Root!

Root! (stylised ROOT!) was an Australian rock group from Melbourne formed in 2004. Their music combines alt-country, blues and indie rock with elements of spoken word, satire, social commentary and post-modernism. They have gained attention through a band member being a former member of Melbourne band TISM.

History

Some time in 2004-05, Root! began as a series of demos written solely by lead singer DC Root. In late 2006, guitarist Henri Root was hired as a tradesperson to build a set of shelves for DC. "Henri came 'round to my house to build me some shelves and I discovered that he was a jazz trained musician". During 2006, the group was fleshed out with Steve Root on keyboards and Barnaby Root on drums. Cowell and Grawe knew each other as far back as 2000 - Grawe had worked with Cowell's former band TISM on their 2001 album De Rigueurmortis.

Their first concert as a group was made at the closing party of Melbourne’s Spanish Club on 17 June 2007. Although barely announced, word that an alleged member of TISM was unveiling a new project led to a large, expectant crowd assembling. From there, word of mouth spread, leading to heavy traffic on the band's nascent MySpace page, the creation of a fan website entitled The Root! Compendium, and growing demand for an album.

Root (disambiguation)

A root is the part of a plant that is below ground.

Root or roots may also refer to:

Mathematics

People

Places

Switzerland

United States

Art, entertainment, and media

Roots franchise

Root (surname)

Root is a surname, and may refer to:

People

Torture

Torture (from the Latin tortus, “twisted") is the act of deliberately inflicting physical or psychological pain on an organism in order to fulfil some desire of the torturer or compel some action from the victim. Torture, by definition, is a knowing and intentional act; deeds which unknowingly or negligently inflict pain without a specific intent to do so are not typically considered torture.

Torture has been carried out or sanctioned by individuals, groups, and states throughout history from ancient times to modern day, and forms of torture can vary greatly in duration from only a few minutes to several days or longer. Reasons for torture can include punishment, revenge, political re-education, deterrence, interrogation or coercion of the victim or a third party, or simply the sadistic gratification of those carrying out or observing the torture. The need to torture another is thought to be the result of internal psychological pressure in the psyche of the torturer. The torturer may or may not intend to kill or injure the victim, but sometimes torture is deliberately fatal and can precede a murder or serve as a form of capital punishment. In other cases, the torturer may be indifferent to the condition of the victim. Alternatively, some forms of torture are designed to inflict psychological pain or leave as little physical injury or evidence as possible while achieving the same psychological devastation. Depending on the aim, even a form of torture that is intentionally fatal may be prolonged to allow the victim to suffer as long as possible (such as half-hanging).

Torture and the United States

Torture and the United States includes documented and alleged cases of torture both inside and outside the United States by members of the U.S. government, the U.S. military, U.S. law enforcement agencies, U.S. intelligence agencies, U.S. health care services, and other U.S. public organizations.

This includes the U.S. government, fifty U.S. state and territorial governments, 3,033 county, and thousands of municipal governments, all of which have their own independent judicial systems. All are subject to the U.S. Constitution and their own state constitutions.

While the term "torture" is defined in numerous places, including dictionaries and encyclopedias of various nations or cultures, this article only addresses the legal definition of the term, under the codified and case law of the United States of America. After the U.S. dismissed United Nations concerns about torture in 2006, one UK judge observed 'America's idea of what is torture ... does not appear to coincide with that of most civilized nations'. A two-year study by U.S. independent group The Constitution Project concluded that it was "indisputable" that U.S. forces had employed torture as well as "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" in many interrogations; that "the nation's most senior officials" bear ultimate responsibility for allowing and contributing to the spread of these techniques, and that there is substantial evidence that information obtained by these methods was neither useful nor reliable.

Torture (The Jacksons song)

"Torture" is the second single released off the album Victory by the band, The Jacksons. Written by Jackie Jackson and fellow Motown veteran Kathy Wakefield, the song is about someone ending a relationship and the torture that a person can receive while trying to end it. Jackie was originally going to sing the song with his brother, Michael, but Jackie's role instead went to Jermaine Jackson, whose availability for the album was in question until the last minute. The rest of the Jacksons sang the chorus along with Michael and Jermaine.

The song received mixed reactions from critics. The video was probably best known for Michael not being available, and the use of a wax dummy in his place throughout the video. Paula Abdul replaced Perri Lister as the video's choreographer, in which various scenes of torture are displayed with the Jacksons being on the receiving end of most of it. The shoot was an expensive and arduous affair that neither Michael nor Jermaine took part in, and it ultimately bankrupted the production company. The song peaked at #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it the second best selling single on the album, behind "State of Shock". It also peaked at #26 on the UK charts.