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Whether it is to psych themselves up or break prisoners down, American troops and law-enforcement agents have a somewhat discordant record of deploying music for martial ends.
| SONG OR ARTIST | USED BY | GOAL | RESULT | INSIDE DOPE |
| “Ride of the Valkyries” by Richard Wagner | U.S. infantry, Ramidi, Iraq, June 21, 2003 | Get pumped up Apocalypse Now-style before a raid | Raised specter of Vietnam-type quagmire | And we thought only fictional GIs liked the Ring cycle. |
| Themes to Barney, Sesame Street; “Enter Sandman” by Metallica | U.S. Army Psy-Ops Company, Iraq, June 2003 | Interrogate prisoners about the whereabouts of WMDs | WMDs still MIA | It’s not easy being fedayeen. |
| Celine Dion, Sheryl Crow, Dixie Chicks | U.S.”Commando Solo” planes, broadcasting tunes and propaganda into Iraq, spring 2003 | Persuade Iraqis they had “nothing to fear” from U.S. invasion | Society unprepared for assault of Titanic theme song devolves into looting | “I’m sure she would be happy to do anything to help,” said Dion’s spokesperson. Crow, Chicks less sure. |
| “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses, as well as Hendrix, Quiet Riot, etc. | 4th Psy-Ops Group, Vatican Embassy, Panama City, December 1989 | Force Manuel Noriega to leave Vatican Embassy, where he’d taken refuge | A lifelong opera lover, the Pineapple surrenders. | “We received a note from the nuncio protesting either the loudness of the music or the quality, I’m not sure which,” a U.S. official said. |
| “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” by Nancy Sinatra, “Achy Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus | FBI, Waco, Texas, March 19, 1993 | Get David Koresh and his followers to leave Waco compound | FBI later admits sleep-deprived Davidians may actually have been more susceptible to Koresh as a result. | Koresh’s own recordings, like “Sheshonahim,” more in singer/songwriter/ megalomaniac mode |
| “Rock the Casbah” by The Clash | U.S. Armed Forces Radio, Saudi Arabia, 1990 | Kickoff to Gulf War I | GIs proceed to rock Iraq and roll into Kuwait. | Still asking ourselves, Should we stay or should we go? |
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