Springsteen torture at Camp X-Ray

news.com.au ^ | 01 March 04

[Doctor Raoul]

Springsteen torture at Camp X-Ray

01Mar04

A TERROR suspect freed from Guantanamo Bay has told of cruel and unusual punishment.

Hamed Abderrahman Ahmad, a Spaniard who denies any links with terrorism, said he had to wrap his head in a damp towel to try to muffle loud tapes of Born in the USA.

Mr Ahmad said he was confined to a small cell where the lights were always on and he was forced to listen endlessly to Bruce Springsteen.

"First I spent a month in a cell two metres square that had a roof of sheet iron, with unbearable heat," he said.

"All day they blared patriotic American music. It was Born in the USA. We had to put wet towels on our heads to be able to bear the heat and not hear the music . . .

"Later they put us in even smaller cells."

This report appears on NEWS.com.au.

[speedy]

Okay, the link is working after all. You're way too young to know these songs. You must have had parents with bad musical taste, or else you have a lot of back issues of Billboard.

[Skooz]

If I am ever captured by the enemy and tortured in this way, you'd better hope you're not in my battalion, bud, 'cause I would spill my guts pronto.

Electric shock and bamboo under the nails is one thing, but being forced to listen to that overrated, pompous, inconceivably boring know-nothing would break my will quick.

I pity the poor terrorists. NO ONE deserves that.

[redheadtoo]

We were having a luau at work and I was sent to the library to check out some Hawaiian music. There must have been a run on Hawaiian music that week because all the albums had been checked out but one. Its name, Aloha from Tennessee Ernie Ford.

The album was as bad as you can image.

[Bullish]

[speedy]

I never realized how much Little Richard looks like Hillary Clinton. And wearing the same suit!!

[Bullish]

:^)

[KneelBeforeZod]

hmmm lets play a song critical of the USA to a bunch of people who hate the USA.

good work, idiots

[F16Fighter]

"The "cool kids" and burn outs were a combo of rockers and Dead Heads. The jocks were into whatever groups were common on the radio and they loved Springsteen. And then fags/nerds either didn't care at all or like the jocks listened to whatever was on the radio. Oh yeah there were a few punk types around too but they were cool...

For many of us Springsteen was in the same category as Disco - he was literally and passionately hated. He could honestly be considered torture."

Come on!!

You didn't dance to Springsteen! OR bump and grind (but hey -- power to ya if you could).

NO WAY was Bruce tossed into the same category as Disco. I should know -- I worked on the boardwalk in Seaside Park in those days during the summer -- and even ran an album/tapes booth.

Though his 'Darkness On the Edge of Town' album came out at the height of disco, he was THE man. And that album was one of the most anticipated albums ever -- especially on the heels of the 'Born To Run' album, which brought to attention his great work on the previous album, 'The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle.'

I don't know what the "cool kids" were listening to up in your neck of the North Joisey woods back then (76-80), but down here at the shore Bruce, Foreigner, Boston, and Fleetwood Mac dominated. Of course Zepplin, Pink Floyd, the Cars and Tom Petty always had their place...

But let's be honest -- if you were looking to meet the ladies and didn't mind a 2-1 ratio or better in the house -- a DISCO was THE place.

So what were you listening to back in '76-'80?

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

[Mr. Mojo]

I'll go as far as to say that late 70's Springsteen and Petty were responsible for keeping rock and roll breathing after the excesses of bands like Zep (with their live songs sometimes lasting a full hour) and the invasion of disco. Their bands were tight, the lyrics were descriptive with being "ethereal" (unlike Yes, Floyd, Zep, etc), and their sound was uniquely American. From '78 to '80 they were it. But after The River Springsteen lost his edge, and hasn't yet recovered. ....His music became somewhat contrived. But from where I'm sitting, his first five albums are among the best in the genre's history.

[dagoofyfoot]

"Don't do it please, oh God, no, I'll tell you anything you want to know....Just don't play that record!"

[weegee]

Mae West says it's not the men in your life but the life in your men...

[weegee]

...then something went wrong.

Concept albums, rock operas, Woodstock, country-rock (as opposed to hillbilly influenced rock known as rockabilly). Take your pick.

"Adults" in the 1970s listed to fern bar songwriters like Carly Simon, Paul Simon, James Taylor, et al. They danced to superficial Disco and did massive amounts of cocaine.

Songwriters got "serious" and believed their own press sheets. Rock and roll wasn't fun anymore.

Back to basics is where it always is.

Good rock and roll is still made but you are just about on your own in this world to find it.

[weegee]

WITH SOUND CLIPS:

Various Artists
When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You’d Hear

Ani Difranco and Jackie Chan - Unforgettable (Nat King Cole)
Devo - Ohio (CSNY)
The Box Tops - Call Me (Blondie)
The Connells - Insame in the Membrane (Cypress Hill)
Don Ho - Shock The Monkey (Peter Gabriel)
Roy Clark - What A Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong)
Billy Preston - Girls On Film (Duran Duran)
The Fixx -These Boots Are Made For Walking (Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazlewood)
The Oak Ridge Boys - Carry On My Wayward Sun (Kansas)
The Neanderthal Spongecake - Bang A Gong Get It On (T.Rex)
Herman's Hermits' Featureing Peter Noone - White Wedding (Billy Idol)
Lesley Gore - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

[weegee]

[weegee]

Go to the BizarreRecords.com website. Lots more good covers...

[Commie Basher]

I wonder if, technically, the military can do that, unless they have a performance license from ASCAP or BMI? Wouldn't it be funny if the RIAA complained of copyright infringement?

[larlaw]

Well, having grown up in New Jersey myself in the 1980s (F.L. High school 80 to 84, Rutgers '84 to 88) I can say that Springsteen was the one artist who pretty much crossed ALL cliques and all regions of the state as a source of pride for everyone, especially after Born in the U.S.A. became such a monster hit.

In my high school, Heavy Metal (Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Ozzy, etc) ruled the roost, and most of us were listening to loud electric guitars. However there was also a big contingent of Springsteen fans, and even more importantly even the non-fans appreciated how he put New Jersey on the map globally.

Ironically enough, for those who are unaware, Born in the USA is NOT a patriotic song but quite the reverse - it is a song about a returning Vietnam Vet who is CRITICAL of his treatment upon his return to the U.S.A. George Will in one of his columns (and then President Reagan) made the facile mistake of confusing the patriotic-sounding refrain of "Born in the U.S.A." for a patriotic, pro-America song. Given Springsteen's politics, it was quite disturbing to him and he still complains about it in interviews.

Ironic that it is what they are playing the evil ones in Guantanamo...

[handk]

Sky rockets in flight
Afternoon delight
Afternoon delight
Afternoon delight

Yeah, "sky rockets"; as opposed to, say, "dirt rockets", or maybe "rock rockets". Let me get this straight, rockets fly in the sky????

[JoeSixPack1]

A steady diet of 60's psycho-delic would save on lobotomizing costs.