Editing Judas Priest (section)

==== Subliminal message trial ====
In 1990, Judas Priest was the subject of civil action in the United States which alleged that the band was responsible for an incident in [[Sparks, Nevada]], in 1985 in which 20-year-old James Vance and 18-year-old Raymond Belknap shot themselves.<ref name="trial">{{cite news |last=Moore |first=Timothy |date=November–December 1996 |url=https://skepticalinquirer.org/1996/11/scientific-consensus-and-expert-testimony-lessons-from-the-judas-priest-trial/ |title=Scientific Consensus and Expert Testimony: Lessons from the Judas Priest Trial |publisher=[[Skeptical Inquirer]] |access-date =18 November 2006}}</ref> On the evening of 23 December 1985, Vance and Belknap went to a church playground with a [[12-gauge]] shotgun with the purpose of committing suicide. They had consumed [[Alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] and [[Cannabis|marijuana]] earlier that evening. The lawsuit alleged that the pair had been listening to Judas Priest's 1978 album ''[[Stained Class]]'' that night. Belknap was the first to place the shotgun under his chin, and died instantly after pulling the trigger. Some time later, Vance also shot himself, but succeeded only in disfiguring himself by blowing away the lower half of his face. Vance died three years later of a suspected drug overdose.<ref name="LATimes">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-12-01-mn-828-story.html|title=Man Who Sued Rock Group Over Suicide Attempt Dies|date=1 December 1988|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

The Belknap and Vance families sued Judas Priest and its members, alleging that the band had embedded [[subliminal message]]s such as "try suicide", "do it" and "let's be dead" in the band's cover of the 1969 [[Spooky Tooth]] song "[[Better by You, Better than Me]]". Judas Priest had recorded the cover at the urging of their record company after the rest of ''Stained Class'' had been completed. The plaintiffs alleged that this subliminal command was the trigger which led directly to the pair deciding to shoot themselves.<ref name="trial" /> Vance's parents claimed that their son had been troubled for a long time prior to the suicide pact, but had recently "changed for the better" and had re-embraced his family's [[Christianity|Christian faith]] before the "garbage music" of Judas Priest had again led him astray.<ref name="trial" />

Local fans of heavy metal protested during the trial, calling for Judas Priest to be exonerated. The plaintiffs played the song at various speeds and backward, alleging the use of [[backmasking]].<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=Rolling Stone |title=Judas Priest's Subliminal Message Trial: Rob Halford Looks Back |date=August 24, 2015 |first=Kory |last=Grow |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/judas-priests-subliminal-message-trial-rob-halford-looks-back-57552/}}</ref> The trial lasted from 16 July to 24 August 1990, when the judge dismissed the lawsuit on the basis that the so-called subliminal message "was a coincidental convergence of a guitar chord with an exhalation pattern".<ref name="trial" /> One of the defense witnesses, Dr. Timothy E. Moore, wrote an article for ''[[Skeptical Inquirer]]'' chronicling the trial.<ref name="trial" /> The trial was covered in a 1991 documentary film, ''Dream Deceivers: The Story Behind James Vance Vs. Judas Priest''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Brennan|first=Patricia |date=August 2, 1992|title='DREAM DECEIVERS': THE STORY BEHIND THE LAWSUIT AGAINST JUDAS PRIEST |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1992/08/02/dream-deceivers-the-story-behind-the-lawsuit-against-judas-priest/e23d38ba-dd74-4da8-9d4c-ce829488824d/}}</ref>