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Few media professionals believe that subliminal messages are widely used in popular entertainment, but many religious Fundamentalists contend that they are common and that they exert an almost hypnotic power. This theory was popularized by author Wilson Bryan Key, a witness for the two families. In the case of the Judas Priest album Stained Class, Key claims to find the repeated injunction "Do it," which he interprets as encouraging suicide. Attorneys for the plaintiffs also maintain that satanic incantations are revealed when the music is played backward. Testifying last week, Vance's mother, a born- again Christian, described how her son threw away rock records after attending a Christian camp in 1983, only to revert to former habits. "He couldn't do both at the same time," she said. "He was either true to the God of our church, or he was true to the god Judas Priest."
The band and CBS reject the idea of settling out of court, contending that free expression is at stake. Says their attorney, Suellen Fulstone: "The subliminal argument has no basis in fact. It is simply a vehicle to pursue a case otherwise marred by the First Amendment."