I previously told myself that I wouldn't listen to "Stairway To Heaven" backwards to look at the claims of the "secret" Satanic messages hidden in it. Cognitive dissonance it may be, but I didn't want to sully the delicate beauty of the song (and no, I am not one of the people who consider it the best song ever, I don't even believe such a thing exists; ripoff of "Taurus" it may be, but I still think it grand). (The astute reader will remember me briefly mentioning the debate about the supposed backmasking in the song) Alas, Simon Singh laid waste to my vow, by luring me to one of his lectures and then playing back this precious song, leaving me squirming in my seat! But thankfully, Singh went on to point out the precise point countless others have made, namely that it seems to be more an exercise in the power of suggestion than anything else. Wikpedia's article on backmasking points out that "hidden" Satanic messages have even been found in songs by Christian artists!

I like Plant's response to the claims there were subliminal messages, intended to influence the listener subconsciously: "If it worked, every record would have the backward message 'Buy this record!' in it!". Indeed!

Singh's lecture was of course very entertaining, but it only struck me afterwards how much of an impact he had on my impressionable young mind. It is not a great exaggeration to say that he probably single-handedly forged in me a strong interest in maths, and introduced me to the (now almost obvious) notion that there is oh-so-much-more to it than just numbers and greek letters. Perhaps without my exposure to Fermat's Last Thoerem, the side of this blog would read "...primarily obsessed with chemistry, music and philosophy..."!?!