Bring the Noise, Bring the Pain

Back in March, Mother Jones compiled a "Torture Playlist," made up of tunes used by the American military in interrogations. In other words, music so bad that it makes people scream for it to stop. A few of the list's gems:

• "Fuck Your God" by Decide
• "White America" and "Kim" by Eminem
• "Enter Sandman" by Metallica
• "Born in the USA" by Springsteen
• "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees
• "America" by Neil Diamond
• "American Pie" by Don McLean
• The "Meow Mix" jingle
• "I Love You" by Barney (aka the Barney theme song)

Quite an aural rouges gallery, huh? I can certainly get behind the pain-inducing powers of Neil Diamond and Don McLean - but Barney? Surprisingly, the man behind that theme song isn't particularly upset:

Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not terribly upset about the use of "I Love You." I'm amused and slightly perplexed, but I frankly don't believe that any artist or composer can really have much of a say about what happens to his songs after they leave his hands. Songs take on a life of their own once they hit the public consciousness, and we composers and songwriters just get to go along for the ride.

When I heard that "I Love You" had been used at Abu Ghraib to break the will of terror suspects, I just laughed. It's absolutely ludicrous. A song that was designed to make little children feel safe and loved was somehow going to threaten the mental state of adults and drive them to the emotional breaking point?

He's got a pretty healthy attitude about the honor, I think. Still, given how truly awful anything Barney is, I wouldn't mind strapping him down and force feeding him a few hours of "Stayin' Alive,"