During the American invasion of Panama in 1989, troops blasted AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" in order to drive Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega from the Vatican embassy where he had taken refuge (a tactic also used by the FBI).

Some time later, AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson was asked what he thought about the use of AC/DC's music for "psychological torture". "I guess now," he replied with a sarcastic shrug, "we won't get to play for the pope."