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Musicians Ask for Gitmo's Playlist
Do music copyrights cover use during enhanced interrogation? Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine are upset that the government purportedly blasted their music in Guantanamo for hours to "create futility" in uncooperative detainees. The two have been joined by a number of other musicians, whose music was not used, including R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Rosanne Cash, and the Roots in filing a Freedom of Information Act request asking that all government records pertaining to the use of music during interrogations be declassified. The move is part of a larger effort, led by retired generals, progressive groups, and a former member of Congress to close Guantanamo. As Morello put it, "The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me." The rest of the purported Gitmo playlist reads like a college student's iPod and includes Metallica, Britney Spears, the Drowning Pool, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, and the Bee Gees, although not all of these musicians signed on to the FOIA.
perezp
The Bee Gees? My God! How can anyone claim we're not torturing? I know I wouldn't last long- a couple of hours of "Staying Alive" and I'd be begging to confess to anything they wanted!
jimenex
And Britney....Heartless bastards...
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n--Y--bbrown13djanimaequeen
Yeah, as soon as they put on the Spears, I would have told them anything they wanted to know. The inhumanity!!
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n--Y--bbrown13Plantagenet
Dick Cheney supposedly supplied his personal IPOD and Cheney's own favorite playlists with Pearl Jam, REM Metalica Eminem were used to torture the detainees.
The idea was to turn the Al Qaida detainees into "head-bangers" so they would torture themselves.
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n--Y--bbrown13Warehouseone
I understand what they are trying to do and I applaud the statement, but what is this going to accomplish?
bcaldwell
Nine Inch Nails....Rage Against the Machine.....I know after listening to these guys I want to cough up info...or commit suicide anything other than listening to second rate talents like them. Next you'll find that rappers like C-Murder and 50cent object.....this is laughable. They can't stop it so this is all another example of liberals posturing for no good reason...but hey it makes them feel good and afterall, isn't that what its all about anyway? But Britney Spears???? I draw the line on that. No human being should be forced to endure her...no one!!!!!!!!
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n--Y--bbrown13djanimaequeen
While I agree that NO ONE deserves to be forced to listen to Spears, do you really know their political affiliation? To assume they are liberals is a bit unfair. They could be greedy conservatives who are setting up the stage to demand royalties.
bcaldwell
I'll grant you that on Spears-queen, the rest....I suppose that Obama is not sufficiently liberal enough for them... but eminem objecting????? I mean the dude is a misogynist....torture is right up his alley. I'm pretty sure the Bee Gees will object....Barry Gibb wants his royalties as does Metallica (they sold out a long time ago)
SocialSecretion
I don't think you could fairly say that NIN and Rage against the machine are second rate talents. Not your style, yes, but I bet they are more talented than at least some of the stuff you prefer (maybe not all).
sophia5
WHAT !!!!!!!
NO . . .
Yoko Ono or Kathy Lee Gifford . . . a fate worse than the Death Penalty ?
rhonda1309
a while back a judge gave a kid with a loud boom box the punishment of listening to Barry Manilo!
makes perfect sense to me!
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n--Y--genomegkThis user is no longer registered.
n--Y--bbrown13rhonda1309
Two places liberal noise makers and musicians don't want their music played, at any conservative meeting place and the enemy. Hey wait a minute...........we're on the same side, right guys?
retired-army-1SG
Actually, it makes sense to me why they would be upset. How would you like knowing that your music was so foul, so officious, so nauseating, to qualify for psychological warfare. I've always wondered what bands thought of their music being played like this. Guess now we know. You would think in the 21st Century the Army would have come up with something better... guess they're just trying to save money. :)
djanimaequeen
Lol. You have a point. That would be pretty demoralizing as a musician.
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n--Y--bbrown13SocialSecretion
That's pretty funny. Though to be fair, this is music that the soldiers thought would be offensive to "terrorists". Music that is through and through "American". This stuff probably came right off the guards' ipods. After all, soldiers in Iraq absolutley do listen to bands like Rage and NIN to get pumped up for combat. This music is to the Iraq war what bands like CCR were to Vietnam.
Cymatic
The idea is that these songs will be played repeatedly at such high volumes that is will make it impossible to sleep or concentrate. Often one song is repeated endlessly. I read that Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots are Made for Walkin'" was blasted repeatedly along with ACDC for Noreiga during his standoff. They also used this tactic on David Koresh. What makes Rage Against the Machine's complaint ironic is that their music is anti totalitarian and strongly opposes torture.
Dillon
Musicians say they are now tinged
By scandal and they've come unhinged;
At Gitmo, songs blare,
Yet captors don't care
That copyrights have been infringed.
News Short n' Sweet by JFD8
http://twitter.com/JFD8
MaCaCa
They got some good stuff on there too. And some very notable omissions.
Granite
If you don't speak English and don't understand the words, Bob Dylan's voice is pure torture. Ask any foreigner.
Love ya Bob!
distantdrum
"Music I helped to create", Morello says. Has anyone here ever heard any of this crap, they call music, by nine inch nails, or rage against the machine? It is such screeching garbage that if it was used at Gitmo it will re-enforce the allegations of torture. Believe me, I would rather be water boarded all day rather then have to listen to that garbage.
Cymatic
As a guitarist, I have to say Morello is a very innovative and has fantastic rhythm. Although I am trained in classical, I don't know anyone who could figure out how to play the stuff he plays. He uses effects in ways that no one else ever thought of. I like Rage Against the Machine. What I find intolerable is stuff like Britanny Spears, Beegees, and most of the other commercial pulp on the radio. The criteria for success is to have the most contagious and repetitive melody so it winds up being like a kind of viral children's jingle contest except everyone shows a lot of skin and attitude.
magoo363
Being as some of the interrogators were not military but contractors and the music was being used without a license for unauthorized purposes I think they actually have a case.
clearthinker
This is hilarious. Trent Reznor became a non-factor about.....well, actually, that dude has never been a factor. Why don't these morons concentrate on MAKING MUSIC that people can tolerate to listen to.
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