Rock bands REM and Pearl Jam have joined The National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, a coalition of musicians supporting Barack Obama’s efforts to close the controversial prison. The two bands join other groups and musicians, such as Roseanne Cash, Billy Bragg, Jackson Browne, Steve Earle, Bonnie Raitt and Rage Against The Machine in the coalition.

Several artists are particularly upset about their music being used as a way to interrogate prisoners. In a report from the BBC, it revealed a November 2008 published document from the Senate Armed Services Committee, stating that a torture technique used involved playing loud music from AC/DC, Britney Spears, the Bee Gees, and Marilyn Manson inside the detainees’ cells at Guantanamo. The report also included kid-oriented songs from Sesame Street and Barney, as well as the Meow mix cat food jingle.

When this report was published, the CIA told the BBC that music was played “at levels far below a live rock band,” and that it was used only for security, rather than “punitive purposes.”

In a statement, REM announced their support for Obama’s cause, saying “We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends’ music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge, is horrific. It’s anti-American, period.”

Images from Wenn.com