# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/41 "2009-11-03T06:12:29Z")
Bluegrass. ---
**Author:** ![Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amber_in_Treasury)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/42 "2009-11-03T11:23:50Z")
Modern Talking. Or anything off a “Ballermann Hits” compilation. ---
**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 3, 2009, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/43 "2009-11-03T11:39:07Z")
Given 24/7 of [Throbbing Gristle’s “Discipline”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8klW9trVTQ) I’d sell everyone I knew down the Swanee. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/44 "2009-11-03T12:10:33Z")
Hopefully nothing would get to me. I used to work as an audio engineer and learned to listen to music as sounds. I could listen for hours to something that was nicely produced, even though I didn’t like it musically, just to find out why I liked the sounds the producer/engineer had pulled. Similarly I don’t get annoyed by external sounds even when they are driving people around me crazy because I listen to the sounds for a while and “absorb” them and they become less intrusive. I suppose the best bet would be kiddy music like _The Wiggles_ because it has no lyrical or musical content that could really be interesting for long. I think I would soon tire of it. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/45 "2009-11-03T14:24:56Z")
Country. I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Just make it stop! The horror…the horror. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/46 "2009-11-03T14:28:44Z")
> [@Chakra Nadmara](#): > > Wtf @ saying jazz? I assume those people have never heard real jazz and/or are referring to the painful elevator music plaguing the radio today. I don’t mind “smooth jazz” – I can just tune it out. It’s real jazz I hate with a fiery passion. ---
**Author:** ![BKReporter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@BKReporter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BKReporter)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/47 "2009-11-03T14:48:07Z")
The [FreeCreditReport.com](http://FreeCreditReport.com) commercials. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/48 "2009-11-03T15:44:44Z")
> [@Peanut\_Gallery](#): > > Children singing. Ick. > > Children singing about Christmas? Can’t we just go back to the waterboarding? Good one. A few years ago I was in a toy store that had just opened. I can’t remember if I was shopping for something or just checking out the new place. But they were playing a song that had a girl, may 11 or 12, singing. She had an annoyingly cloying voice to begin with. But she also ended phrases with a little “stylish” glissando up. I suppose that someone once told her that it was all the rage in pop music or something. And maybe if she’d done it once or twice in the song that would have enhanced it a bit. But she did it at the end of every. Single. Fucking. Phrase. I had to leave the store. ---
**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 3, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/49 "2009-11-03T15:49:38Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Good one. > > A few years ago I was in a toy store that had just opened. I can’t remember if I was shopping for something or just checking out the new place. But they were playing a song that had a girl, may 11 or 12, singing. She had an annoyingly cloying voice to begin with. But she also ended phrases with a little “stylish” glissando up. I suppose that someone once told her that it was all the rage in pop music or something. And maybe if she’d done it once or twice in the song that would have enhanced it a bit. But she did it at the end of every. Single. Fucking. Phrase. > > I had to leave the store. You made Santa cry! ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/50 "2009-11-03T15:52:30Z")
The Oompa Loompa song from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the one with Gene Wilder). Now you know my weakness. I feel so vulnerable and exposed. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/51 "2009-11-03T15:57:12Z")
> [@elvisl1ves](#): > > 1-877-kars 4 kids, > k a r s, kars 4 kids, > 1-877-kars 4 kids, > donate your car today. nooooooooooo!!! ---
**Author:** ![McGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@McGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McGeek)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/52 "2009-11-03T19:50:42Z")
Does it have to be music? Because to break me, all you’d have to do is play Fox News Channel 24/7. I’ve actually had a taste of this treatment, on 2 occasions. One was when I went to visit an old friend for a weekend. I knew her political views were somewhat more conservative than my own, but… Anyway, the WHOLE weekend that I was there, she left the TV on, set on Faux News. Nobody was even in the room where the TV was, but she explained she liked to leave it on because it calmed her dogs’ separation issues if they could always hear voices talking. My dogs are the same way, so I could understand that. I figured that the TV had gotten set to that channel at random or by mistake, and that she must just tune it out, so she didn’t notice what the channel was. BUT THEN, near the end of the weekend, somehow we were discussing TV habits and she said, “The only TV I ever follow is the news”. It actually took me a moment to realize she was referring to having FNC on, and that she was giving herself credit for staying informed on the news based on that source. Even if she’d been watching it closely, that would have been even worse because I don’t consider FNC a news source. I didn’t say anything though, because she is a dear friend with whom I do not want to argue politics etc. Then this summer my husband’s side of the family rented a beach house together. His brother “D” turned the channel to FNC literally every time he even walked thru the living room. Our bedroom was off the LR so we had to hear it. Meanwhile D’s marital problems, moodiness and depression because a big issue during the week, with my in-laws doing some intervention to try to help him work things out. My husband and another of his brothers quipped to each other privately, “Gee,” maybe if he turned off Faux News Channel once in a while, life would begin to look up for him." I mean, “D” actually stated that his favorite on FNC was Glenn Beck. I’d been wondering who watched that! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/53 "2009-11-03T20:02:00Z")
Am I going to be the first person to say Kenny G? ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/54 "2009-11-03T21:43:59Z")
The crap my daughter listens to on the radio (“I wanna make love in this club” is one of the lyrics I can’t forget); I guess it’s pop/rap/hip hop. It’s already broken me. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/55 "2009-11-03T23:16:26Z")
[Pachalbel’s _Canon in D_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM) ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/56 "2009-11-03T23:19:55Z")
Five dollar…five dollar footloooooong. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/57 "2009-11-04T18:27:27Z")
I’ll second _norteño_. HATE it. As for whoever mentioned Stevie Wonder…are you _serious_? Okay, maybe his stuff since about 1980 isn’t _great_, but still… ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/58 "2009-11-04T18:31:19Z")
Yoko Ono. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/59 "2009-11-04T19:36:47Z")
> [@McGeek](#): > > Does it have to be music? > > Because to break me, all you’d have to do is play Fox News Channel 24/7. My co-workers have Dr. Phil on their computers in the afternoon. Now, I will watch him on occasion when I am a vegetable at home, but combined with trying to think about work? I’m thisclose to breaking. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-were-a-guantanamo-detainee-what-kind-of-music-would-it-take-to-break-you/516070/60 "2009-11-04T20:01:16Z")
The theme from _Full House_. _shudder_ (On the other hand, wouldn’t it be kind of funny if the guard comes in the next morning, and sees one of the detainees headbanging (and doing that weird hand sign) to [_Head Like a Hole_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV2EUUF47Ms)?) “Rock n’ ROOOOLLLLL!!!” (I love NIN) [Previous 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) [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=4)