It's meant as
auditory torture for thousands of detainees in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay: blaring music 24 hours a day for weeks on end in order to, as one U.S. General put it,
"create fear, disorient ... and prolong capture shock."Nine Inch Nails, AC/DC,
Queen and
Pantera are just a few of the many groups the U.S. military uses to inflict pain and confusion, along with music from
Sesame Street,
Barney and many more.
But according to the
Associated Press, musicians are now banding together and
demanding an end to the use of their songs for harm under a new campaign called
Zero dB.
Massive Attack and
Tom Morello of
Rage Against the Machine and
Audioslave are just a couple of the artists that have already signed on to the campaign, which will feature minutes of silence during concerts and festivals.
Some other groups, however, are
proud that the U.S. military is using their songs for torture, such s
Drowning Pool's
Stevie Benton.
"People assume we should be offended that somebody in the military
thinks our song is annoying enough that played over and over it can
psychologically break someone down," he reportedly told
Spin magazine. "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."
Morello sees it differently. At a recent concert in San Francisco, he said:
"I suggest that they level Guantanamo Bay, but they keep one small cell
and they put Bush in there ... and they blast some Rage Against the
Machine."
