Entertainment
Achy Breaky, Wardrobe Malfunction and Satan
In this episode of Music's Greatest Mysteries, we explore the surprising journey of Billy Ray Cyrus's 'Achy Breaky Heart,' a song that faced rejection before becoming a cultural ph...
Achy Breaky, Wardrobe Malfunction and Satan
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Interactive Transcript
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If you like music's greatest mysteries,
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you've got to check out Dan Rathers'
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The Big Interview for some incredible true stories
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from the biggest names in music.
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Check out the podcast sometime.
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On this episode of Music's Greatest Mysteries,
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the unlikely journey of one of music's most successful
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and polarizing songs.
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They go around to all the record labels
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and present this song, and everybody's like,
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this is horrible.
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Then, what's the Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction?
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Plan.
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All you remember about Super Bowl 38
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is Janet Jackson just flashed the world
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and it changed everything.
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Finally, Led Zeppelin,
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one of the most popular bands ever.
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But are they St. Mourcivers?
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Why would you buy Alistair Crowley's house
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if you were not going to perform some sort of satanic ritual?
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It happened in a flash.
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A cascade of mullets,
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acid wash jeans,
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and the most 90s dance moves ever.
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One song both captivates
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and repulses a nation.
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Aiki Breiki Heart.
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I don't know if in my lifetime
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there's been a country song that was a bigger hit.
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This song wasn't just a song.
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This was a cultural phenomenon.
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Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Billy Ray Siren.
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Billy Ray Siren.
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Super Bowl, Billy Ray Siren.
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Before it's even released,
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the song endures the scorn of music city and beyond.
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I had no idea they hated the song that bad.
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My god, it's the worst song I've ever heard.
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It's too quirky and campy.
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But it took the guy like Billy Ray Sirens
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who was quirky and campy.
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Come out and just own it.
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And when he owned it, he rest his history.
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The legend begins in 1990
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where many great songs and wild stories are born.
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Nashville, Tennessee.
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With an aspiring songwriter named Don Von Tress.
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Don Von Tress was nobody.
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It was a songwriter who had never had a hit.
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He came in one day with a cassette that he wanted me to hear.
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I thought you'd got a shot at making a pretty good record.
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But you need to go write a second verse.
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You know, if you get a second verse,
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I think we can get this song recording.
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Inspired, Don Tress finishes the song
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and returns to Zavitson Studio.
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He came back the next day and read me the second verse.
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We went down into one of our studios
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and went in to make a demo of it.
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The demo was just great.
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We were all excited about it.
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That was convinced I had a big hit record.
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Confident that they now have Nashville's next big thing.
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They hit music row.
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The first pitch we made was an Mercury record.
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So we walked in and we played it.
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And everybody's like, this is horrible.
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It was an immediate pass.
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It's horrible.
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Whoever records that's an idiot.
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The head of the label hates it
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and the head of marketing hates it
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and the head of publicity hates it.
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I'd never seen anything like that before.
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Russ was actually told that if you actually shot this song,
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you're going to get blacklisted in Nashville.
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After two years, it seems the journey has run its course.
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Don't tell my heart is rejected by everybody.
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Except a band called The Marcy Brothers.
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Don't tell my heart.
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I hate you breaking heart.
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I just don't think you understand.
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But this version gains zero traction.
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Then a friend named Harold Chid
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sees a charismatic up-and-comer named Billy Ray.
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Harold Chid said, and I think I found Elvis.
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He said, I went and saw this singer this weekend.
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He was the craziest thing I've ever seen.
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He said, he's girls like Tho and their panties
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and their underwear on stage and screaming for him.
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And this guy, you know, he's done having records or anything yet.
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It's Elvis. I'm signing.
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For the modern Elvis, it becomes a match made in heaven.
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And on March 23rd, 1992, Billy releases Aikie Breaky Heart.
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As soon as I heard the demo, I said, I love this.
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I told Von Trass, have you ever wondered if the name of that song
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should be Aikie Breaky Heart?
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And Don Von Trass said, I don't care what you call it, just put it out.
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Billy Ray Cyrus was probably the perfect person at the perfect time
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because he was as cheesy as the song was.
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And he wasn't embarrassed by it. He loved it.
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He comes in with the white Reeboks, the acid wash jeans,
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the half shirts, the muscles, the mullet.
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And he goes, yeah, man, it's where I come from.
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That's who I am.
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You can tell the world you never was my girl.
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I don't know if anyone but Billy Ray believed that song was going to be
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as big a hit as it was.
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Coming up, does a miracle save Aikie Breaky Heart?
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All of a sudden things started happening.
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It just started blowing up.
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And later, who's to blame for the most famous wardrobe malfunction ever?
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There are so many different stories.
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The real question is, was it planned?
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For two years, don't tell my heart has been pitched to everyone in Nashville.
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And been rejected by everyone.
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Well, almost everyone.
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The first time I heard Aikie Breaky Heart, it hit me like a smash.
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It hit me like a universal hit.
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But success for Billy Ray, it's a real thing.
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I can't believe this, yeah.
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I can't believe Cartoon has a deep heart, and with Bryanding and the
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He's Erik Nay close-ups ponscret.
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And Danielle tickets a photo shoot.
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seen him since ________________ to Jimmy enforcement and back my
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And it was all over TV on Network News that night.
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This is 1992.
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Then all of a sudden, you know, things start happening.
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It just started blowing up.
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Over night, the song becomes a sensation,
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going to number one on the country charts,
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while crossing over to the pop charts,
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speaking at number two.
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He was like, this is my song, this is my identity,
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this is gonna break me to the world.
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Don't tell my heart, my head can break you heart.
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Then all of a sudden, everybody started
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going to country bars and line dancing.
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Sold every single they ever pressed.
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They can break your heart, went to number one in four weeks in New Zealand.
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And it's becoming that universal hit.
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It's all nine million copies of that album.
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The single sold him just crazy, all the covers.
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All the languages.
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It was completely nuts.
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It wasn't a country record.
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It wasn't a pop record, it was a phenomenon.
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But as popular and as successful as it becomes,
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it suffers continued criticism.
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There were a lot of people thought that maybe we messed up country music.
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I think that people think that a song that's funny can't be great.
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Music is littered with songs that people hate that are huge hits.
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Those songs that drives people crazy,
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they don't understand why people like it.
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Yet millions and millions of people bought it.
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Guess who was right?
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Billy Ray.
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Aiki Breakey Heart.
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To those people who don't like Aiki Breakey Heart,
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here's a quarter, cause someone who tells.
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Billy Ray Cyrus is not a joke.
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I mean, that's just the fact.
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Like there's a lot of people who had one hit on this.
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And we're not talking about them.
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Did anybody happen to see the Super Bowl?
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It was bigger than an entertainment story.
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Nickelgate.
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It was bigger than a sports story.
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I laughed and it stopped that went too far.
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This dominated newspapers, talk shows.
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I love giving you all something to talk about.
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This led to a senate hearing.
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This was a national scandal.
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Janet Jackson's soft chest part exposed by Justin Timberlake
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during the halftime show.
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Immediately following the wardrobe malfunction,
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stinging around the world, there is but one question.
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That everyone wants to know.
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She didn't know what was going to happen.
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So it came as a complete surprise to you.
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All we remember about Super Bowl 38 is Janet Jackson
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just flashed the world and it changed everything.
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We got to dig into the story.
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What did go wrong?
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What didn't go wrong?
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There are so many different stories.
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The real question is, was it planned?
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By the time of Super Bowl 38 in 2004,
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the United States is going through a cultural revolution
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and conservative views are dominating the landscape.
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This was a transitional time in media, in culture,
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shock jocks on radio.
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The two of you do pornos together, let's be in pornos.
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Vileance in video games, the emergence of the internet.
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So there was a lot of attention around what our kids are being exposed to.
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It's in this anxious environment that the NFL hires MTV
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to put together a groundbreaking halftime show
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for the biggest stage in the world.
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They bring Nelly, P. Diddy, Jessica Simpson, Kid Rock,
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but who's the headliner?
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Who's the big act we're all waiting for?
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Janet Jackson.
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And in that time, Janet Jackson is massive.
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Miss Janet Jackson!
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But Janet's 36 years old or so at this time.
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And that becomes a real challenge to continue to maintain your op-stardom
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into your mid to late 30s.
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So the plan is to give Miss Jackson a boost with a younger generation
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in the form of a surprise.
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As a secret special guest, they wanted to bring in Justin Timberlake.
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J.T. is also in need of a boost.
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For many, he's known more for his messy and very public breakup
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with fellow superstar Britney Spears.
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A year prior to this Super Bowl, Britney goes on MTV
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and kisses Madonna and the world explodes.
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Did it hurt you when it looked so good?
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Maybe Justin wants to see if he can make an even bigger splash
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and get people talking about him and Janet.
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The NFL and AOL proudly present the AOL Top Speed Super Bowl
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38 halftime show.
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With 90 seconds left in Janet Jackson's performance,
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Justin Timberlake makes his surprise appearance.
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He performed his then hit song Rock Your Body.
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He reaches over and pulls something off of her.
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The next hit song is the
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The Black Flash.
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Soon as that moment happened, pause.
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We sat there. We watched.
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Jaws hit the floor.
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The backlash was almost immediate.
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People were calling the FCC complaining saying,
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oh my god, why did you allow this on TV?
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Timberlake called it a wardrobe malfunction.
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Nobody remembers the game.
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But the talk the next morning is what happened
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with Janet Jackson and his wardrobe malfunction.
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Coming up, the question everyone wants to know.
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What happened that day?
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First of all, after that she was, was it planned?
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And later, does Led Zeppelin sell their souls to the devil?
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Jimmy Page would never deny it that he was always interested
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in the occult.
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During the halftime show of Super Bowl 38,
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Janet Jackson bears a breast,
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and the country loses its mind.
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Not only is it sort of a craft demonstration,
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it may be an illegal one.
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CBS is fined $550,000
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by the FCC.
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New regulations are applied to media outfits.
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But most of the anger goes in one direction.
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Miss Jackson.
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It was all of a sudden, Janet's, how could she?
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She was made to be the bad person
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when all she did was stand there,
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and she was the one that was exposed.
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They both issued apologies.
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Justin Timberlake went to CBS
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and gave a, you know, apparently tearful apology.
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And she didn't do that.
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Janet didn't go kiss the ring.
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She made the apology that she wanted to make.
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I am really sorry if I offended anyone
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that was truly not my intention.
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Despite the apology, Janet's new album,
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Demita Joe, underperforms.
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And she loses out on acting roles due to the backlash.
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Janet Jackson was supposed to play Lena Horne
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in the biopic and got fired from the film.
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She got blackbalt and no one stepped in for her.
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That is awful.
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And Justin rolled on untouched,
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and Janet was a punchline.
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I'm sure you guys are sick of hearing about it.
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I know I am.
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Let's ask her about something now.
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I'm not so sure they are sick of hearing about it.
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Two years after the incident,
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she finally comes clean to Oprah.
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Was it planned, Janet?
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No.
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Well, he was to take the piece off that he did.
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The letter piece.
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Right. But more came off than what was supposed to be.
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It was an accident.
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So does this end the debate?
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What we know is that there was an unannounced costume change
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outfit change in the last minute.
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Her stylists went out and bought the nipple shield
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that we all saw when this happened.
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We know that there were changes that were made,
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that nobody but Janet and presumably Justin knew about.
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I think both of them planned it together,
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but it was poorly planned.
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It just wasn't the best idea.
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Timberlake goes on to become one of Pop's biggest stars
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and the NFL invites him back to headline
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the Super Bowl in 2018.
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After a 2021 documentary about the incident,
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fans aim more of the blame on Justin.
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But Janet quickly comes to his defense.
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Everyone is looking for someone to blame
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and that's gotta stop.
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Justin and I are very good friends
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and we will always be very good friends.
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And he and I have moved on and it is time for everyone else to do the same.
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I think we've learned a lot in the past 20 years
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in regards to how men are treated and how women are treated,
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how white men are treated and how women are treated.
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And we could have done better,
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at least hold Justin just as accountable as Janet.
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We are here 20-something years later still speaking about it.
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It was literally half a second a boom that we saw on TV.
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Nobody else was hurt, truthfully, other than Janet.
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Mythology about soul-selling dates back to Robert Johnson and the Crossroads.
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And by the 70s, musicians dancing with the devil has hit the mainstream.
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Satan was an undertone in the music instrument
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and really selling a lot of records and putting bands on top.
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You have these great bands that were playing with evil.
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Fans like Black Sabbath, ACDC, Kiss, Van Halen.
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You know, you don't just run, you run with the devil.
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Of many of the 70s bands that got into the Satan bandwagon,
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Led Zeppelin took it to the next level.
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Led Zeppelin fans, they're following Led Zeppelin,
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they're really following Satan.
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It was Satan's music.
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They were kind of like flirting with Satan.
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Did Led Zeppelin sell their souls for rock and roll?
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There was no band bigger than Led Zeppelin
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and there was no guitar player or more influential person in rock and roll than Jimmy Page.
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From the beginning of his career, first with the yardbirds and then with Zeppelin,
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Jimmy Page is known as one of the greatest guitarists ever,
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but he's also known for his affinity towards Black magic.
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Jimmy Page was always interested in the occult.
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He hung out a lot with Kenneth Anger,
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who had a film called Lucifer Rising,
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and was obsessed with Alistair Crowley's beliefs and philosophies.
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Alistair Crowley, the most evil man in the world.
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Jimmy was collecting Alistair Crowley stuff.
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He wore his cloak, he bought his castle.
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Why would you buy Alistair Crowley's house if you were not going to perform some sort of Satanic ritual?
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So our Page and Zeppelin, really practicing Satanic rituals.
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Believers point to their fourth album as proof.
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If you look at those, there's four sigils.
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The sigils are very interesting magical symbols that you can combine them to either bless or curse somebody.
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The rumor mill hits a fevered pitch when people wonder whether or not the band embeds backwards messages in their hit song, stairway to heaven.
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And stairway to heaven, if you play it backwards, had Satanic messages behind it.
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Oh, he's in my place, Satan.
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Do y'all hear that?
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I don't know if they were putting messages in stairway to heaven,
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but Jimmy Page would never deny it.
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Maybe there's something there.
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Coming up, is the rumor true?
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And if this is real, what are the consequences for Led Zeppelin?
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A lot of people point to that as like, see Satan got his revenge on them.
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For most of his career, Jimmy Page deals with rumors that his fascination with the occult is more than curiosity.
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That he has in fact made a deal with the devil.
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Can it possibly be true?
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Jimmy Page was very tight-lived about his specific connection like he never mentioned, Satanism.
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I was very interested actually in Eastern and Western mysticism,
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and I spent time reading and researching when I was younger.
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He was just figuring stuff out, experimenting.
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It wasn't anything evil or wicked, and there was certainly no pact with the devil or any of that.
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Even though Page never admits it and his friends deny it, rumors persist,
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and conspiracy theorists point to the band's tragedies, including Robert Plans' son's death,
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and John Bonham's overdose, as evidence of their deal with the devil gone bad.
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A lot of people point to that as like, see Satan got his revenge on them.
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But if you say that, then I would say here are some other artists that made a deal with the devil.
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ACDC, Leonard Skinner, Def Leopard, there are a lot of bands that have had bad luck.
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Did they all make deals with the devil?
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I don't think any of these guys made a deal with the devil.
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Let's have one of great musicians that flirted with ideas that a lot of the mainstream are uncomfortable with,
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but you know, that's how you make an impact.
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The unlikely journey of a polarizing country song,
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an inexplicable moment that shocked the world,
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and a band's flirtation with Satanism.
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They're all music's greatest mysteries.
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Thank you for joining us for Music's greatest mysteries,
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where we investigate the legendary mysteries surrounding the biggest names in music.
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Now remember, if you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
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Also, go ahead and leave us a review, and don't keep the show a secret.
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Tell a friend.
Topics Covered
Billy Ray Cyrus
Achy Breaky Heart
Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction
Janet Jackson
Justin Timberlake
music's greatest mysteries
Nashville music industry
cultural phenomenon
country music history
record label rejection
music success stories
pop culture impact
Led Zeppelin
satanic rituals in music
music controversies
media regulations