TT: You could drive a vagrant crazy

Much has been made in recent weeks of the alleged use by American military interrogators of loud music in order to extract confessions and information from suspected terrorists. Reprieve, a British human-rights group, has launched a campaign aimed at stamping out what it calls “music torture.” It has also published a list of music that has reportedly been used in such interrogations. The selections range from AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells” to “I Love You,” the theme song from Barney & Friends. Most of them, it turns out, are heavy metal or hip-hop, a fact that struck me as worthy of discussion in my Wall Street Journal “Sightings” column.
Why do interrogators prefer heavy metal to Mozart–especially given the fact that recorded classical music is now being used to drive homeless people out of Amtrak stations? And why is music the only art form deemed suitable for torture-related purposes? To find out, pick up a copy of Saturday’s Journal and see what I have to say.
UPDATE: Read the whole thing here.