Snowblind (Styx song)

"Snowblind" is a song by Styx that appears on the "Paradise Theater" album released in 1981. The song is about the helplessness of cocaine addiction, alternating between slow, brooding verses and a faster, harder-edged chorus, representing the addict's cycle of highs and lows. "Snowblind" was written by Dennis DeYoung and James Young with uncredited lyrics by Tommy Shaw; Young and Shaw share lead vocal duties. "Snowblind" sparked controversy when the California State Legislature and later Tipper Gore's PMRC claimed that the song's lyrics were "Satanistic" and contained backwards messages. The line "I try so hard to make it so" when played in reverse was said to be "Satan move through our voices." Aural inspection suggests that any resemblance the line's reversed phonemes had to this phrase was slight, and likely coincidental. The PMRC used "Snowblind" as one of several examples of rock songs that they claimed contained hidden Satanic phrases, and they lobbied for laws to require warning labels on records containing such messages.

Styx repeatedly and angrily dismissed these claims as baseless. They created the concept album "Kilroy Was Here" as a response to the California ruling and which included genuine backwards messages mocking their critics. Snowblind was the B-side of the album's first single, Mr. Roboto.

A song of the same name and similar meaning appears on English Metal band Black Sabbath's fourth studio album, entitled Volume 4. This is likely a coincidence.

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