Has anybody read this article? http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2008/02/27/military-uses-david-gray-against-terror-detainees/

The song that put ATO Records (formerly based here) on the map, is also apparently one song that drives terror suspects crazy. According to Mother Jones magazine, David Gray’s “Babylon” is one of several ditties used in military prisons and on bases to deprive prisoners of sleep, disorient them during interrogations, or “drown out their screams.” The list was compiled from leaked interrogation reports, previous news articles, and firsthand soldier and prisoner accounts.

When Dave Matthews and Coran Capshaw founded ATO Records in 2000, “Babylon” was the first hit single for the fledgling label, receiving repeated play on MTV, VH-1, and Top 40 radio, and propelling Gray’s ATO debut album, White Ladder, to sell 6 million copies.

According to the article, Gray is in eclectic company on the so-called “Torture Playlist.” Interrogator tastes range from hellish rockers (AC/DC’s “Hells Bells,” Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” Drowning Pool’s “Bodies“), to songs draped in the stars and stripes (Neil Diamond’s “Coming to America,” Don MacLean’s “American Pie,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.“), to insidiously catchy pop tunes (the Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive,” Christina Aguilera’s “Dirrty,” Prince’s “Raspberry Beret“), and, of course, to annoying TV theme songs (Barney, Sesame Street, the song from the Meow Mix commercial).

Calls to Gray’s representative at ATO Records and to Mother Jones were not returned at the time of this post.

Kendall,

I read it, and thought it was more a joke than anything else really.... But I do think lots of things are jokes until I am convinced otherwise....

Take care !

Marcel.

marcel9:

Kendall,

I read it, and thought it was more a joke than anything else really.... But I do think lots of things are jokes until I am convinced otherwise....

Take care !

Marcel.

I agree with you Marcel, whoever wrote this story is obviously not in touch with the real world.

Thanks for that Chris. David has never been one to keep quiet about touchy sujects. A rare thing to find in the music business.

I merged this thread with another one on the same topic to keep the conversation in one place. 

Hi AbdulAziz,

on this board we prefer to communicate in a civilized manner. Therefore I edited your post above.

Rena

Here is some news from David himself on this:

Link to BBC

Take care !

Marcel.

Thanks Marcel!

There is another interesting article on this topic published by Washingon, DC Independent Media. Here is an excerpt

 Whether you like David Gray’s music or not should be irrelevant. He understands what’s really going on with the use of music as torture, and he’s been brave enough to raise his head above the parapet, which is not something that musicians are always prepared to do.

Personally I've always appreciated David being so outspoken. He is not one to hold back his opinion. Very unlike most people in the music business.

Taken from the Telegraph as posted by Chris earlier on

"The moral niceties of whether they're using my song or not are totally irrelevant," says Gray. "We are thinking below the level of the people we're supposed to oppose, and it goes against our entire history and everything we claim to represent. It's disgusting, really. Anything that draws attention to the scale of the horror and how low we've sunk is a good thing."

Well said David. 

Some more news on this by the BBC yesterday... read it here.

I have learned not to judge to easily about something I do not know anything about, I know some troops get pulled in on things they do not support themselfs but no one should ever be tortured !

M.