But Did They Get Royalties

Torture is no laughing matter, but I just noted this amusing phrasing from Newsweek:

In addition to waterboarding, Zubaydah was subjected to sleep deprivation and bombarded with blaring rock music by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. One agent was so offended he threatened to arrest the CIA interrogators, according to two former government officials directly familiar with the dispute.

Yes, they went beyond sleep deprivation and drowning to deploy . . . the Chili Peppers:

On a semi-serious note, I have to think you'd feel just terrible if you learned that your music was being used as part of a regime of torture.

Comments

We recall a soldier saying they played G&R's "Used to love her" at blast volumne before they engaged the enemy but that it was such an un-pc song for mixed gender units that that they decided to us James Taylor's "Whenever I see her smiling face" instead.

Posted by Comment | December 19, 2007 12:43 PM

It depends on which album, dontcha think? I liked Bloodsugarsexmagic at the time, but I think I'd be in horrific pain if I had to listen to it over and over again now.

Posted by Al | December 19, 2007 12:46 PM

I think my dorm mates tortured me when I was a freshman ....

But obviously, the CIA was just toying with these people. What about 24/7 Celine Dion?

Addington probably vetoed that as "beyond all possible bounds of human dignity."

Posted by Anderson | December 19, 2007 12:48 PM

Nothing new. The ATF blasted "Achy Breaky Heart" into the David Koresh compound.

But yes, I think you do have to feel terrible. I wonder if you can use copyright to stop it ... after all, is it really "non-commercial use"? Oh, the ironies abound.

Posted by Nicholas Beaudrot | December 19, 2007 12:55 PM

There is at least one serious article exploring the legal issues. (I seem to remember hearing about this issue previously, including protests by artists, but couldn't readily find them).

Posted by Warren Terra | December 19, 2007 1:32 PM

Wait, would they feel terrible because they were somehow made complicit with the torture?
Or would they feel terrible because the universal consensus is that their music is so awful that having to listen to it constitutes torture?

Posted by jamie | December 19, 2007 1:39 PM

Scots and other Brits used bagpipes to scare enemies.

Posted by Comment | December 19, 2007 1:58 PM

On a semi-serious note, I have to think you'd feel just terrible if you learned that your music was being used as part of a regime of torture.

I don't know... Merzbow? Prurient? Maybe they'd appreciate that.

Posted by trouc | December 19, 2007 1:59 PM

Constant loud repetitive music starts to drive you nuts around the sixth hour of exposure give or take. You experience trauma and go into shock and will most likely have a post traumatic stress disorder for some time afterwards. Sound is the worst. Being beaten is better, there is less damage to your body/mind.
I never thought I would see the day that the US openly embraced these soviet style techniques, I think if you could time travel an American from 1981, he would be just as shocked.

What happened?

Posted by Northern "The Filthy" Observer | December 19, 2007 2:40 PM

I frequently tourture my daughter by singing "It Might As Well Be Spring." I don't do it to get information out of her, I do for just because it's fun.

Posted by cw | December 19, 2007 2:52 PM

Ninety percent of everything recorded since 1965 would do it for me.

Posted by Henderstock | December 19, 2007 3:14 PM

Could have been worse - they could have played my favorite band, The Corrs.

Reminds me of a scene in "Deadpool", where he invades a sophisticated enemy's mansion, runs around doing stuff like playing country western music on the guy's stereo system. The enemy says, "He dies! He dies screaming!"

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | December 19, 2007 3:15 PM

This blog post from the beginning of the year talks about using music as torture. Covers Rage Against the Machine's objections to their music being used.

http://jonahwalters.blogspot.com/2007/03/music-as-torture-at-guantanamo-bay.html

Posted by Matt | December 19, 2007 3:44 PM

I'm pretty sure "Used to Love Her" is about a dog. It's still un-PC because the fact that it sounds like it's about a woman is part of the joke.

Posted by Led | December 19, 2007 4:20 PM

"Give It Away" seems like the appropriate RHCP song to play for the occasion.

Posted by blah | December 19, 2007 4:20 PM

Some great posts.

BTW, for details on how Somali refugees are faring in increasingly-xenophobic Minnesota, see (the facetiously titled):

'Minnesota's Own Version of "Verjudung," or How Somali Refugees Threaten Christmas In The Upper Midwest'

Michael Blaine, "Rudely Stamped"
www.rudelystamped.blogspot.com

Posted by Michael Blaine | December 19, 2007 4:58 PM

Led is right, "Used to Love Her" is about a dog. So is "Bron-Y-Aur-Stomp."

Posted by blah2 | December 19, 2007 5:11 PM

Here's an example of a musician discovering that his music has been used for this purpose.

Posted by Chris | December 19, 2007 5:45 PM

An NYU-based musicologist named Suzanne Cusick did some interesting research into music used in warfare, including for torture, and one of the things she found was that the policies tended to allow the soldiers/agents engaging in the warfare/torture to choose the music themselves, and they generally chose music they themselves liked. The whole article is interesting -- she also deals with ways in which many conservatives talk about the issue. Here's the URL: http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/trans10/cusick_eng.htm

Posted by Galen | December 19, 2007 5:58 PM

There's actually a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers called "Torture Me".

Posted by Acumensch | December 19, 2007 9:37 PM