English rock band, Spooky Tooth’s song, “Better By You, Better Than Me” appeared on Judas Priest’s Stained Class album in 1978. Seven years later, on December 23, 1985, 2 young men – 18-year-old Raymond Belknap and 20-year-old James Vance, spent the night drinking and smoking pot while listening to a Judas Priest record before making a pact to take their own lives.
Two Men Attempt Suicide While Listening to Judas Priest
The pair went to a nearby playground at a church and attempted to end their lives with a shotgun. Belknap died instantly. Vance survived but was horribly disfigured and died 3 years later.
The LA Times reported Vance’s passing in 1988, claiming he was admitted to a hospital for depression before slipping into a coma and passing away. Vance left behind a 1-year-old daughter.
The families of the victims turned their anger toward Judas Priest and their label, CBS Records. They blamed the parties for their sons’ deaths, alleging the band hid subliminal messages on their cover of “Better By You, Better Than Me”, which could be heard when the track was played backwards.
“I believe that alcohol and heavy-metal music such as Judas Priest led us to be mesmerized.” – James Vance
The lawsuit was spurred after James Vance wrote a letter to Belknap’s mother which read, “I believe that alcohol and heavy-metal music such as Judas Priest led us to be mesmerized.”
A civil lawsuit was filed 1 year after the incident in 1986, but it didn’t go to trial until 1990. The families sought $3.6 million in damages to cover medical bills and support for Vance’s daughter.
Two years prior, Ozzy Osbourne was involved in a similar case over lyrics to one of his songs, which allegedly drove a fan to take his own life. The lawsuit was thrown out of court because Ozzy’s lyrics were protected under free speech. The same couldn’t be said for Judas Priest as subliminal messages aren’t considered speech.
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.
Guitarist Glenn Tipton told Loudersound, “It’s a fact that if you play speech backwards, some of it will seem to make sense.”
Deceased Men Had Troubled Past
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 wrote a profile during the trial on the mothers and their sons and it was less than flattering. The article stated that Belknap’s mother had been married 4 times and that her son was the subject of abuse from her 4th husband.
“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 .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, saying, ‘He paid room and board, helped around the house and always took part in family activities such as fishing, swimming and backpacking.'”
“When it came to making decisions, Ray did not know how to take the lead. He was always a follower.” – Aunetta Roberson, Raymond Belknap’s mother
Court records showed 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 the 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. He was always a follower.”
As for Vance, the LA Times wrote, “According to court documents, Vance’s biological father abandoned his 17-year-old mother while she was still pregnant with his 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 wrote about the domestic altercation between Vance and his mother with his mother telling the paper, “My biggest problem with the school system was that they would say James’ behavioural 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, “A weekend alcoholic,” and his mother also drank in excess, prior to stopping in the early ’70s.
“When James started listening to Judas Priest, he lost all respect for authority.” – Phyllis Vance, James Vance’s mother
The Times stated that the same court documents reported a history of drug abuse. James Vance attended AA and NA meetings and ran away from home upwards of 13 times. Still, Phyllis Vance blamed music for her son’s problems, telling the paper, “Heavy metal changed his personality. When James started listening to Judas Priest, he lost all respect for authority.”
The complainants had several star witnesses, one of which was author Wilson Bryan Key who had written extensively about subliminal messages. The Defence’s other star witness claimed to be an audio expert, but he was actually a marine biologist who dabbled a bit in audio.
“I think that the crux of what we are hearing today with regards to the real credibility of the witness, this whole case is based on this so-called expert’s testimony and it appears to be more and more shallow. This guy has no qualifications and you know it just doesn’t seem to be able to prove in any way, shape or form, whatsoever that there are subliminal messages on the album.”
“No band goes out of its way to kill its fans.” – Judas Priest
Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford looked back at the courtroom proceedings. “We had to sit in this courtroom in Reno for six weeks… 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.”
The LA Times reported that one of the days of the trial would see the case moved from the courtroom to the recording studio to listen to recordings of the original 24 tracks that were mixed into “Better by You, Better Than Me” on the Stained Class album.
Rob Halford Sings in Court
Lawyers for the band and CBS Records presented 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 took to the stand and was asked to sing parts of the song. He claimed that the phrase, “Do it” may have been mistaken by the Claimant’s lawyer as him inhaling.
“Heavy metal is a friend that gives people great pleasure and enjoyment and helps them and helps them through hard times.” – Rob Halford
Halford recalled 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 them and helps them through hard times.”
Judas Priest Not Liable for Young Men’s Deaths
In the end, the band wasn’t found liable for the fans’ deaths but as MTV reported here, the ruling didn’t make anyone happy.
“In a 108-page written decision handed out to the only parties on hand in court to receive it, the Plaintiffs and their attorneys, 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 on the album and in any case, no scientific proof that backwards masking can be perceived or affect conduct.
The judge also ruled that corporate attorneys for CBS were inexcusably slow in providing master tapes of the Judas Priest album and that 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 the Plaintiffs’ attorneys to compensate for costly court delays. While Judge Whitehead has ruled that the band and their record company had prevailed on the ultimate issues in this case, he also noted that scientific research into the effect of subliminal messages is in its infancy and that this subject is simply not a closed issue.”
It came out during the trial that Judas Priest did admit to using a subliminal message once. Halford testified 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 the message, which can be understood only when the record is played backwards, would “enhance its value”.
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