Sound Targets AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND MUSIC IN THE IRAQ WAR Jonathan Pieslak Sound Targets Sound American Soldiers and Music Targets in the Iraq War Jonathan Pieslak indiana university press bloomington and indianapolis This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail [email protected] © 2009 by Jonathan Pieslak All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. manufactured in the united states of america Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pieslak, Jonathan R. Sound targets : American soldiers and music in the Iraq war / Jonathan Pieslak. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-35323-8 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-22087-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Iraq War, 2003—-Music and the war. 2. Popular music—Social aspects. 3. United States.—Armed Forces—Iraq. 4. Soldiers—United States—Social conditions. I. Title. ML3477.P54 2009 956.7044’38—dc22 2008046562 1 2 3 4 5 14 13 12 11 10 09 Also see http://soundtargets.com “Go To Sleep,” Cradle 2 The Grave sound track (2003), DMX. Words and Music by Earl Simmons, Marshall Mathers, Obie Trice, Steven King, Luis Resto and Unknown Writer. © 2003 EMI April Music Inc., Dead Game Publishing, Boomer X Publishing, Inc., Eight Mile Style Music, Almo Music Corp., Obie Trice Publishing, Steven King and Unknown Publisher. All Rights for Dead Game Publishing Controlled and Administered by EMI April Music Inc. All Rights for Boomer X Publishing, Inc. Controlled and Administered by Universal Music Corp. All Rights for Obie Trice Publishing Controlled and Administered by Almo Music Corp. All Rights Reserved International Copyright Secured Used by Permission. “I Don’t Give a Fuck,” Kings of Crunk (2002), Lil’ John & the Eastside Boyz. Reprinted with permission of Roynet Music. To the power of music: may it also help us reconcile with one another. CONTENTS Map of Iraq xii Introduction 1 1 Music and Contemporary Military Recruiting 16 2 Music as an Inspiration for Combat 46 3 Looking at the Opposing Forces 58 4 Music as a Psychological Tactic 78 5 Music as a Form of Soldier Expression 100 6 Metal and Rap Ideologies in the Iraq War 135 Postscript 185 Appendix 1: Soldier E-mail and Sample Questions from Soldier Interviews 189 Glossary of Military Ranks 191 Notes 192 Bibliography 209 Index 216 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank the soldiers who contributed to this book. Many were apprehensive about speaking to me because of the discrepancy they feel exists between their experiences and media report- ing about the Iraq War. I am grateful that they gave me the opportunity to ask them questions and greatly appreciate their openness, honesty, and strength to speak about very difficult topics, like the loss of a fellow soldier. While my focus was on music, they willingly shared much more than I could have ever expected, and many times they referred me to a friend or resource that proved invaluable. I am happy and proud to con- sider many of you new friends, and I wish you all the best in the future. Thank you; I am personally richer for having met and spoken with you. The research process for this book was often based on networking and contacts. As such, I am grateful to the following people who assisted in this capacity: Gabrielle Dalton, Amber Ferenz, George Gittoes, David Little, Christopher Sabis, David Schober, and Ann Marie Sorrow. At the City College of New York, institutional support was generously made possible by the Dean of the Humanities Fred Reynolds; Deputy Dean Geraldine Murphy; Provost Ze’ev Dagan; President Gregory Williams; and a PSC-CUNY Research Foundation Grant. My colleagues Shaugn O’Donnell and Joe Popp at CCNY were especially supportive. Special thanks are also due the many scholars and experts, too numerous to be individually listed here, outside the field of music who answered my e- mails and questions. I appreciate your willingness to respond to my in- quiries. I would also like to thank those scholars who have responded to my work. Their comments, and particularly their passionate disagree- ments, were important parts of my thinking and rethinking aspects of this book. While they may no doubt maintain some of their objections, the book has improved from their insights and I appreciate their time and engagement with my research. I am especially grateful to Jane Behnken and the staff at Indiana University Press for their support of this project. Taylor and Francis gen- erously granted me permission to reprint sections of my article “Sound Targets: Music and the War in Iraq,” which originally appeared in the X SOUND TARGETS Journal of Musicological Research 26, nos. 2–3 (2007): 123–50. That ar- ticle laid the foundation for much of the work I pursue in this book, and sections of it are interspersed throughout the text. Other people helped in less tangible ways and motivated me through the example of their character: Jim Holtom and the Holtom family, Holly McGeogh, Wade Oglesby and his family, Mike and Katrina Rojas and their families, Melissa Sewell, Sue Tottle, and Paula and Michael Zasadny. My family and friends have been exceedingly supportive of this book and I wish them many thanks and love: the Gignilliat family; Kimberly, Gavin, and Gabriel Hindman; Annette, Joe, and the entire Kane fam- ily; Brian, Suzanna, and Ben Pieslak; my mother, Judith Pieslak, and my late father, Robert Pieslak; Karen, William, Hannah, and Gwendolyn Pohlmann; Joel Puckett; D. J. Sparr; George and Janet Staples; and Mary and Fred Van Geuder. And to anyone I may have overlooked, please know that I send you the warmest appreciation. Finally, I wish to thank my wife, Sabina. She carefully read the drafts of this book and offered insightful comments. In many ways, Sabina bore the brunt of the sacrifices made in writing this work. Living with the Iraq War is not easy, and she was forced to deal with the conflict almost daily. I have experienced joy, anger, laughter, confusion, tears, and almost ev- ery possible emotion from working on this book, and she was tirelessly by my side. Thank you, my love. Sound Targets <INSERT mapA1_01.tif NEAR HERE> Iraq. Central Intelligence Agency map Introduction When the Iraq War began in March 2003, I was involved, like many Americans, with sending care packages to troops. My sister-in-law’s broth- ers had been deployed, and our families took turns sending them monthly boxes filled with socks, deodorant, toothpaste, and other basic necessities. I contacted the United Service Organizations (USO) and asked if it was possible to send packages to additional soldiers.1 From my sister-in-law’s brothers we had learned that many men and women serving in Iraq were in need of such assistance; in fact, much of what we were sending was being shared among members of their unit. The USO subsequently provided me with the contact information of an Air National Guard unit from Nashville, Tennessee. In looking over soldiers’ requests, I noticed that, in addition to the usual toiletries and clothing, the soldiers requested music, which seemed like a coincidence given that the unit was from Nashville, “The Music City.” I sent a package with about a dozen CDs, among other things. Six weeks later, I received a letter from Major Rob Crawford thanking me for the music and letting me know that the CDs had become part of a “library that all of our troops share” (see figure I.1). I soon sent over additional boxes with CDs to contribute to this growing library of shared music. In January 2004, my scholarly interest in the relationship between American soldiers and music developed almost by accident. I was working on an article about rhythm and meter in metal music when I came across an interesting statistic on a fan web site of the thrash/death metal band Slayer. The posting stated that during the Persian Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm (1991), over 40 percent of Slayer’s fan mail came from American sol- 2 SOUND TARGETS Figure I.1. Letter from Maj. Rob Crawford diers based in the Middle East.2 This struck me as a fascinating claim. Slayer is an extremely popular metal band, and it was remarkable that 40 percent of their fan mail would have come from deployed soldiers during the war. While Slayer singer Tom Araya suggested in a 1992 interview with Esquire Introduction 3 magazine that this percentage was actually closer to 20 percent, some obvi- ous questions arose nevertheless.3 Why did fan mail from American soldiers increase during the war? What were soldiers experiencing in this music that caused a surge of fan mail? How do the music and lyrics operate in their lives as soldiers in combat zones? These and many other questions motivated my initial interest and led me to investigate this topic in relation to the Iraq War. My subsequent research revealed that many enlisted-rank soldiers use metal and rap music as an inspiration for combat.