10 Songs That Have Been Used to Torture Prisoners
These songs would drive anyone crazy. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’ll be looking at the most prominent songs that have been used to drive prison inmates up the wall, with the goal of breaking them down.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be looking at the most prominent songs that have
00:07been used to drive prison inmates up the wall, with the goal of breaking them down.
00:18The Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack, Bee Gees
00:27The Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack is one of the best-selling albums of all time, hence
00:32there are undoubtedly millions who have listened to it over and over and over again, however
00:42most of those people did so of their own volition and at a volume that was generally safe for
00:48their eardrums.
00:50Unfortunately, the opposite was true for a number of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay
00:54Detention Camp.
00:55Multiple former detainees have written about the prison's use of loud music as a torture
01:00and interrogation tool.
01:01According to one report, inmates were locked inside wooden boxes and force-fed the entire
01:07Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack night after night.
01:10Just the thought of it gives us night fevers.
01:17The Meow Mix Jingle Declassified CIA reports have revealed two
01:28criteria used by the agency when selecting songs to wear down prisoners.
01:33They had to be either offensive or just plain annoying.
01:36The Meow Mix Jingle perfectly fits into the latter category.
01:40Sure, it's cute the first time you see the commercial with the singing cats.
01:47And it might even still be charming on a hundredth viewing, but imagine hearing it a hundred
01:52times in a row on a constant loop.
01:55Terrifying right?
01:56Meow Mix might be so good that cats ask for it by name, but listening to the jingle on
02:01repeat is so annoying we wouldn't be surprised if inmates confessed names just to make it
02:06stop.
02:07Take Your Best Shot – Dope If you're someone who has never been subjected
02:24to torture, you may think getting beat up would be far tougher than enduring loud non-stop
02:29music.
02:30But according to former Guantanamo prisoner Ruhal Ahmed, that notion may not be so correct.
02:36It might sound crazy, but as Ahmed told the legal non-profit Reprieve, you can brace yourself
02:41mentally for the physical assaults.
02:44Psychological torture however?
02:46Not a chance.
02:52One of the songs on the Torment playlist in Guantanamo Bay was apparently Take Your Best
02:57Shot by Dope.
02:58Ahmed described prisoners losing their minds from the constant noise, ending up so messed
03:03up that the information they provided was practically useless.
03:12Baby Shark – Pinkfong Any parent of a young child who has been forced
03:21to listen to Baby Shark on repeat has no doubt deemed it cruel punishment.
03:25But in 2023, an Oklahoma County special judge made it official.
03:30Not for parents though, but for four inmates at an Oklahoma jail.
03:34These individuals were forced to listen to the song blasted on repeat as a form of punishment.
03:43In a subsequent lawsuit, they accused two jail officers, Christian Miles and Gregory
03:49Butler Jr. of using harsh techniques like forcing them to stand in stress positions
03:54for long periods.
03:56And of course, subjecting them to Baby Shark at such a loud volume that it was reverberating
04:01down the hallways.
04:08Bodies – Drowning Pool Bodies by Drowning Pool is a song about the
04:16sanctity of the mosh pit and respect for the other individuals in the space.
04:21However, the constant lyrical refrain of let the bodies hit the floor has led to the
04:26track being misinterpreted as condoning violence.
04:35This misunderstanding got it pulled from the radio after the 9-11 attacks.
04:39Despite this temporary ban, bodies was used by interrogators at Guantanamo Bay during
04:44their interrogation of Mohamedou Old Salahi, a suspected terrorist.
04:49The song was reportedly played for 10 days straight while Salahi was also exposed to
04:54variable lighting patterns.
05:02Babylon – David Gray Babylon, a tune about a love that is lost
05:12and found again, has been referred to as the signature song of British singer-songwriter
05:17David Gray.
05:18However, it gained an unexpected reputation as one of the favorites in the CIA's music
05:23torture playlist at Guantanamo Bay in the 2000s.
05:32This disturbing fact was first revealed in 2008 when prisoner Haj Ali told of his experiences
05:39being stripped, handcuffed, and force-fed the song at a mind-numbingly loud volume.
05:44Needless to say, Gray was not happy with the misuse of his work and he stepped up to
05:49advocate against the broader practice of using music for torture.
06:00Enter Sandman – Metallica Enter Sandman, Metallica's song about a
06:06child's nightmares, became a real-life nightmare for many Iraqi prisoners during the War on
06:12Terror.
06:13Many U.S. interrogators used the metal classic to break captives, and Metallica lead singer
06:18James Hetfield wasn't that upset by it.
06:28At a 2017 interview with Thrasher Magazine, he admitted that once their music is released
06:33into the world, they have no control over how it is used.
06:36He added,
06:37I'm honored my country is using something to help us stay safe, if they are.
06:41Although if the CIA and the U.S. military had downloaded the song illegally, we're
06:46sure Hetfield would have been furious about it.
06:52Dirty – Christina Aguilera, featuring Redman
07:00The use of music as a tool of psychological torture wasn't just about playing a song
07:05really loud.
07:07The choice of song was often a key part of the plan, as was the case with Christina Aguilera's
07:13Dirty, which was used on Mohammed Al-Qahtani, the alleged 20th hijacker of the 9-11 attacks,
07:19to offend his observant Muslim sensibilities.
07:27The over-sexualized lyrics fit in with other such tactics, which also included female interrogators
07:33going topless and giving forced lap dances to the prisoners.
07:37They even smeared red liquid on the detainees, claiming it was menstrual blood.
07:46The Real Slim Shady – Eminem
07:51There are conflicting reports as to whether it was Eminem's song The Real Slim Shady
07:55or his entire sophomore album, The Slim Shady LP, that was played on a loop for up to 20
08:01days.
08:02The answer was both.
08:08What really matters, though, is that according to some CIA operatives, when discussing this
08:12song, as well as others, the music was so foreign to them, it made them frantic.
08:18Frantic seems like an understatement when you hear what one former Guantanamo prisoner
08:23said.
08:24Discussing the relentless background music, Binyam Mohamed detailed how it got so bad
08:29that it reportedly even drove some of the prisoners to harm themselves.
08:52The Barney and Friends Theme Song – The C.I.A.
09:00The C.I.A. used this famously annoying children's show theme song to aggravate prisoners so
09:06much that it became their most overused torture song, according to The Guardian.
09:11The idea of this tune being used in that way seemed laughable to its composer, Bob Singleton.
09:22It seemed so ludicrous that something totally innocuous for children could threaten the
09:26mental state of an adult, he said.
09:29He also added that while it might be annoying, it wouldn't break me down and make me confess
09:34to crimes against humanity.
09:36Fortunately, he's never had to endure it blasted on repeat at deafening volumes.
09:47Speaking of children's show theme songs, we have to mention another torture favorite,
09:51the Sesame Street Song.
09:58What do you think about these songs, and how they were used?
10:02Let us know in the comments.