B

Abstract

Backward masking is also known as backwards masking and backmasking. All three terms are used in the popular music industry to denote a recording technique in which an auditory message is encrypted by recording it in reverse order onto a track. As a consequence, the encrypted message can only be retrieved by playing the track backwards. The backward masking technique was popularized during the 1960 s by The Beatles, and has since been imitated by numerous bands. The urge to retrieve so-called backward messages in popular songs has yielded a number of ‘messages’ that do not originate from words or sentences recorded backwards, but from regular words or sentences that merely sound like intelligible language when played backwards.