Music has been used in psychological operations. The term music torture is sometimes used by critics of the practice of playing loud music incessantly to prisoners or people besieged.
The United Nations and the European Court of Human Rights have banned the use of loud music in interrogations, but it is still being widely used. The term torture is sometimes used to describe the practice. While it is acknowledged by US interrogation experts that it causes discomfort, it has also been characterized by them as causing no “long term effects.”
Instances of use
A BBC News report claimed that music by band Metallica, and from children’s TV programs Barney and Sesame Street, was being used to cause sleep deprivation and culturally offend the prisoners.
Claimed to being used by the United States 361st Psychological Operations Company by Sergeant Mark Hadsell:
“These people haven’t heard heavy metal. They can’t take it. If you play it for 24 hours, your brain and body functions start to slide, your train of thought slows down and your will is broken. That’s when we come in and talk to them.”
Manuel Noriega
“When the United States invaded Panama in December 1989, Noriega took refuge in the Holy See’s embassy on December 24, which was immediately surrounded by U.S. troops. After being continually bombarded by hard rock music, including Van Halen’s hit song Panama, and “The Howard Stern Show” for several days, Noriega surrendered on January 3, 1990.”
Guantanamo Bay
According to the FBI:
“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”.
“Rumors that interrogator bragged about doing lap dance on d[etainee], another about making d[etainee] listen to satanic black metal music for hours then dressing as a Priest and baptizing d[etainee] to save him – handwritten note says ‘yes’.”
“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 Washington Post, quoting a leaked Red Cross report, wrote:
“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.”
Iraq
According to Amnesty International:
“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.”
Israel
On January 12, 1998 the Supreme Court of Israel declined to ban the use of loud music as an interrogation technique.
The use of music as a weapon in fiction and popular culture
- In the movie A Clockwork Orange a rebellious outsider is subjected to brutal experimental brain-washing techniques that in an accidental coincidence causes him to be in physical pain if he listens to Beethoven’s symphony no. 9.
- In Back to the Future, Marty used music made by Van Halen to scare his dad, George McFly, awake, implying that since that kind of music didn’t exist in that time, it would scare him.
- In The Drew Carey Show, Mimi played “Panama” by Van Halen repeatedly to drive Drew and Friends from his house.
- In an episode of the hit USA television show “Burn Notice,” Sam Axe plays loud music to a prisoner to break his will.
- Public awareness of the use of this technique is widespread enough that it can be used in satirical attacks on popular culture:
- “Hollywood — Several days after Paris Hilton announced that she will release a music album, the Pentagon has decided to buy 50,000 copies of her upcoming album to use against insurgents in the volatile Anbar province in western Iraq.”
Royalty payments
The Guardian reported that the US military may owe royalty payments to the artists whose works were played to the captives.
Musicians’ protests
On 9 December 2008 the Associated Press reported that various musicians were coordinating their objections to the use of their music as a technique for softening up captives through an initiative called Zero dB. Zero dB is an initiative against music torture set up by legal charity Reprieve, which represents over thirty prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Zero dB aims to stop torture music by encouraging widespread condemnation of the practice and by calling on governments and the UN to uphold and enforce the Convention Against Torture and other relevant treaties. The initiative is backed by the Musicians Union which is calling on British musicians to voice their outrage against the use of music to torture.
Musicians and the wider public are making their own silent protests against music torture which are being shown on Zero dB. A series of silent protests and actions are planned through 2009. Participating musicians will include minutes of silence in their concerts to draw their audience’s attention to the USA’s use of deafening music against captives.
According to the Associated Press FBI agents stationed at Guantanamo Bay reported that the use of deafening music was common. According to the Associated Press Guantanamo Bay spokesmen Commander Pauline Storum:
“…wouldn’t give details of when and how music has been used at the prison, but said it isn’t used today. She didn’t respond when asked whether music might be used in the future.”
Among the musicians united in their objections were Christopher Cerf, a composer for the children’s show Sesame Street, Bob Singleton, who wrote “I Love You”, the theme song for the children’s show Barney & Friends, and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. Others include R.E.M., The Roots, Rise Against, Rosanne Cash, Pearl Jam, Bonnie Raitt, Trent Reznor, Billy Bragg, Michelle Branch, Jackson Browne, T-Bone Burnett, David Byrne, Marc Cohn, Steve Earle, the Entrance Band, and Joe Henry.
The Associated Press reported that Stevie Benton of the group Drowning Pool commented:
“I take it as an honor to think that perhaps our song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like that.”