A coalition of groups and citizens looking to close down Guantanamo Bay Prison - a known U.S. terrorist suspect camp in Cuba that's allegedly using loud rock music as a torture tactic - has just received a major PR boost thanks to some A-list bands.
Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, Billy Bragg and a wide range of other musicians are now part of the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo. On January 22, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to close the facility within a year.
The rock artists are particularly fired up that their music and the music of their best buds has allegedly been cranked into the cells of detainees as a form of torture. Songs on the list, according to BBC News, include such happy gems as Metallica's "Enter Sandman," the Meow Mix cat food jingle, music from Sesame Street, Don McLean's "American Pie," Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." (we sense a patriotic theme here), Nine Inch Nails' "March of the Pigs," Queen's "We Will Rock You," the "I Love You" song from the children's show "Barney" and, our personal favourite, death metal band Deicide's "Fuck Your God."
Meanwhile, CIA spokesman George Little told MTV that music has only been used for security, rather than "punitive purposes."
The National Security Archive in Washington, DC is filing an official request for the release of classified records that the organization believes detail the use of loud music as an interrogation device.
Another "torture song" that repeatedly gets mentioned alongside reports of prison mistreatment is Drowning Pool and their 2001 nu-metal hit "Bodies." It's interesting that this song keeps getting brought up because its music video actually features scenes of the band torturing some kind of medical facility detainee or mental patient by repeatedly screaming the chorus in his face. Coincidence?
Then again, it might just be some sort of newfangled scream therapy. We're not exactly sure.
Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, Billy Bragg and a wide range of other musicians are now part of the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo. On January 22, U.S. President Barack Obama pledged to close the facility within a year.
The rock artists are particularly fired up that their music and the music of their best buds has allegedly been cranked into the cells of detainees as a form of torture. Songs on the list, according to BBC News, include such happy gems as Metallica's "Enter Sandman," the Meow Mix cat food jingle, music from Sesame Street, Don McLean's "American Pie," Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." (we sense a patriotic theme here), Nine Inch Nails' "March of the Pigs," Queen's "We Will Rock You," the "I Love You" song from the children's show "Barney" and, our personal favourite, death metal band Deicide's "Fuck Your God."
Meanwhile, CIA spokesman George Little told MTV that music has only been used for security, rather than "punitive purposes."
The National Security Archive in Washington, DC is filing an official request for the release of classified records that the organization believes detail the use of loud music as an interrogation device.
Another "torture song" that repeatedly gets mentioned alongside reports of prison mistreatment is Drowning Pool and their 2001 nu-metal hit "Bodies." It's interesting that this song keeps getting brought up because its music video actually features scenes of the band torturing some kind of medical facility detainee or mental patient by repeatedly screaming the chorus in his face. Coincidence?
Then again, it might just be some sort of newfangled scream therapy. We're not exactly sure.
