According to information from prisoner rights group Reprieve, the US government is continuing to use obscenely loud music as a means of extracting information from enemy combatants.
The playlist of pain, which for years has been alleged to include tracks from AC/DC, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Nine Inch Nails, Metallica and Drowning Pool, now apparently (and oddly) includes songs by menacing nodding dog David Gray.
In addition, Reprieve also alleges that theme music from Barney and Sesame Street is repeatedly played at mercilessly high volumes in and effort to break the will of detainees – a practice previously questioned in Jon Ronson’s book The Men Who Stare At Goats.
Understandably, many musicians are not best pleased about their labours being used for torture, in a practice that is ‘not approved of’ by the United Nations and the European Court of Human Rights.
According to website digitalmusicnews.com, an aggrieved David Gray said: “What we’re talking about here is people in a darkened room, physically inhibited by handcuffs, bags over their heads and music blaring at them.
“That is nothing but torture.”
