Listening to backward messages on vinyl is easy these days. If you hear of one embedded on a record, either in the runout groove or deep in the music itself, then you can probably go on YouTube and hear a detailed playback of the track both forwards and backwards. But when these little gems original emerged, the only way to hear them was to place your LP on the turntable and rotate the platter backwards by hand in the hope of hearing something jump out.
Like most experimental aspects of modern rock and pop, it all goes back to The Beatles, of course. In this case, the Revolver era – where playful attempts at backward messages, guitar solos and effects can be heard on tracks like I’m Only Sleeping, Tomorrow Never Knows and Rain. It’s on the latter where the first hidden backward message can be heard, although both John Lennon and George Martin later claimed they each came up with the original idea. Play Rain backwards on your turntable, and you’ll hear the refrain: “Sunshine, rain. When the rain comes, they run and hide their heads.”