The Torture Playlist
NEWS: Music has been used in American military prisons and on bases to induce sleep deprivation, "prolong capture shock," disorient detainees during interrogations—and also drown out screams. Based on a leaked interrogation log, news reports, and the accounts of soldiers and detainees, here are some of the songs that guards and interrogators chose. Read about the guards here.
UPDATE (March 4): Listen to investigative reporter Justine Sharrock explain why the Meow Mix jingle, Neil Diamond, and the Barney theme song all lend themselves to "no-touch torture." Plus: How Metallica reacted when they found out how their music was being used. —By Gary Moskowitz
February 22, 2008
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NOTE: The specific song or songs by Rage Against The Machine are unspecified.
I'm puzzled by the David Grey selection - I've slept through it more than once.
i confess
Alan
"Good music in a dumb world."
www.goodmusicinadumbworld.blogspot.com
Ah, ignorance.
I was just thinking the same thing. For example, "Two Pages (for Steve Reich)" in fast forward:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=po0ELeXFQuc
Or Tony Conrad's "Four Violins":
http://www.amazon.com/Early-Minimal ism-Vol-Alexandria-Gelencser/dp/B000062YAG
However, I don't think any minimalist could be as disturbing as Eminem's "Kim".
That stuff's been known to cause post traumatic stress and dementia.
that song is against the very idea of the corporatist imperialism torture system that these soldiers are participating in, and protecting.
But you wouldnt put a decent human in charge of "torture" or special rendition, nor anyone that would understand irony (much like the GOP). No, you put special inbred agent Lynndie "thumbs up" England in charge. see the nice photos here--
http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/iraqis_tortured/
9-11 sucked. i watched it before my own eyes. and i didn't understand why it was happening. When 9-12 happens, i will be sad, but i will understand why. We will deserve it.
i guess that when we pray "kill them all and let a Norse god sort em out" that we're really only wishing that both sides die quickly. Call it eugenics or natural selection--war's main goal is to kill off the world's stupid. And only the stupid would sign up to get involved in this. Yes kill and torture all of them BOTH sides.
I´d have my fun to see them goin crazy while I ejoy this music... :D
I´d have my fun to see them goin crazy while I ejoy this music... :D" comment.
But where's Barry Manilow "I write the Songs"? How about Tony Orlando and Dawn's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon round the old oak tree"?
I guess one has to be careful here, since the good guys are listening to this stuff too. Being subjected to endless loops of Barney might drive even the most hardened Marine to madness.
So when the black APC's pull up to take me to dentention I will know whats coming. Bring It!!!!
"Shoot To Thrill" is a favorite of mine, I'd almost enjoy being tortured to it.
Now the only question is if they have concert size speakers to actually deliver the intended results? It would seem that a boom box turned up to eleven, would take longer to get the same results. Mental and physical exhaustion.
AH, THIS IS FUNNY
This is a "torture" playlist? Seriously, only Barney is torture.
I keep looking far a snark tag, but I don't see one.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120 413505471197261.html?mod=Best+of+the+Web+Today
The liberal-left magazine Mother Jones features a "torture playlist," songs it claims have "been used in American military prisons and on bases to induce sleep deprivation, 'prolong capture shock,' disorient detainees during interrogations--and also drown out screams." (Warning: The top song on the list has an obscene title. That said, link here.) At No. 12 on the list is "Born in the USA," Bruce Springsteen's dismal portrait of post-Vietnam America.
All we can say is, we're shocked to the core that Springsteen is involved in torture of innocent terrorists. We will never buy another one of his albums again.
I, actually listen to DEICIDE for pleasure...... have you heard the guitar solo from 'homage for satan' off deicide's cd 'the stench of redemption'. holy [deleted]! I love bruuutal guitar and drums. Dear military, try the song 'hammer smashed face' off of cannibal corpse's cd tomb of the mutilated. This cd has the most evil brutal scary violent vocal tracks of all time!!
also try suffocation, immortal, dying fetus!
LONG LIVE FREEDOM!
DIE LIBERAL SCUM!
: *says nothing... shows his devil horns and bangs head*
Thank you for destroying our enemy's with decent music
Also go for: Cattle decapitation, dimmu borgir, gorgasm, putrid pile, and for the purposes of destroying them with terrible music i suggest dragonforce.
hissss...dragonforce....
Honestly, the CIA has no clue how to properly torture.
Demise Of Sanity-BLS
I will kill you-cannibal corpes
[deleted] You-damageplan
not all who wonder are lost-devildriver
transgression-fear factory
i get a kick out of you-frank sinatra
heartland-george strait
the ultimate bohab-gwar
to the treshhold-hatebreed
redneck-lamb of god
holy wars...the punishment due-megadeth
rational gaze-meshuggah
the great southern trendkill-pantera
suicide note pt.II-pantera
hellbound-pantera
crush-propain
speak english or die-s.o.d.
[deleted] the middle east-s.o.d.
disciple-slayer
i hate you-slayer
the heretic anthem-slipknot
dog face gods-testament
mars-soulfly
Dude... you wanna torture Rags with music, MESHUGGAH!
those guys are so intense it would literally turn some of those guys insane.
even better, Sleep deprivation + Force them to watch Meshuggah video clips.
poor guys would be scarred for life.
[deleted] NEW WORLD ORDER!!!!!!!!
DESTROY THE NEW WORLD ORDER
F**K THE NEW WORLD ORDER!!!!
DOUBT THE SYSTEM!!IT'S FAKE!!!!!!
Wake me up when we start hitting them with red hot irons, beating them with canes, cutting off appendages, and sending them to the rape room - like they do to their own people in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Thanks for the awesome spin on the article - "torture playlist" and "drown out screams" really makes it sound scary and evil. Obviously, you guys took a left and started running.
PS - Worst. Playlist. Ever.
Where have I heard that before? Dick Cheney? Other priorities?
And they think downloading is stealing from artists....
"Jesus Blood Never failed Me Yet" by Gavin Bryars
"Jesus' blood never failed me yet
Never failed me yet
Jesus' blood never failed me yet
There's one thing I know
For he loves me so ... "
The Troops can put this on and let it play forever, Hadji will want to gouge his ears out in about 15 minutes into it! Hadji needs to learn some diversuty anyways!
Also all the hippies here need to shut up making people listen to music is not torture. Inducing sleep deprivation is not torture. Its just away to disorient them to get them to give up information. Would you rather them be beaten? Or maybe we should just say please and then they will give up the information
GOOOO METAL!!!
I think about torturing people all the time. They need to hire me as a consultant or something.
I"m not sure if I find it hilarious or ridiculous. I mean, what happened to old school torture? lulzy amirite?
...guess true torture ceased...
...yet even I will flip out to barney...
if they want heavy music, they should try death metal from scandinavia or black metal like "impaled nazarene" or "darkthrone". or RAMMSTEIN "ein mensch brennt" incl. video.
but all we need is peace in the middle east!
Though I completely disapprove of torture, just play Grindcore or Black Metal...
There smart to use the Heavy Metal. They probally see it as the Devil's music.
I sure as hell couldn't.
Rock on America!
(from an Italian in London)
'nuf said.
My kids are never going to watch Sesame Street again, and I'm gonna burn all their Elmo DVDs as well. Guilt by association.
Shame, shame, shame!
Go to mixlister to get ideas for new playlists to fit any mood or party theme.
This is a poor representation of Death Metal in the public eye.
"So to the parents of America, I am the damager aimed at little Erica, to attack her
Character, the ringleader of this circus of worthless pawns, sent to lead the march right up to
The steps of congress, and piss on the lawns of the White House, to burn the casket and replace
It with a parental advisory sticker, to spit liquor in the faces of in this democracy of
Hypocrisy, f--k you Ms. Cheney, f--k you Tipper Gore, f--k you with the freest of speech this
Divided states of embarrassment will allow me to have, f--k you,"
the barney theme song was an excellent choice though
:-)
This is a stupid remark. You should be whipped.
Torture does not work. This is only forcing people to hate America.
(Manuel Castells)
Neo-liberal pressure of the market doesn't allow the existence of multiform societies - maybe as such somewhat 'closed' – anymore.
By the unrestrained taking possession of the public domain the global market automatically grows towards a totalitarian, closed community on a global scale.
In such a uniform community there is no more interchange of values, other than the materialistic values of the multi-national 'corporate identities'.
All other values in the spiritual, ecological, artistic and intellectual domains will be made subordinate to obedient civilian consumerism, 'willingly' (=bought) or 'unwillingly' (=destroyed).
In the pursuit of convenience the civilians of 24-hours-economies will confine themselves to a life of materialistic calculation within a public space that will resemble a brothel: everything within the theme of seduction and gratification available on demand. In such societies feelings and understanding for one another die out.
In a permanent noise of seduction dissident thinking is disposed of as 'subversive' or 'barbarous'. Whereas the 'barbarians' are still asleep in their principles, the advocates of boundless neo-liberalism suffer from insomnia, or they sleep the comatose sleep of their possessions.
They are terrified by notions of possible loss, which are intensified, ultimately and without compassion, by that which they come to see as the weapon of the barbarians: terrorism.
Terrorism is a blind fight for freedom, manipulated by religious dogmas, by people in despair in a (paradoxical) cry for dignity. Terrorists disdain the vain demand for security, originating from the 'fearmachine' of the rich. And terrorists are an obstacle for the compulsive 'freedom' of disordered materialists. But a horrible obstacle, consisting of religious and nationalist manipulation, which is the reverse of an equally blind and gruesome manipulation by the market-fundamentalism of large corporate identities.
Many governments have degenerated into errand-boys for the mega-corporations and their aggression and expansionism.
Poverty is not a natural disaster but an injustice, done to powerless people by a policy of blackmail from the IMF, the World Bank, corrupt companies and authorities.
That is why I hope that world-wide people will offer resistance to:
-All lies, crimes and corruption of all fundamentalist politics, including
Christian neo-liberalist thinking.
-All-American technocratic 'cleansing'
-All entrepreneurs that incite to ethnocentrism
-All nationalist mythologies
-All manipulators of martyrdom, whether they are Christians, Jews or Muslims.
Furthermore I hope that people live the idea of an undivided humanity, that they respect bio-diversity, that they embrace multiform culture, share basic needs and wealth, let off all debts, promote and support good administration and the UN.
And that they talk to, eat and drinks with their neighbours, that they don't spit on ideals and do not patronize any person and have equal access to education and health-services.
I hope for one day a week people refuse to work, avoid all shopping and forget to look in the mirror. I hope that everyday they read something from a book and sing a song at least once a day.
I hope that people in all working, playing and loving keep the world in the back of their minds and thus don't forget to act within their own communities and biotopes…
Think about this:
Human culture has made no progress since the systems of sacrifice were first developed, because the market does not defer violence, so much as transfer it to a designated set of economic drugs. Sacrificial violence remains, in another form. Free-market western civilation opposes utopian ideals, because they are sacrificial, but it refuses to recognize the sacrificial nature of the capitalist system.
(Britton W. Johnston)
And, Bush and Cheney:
Your wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere and your unconditional support for Israel have nothing to do with justice and democracy: it's about brainwash & propaganda in order to institutionalize worldwide your doctrine: the privatization of state power.
Your investments in your global wars are equivalent to what is needed to end poverty on our planet.
I'll tell you this: if justice can't be spread equally, injustice will be spread equally.
Shame on you! The world will raise hell! And all of you are going to face it!
And the oppressed inside the US will offer resistance to your exploitation and degeneration! In the end capitalist terror will be destroyed and the 'American Way of Life' will be remembered as another age of darkness….
And remember: People are aware that Prescott Bush, grandfather of George W. Bush, was Hitler's banker in the US, and that the Bush- and the Saudi Bin Laden families are both tied to Frank Carlucci's (& James Baker's & John Major's) Carlyle Corporation, the largest American Defence dealmaker…
America = really sick!
Peter van Eldik, The Netherlands
It is instructive that American posters to this thread just debate the playlist, completely missing the point of the exercise ... I'm not a musician; I can't tell you the differences in tonality, rhythm, etc. that differentiate Western music from Eastern; I know that with just a little bit of dedication--I enjoy what I know of, let's call it "Persian" music very much ... and that Western prisoners would find those differences as grating to the ear as those we are currently torturing with our pop nonsense.
I would say to "Alec," in reply to "Now the particular type of person involved in jihad is not conditioned to this culture..." [well of course they're not; it's NOT THEIR [deleted]ING CULTURE, YOU IDIOT]: Fundamentalist Xtians are not inclined toward any kind of secular music, or dance, or joy of any kind ... who was it that called John Calvin "a pornographer of the spirit?"
The problem is Fundamentalism, in this country or theirs.
And devastated economies--thank you World Bank, IMF, you Carlyle cocksuckers/how much did George the First make off this insane war this year?--that leave no hope for young persons but the insanity of self-martyrdom.
I only began to understand this country once I ventured outside its borders, and began to see "America" through the eyes of "the other..." which, for you Americans [I am a man without a country] is everyone but you.
The social leftists opposing torture do so because we recognize the human rights of everyone, even those that don't wish to recognize ours (for example, the jihadists, or the far right). Torture is against the greater rules, and if we as a supposedly great nation ignore these greater rules, what makes us so damn great?
"When fighting monsters, one must be careful not to become a monster oneself."-- Friedrich Nietzsche
Also: What? No Captain and Tennille: "Love Will Keep Us Together"?
I wolud headbang like hell with Deicide and have a laugh with "click click Boom", that's not a theme to torture.
I'll advise Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine, great drone-doom
This isn't torture, it's just soldiers playing their favorite songs while to pass the time while guarding prisoners.
If Arabs don't like it, they've got no taste.
So those soldiers weren't "torturing", they were just playing their favorite music LOUDLY like it's meant to be played.
Guantanamo, via FBI reports: "W[itness] observed sleep deprivation interviews w/strobe lights and loud music. Interrogator said it would take 4 days to break someone doing an interrogation 16 hrs w/lights and music on and 4 hrs off. Handwritten note next to typed synopsis says "ok under DoD policy".
"W[itness] saw d[etainee] in interview room sitting on floor w/Israeli flag draped around him, loud music and strobe lights. W suspects this practice is used by DOD DHS based on who he saw in the hallway."
"The physical tactics noted by the Red Cross included placing detainees in extremely cold rooms with loud music blaring, and forcing them to kneel for long periods of time, the source familiar with the report said."
"Detainees have reported being routinely subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment during arrest and detention. Many have told Amnesty International that they were tortured and ill-treated by US and UK troops during interrogation. Methods often reported include prolonged sleep deprivation; beatings; prolonged restraint in painful positions, sometimes combined with exposure to loud music; prolonged hooding; and exposure to bright lights. Virtually none of the allegations of torture or ill-treatment has been adequately investigated by the authorities."
http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/bl abbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=12677
Isn't it great that we have a King who uses the Constitution to wipe his ass every day. The irony is that Bush has actually broken multiple laws and these poor souls get to rot in jail without being charged with squat.