First Off

And a Nevada state judge late Monday ordered CBS Records to turn over the master tape of the British heavy metal band Judas Priest’s “Stained Class” album so it can be examined for subliminal messages that may have prompted two teen-agers to enter into a suicide pact in 1985. CBS “has not been completely cooperating with discovery in this case,” Washoe District Court Judge Jerry Whitehead said before delaying trial of a lawsuit against the group and giving the company 30 days to hand over the master tape. CBS has told plaintiffs in the lawsuit it cannot find the 24-track master tape for the 1978 album. Without evidence of subliminal messages, Whitehead said, the case would not go to trial since music and lyrics are protected by the First Amendment right to free speech. The case is the first of its kind to advance this far in an American court.