The songs you play to get hyped at the gym or get through traffic were once used for something far darker: blasted at high volume, on repeat, at detainees in US military prisons and secret facilities.
This topic is easy to get wrong. Plenty of song lists floating around online mix solid facts with guesswork. So in this article we separate the two: what the sources say, and what can’t be verified.
The short version
- The practice is reported through official reports, detainee testimony, and journalism. It wasn’t one standardized procedure.
- It’s not about genre. Metal, hip-hop, pop, even advertising jingles all show up.
- Locations differ (Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, CIA facilities), so don’t lump them together.
Which songs get named?
Frieze’s article Wrong Note collects a number of examples. Some of those it mentions:1
- Eminem, “Kim,” played to a Guantánamo detainee alongside heavy metal whose titles aren’t given
- David Gray, “Babylon,” linked to a detainee at Abu Ghraib
- Dope, “Die Motherfucker Die”
- Deicide, “Fuck Your God”
- Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the USA”
- Rage Against the Machine, “Bulls on Parade”
- Christina Aguilera, “Dirrty”
- Neil Diamond, “America”
- Bee Gees, “Stayin’ Alive”
- The Barney theme, “I Love You”
- The Meow Mix jingle
- Metallica, “Enter Sandman”
- Drowning Pool, “Bodies”
Frieze also points to a playlist compiled by Mother Jones, and even that isn’t presented as a full list.1
Honest note: you may have seen other lists naming Tupac, “Killing in the Name,” or Queen. Those are not in the Frieze article above, so we don’t claim them here. That doesn’t make them wrong, they just need a different source.
Guantánamo and “Bodies”
Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” (released 2001) is probably the most-cited example. One report says a 2004 Pentagon report noted a detainee being forced to listen to the song for hours.2
Loud music also comes up in the Senate Armed Services Committee’s November 2008 report on the treatment of detainees in US custody.3
The CIA side: the 2014 Senate report
The executive summary of the Senate’s report on the CIA detention program came out in December 2014.4 According to Vice, the phrase “loud music” appears 17 times in it.5
Some reported details:
- Abu Zubaydah is described as being subjected to an endless loop of loud music. Coverage of the report tied this to Red Hot Chili Peppers songs.67
- “Rawhide” was named in coverage of the report as a song played loudly on repeat.8
- At the COBALT facility in Afghanistan, detainees were reportedly held in darkness, shackled, with loud noise or music.9
About that “79 decibels” figure
You might have seen the number 79 dB. It’s real: a footnote in a 2005 memo says the CIA applied white noise or loud sound not to exceed 79 decibels.5 The agency also reportedly argued that at that level, detainees’ hearing wouldn’t be damaged.3
But don’t stop there. According to excerpts from the Senate report, the CIA used music at decibel levels above what it had represented to the Office of Legal Counsel, and used specific music as a signal that another interrogation session was about to start.10
The takeaway: an “official” number isn’t necessarily what happened on the ground.
Why music?
The best-supported explanations:
- A researcher interviewed by Vice argues that sound has physical effects, and that looped loud music wasn’t a trivial part of the program but integral to it.5
- In practice, music rarely stood alone. It was combined with darkness, shackles, and isolation.9
- Frieze says some techniques trace back to military survival training (SERE), and describes the result as “touchless torture,” meaning torture without obvious physical marks.1
Claims that circulate but aren’t verified
| Claim | Status |
|---|---|
| Children’s songs are “proven” to break people fastest | No source supports this. Frieze only says such songs were chosen, not that they were proven more effective.1 |
| Every case was 18 to 24 hours a day at 82 to 100 dB | There’s no uniform figure. Duration and volume varied by case. |
| Every song on the viral lists was used at Guantánamo | Viral lists usually mix locations and sources. |
Wrapping up
Music being used as a tool of torture is documented, but the details are messy, varied, and not all equally confirmed. The safest way to write or talk about it is with phrasing like “reportedly” or “according to the Senate report,” not absolute claims.
Musicians themselves also joined the debate.3 The songs you love can end up used in ways their creators never imagined.
Sources
Frieze, “Wrong Note.” https://www.frieze.com/article/wrong-note ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Music Feeds, “Red Hot Chili Peppers Used By CIA To Torture Prisoner” (cites a 2004 Pentagon report on “Bodies”). https://musicfeeds.com.au/?p=101820 ↩︎
NBC News, “Musicians turn up the volume on Gitmo debate.” https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna33423672 ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Salon, “10 appalling findings in the Senate’s torture report” (December 9, 2014). https://salon.com/2014/12/09/10_appalling_findings_in_the_senates_torture_report ↩︎
Vice (Motherboard), “Why Sound Torture Works.” https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-sound-torture-works/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎
Government Executive, “CIA Used Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs to Torture Terrorism Detainee.” https://www.govexec.com/defense/2014/04/cia-used-red-hot-chili-peppers-songs-torture-terrorism-detainee/82273 ↩︎
Stereogum, “CIA Tortured Prisoner With Red Hot Chili Peppers According To New Senate Intelligence Committee Report.” https://stereogum.com/1674983/cia-tortured-prisoner-with-red-hot-chili-peppers-according-to-new-senate-intelligence-committee-report-2/news ↩︎
Government Executive, “Humane interrogation technique works much better than torture.” https://govexec.com/defense/2014/12/humane-interrogation-technique-works-much-better-torture/101232 ↩︎
Thomson Reuters Graphics, “U.S. Senate report on CIA practices.” https://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/14/CIA-detainees/index.html ↩︎ ↩︎
Excerpts of the Senate Intelligence Committee report, pp. 428 to 429, as quoted in a Fulcrum commentary. https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/file_sets/mc87ps214 ↩︎
