The Ten Greatest False Rumors in Pop History

RUMOR: The Judas Priest song “Better By You, Better Than Me,” if played backward, allegedly contained the message “do it, do it,” which subliminally made 20-year-old James Vance and 18-year-old Raymond Belknap shoot themselves, killing the latter and maiming the former. This sparked mass freaking out about so-called “backmasking” messages everywhere, usually in genres people had problems with anyway like hard rock and metal.

DEBUNKED! In court, where the case was dismissed after a month or so for insufficient evidence. The band’s argument: if they could put subliminal messages in their music, they’d rather tell fans to buy more records than kill themselves and buy none.

DENY, DENY, DENY: “It tore us up emotionally hearing someone say to the judge and the cameras that this is a band that creates music that kills young people. We accept that some people don’t like heavy metal, but we can’t let them convince us that it’s negative and destructive. Heavy metal is a friend that gives people great pleasure and enjoyment and helps them through hard times.” – Vocalist Rob Halford, Billboard, 1990