Soundtrack of Suffering: Inside the CIA’s Torture Playlist

The use of loud, repetitive music as an interrogation tactic—a practice sometimes referred to as “torture by music”—came to light through investigations into the CIA’s actions after the September 11 attacks.

While the extremes of waterboarding, rectal rehydration, and other physical abuses dominate most discussions of “enhanced interrogation techniques,” the forced exposure to music has proven just as psychologically destructive for many detainees.

Various government documents and testimonies from former prisoners illustrate how music was weaponized. At one CIA detention facility known as COBALT, detainees were kept in pitch-black conditions and bombarded with loud noise or music around the clock.

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s 2014 report on CIA torture describes how certain songs—like the Blues Brothers’ “Rawhide”—were chosen to condition prisoners into expecting another interrogation session. The moment the detainees heard the first bars, they would brace themselves for more abuse. In some cases, this musical assault continued for days or weeks, depriving prisoners of sleep and plunging them into deep psychological distress.

Several tracks have been repeatedly cited as “torture favorites.” Heavy metal and country tunes—genres distinctively American—were commonly blared at high volumes to alienate detainees from their cultural comfort zones.

Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” Deicide’s “Fuck Your God,” and Drowning Pool’s “Bodies” have been mentioned frequently, while even the innocuous children’s song “I Love You” from Barney & Friends was used continuously to produce a sense of futility. According to detainees, this can drive a person to the brink of madness, a state some claim is worse than physical pain because of its lingering psychological grip.

Controversy also surrounds how these songs ended up on CIA or military “playlists” for interrogations. One theory is that soldiers simply played whatever they brought with them. Others argue that the “foreignness” and aggressive tone of certain genres was deliberately harnessed to disorient detainees from Afghanistan, Yemen, or other regions where Western heavy metal is uncommon.

As musicologist Suzanne G. Cusick points out, music’s ability to infiltrate the mind makes it an ideal tool for psychological torture: detainees’ brains automatically struggle to make sense of the assault, compounding their nightmare.

Some musicians have reacted with outrage. David Gray condemned reports that his song “Babylon” was played at torturous volumes in Abu Ghraib, calling it “disgusting” and worrying that such abuses betray the ideals the U.S. claims to uphold.

In contrast, others have shrugged at the notion that music qualifies as torture. Steve Asheim from Deicide suggested that detainees, as “trained warriors,” might find loud music mild compared to more violent forms of abuse. Yet former prisoners recount that the relentless bombardment of sound in a dark cell can be every bit as devastating to a person’s mental well-being as physical violence.

Ultimately, documents and testimonies have shown that music torture yielded no meaningful intelligence—just like other brutal methods associated with the CIA’s former “black site” network.

Although the practice may appear innocuous to outside observers, survivors paint a disturbing picture of psychological torment. It remains a stark reminder that sound can be far more than a form of entertainment or cultural expression. In places like Guantánamo Bay or the CIA black sites, it became a formidable weapon—one that inflicted lasting damage on the bodies and minds of detainees long after the final note faded.

Here is a list of some of the songs that are known to have been used: