Is Hotel California on some Satanic Shit or What?
Published on September 27, 2007 by Daniel Taylor · 16 Comments
So last night I was trying to explain to Surrogate frontman Chris Keene over some cans of Schlitz the part in the Eagles’ “Hotel California” where , if you play it backwards, it talks about Satan organizing his own religion and about how on the inside cover of the LP, Anton Lavey can be seen kicking back looking all satanic and shit. But his dubiousness made me doubt my conviction on this matter. After all, my original research on this matter was conducted in the pre-internet dark ages, sitting in my bedroom, stoned off my fucking ass, playing my dad’s LP backwards on my turntable with my finger and tripping out hella. But that was, 10, maybe 11 years ago. Maybe I had just made it all up. So I made it my quest, my mission for the day, to get to the bottom of this shit for once and for all, or at least for once.
First off, I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just making it all up like I have a habit of doing sometimes. Thankfully some French dude was cool enough to put up a YouTube clip of the part of the song that played backwards talks a bunch of dark shit. It’s in the second verse,where Don Henley sings “There were voices down that corridor/I thought I heard them say.” Played backwards, this part says, rather clearly (at least for backward shit) “Satan, oh he came, and organized his own religion / Yeah when he knows he shouldn’t” I mean, whether or not this is just an aural coincidence or not was still to be determined, but no one can say that it’s not a little bit creepy, than randomly some words backwards sound a lot like a meaningful sentence, and not just a meaningful sentence, but a sentence about some super satanic ass shit?
Next I needed to determine if the face in the crowd on the inside gatefold of the record was indeed good ol’ Anton or just some other random. I figured the logical first step to this would be to find the actual image online and look at it again for good measure (since my copy of the record is still in Dad’s closet where I originally found it way back when). Strangely enough, the best I could find is a distant blurry shot on someone’s eBay auction. Apparently the group shot only appeared in the original vinyl artwork, and not on subsequent CD versions. So you’ll just have to take my word for it (or got get a copy of the record) that in the windows in the top left is a super creepy dude kind of peering out of the shadows, which many people believe is Anton Lavey himself. Eagle’s guitarist Joe Walsh, however, has denied this saying:
Absolutely not. Any reference to Satan or anything like that is completely in the eyes of whoever is thinking that. That’s a reflection of how sick they are. The guy in the window is one of the Elektra/Asylum publicity guys. The lighting just happened to be bad and he was really shy, so he was just peeking around the corner.
Which would seem pretty open and shut, one would think. However, the guy who actually shot the photo, John Kosh who was Art Director for the album had this to say about the photo:
Kosh eagerly confirms that there is a mysterious figure on the balcony, visible only on the LP version. “I assume he’s a friendly spirit, because we got the picture and it worked!” says Kosh, laughing. “If he is of the spirit world — which I doubt — he’s benign, so it’s fine by me.”
Overall, the band has repeatedly and adamantly denied any dark overtones to the song, documented pretty extensively here. But of course, if I was still getting paid out major dough in royalties and licenses on a song I’d hesitate to confirm its satanic subject matter too. All I’m saying is this is some weird shit. For more fun with backwards shit about Satan in rock songs, check out this site.
Is Hotel California on some Satanic Shit or What?,Tags: Anton Lavey, Backwards, Chris Keene, Don Henley, Eagles, Hotel California, Joe Walsh, John Kosh, Satan, Schlitz, Surrogate
Readers Comments (16)
RELATED STORIES
there are actually a few creepy figures in the photo. I have the record so i had to take a look. Besides the one on the balcony, there’s one in the doorway on the left hand side and one in the doorway in the middle/right….
I feel so edumacated after this. Thanks daniel! …in other notes, annorexic girl in the other blog makes me want to throw up the Taco Bell I just ate…mmmm, Taco Bell.
Daniel, I’ve got the image you were looking for. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/2106557752_bb8f1eed6a_b.jpg
You can download a higher-resolution version of the image if you go to my flickr page or here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15160035@N07/2106557752/
I also have a scan of the back of the album cover, which you can see at the end of my Hotel California photo set.
THATS THE SHIT I’M TALKING ABOUT! Score one for the internet
Hey some of the figures are creepy but i know for a fact that the one in the darkened window is a priest of the satanic church named Anton LaVey. I definately believe this song is deeply woven with death and going to hell. some interesting quotes: “This could be heaven or this could be hell”, “We’re all just prisoners here of our own device” and my favorite “You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave” I have an original album so im going with this theory.
The figure up in the right hand corner is simply a light in another hallway. You can see the round blackness around it, And the “face” is simply a light hanging in the hallway. As for the arms. The arms are a part of the chandaleir (sp?) hanging from the ceiling.
As for the song all I know is that it is creep as hell and I love it. I love mysterious shit like that.
Hi all,
I noticed something on the inside cover of the Hotel California album many years ago, but no one else seems to talk about it. If you look at the Eagle band member with the glasses on, and then look to the right (as we look at him at head level) you will notice a character that seems to have 2 horns (like satan is supposed to) looking to its right….the horns are most notable against the black woman’s white top (who stands in the background). Also, on the back cover there is a vase(?) on the table that looks to have a distorted face in it….what is all that about.
Cheers
@Shadoe C: I used to think that too when I looked at the cover (of which I have a copy in my possession) and I never understood why people made such a big deal of it… It really just looks like a light. That is, until I looked at it with a magnifying glass. The you also have to compare it with the picture on the back. It looks totally different, and there is no light fixture or chandelier, nothing, where the image is at in the main picture. Also, with magnification, the arms are extremely creepy looking, and it definitely looks like a person, or being or something, no longer dismissible as a light.
The link I gave in my previous post does show the whole inside cover art, but it’s actually not the best one for viewing what I’m talking about, this one is http://www.flickr.com/photos/15160035@N07/2106558156/sizes/l/in/photostream/ especially if you zoom in (normally requires that you download the picture, depending on your browser) and also compare it with this picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/15160035@N07/2105780815/sizes/l/in/photostream/
@Mark: I looked at what you mentioned. I don’t think the horned figure is anything. I also believe the black woman you mentioned is a man with long hair, but that doesn’t really matter. Either way, that person is standing next to another man in white with a white, gangster-looking fedora.
It looks to me like the image you’re referring to is some sort of shadow on the first person wearing white. You can kinda see his hand or arm pointing down, and this forms what you see to be the front of the horned figure’s face. What appears to be the sheen in the horned figure’s eye, I believe is just part of the guy’s white suit showing through where there’s a break in the shadow. It’s definitely hard to tell, even with the original album in my hand.
As for the other thing you mentioned, first, it’s a wine cart, not a table, and the vase is a champagne bucket with a bottle of champagne in it. Sorry to be so picky, but I just want people to be able to clearly identify what we’re talking about here.
It certainly does look like a distorted face, but after a lot of looking, magnification, and thinking, I’ve decided that it’s actually 2 or 3 faces. I think that what we see there is people standing against or sitting near a wall. The wall I’m talking about can best be seen in this picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/15160035@N07/2106560002/sizes/l/in/photostream/ It juts off at a strange angle, but it’s the appropriate angle for the backdrop of what we see that looks like a face in the bucket.
At the far left side of the “face” it appears rounded, but this really only happens at the rounded part of the bucket, which is what we should expect if the corner of a flat wall were reflected in the rounded bucket. And if you look VERY closely, it looks like 2 or possibly 3 people. They’re probably people involved in the photo shoot, just simple bystanders, or perhaps a couple of the Eagles themselves watching or overseeing the picture-taking.
Either way, I could be wrong about all of it, but that’s what I see. I had never noticed these things before. I wish the image on the balcony was as easy for me to explain.
Oh, sorry I didn’t clarify, but the exact wall I was talking about is on the very right-hand side of the picture; the last one that I gave a link to. It’s not as tall as the rest of the room, and, in fact, there are a couple people standing in front of it, probably close to where the people would have to be standing to make the face image.
Cud anyone email me the Eagles inside @ outside cover. Mail to jimmyjamesmugala@yahoo.com. Thanks in advance
in the cover art it looks like the grim reaper is staring out of the center window
lol this is retarded, you are paranoid ppl
You guys arent even scratching the surface yet. Lucifer was a known musically-gifted creation of Yahweh and his talents and lyrics are complex, filling almost every piece of music we hear today.
Any good Luciferian (like these band members) knows to deny when confronted and to obfuscate. They have sold their souls to tap into Lucifer’s talents, and he has given them a piece of his song as a trap for humanity (the answers and prophecies are everywhere in the Bible, old and new testament, and can be seen clearly evident today as fulfillment).
Luciferians/freemasons/illuminati were performing mind control experimentation (multiple personality disorders / demon possession), whose research culminated in the holocaust, but was then shifted over to California after WW2. I know someone who was a victim of this and her abilities & debilitations are extremely dark & mysterious.
These experiments began in the desert, under CIA cover, and young, extremely talented of high aptitude were brutally tortured, raped, witnessed murder, and forced to kill from a very young age. This was done to bring about MPD/DID, mind control, demonic possession, in order that they could carry out the goals of the occult, while living a completely “normal” life on the surface.
While there is an actual Hotel California that could very well be connected to this as well, the main layer of this song is CLEARLY all about these experiments, for anyone with even basic knowledge of the subject would easily see this, and the entire song fits one, comprehensive message.
These victims are extremely conflicted individuals, believing they are tied to Lucifer (& the illuminati) with no hope of escape, given the evils they have been forced to commit and oaths they have sworn under duress.
So, we’re on the “dark” (evil) desert highway and he spots a “shimmering” light. Lucifer (meaning “light bearer”) is often tied to the word “shimmer”, which isn’t just “shine”, but also “subdue” (kinda like he does with his beautiful music). Also, shimmer is more of a reflective light, not always a true source, and in the Bible Lucifer will pretend he is the true light in the form of the antichrist… and the illuminati (“illuminated ones”, filled with demons) represent him as the shiny all-seeing-eye-of-horus (look on the back of a dollar and all over the place in today’s pop culture).. he has always been represented as a sun-god and moon-god as well, dating back to Baal worship (that has been carried down from Babylon through the illuminati).
The “she” in the Bible usually is referring the physical church body, which has been guided off-track by Lucifer: the Catholic church (and its illuminati/Baal ties), parts of protestantism and sects such as Mormonism and Jehovah’s Witnesses, Islam, etc. The church, under the control of Lucifer (ringing its “mission bell”), could bring heaven or hell, and these lost souls won’t know the difference. Ever wonder why pedophilia is so rampant in the Church? Shouldnt it seem more likely to be an issue of “relations” with nuns than boys (I’m not saying ALL catholic priests are bad, just that its become infested and derailed).
During this torture via “ritual abuse”, the mind becomes fractured and highly compartmentalized (“programming”, “mind control”, “mk ultra”, “MPD”, “DID”). The “voices down that corridor” are the ones in their heads, demons and split personalities, and they literally have their own complete identities, capable of separate logic and conversation. They entice him to stay under this system..
The church (whether it be illuminati or catholicism) is “tiffany-twisted”, with “mercedes” and “pretty boys”. That could clearly describe both Catholicism (opulance & pedophilia) and the Illuminati (control the world’s wealth via sodomy & ritual abuse).
“dance in the courtyard.. some to remember, some to forget”. The Illuminati throw the most lavish of parties and excess, shrouded beneath with dark ritual secrets & occult sacrifices. “dance to remember.. forget”. Some in the illuminati are there because they want to be, others because they are scared to leave.
The voices are still calling him in the night (probably demons & personalities). Many in the occult sleep with their clothes on, as they are programmed to wake up in the middle of the night and attend these meetings on short notice.
Again, the extravagant lifestyle & opulant party, as is a part of these gatherings of wealthy individuals (at the higher levels).
They are “prisoners of their own device” because this torture occurs within their own heads. Their abusers actually get places into their own programming, so they can torture themselves and even commit suicide if necessary.
“master’s chambers” – they worship Lucifer as God, who supposedly attends the “feast of the beast” in an incarnate form every X number of years.
“Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door”
He remembers trying to escape (this is a key element of programming.. to completely break their will of ever having the possibility of escaping).
The “nightman” is his programmer; usually a parent that conducts the most vicious parts of the abuse, but he is made to love that person as his protector. They are “programmed to receive” (obvious).
“You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”. Suicide programming is built into anyone that wants to leave, as the other personalities will “rat him out”.
I like your comments. I have the album and have studied this song, as well as the album’s inside jacket. Joe Walsh is an awesome guitarist, but he is full of it. That face is Anton. It is a portrait. Also, on the balcony, to the right, there is another face peering out. That is good ol Mr Aliester Crowley himself. (Compare this pic of Crowley to that of him on the Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour”, a friendly face in the crowd.)
Now, as far as the lyrics to Hotel California, forget the backwards masking. Don “Building the Perfect Beast” Henley wrote some pretty direct lyrics. In the chorus, pay close attention to what Henley says: Welcome to the Hotel California. Such a lovely place (such a lovely place), such a lovely face. He has to be referencing the portrait of Anton.
Another nice piece of lyrical poetry is: So I called up the captain, “Please bring me my wine.” He said “We haven’t had tht spirit here since 1969.” Anton, the founder of the Satanic Church, and author of the Satanic bible, published his work in 1969. It should also be mentioned that in 1969, the California Supreme Court ruled against the Christian church and their protests to the newly formed Church of Satan. The wine and spirit referred to in the song is of course Jesus Christ.
Other lyrical enigmas Don throws in:
Warm smell of colitas rising up through the air – Colitas are a good hallucinogen.
There she stood in the doorway, I heard the mission bell – What kind of a hotel has a mission bell?
Mirrors on the ceiling, the pink chapaigne on ice, she says “We are all just prisoners here of our own device” – So, these people made this choice.
And in the master’s chambers, they gathered for the feast. They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the beast – No need to explain.
“Relax,” said the night man, “We are programmed to receive. You can checkout anytime you like, but you can never leave.” – Only one way to get out…checkout…suicide.
this whole thing about the mystrious man on the balcony. People think it is anton lavey. THE EAGLES FAQ says it is a woman who ingested to much substances and went up there. A magazine printed an OUTTAKE from the photo session and it proves to be just that FACT, she is african american, (Blender magazine I think). but a religious anti rock book printed LIES claiming it was Anton Lavey.
I dont think Anton Lavey could afford to be there on that night. read MYTH AND REALITY OF ANTON LAVEY. I just may put the photo on my blogspot one of these years when I get a blogspot.
The song is about heroin. listen again