When President Obama pledged in 2009 to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, civil rights advocates applauded. But music critics? They might’ve sighed in conflicted relief. You see, beyond the legal black holes and orange jumpsuits, Gitmo became known for something else entirely: its unhinged, dystopian playlist.
And yes — it’s real.
Guantanamo Bay’s approach to psychological pressure wasn’t limited to waterboarding or sleep deprivation. Sometimes, it was just music. Played loudly. Endlessly. And with zero regard for taste, tone, or mental stability.
🎵 The Playlist from Hell (Literally)
The musical selections used at Gitmo between the early 2000s and Obama-era reforms were part sonic warfare, part absurdist mixtape. It was like someone hit shuffle on Satan’s iPod during a meth bender at a truck stop. The result? A weaponized playlist featuring everything from metal and gangsta rap to Barney the Dinosaur and the Sesame Street theme.
Here, in all its surreal glory, is the Guantanamo Top 30 — a playlist designed to unsettle, unnerve, and, possibly, make your brain melt:
🎧 Guantanamo Bay’s “Top Tracks for Psychological Warfare”
AC/DC – Hell’s Bells
AC/DC – Shoot to Thrill
Aerosmith – [unspecified tracks, but imagine “Dude Looks Like a Detainee”]
Barney the Dinosaur – Theme Song
Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive
Britney Spears – [likely “…Baby One More Time” or “Oops!… I Did It Again”]
Bruce Springsteen – Born in the USA
Christina Aguilera – Dirrty
David Gray – Babylon
Deicide – Fuck Your God
Don McLean – American Pie
Dope – Die MF Die
Dope – Take Your Best Shot
Dr. Dre – [probably “Forgot About Dre,” but honestly, take your pick]
Drowning Pool – Bodies
Eminem – Kim
Eminem – The Real Slim Shady
Eminem – White America
Lil’ Kim – [unspecified track, but assume “How Many Licks?” was a contender]
Limp Bizkit – [you already know it was “Break Stuff”]
Matchbox Twenty – Gold
Meat Loaf – [possibly “I’d Do Anything for Love,” ironically]
Metallica – Enter Sandman
Neil Diamond – America
Nine Inch Nails – March of the Pigs
Nine Inch Nails – Mr. Self-Destruct
Prince – Raspberry Beret
Queen – We Are the Champions
Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Taste the Pain
Saliva – Click Click Boom
Sesame Street – Theme Song
Tupac Shakur – All Eyez on Me
Somewhere, there’s a sadistic DJ who thinks this slaps.
🎚️ Genre Roulette: Metal, Muppets, and Misery
The logic? Confuse the brain. Break the will. Make detainees so overstimulated, annoyed, or disoriented they’d reveal their secrets — or just beg for silence.
How does one emotionally process “Dirrty” by Christina Aguilera followed by “Bodies” by Drowning Pool, and then “Sesame Street”?
That’s not an interrogation tactic. That’s a breakdown soundtrack.
And for bonus irony: Springsteen’s Born in the USA, a bitter lament for disillusioned veterans, was apparently used as a pro-America anthem. Subtlety was not the order of the day.
🎤 Artists React: From Righteous Fury to Meh
Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) was livid. Discovering his music had been deployed in a torture facility left him “insulted, demeaning and enraged.” He even considered legal action — promising that if he ever saw a penny from it, it’d go straight to human rights charities. (Spoiler: no lawsuit came.)
James Hetfield (Metallica), meanwhile, seemed okay-ish with it: “If the Iraqis aren’t used to freedom, then I’m glad to be part of their exposure.” Translation: let freedom ring… loudly, and preferably at 110 decibels.
The rest of the artists — from Barney to Tupac — stayed mostly silent, perhaps due to the sheer absurdity of sharing a billing in this lineup.
📀 Not the First Time Music Was Weaponized
Guantanamo wasn’t alone in using music for coercion. In 1989, when Manuel Noriega sought sanctuary in the Vatican embassy, U.S. forces blasted Nowhere to Run and Panama outside his window until he cracked. In 1993, during the Waco standoff, the FBI reportedly played tapes of rabbits being slaughtered. (We wish we were joking.)
According to retired USAF Lt. Col. Dan Kuehl, the roots go all the way back to biblical warfare: “Joshua’s army used horns to strike fear into Jericho.” At least those horns weren’t playing Click Click Boom.
🎵 From Protest Songs to Propaganda Tools
Perhaps the weirdest legacy of the Gitmo playlist is how radically songs were stripped of context. Springsteen’s protest anthem became a triumphant chorus of American dominance. Stayin’ Alive, a disco survival song, became a cruel irony. Even We Are the Champions now rings out with a twisted sense of victory.
In Gitmo, meaning wasn’t just lost — it was hijacked.
So, What Have We Learned?
Torture is bad.
Barney can be weaponized.
No one should be subjected to Die MF Die on loop.
And if a government DJ ever offers to “set the vibe,” run.
