Industrial Band Skinny Puppy Sticks Pentagon With $666,000 Bill for Using Their Music at Gantanamo Bay (Video)

Skinny Puppy, a Canadian hard-rock industrial band, learned that their music was being used to torture Guantanamo Bay detainees. The band didn't like it, so they sent the U.S. Government an invoice. Skinny Puppy says it sent the Pentagon a $666,000 bill after learning the United States military used their music to torture detainees at Guantanamo. Skinny Puppy music is torture to some people's ears. Skinny Puppy's invoice references 666, the number of the devil, because Skinny Puppy plays to Gothic themes.Skinny Puppy found out their music was blasted out at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba after a former guard who is a Skinny Puppy fan told them about the musical torture. 

Rights groups say that prison officials subjected Guantanamo's terror suspects to "deafening loud music," often featuring violent lyrics, during interrogation.

Pop and rock music has been used in military psychological operations, PsyOps, for years. Britney Spears' music was blasted at Somali Pirates. The army blasted Metallica songs to keep Iraqi soldiers up at night. Bands like REM, Rage Against the Machine and Metallica have denounced the use of their music at Guantanamo.

Skinny Puppy's keyboardist Cevin Key told Canada's CTV Television, "We sent them an invoice for our musical services considering they had gone ahead and used our music without our knowledge and used it as an actual weapon against somebody ... I wouldn't want to be subjected to any overly loud music for six to 12 hours at a time without a break."  

The founder of Skinny Puppy, cEvin Key, told Phoenix New Times "We heard through a reliable grapevine that our music was being used in Guantanamo Bay prison camps to musically stun or torture people. We heard that our music was used on at least four occasions. So we thought it would be a good idea to make an invoice to the U.S. government for musical services, thus the concept of the record title, Weapons."

That's no way to win fans and Skinny Puppy didn't like it. Key said "We never supported those types of scenarios. It's kind of typical that we thought this would end up happening, in a weird way. Because we make unsettling music, we can see it being used in a weird way. But it doesn't sit right with us."

Skinny Puppy has a huge cult following. Their performances have included mock executions, band members have been smeared in fake blood onstage, they pack machetes, and wear heavy makeup. Skinny Puppy makes hard industrial music in the vein of Ministry, Throbbing Gristle and Scream Machine.  The Canadian industrial band came up through the 1980s club scene. Skinny Puppy reunited after a short hiatus and has been dong shows. The first album they released after getting back together a more melodic, almost pop album "The Greater Wrong of The Right." 

Tags
world news
skinny puppy
Guantanamo Bay
pentagon
Join the Discussion

Latest Photo Gallery

Real Time Analytics