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Soldiers' iPods Give Glimpse Into Psyche

by Amar Toor on October 1, 2009 at 06:25 AM


With music becoming increasingly accessible, it's now possible to accompany every moment of life with a personalized soundtrack. Not only have iPods and MP3 players pervaded everyday existence, but they've also, not surprisingly, become just as crucial to those most extreme, intense moments -- moments most of us never experience, but which, for soldiers in combat, are the norm.

Such is the backdrop of a recent study by City College of New York music theorist Jonathan Pieslak. For the past few years, Pieslak has interviewed American soldiers about the genres of music that populate their battlefield playlists and the reasons behind their choices. Originally drawn to the subject after reading that, during Desert Storm, 40-percent of the metal band Slayer's fan mail came from soldiers stationed abroad, Pieslak found that soldiers' playlists featured largely aggressive music, like Eminem, Metallica, and Slayer.

When asked to explain their choices in music, soldiers most often spoke of the transformational power it held, helping them to psychologically disengage from their surroundings and to emotionally disconnect from a job that often requires mechanical violence.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the first generation of a distinctly "new" war, a technology-driven engagement where planes are flown, and bombs are dropped, by drones. Given this contemporary, dehumanized approach to war, it's no surprise that soldiers would find inspiration in music that reinforces a similarly dispassionate disposition. Just as the drones take some of the heat off soldiers' persons, iPods and MP3 players, it seems, insulate their psyches. [From: The Guardian]

Tags: ipod, military, mp3, mp3 player, Mp3Player, research, soldiers, top, war

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