Electric Light Orchestra - Secret Messages

What this video is

Released in September 1983, 'Secret Messages' arrived at a moment of acute cultural anxiety around rock music and subliminal messaging. The US Congress had held hearings on backmasking earlier in the decade, and ELO — whose orchestral arrangements had already drawn scrutiny — responded with deliberate, tongue-in-cheek embedded reversals on the album and its title track. The choice to film at Jodrell Bank…

Why it matters

Represents ELO at a pivotal generic transition: the full-orchestra rock of Out of the Blue (1977) had given way to synthesizer-dominant production, with the Oberheim DMX drum machine and Moog/Yamaha synths replacing the string section. The video captures this liminal moment — a legacy art-rock act…