What’s the common denominator between Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, REM, Billy Bragg, Roseanne Cash, Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne and Steve Earle? They all stood against Guantanamo (also called by the military personnal “Gitmo”) because of the use of music as a torture tool in military interrogations!
For those who had the chance to see Rage Against The Machine during their tour last summer, you probably saw them dressed like prisoners opening their act with a minute of silence. Well, last October, the 20th, they launched “Close Gitmo Now” with bands mentionned above and retired generals who supported Obama’s plan to close the jail during the election.
Banned by the UN and the European Court of Human Rights, Music Torture had been used to break down muslim prisonners blasting loud heavy metal! It’s been reported the following songs have been played loudly and constantly to prisonners:
David Gray’s Babylon, Metallica’s Enter Sandman, Don McLean’s American Pie, Queen’s We Will Rock You, songs by REM, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Bruce Springsteen, and even theme tunes from Sesame Street!
Check out this 24 minutes short documentary, it gives you a good idea about the camp:
Adrian Baschuk for Current. “Most controversial Jail in The World”.
From Bossa Nova to Baile Funk,
This is kind of my saying: in any metal band, you’ll find great hearts and a gold mining for journalists.
Either you call it Glo-Fi, Hypnagogic Pop or Chill-Wave, there was something going on with music last summer. Dreamy synth melodies that sound like half-remembered soft-rock tunes from the 80′s, recordings on dirty unraveled tapes, memories of memories, summer nights at the beach, surfing… This had to happen at some point but here we are: