 After Gibb 's show , many more songs were found to contain phrases that sounded like known spoken languages when reversed . Initially , the search was done mostly by fans of rock music ; but , in the late 1970s , during the rise of the Christian right in the United States , fundamentalist Christian groups began to claim that backmasked messages could bypass the conscious mind and reach the subconscious , where they would be unknowingly accepted by the listener . In 1981 , Christian DJ Michael Mills began stating on Christian radio programs that Led Zeppelin 's " Stairway to Heaven " contained hidden messages that were heard by the subconscious . In early 1982 , the Trinity Broadcasting Network 's Paul Crouch hosted a show with self @-@ described neuroscientist William <unk> , who argued that rock stars were cooperating with the Church of Satan to place hidden subliminal messages on records . Also in 1982 , fundamentalist Christian pastor Gary Greenwald held public lectures on dangers of backmasking , along with at least one mass record @-@ smashing . During the same year , thirty North Carolina teenagers , led by their pastor , claimed that singers had been possessed by Satan , who used their voices to create backward messages , and held a record @-@ burning at their church . 
