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Bon Scott Ghost Stories

It’s the anniversary of Bon Scott’s passing today. He crossed over on February 19th, 1980 at only thirty-three years old from alcohol poisoning in London. The last album he recorded with AC/DC was the classic Highway To Hell. That album was one of the first seized on as an example of the excesses of rock n’ roll music during the Satanic Panic,  but the band always denied there was anything “devil worship”-y in the message, it was just an ode to the rebellious spirit that the band had lived their lives by.

Rock journalist and paranormal researcher Susan Masino spent a lot of time with Bon and the guys from AC/DC back in the day and we have an in-depth interview with her in Episode 5 of our podcast. She talks about how she still feels the spirit of the legendary singer playing tricks on her sometimes. And Bon Scott ghost stories are the best ghost stories.

bon scott stories with susan masino
When they’re held for pleasure, they’re the balls I like the best…

In 1997, AC/DC released a special live album called Bonfire near Halloween and in the publicity even held a séance to try and contact the singer from beyond the grave. Brian Johnson (the lead singer who replaced Bon in AC/DC said that Bon had probably a lot better things to do in the afterlife than talk to us mere mortals.

“I think we’re talking about if Bon was there, he’d be too busy shaggin’ something. He’d have all the good lookin’ women up there. He wouldn’t be bothered coming down here.”

Here’s the audio of the radio special séance where psychic Peter James tries to contact Bon Scott’s ghost.

You gotta love a band that’s not afraid to indulge in a little bit of fun after a tragedy, especially because Bon was noted to be such a mischievous character.

While Ozzy Osbourne would write “Suicide Solution” about Bon’s death (the meaning of “solution” in the song means liquid, as in alcohol), the band would hire Brian Johnson as their new singer in April of 1980.

The next album that they recorded was dedicated to their departed friend and it’s cover was just black with no album art as a show of mourning. And it seems if Bon could look down and see his former bandmates, he must have blessed what they did. Back In Black would go on to become the second biggest selling album in history.

Podcast

14 – Subliminal Messages: Wait… Did You Hear Something?

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Wendy returns from vacation to join Mike in a discussion about subliminal messages in television, movies, and music.

A way of delivering information to a person without the need to be persuasive or convincing, subliminal messages bypass the logical decision-making part of the brain and go directly to the subconscious mind. This can be done by playing a sub-audible recording, or through the use of a technique called back-masking where the message is played backwards.
Numerous examples of subliminal messaging in pop culture:
  • Actor Matt Frewer played Max Headroom in a sci-fi show called “Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future” (which happened to be one of Mike’s favorites!). In the story, people were exposed to “blipverts”, advertising delivered in quick bursts, and which eventually ended up killing people.
  • An urban legend that theater owners used subliminal advertising for the snack bar by flashing images of soft drinks and popcorn throughout the movies.
  • The part of the movie “Fight Club” where a ch aracter splices images of pornography into the film at a movie theater.
  • For the 2000 election, George Bush ran campaign ads wherein the word BEAUROCRATS was flashed across the screen with the RATS part of the word in emphasis.
  • Miller Lite had an ad campaign with “this message was brought to you by Dick”. The phrase was autographed by Dick, and the word actually looked like “Drink” when closely examined.
  • In an episode of The Simpsons, Bart joins a boy band that uses subliminal messages to recruit kids for the Navy.
  • Actor/comedian Kevin Nealon played “Subliminal Message Man”, a character in a Saturday Night Live skit who slipped subliminal messages into every day conversations.
  • The UK parliament banned the use of subliminal messaging in advertisements.
  • Ozzy Osborne’s song “Suicide Solution”, about alcohol, allegedly contained the phrase, “Why try? Get the gun and shoot!”. When he was sued by the parents of a teen who committed suicide, he claimed the audio was “Get the flaps out”.
  • The song, “Better By You, Better Than Me” recorded by Judas Priest, contained subliminal message “Do it!” and also resulted in a law suit. However, the judge  found that subliminal messages are not speech that’s covered by the First Amendment. This is now precedent.
  • “Love Bites” by Def Leppard has a robot voice at the end that some believe says “Jesus of Nazareth, go to hell”.
  • The Beatles also used the back masking technique in many songs, including “I buried Paul” at the end of Strawberry Fields.
  • EXAMPLE AUDIO: Britney Spears’ “Hit Me Baby One More Time” contains a backwards “sleep with me, I’m not too young”.
  • EXAMPLE AUDIO – Decide for yourself: Queen’s song “Another One Bites the Dust” contains several backwards “Decide to smoke marijuana”
  • EXAMPLE AUDIO – Decide for yourself: Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” contains a backwards “Here’s to my sweet satan”
Scientific studies from the 1950s showed that subliminal messaging in movies did not work. However, newer studies within the past decade have shown that we can be influenced by things we cannot perceive. You can decide for yourself by listening to our song below…

Featured Song: The Long Hammer