In 1969 English rock band Spooky Truth would release a song called "Better by You, Better
than Me" The song would appear on Judas Priest’s 1978 album Stained Class. Then 7 years later on
December 23, 1985, two young men an 18 year old named Raymond Belknap and 20-year-old James Vance
who hailed from Sparks, Nevada spent the night drinking and smoking pot and listening to Judas
priest before madeking a pact to take their own lives. The pair of men went to a nearby
playground at a church and attempted to take their own lives with a shotgun. Belknap would die
instantly while the Vance would survivebut only live for another 3 years before passing away..The
LA Times reported his passing in 1988 claiming he was admitted to a hospital for depression before
slipping into a coma and passing away. The paper claimed that a drug overdose may have resulted
in him lapsing into a coma. It was also revealed that vance left behind a one year old daughter.
The families of the victims turned their anger towards Judas Priest and their label CBS Records.
They blamed both parties for their son’s deaths alleging that the band hid submliminal messages
on their cover of better by you, better than me which could be found
if the track was played backwards. Amongst these submliminal messages they alleged to
be included on the recording were ‘do it’ and ‘let’s be dead’ The lawsuit was
spurred after the lone survivor James Vance wrote a letter to Belknap’s motherwhich
read and i quote “ I believe that alcohol and heavy-metal music such as Judas Priest
led us to be mesmerised,” A civil lawsuit would be filed in 1986, one year after the incident,
but wouldn’t go to trial until 1990 in the pair’s home state of nevada. The families sought a minimu
mof $3.6Million in damages to cover,\ medical bills and support for Vance’s daughter.
It was two years prior that Ozzy Osbourne had been involved in a similar case
over the lyrics of one of his songs which allegedly drove a fan to take his own life.
But unlike the Osbourne lawsuit which was thrown out of court because Ozzy’s lyrics were protected
under free speech. The same couldn’t be said for Judas Priest. Technically, subliminal messages
aren’t considered speach therefore they don’t have the same protection. The case involving
Judas Priest became more about whether there were subliminal messages, whether they were discernible
to the average listener and whether they could influence someone’s thinking. It may surprise
you to know that the complainants originally took the band to court over another song called ‘Heroes
End’ from the same album. Jayne ANdrews who served as a member of the band’s management team would
reveal that the complainants took issue with the lyrics on the song with Andrews recalling:
“They tried to say the band were saying you could only be a hero if you killed yourself,
till I had to give them the correct lyrics which is ‘why do heroes have to die?’
Then they changed their plea to subliminal messages on the album.”
Guitarist Glenn Tipton would tell Loudersound “It’s a fact that if you play speech backwards,
some of it will seem to make sense. So I asked permission to go into a studio
and find some perfectly innocent phonetic flukes. The lawyers didn’t want to do it,
but I insisted. We bought a copy of the Stained Class album in a local record shop,
went into the studio, recorded it to tape, turned it over and played it backwards. Right away we
found ‘Hey ma, my chair’s broken’ and ‘Give me a peppermint’ and ‘Help me keep a job’.”
The lawyers for Judas Priest and the label contended that the band had no
known subliminal messages on the record and questioned the character of the two young men
pointing to their troubled upbringing as being responsible for their deaths. The LA Times even
wrote a profile during the trial on the mothers of the two men and it was less than flattering.
The article would state that Belknap’s Mother had been previously married four times
and that her son was the subject of abuse from her fourth husband going on to write
“Belknap showed no interest in school, and like Vance, dropped out in the 10th grade.
Working a series of construction jobs,
he acquired a sawed-off shotgun, a pellet gun, a .22 rifle and a dart gun.
He drank alcohol, smoked marijuana and, according to James Vance, experimented with amphetamines
and cocaine. Still, his mother insists that Belknap was not a drug abuser.
“He paid room and board, helped around the house and always took part in family activities
such as fishing, swimming and back-packing,” s. Court records also show that Belknap stole $450
from his employer in 1984 and took a bus to Oklahoma to visit his natural father.
He gave himself up to police and was placed on probation…Looking back on the events leading up to
her son’s death, Roberson says she thinks Belknap had one glaring fault. “When it came to making
decisions, Ray did not know how to take the lead,” Roberson laments. “He was always a follower.”
As for the Vance the paper would write According to court documents, Vance’s biological father
abandoned his 17-year-old mother while she was still pregnant with the boy.
Vance was held back to repeat the first and second grades. At the age of 7, he was sent to
a therapist for tying a belt around his forehead and ripping out handfuls of his own hair during
class. The paper would go on to write about domestic altercation between Vance and his
mother with his mother telling the LA Times “My biggest problem with the school
system was that they would say James’ behavioral problems came from home,”.
“No one would acknowledge that he had a learning disability until the sixth grade.”
Court documents also revealed that Vance’s stepfather was and i quote a weekend alcoholic
and mother both drank in excess with his mother stopping drinking in by the
early 70’s. The same court documents the times would report a history of drug abuse
with the Vance attending AA and NA meetings and running away from home upwards of 13 times.
Despite all this, Vance blamed music for her son’s problems telling the LA Times
“Heavy metal changed his personality,” she said. “When James started listening to Judas
Priest, he lost all respect for authority.” The complainants had several star witness one
of which author Wilson Bryan Key who had written abougt subliminal messages quite extensively. The
defense’s other star witness claimed to be an audio expert, but it turned out he was actually
a marine biologist who dabbled a bit in audio. e Here’s the news media highlighting these two
witnesses James and Ray were chanting do it do it do it they did not even know where it came from.
It came from the judas priest album according to Wilson Bryan Key a professor of marketing who has
written extensively about subliminal messages. He says the song better by you better than me
contains the barely audible words do it repeated over and over. and each time do it is increased
in hysterical intensity so it's do it, do it, do it and we pulled twelve of those out of the song.
Dr Key sees images of sex and death in all kinds of things from the ritz cracker to 17th century
art. He see's the word sex written in lincoln's beard on the five dollar bill.
There is no subliminal content on the stained class album. Observers of the music scene are
frightened by this and other recent court cases i think right now the attacks on rap music and
heavy metal represent an essential threat to liberties. The members of the judas priest band
say they did nothing wrong. did you say do it sometime during the recording. no. One of their
main witnesses is wilson brian key whose written books on subliminal messages. Time must end before
16. This reoccurs in the lyrics the idea that 16 is a high point in life after that it's all
downhill so pick your time and place and blow yourself away. Ok the first line of read forward
new arms into bliss now when you take that line out and play it backwards you're getting this
sing my evil spirit. Sent to demonstrate the existance of these alleged subliminal messages,
the prosecution recently brought in a man named bill nickloff who was identified as an audio
expert, but turned out to be a marine biologist and only an amateur audio enthusiast.Nickloff
set up some computer equipment and revealed what he alleged were such evil messages as
do it and f the lord. See what you make of this. F the
lord. Would you tell us which of your reverse phrases we are hearing now. Expletive
the lord. Ithink the crux of what we are hearing today goes to the credibility of the witness the
whole case is based on this so called experts testimony and it appears to be more and more
shallow. This guy has no qualifications and you know it just doesn't they just don't seem to be
able to prove in any way shape or form whatsoever that there are subliminal messages on the album.
Judas Priest Frontman Rob Halford would look back at the court room proceedings saying
We had to sit in this courtroom in Reno for six weeks,” frontman Rob Halford would later say on
the turbulent period. “It was like Disney World. We had no idea what a subliminal message was – it
was just a combination of some weird guitar sounds and the way I exhaled between lyrics. I had to
sing ‘Better by You, Better Than Me’ in court, a cappella. I think that was when the judge thought,
‘What am I doing here? No band goes out of its way to kill its fans,” he frustratingly added.
The LA Time s would report that one of the days of the trial would see the case moved from the
courtroom to the recording studio reporting and i quote “ Nevada District Judge Jerry Whitehead
will convene his court in a Reno studio to listen to recordings of the original
24 tracks that were mixed into the “Better by You, Better Than Me”
on the album “Stained Class.” Lawyers for the British rock group and
CBS Records Inc. say they will also present testimony from the album’s sound engineer
and producer that there were no phrases such as “do it” hidden in the song.
Even Rob Halford would take the stand and be asked to sing parts of the song and claimed
that the phrase do it may have been mistaken by the claimants lawyer as him inhaling. Are there
subliminal do it on the better by you better than me song. absolutely not. This past tuesday in reno
nevada district court Rob Halford repeatedly denied the previous week's findings of the so
called audio expert who searched long and hard for backwards messages in the music of judas
priest. what are the sounds that you hear at those locations on the 24 track made up of
the sounds i hear are essentially my own exhalation of breath at the end of the line
i am singing. And to show that he didn't invent a way to sing forward in order to be understood
backwards Halford even gave an impromptu performance. Would you sing those two lines
as you sang them. you want them now. Can you sing. Do you need a drink of water first. I need to
get the right sheet it goes better by you, better than me. you can You can tell what I want it to be
You can say way all they can see. The ah is the exhalation of breath yes.
Is that a normal part of your singing? that's the way i've always sung.
Halford would recall to Loudersound 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 the and helps them through hard times he would say.
In the end, the band wouldn’t be found liable for the fan’s deaths but as MTV would report
here the ruling didn’t really make anyone happy. In a 108 page written decision handed out to the
only parties on hand in courts to receive it the plaintiffs and their attorney's judge jerry
carr whitehead found that judas priest and cbs records are not liable in causing the deaths of
james vance and raymond belknap. The words do it are present several times on the stained class
album and are subliminal but they are the result of a chance combination of sounds and are not
intentional. There is no proof of backwards masking and no scientific proof that backwards
masking can be perceived or affect conduct. The judge also ruled that corporate attorney's for CBS
for inexcusibly slow for providing master tapes of the Judas Priest album and had those tapes
been provided promptly, the whole trial might have been avoided. In light of this he fined CBS
$40,000 to be paid to plaintiff's attorney's to compensate for costly court delays. While judge
whitehead has ruled that the band and their record company had prevailed on the ultimate issues on
the case he also noted that scientific research into the affect of subliminal messages is in it's
infancy and that this subject is simply a closed issue. I think it means that they got to watch
out. this certainly isn't going to be the last case like this. I would certainly file another one
tomorrow morning. Sooner or later a case like this will win just a matter of time it's always tough
when you're doing a new thing. It's difficult on the judge, it's difficult on the system. But this
case will not be knew five years from now it'll be the equivalent of cigarettes of causing cancer.
Five years from now we'll all know that this music causes violence and death amongst
adolesences. Judas Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton worried that this sort of attitude could have a
chilling effect on the arts. If before you create something artistically be it through any medium
through books, magazines, songs or whatever if it crosses your mind you should be very
careful what you put down in case you get a lawsuit aren't we all, isn't big brother watching
us all us. Aren't we all being closed down. It would also come out during the trial that
Judas Priest did admit to using a subliminal message once. Halford would testify during the
trial that he intentionally placed a hidden message in the song “Love Bites,” which was
recorded about seven years after “Stained Class.” Halford said he had hoped that the message,
which can be understood only when the record is played backwards, would “enhance its value.”
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. be sure to hti the like button
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