A greatest hit of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s came when the metal band Judas Priest was put on trial for the suicides of two teens. While the case was preposterous – based on alleged hidden satanic messages in the music – it arose from a real tragedy.
# Stuff You Should Know - Judas Priest and the Subliminal Messages Trial
This episode dives into one of the wildest legal battles of the 1980s satanic panic era, when heavy metal band Judas Priest found themselves in court accused of hiding deadly subliminal messages in their music. After two teenage fans attempted suicide while listening to their album, aggressive lawyers filed a landmark product liability lawsuit claiming the band had deliberately embedded hidden "do it" messages that pushed the boys toward self-harm. The hosts explore the pseudoscience experts who testified about subliminal messaging's mind-control powers, the tragic family circumstances of the victims that got largely ignored, and how the trial became a battleground between free speech rights and fears about rock music's supposed dark influence.
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