscovered by future generations.

I'm sure there are lots of hidden layers in P's music that may take years to identify. Kinda like the 'invisible' drawings in Da Vinci's paintings, or the hidden messages in Michelangelo's frescoes. It's like putting little time capsules into his music.

That's just me though. I really have no idea why he does it. He may be on a mission from Mars or somesuch, and is transferring subliminal messages from Martian overlords in order to brainwash the human race.

i don't think prince backmasked anything

he gives it to us straight up , were just too naive to realize it

PicklesMcMillan said:

i don't think prince backmasked anything

he gives it to us straight up , were just too naive to realize it

clearly the message at the end of "Darling Nikki" is. as well as some background vocals in "Baby, I'm A Star". and the "Boy" part in the 12" version of "Girl"

so.....

errant said:

PicklesMcMillan said:

i don't think prince backmasked anything

he gives it to us straight up , were just too naive to realize it

clearly the message at the end of "Darling Nikki" is. as well as some background vocals in "Baby, I'm A Star". and the "Boy" part in the 12" version of "Girl"

so.....

you figured it out didnt you ?

so......

PicklesMcMillan said:

errant said:

PicklesMcMillan said:

i don't think prince backmasked anything

he gives it to us straight up , were just too naive to realize it

clearly the message at the end of "Darling Nikki" is. as well as some background vocals in "Baby, I'm A Star". and the "Boy" part in the 12" version of "Girl"

so.....

you figured it out didnt you ?

so......

i can totally relate to what you're saying here, because sometimes i get high on the weekends too.

so.....

^^ lets just say you don't understand what im talking about and let bygones be bygones

PicklesMcMillan said:

^^ lets just say you don't understand what im talking about and let bygones be bygones

you say you don't think Prince backmasked anything. obviously he did.

[Edited 5/31/10 0:46am]

PicklesMcMillan said:

errant said:

PicklesMcMillan said:

i don't think prince backmasked anything

he gives it to us straight up , were just too naive to realize it

clearly the message at the end of "Darling Nikki" is. as well as some background vocals in "Baby, I'm A Star". and the "Boy" part in the 12" version of "Girl"

so.....

you figured it out didnt you ?

so......

Of course the text is obvious but what of the INTENTION.

Ha @ "you figured it out didn't you". I always thought that subliminal messages were really messages that you can not consciously hear or figure out. Such as some faint and nearly inaudible sound that the artists puts into their music "kill yourself, kill your mother, kill your sister" kind of shyd. What Prince does in my opinion is kind of obvious, even if you can't necessarily hear what he is saying on the 1st take, you know he said something and then you can keep replaying until you figure it out. Or in the case of the album Purple Rain (Vinyl) at the end of one of his songs (can't remember which one) I had to take my turn table and do a counter clockwise thingy and I figured it out.

PicklesMcMillan said:

i don't think prince backmasked anything

he gives it to us straight up , were just too naive to realize it

Then you haven't been listening.

Prince has done a LOT of baskmasking (ie: putting vocals on records backwards). Examples have already been sited. "Baby I'm A Star". "Girl". "Darling Nikki".

Sometimes I think artists do that out of a bit of creativity, plus it gets the listeners attention when it's discovered. Sometimes it's just the artist being bored, or feeling silly and wanting to put something weird on a track. Prince (forward) even layered in his voice saying "irresistible bitch" in the drum track on the song of the same name. Go listen...closely. There are tons of examples of Prince messing around with stuff like this....forwards or backwards.

Don't YOU be naive and think Prince hasn't done this sort of thing.

ernestsewell said:

PicklesMcMillan said:

i don't think prince backmasked anything

he gives it to us straight up , were just too naive to realize it

Then you haven't been listening.

Prince has done a LOT of baskmasking (ie: putting vocals on records backwards). Examples have already been sited. "Baby I'm A Star". "Girl". "Darling Nikki".

Sometimes I think artists do that out of a bit of creativity, plus it gets the listeners attention when it's discovered. Sometimes it's just the artist being bored, or feeling silly and wanting to put something weird on a track. Prince (forward) even layered in his voice saying "irresistible bitch" in the drum track on the song of the same name. Go listen...closely. There are tons of examples of Prince messing around with stuff like this....forwards or backwards.

Don't YOU be naive and think Prince hasn't done this sort of thing.

and sometimes it just sounds cool....

SeeNote said:

I know that Prince's instances of "backmasking" have been covered here in the org., but my question is this:

Why do you think he feels the need? His music already entrances us. The controversy is apparent and more to the point: obvious in most of his songs.

Is there something more that we're to understand or further more; to be lead to believe?

I believe a "true artist" in all sense of the term or word she say something significant about life or their life experiences to some extent. That's why a lot of the times I find myself listening to his music and lyrics with headphones on, to get the FULL experience. I wouldn't call it "backmasking" though ...

I think everyone's overthinking this.

It's just a musical trick/effect amongst others: sometimes it sounds cool or seems like a good idea and that's pretty much it...

PurpleLove7 said:

I believe a "true artist" in all sense of the term or word she say something significant about life or their life experiences to some extent. That's why a lot of the times I find myself listening to his music and lyrics with headphones on, to get the FULL experience. I wouldn't call it "backmasking" though ...

Well that is what it's called. It's a term coined in the late 70's or early 80's for this sort of backwards masking that people like ELO, and Pink Floyd were doing. Those were intentional (like Prince's stuff). However, the term also applied to bands that had unintentional messages backwards like Led Zeppelin. Of course it's all subject to what you're told to hear. People that hear the snippets of "Stairway to Heaven" backwards don't hear anything, until someone says, "They say ____________," then play it again, and voila - the listener suddenly hears something.

As far as the "significance" of the backwards stuff - sometimes it's just there to get your attention. Prince isn't exactly having a prophetic word from God after "Darling Nikki", and he's not really giving the meaning of life backwards on "Baby I'm A Star".

I think people are confusing subliminal messages and backmasking. One is something hidden below the surface of what you normally hear. The other is a studio tape technique that can be used to invoke the other.

errant said:

I think people are confusing subliminal messages and backmasking. One is something hidden below the surface of what you normally hear. The other is a studio tape technique that can be used to invoke the other.

And sometimes it's the same thing, all in one.

ernestsewell said:

errant said:

I think people are confusing subliminal messages and backmasking. One is something hidden below the surface of what you normally hear. The other is a studio tape technique that can be used to invoke the other.

And sometimes it's the same thing, all in one.

as mentioned in my 3rd sentence.

PicklesMcMillan said:

i don't think prince backmasked anything

he gives it to us straight up , were just too naive to realize it

He sur does! just take a good listen to "Elixer" or "Here" for starters.

"I've always had hidden messages in my music, and I always will."

-Prince, quoted in a magazine I don't remember, from a year I don't recall.

So... there's the man's take on it!

p.s: did anybody make out what that little spoken snippet on 'Peach' was?

HE puts layers of messaging and themes in his projects in various ways, and backmasking is one. Subliminal messages in videos like "Alphabet St" are another... and in the artwork of albums is a third. He likes to weave a more interactive mysterious experience.

There are other ways too... he uses his own catalogue of songs and melodies as a vocabulary to to arrange thematic statements in concerts... (like quoting Sex Shooter in Erotic City in the Lovesexy concert and echoing it in the choreography, or putting RockHard in a Funky Place into the break of I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man in the SOTT concert)

ernestsewell said:

PurpleLove7 said:

I believe a "true artist" in all sense of the term or word she say something significant about life or their life experiences to some extent. That's why a lot of the times I find myself listening to his music and lyrics with headphones on, to get the FULL experience. I wouldn't call it "backmasking" though ...

Well that is what it's called. It's a term coined in the late 70's or early 80's for this sort of backwards masking that people like ELO, and Pink Floyd were doing. Those were intentional (like Prince's stuff). However, the term also applied to bands that had unintentional messages backwards like Led Zeppelin. Of course it's all subject to what you're told to hear. People that hear the snippets of "Stairway to Heaven" backwards don't hear anything, until someone says, "They say ____________," then play it again, and voila - the listener suddenly hears something.

As far as the "significance" of the backwards stuff - sometimes it's just there to get your attention. Prince isn't exactly having a prophetic word from God after "Darling Nikki", and he's not really giving the meaning of life backwards on "Baby I'm A Star".

Ah ... Thanks ernest ...

errant said:

PicklesMcMillan said:

i don't think prince backmasked anything

he gives it to us straight up , were just too naive to realize it

clearly the message at the end of "Darling Nikki" is. as well as some background vocals in "Baby, I'm A Star". and the "Boy" part in the 12" version of "Girl"

so.....

to be fair reversed speech and backmasking are different things