# If you were a Guantanamo detainee, what kind of music would it take to break you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070 "2009-11-02T17:44:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/1 "2009-11-02T17:44:47Z")
I saw an interesting story about this last week. Apparently the playing of Nine Inch Nails, Queen and the Meow Mix jingle was used as a form of coercion at Guantanamo. [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6682049.html](http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6682049.html) Anyway if somebody wanted to torture you, what type of music would they use? For me it would be 1970s and 1980s era smooth jazz, the type of stuff that resembles a porn movie soundtrack. If they really wanted to get me to talk they would also throw on some early '90s Michael Bolton. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/2 "2009-11-02T17:52:29Z")
House, rave, dance whatever you call it. The shite with basically a huge bass and little else. DU, DU, DU, DU… DU Head explodes. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/3 "2009-11-02T18:00:18Z")
It’s hard to think there was a time in the recent past a thread like this would be thought of as too ridiculous, too extreme, in such bad taste it would probably be closed and a pit thread started to call out the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/4 "2009-11-02T18:09:22Z")
James Taylor. It might take a half hour or so to realize how torturous it is, but it would be all down hill after that. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/5 "2009-11-02T18:10:48Z")
Jazz + ganster rap + those whiny roughed-voice boy-band types. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/6 "2009-11-02T18:13:57Z")
It doesn’t matter. The constant loud playing of music that you don’t have any control over will eventually break someone, regardless of the genre. It will destroy concentration and disturb sleep, and the actual content wouldn’t matter much. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/7 "2009-11-02T18:16:21Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Jazz + ganster rap + those whiny roughed-voice boy-band types. Bwahahahaha. Now we know. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/8 "2009-11-02T18:21:37Z")
Rap and Hip Hop . . . with the bass turned all the way up, of course. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/9 "2009-11-02T18:37:12Z")
Paul McCartney ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/10 "2009-11-02T18:44:32Z")
Anything played over and over. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/11 "2009-11-02T18:58:57Z")
I absolutely require regular and extended interludes of peace and quiet, so **any** music played loud and all the time would drive me insane. It would happen faster with hard-core rap or angry metal music, but I’d soon hate even my favorite songs if I was forced to hear them over and over. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/12 "2009-11-02T19:16:17Z")
Gangsta rap + Top 40 of the Beyonce/Kanye/Taylor Swift variety + boy bands. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/13 "2009-11-02T19:45:09Z")
Merzbow. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/14 "2009-11-02T19:47:43Z")
Music? All it would take would be the buzzing of a dentist’s drill to get me to spill any bit of information I had. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/15 "2009-11-02T19:49:31Z")
Rap, fusion jazz (I think that’s what they call it–the stuff where they noodle around on variations of the same theme for oh, about nine hours per track 🙂 ), certain types of country (the really twangy stuff), death/speed metal (again, I think that’s the right term–the stuff with lots of discordant guitars, drums, and screaming, and no melody whatsoever). Also white-bread muzak and the more insipid examples of children’s music. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/16 "2009-11-02T19:51:40Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > House, rave, dance whatever you call it. The shite with basically a huge bass and little else. > > DU, DU, DU, DU… DU > > Head explodes. I think you mean “Techno” - the stuff that sounds like a retard has been let loose with a stick and a biscuit tin. _Some_ House music is actually quite good. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/17 "2009-11-02T19:53:58Z")
Any Christmas music would do it. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/18 "2009-11-02T20:00:58Z")
Jazz,Rap,Hip Hop,Stevie Wonder ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/19 "2009-11-02T20:04:37Z")
Norteño music. Even rap would be preferable to that, and I **loathe** rap. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/20 "2009-11-02T20:18:35Z")
FWIW, I recall stories that the Army went after Noriega in Panama by blasting Andy Williams’ Christmas album at his house nonstop. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070.md?page=2)