I know this dates me but....

[fizzbincat]

Another episode I got quite a bit of entertainment from because I recall the same statements used in this episode about the rock music in real life.    In the late 60's, and early 70's it was quite common to hear people say that if you played records backwards (the Beatles were often a target of this accusation) you would hear prayers or chants "to the devil".  Also the same line about how corrupting rock music was...In fact if we were to do a little researching, in particular about the Beatles I think you'd see lines from this episode were actually repeating statements made when the Beatles first came to the US.  Imagine the horror of these people though when Alice Cooper and KISS first came on the scene.....Ha!

[Hyperpup]

Another episode I got quite a bit of entertainment from because I recall the same statements used in this episode about the rock music in real life.    In the late 60's, and early 70's it was quite common to hear people say that if you played records backwards (the Beatles were often a target of this accusation) you would hear prayers or chants "to the devil".  Also the same line about how corrupting rock music was...In fact if we were to do a little researching, in particular about the Beatles I think you'd see lines from this episode were actually repeating statements made when the Beatles first came to the US.  Imagine the horror of these people though when Alice Cooper and KISS first came on the scene.....Ha!

I too am from a time when such things were common discussion. I remember alot of heavy metal groups were unfairly slandered as using backward masking to subliminally hypnotize unwitting listeners. I liked the "secret messages" that were in Trace and Gina's songs, I heard similar about some of the lyrics in Rod's last album "Rules of Attraction". Supposedly it made refereneces to trans dimensional travel and Otherworld.

[fizzbincat]

Yes, heavy metal band definitely have been a target of religious fanatics, any particular bands you recall getting people overly riled up?   I just remember people in my high school really had their panties in a wad over Alice Cooper and KISS.  I wasn't a fan of either but I was always amused by people that were so worried about  what other people were doing with their life.  I still remember a classmate giving some sort of report/speech on some band (I forget which one) and the teacher actually standing up in class and chewing her out for liking the band......that would have been in the 70's.   A lot of people, unfortunately, always have to have something to hate or be against to have meaning in life.

[Hyperpup]

Yes, heavy metal band definitely have been a target of religious fanatics, any particular bands you recall getting people overly riled up?   I just remember people in my high school really had their panties in a wad over Alice Cooper and KISS.  I wasn't a fan of either but I was always amused by people that were so worried about  what other people were doing with their life.  I still remember a classmate giving some sort of report/speech on some band (I forget which one) and the teacher actually standing up in class and chewing her out for liking the band......that would have been in the 70's.   A lot of people, unfortunately, always have to have something to hate or be against to have meaning in life.

Do I recall any bands that were getting people riled? Oh man, it seems like any rock and roll was attacked when the knowledge of "backwards masking" was made public. I remember Alice Cooper and KISS mainly for their public image and bands like Judas Priest, Queen and Beatles for the secret message work. I never saw anyone get chastized for liking or knowing any of these supposedly deviant bands but it was clearly something parents got concerned about for awhile. I was a kid through most of the seventies so there were alot of parents that merely used the idea of secret messages as a fulcrum to keep their kids from listening to bands that they just plain hated anyway. Alot of the hype was merely a facade for maintaining parental control when they felt it was suddenly slipping away. I remember parents talking to each other and inspecting their record stashes and secretly selling off or losing any objectionable music. Then one day it stopped, parents stopped buying into the hype, kids began to fall out of love with these bands or they were not showing any signs of being brainwashed by the music. Life was not crashing down around anyone...at least not from rock and roll music.

[Beatlesfan]

Well, one other thing I found interesting about the episode was the burning of the disc that Trace & Gina made, from anti-rock 'n' roll group (and right outside of the Sterling house)! 

As a rock fan (as well as history major) that part of the episode was really well done, imnsho!  Especially the reaction of Trace & Gina's parents to what was happening.
 
Don't forget that in real life there was the burning of the rock records throughout the history of rock.  From the Beatles records being burned after John Lennon's 1966 statement about the Beatles being more popular than Jesus, which actually Lennon was sort of correct about that assessment in that time period of the '60's all the way to the burning of Disco records back in 1979 (in retrospect, I do wonder if some people regret burning their Disco records -- after all in retrospect Disco is not as bad as some people made it out to be, at the time -- yes, I do love many of the Disco acts, although not as much as pure rock 'n' roll acts or even some more 'pop' recordings -- including, but not limited to such acts as Donna Summer, Blondie {that started out as a punk group}, Amii Stewart {the disco version of "Knock On Wood"}, etc.)

Also, the part of "Rock And Roll Suicide" where they are burning the disc very much reminds me of the episode from "The Waltons" in the 1970's where the other residents on Waltons Mountain (keep in mind that "The Waltons" in the 1970's was based in the 1930's during the rise of the NAZIs in Germany) burn German language books, until John Boy (played brilliantly by Richard Thomas in that episode) takes from one of the women before it was burned a German language version of the Bible.  (The Walton Mountain residents in their ignorance was burning the German language books in their ignorance because they heard and read that the Germans under the NAZIs influence were burning any book).   This part of "Rock And Roll Suicide" must have had some influence from that "The Waltons" episode? 

And then when the parents say to Trace & Gina that they had to perform because they needed to rebel was brilliantly written and acted. 

[Chip]

Religious douche bags used to scream bloody murder about rock and roll. The rock bands in turn did every thing they could to antagonize them, tons of demonic imagery and names like "KISS" (Kids in Satan's Service)
and AD/DC (All Children Devils Children) funny as hell when you think about it. Now the morons are burning harry potter. Makes me glad I'm an atheist.