# Loud Music



## PiP (Aug 17, 2015)

Does anyone else have a problem with loud music? 

When I say loud, I mean *LOUD*!! 

The reason I ask is because I went to a seafood festival at the weekend and there was a live band. The speakers were almost the size of my house and the noise (I'll call it noise rather than music) they pumped out was _unbelievable._ It was so loud that the noise and vibration of the bass was pulsating through my body and gave me pains in the chest. If it was not so scary, it could almost be described as hypnotic as it took control of my body and numbed my mind.

The music and the thousands of pulsating people around me brought on a panic attack which was quite embarrassing and we had to leave. I actually felt quite pathetic  in front of my friends but I was genuinely scared. Surely subjecting one's eardrums and body to this level of abuse can't be healthy.

 Has anyone else experienced a panic attack at a concert?


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## escorial (Aug 17, 2015)

i don't go to big concerts anymore...not so much the sound but the crowd..at a U2 concert we got right in the thick of it and i got a bit stressed about being surrounded and tightly packed in..now i go to seated venues...and i like it that way...


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## Riis Marshall (Aug 17, 2015)

Hello PiP

Yep - too loud is too loud, whether it's real music or the s*** they call pop today.

I've never had a panic attack but I've had to leave a couple of wedding receptions to walk around outside when my ears started to hurt.

It doesn't have to be loud to be good and making crap loud doesn't make it any better - it's still just louder crap.

All the best with your writing.

Warmest regards
Riis


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## Deleted member 56686 (Aug 17, 2015)

I didn't like the music loud because you had to practically scream just to hear yourself. It would be worse now since I've lost most of my hearing in my left ear (The right ear is still perfect, thankfully).

And, anyway, how can you appreciate the music if it's so loud you can't hear anything else? :-k


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## Crowley K. Jarvis (Aug 17, 2015)

First rock concert I went to made me nauseous. I was 7 at the time. 

I've never been to a loud enough concert since. 

Few of my friends started a band, and they played once, but it wasn't concert loud.


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## Rider (Aug 17, 2015)

I believe the old adage is "If it's too loud, you're too old". Clearly I'm too old, but I often wonder how or why I transitioned from a kid who wanted to "turn it up all the way up to 11" to the middle-aged guy who has to turn the stereo down in the car just to focus on navigating difficult traffic situations. I seem to vaguely remember a desire to submerse myself in the music such that it became a wholly physical experience and not just an aural one; as if feeling the music physically was the pathway to "feeling" the music metaphorically. I suspect the reality was that I was a complete simpleton, I thought my music selections were profound, and chicks would dig me if they heard what I was listening to. Shockingly, I never did meet that special girl who was so moved by the deep social meaning of Van Halen's Panama that she was compelled to throw herself at the skinny dork with the mullet.


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## Thaumiel (Aug 17, 2015)

Rammstein, Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Slayer, Alice Cooper, Gary Numan, Europe, Turisas, Skunk Anasie, Apocalyptica, Fear Factory, Soul Fly, Iggy and the Stooges, The Cult, Dir En Grey, Sylosis, Gallows, Katatonia, Funeral for a Friend, Fightstar, While She Sleeps, Slam Cartel, Metallica, Megadeth, Diamond Head, Biffy Clyro, Weezer, Cavalera Conspiracy, Slipknot, Limp Bizkit, *Motorhead*, Mastodon, Parkway Drive, Bill Bailey, Opeth, Airbourne, Sisters of Mercy, Periphery, Gojira, Alestorm, Protest the Hero, Tesseract, Anterior, Watain, Sons of Icarus, Muse... (Also Jethro Tull/Ian Anderson, but that was a christmas gig in a cathedral, so not too loud.)

Loud is love, loud is life. Live music is the best.

This thread also brings this to mind.

[video=youtube;KOO5S4vxi0o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOO5S4vxi0o[/video]


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## Pidgeon84 (Aug 17, 2015)

What am I gonna do? Listen Napalm Death on half volume? Nah brah, it should sound like I'm standing behind a jet engine.


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## Bishop (Aug 17, 2015)

I feel like there's a time, a place, and a certain audience for certain volumes. When a blues band plays in a local club with closed walls and hard floors, they need to turn it down; when Megadeth Iron Maiden played the amphitheater here in Saint Louis, there was no volume too loud.

As a musician myself, there are a lot of times when I want to use my 100 watt Marshall amplifier with all eight 12" speakers on full blast... but in reality, most times I play, the little five watt Roland cube I have will more than suffice and people will still be able to talk over my guitar with one another.


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## PiP (Aug 17, 2015)

Bishop said:


> I feel like there's a time, a place, and a certain audience for certain volumes.



You've hit the nail firmly on the head, Bish. The audience at the festival ranged from babes in arms to the elderly. It wasn't a youngsters concert it was a family event.



escorial said:


> i don't go to big concerts anymore...not so much the sound but the crowd..at a U2 concert we got right in the thick of it and i got a bit stressed about being surrounded and tightly packed in..now i go to seated venues...and i like it that way...



That must have been hell on earth!


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## midnightpoet (Aug 17, 2015)

Geez, the last concert I went to was either the Beach Boys or Judy Collins, I forget which, some 25 odd years ago.  It was outdoors, and you sat on the grass or brought lawn chairs and had a picnic.  Part of the reason we quit was because of my wife's health (Chrone's disease, and line to the bathroom?  I don't think so).

I suppose age has something to do with it, although I have a congentical hearing defect and can only hear out of one ear.  You would think loud would be better but it's not.  I never have understood the need for amplifiers in certain venues, like a small club.  On these big concerts, yeah.  Screeching high level on headphones?  I would think that would lead to hearing loss.  Part of it is I like to understand the lyrics - if it's loud I can't.

In any case, everyone has their own likes and dislikes.


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## LeeC (Aug 17, 2015)

I've never attended what's referred to as a rock concert, but a good many years back I did some consulting work for Bose and was invited to their annual Christmas party. In a hotel convention room they had arranged their stadium blasters for a live band. The wife and I left a note (oral communication wasn't possible) to excuse ourselves after only five minutes. 

As a teen with rock and roll just starting I was caught up in that nervous energy of cascading hormones, but today's sound volumes weren't possible. By my mid thirties, my idea of a music concert was going to Boston Symphony Hall. Music like Williams' The Lark Ascending was and is transcending to me, not mind numbing noise. 

These days, with the lower range of my hearing still intact, wheeling down to the end of the driveway for exercise, I can hear cars coming from a mile away that have their primal log thumping "music" reverberating beyond what the trees can absorb. When the cars pass, the drivers look spaced out. Maybe it has something to do with coping in today's sardine can world. 

One reason I prefer to go the opposite direction, to sit in my natural garden and hear Nature's quiet symphony.


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## midnightpoet (Aug 17, 2015)

It has occurred to me that loud music to a screeching level is like a drug, maybe it doesn't give you a high like Mary Jane, but a high nonetheless.  That's a guess, of course, I'm not about to experiment - like Lee, I prefer soft and soothing, and a morning of listening to the sounds of nature is perfect.  Of course, symphonic music isn't always soft - the "Ride of the Valkyries" for example.  I've got a cd on some of the loudest symphonic music ever composed.


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## LeeC (Aug 17, 2015)

^ Sounds like a CD I sent as a gift to my grandson, he loves it.


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## Schrody (Aug 17, 2015)

Oh God, yes! I hate too loud music, I have a very (like, above average) good hearing, and my head starts to hurt. Ironically, I'm often at the concerts


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## Pidgeon84 (Aug 17, 2015)

I'll say this, and this also getting into why I love metal, but metal is the only genre I've listened to where volume, tone, rhythm, tempo can make your hair stand up. It can be a really physical excitement and reaction. As MP said, it is a bit like a drug. When you find a new a riff and it's cranked up to 11 and you have that moment where eyes turn into saucers and you get goosebumps and just about orgasm. It's the best feeling.


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## Blade (Aug 17, 2015)

escorial said:


> now i go to seated venues...and i like it that way...



Same here. I suspect that many of the people who go to 'loud and crammed' are somewhat hearing impaired and/or are on relaxing substances of some sort.:-k


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## PiP (Aug 17, 2015)

LeeC said:


> One reason I prefer to go the opposite direction, to sit in my natural garden and hear Nature's quiet symphony.



Me too, Lee. Or in my case, sit on the beach and listen to the rhythm of the waves.



> When you find a new a riff and it's cranked up to 11 and you have that moment where eyes turn into saucers and you get goosebumps and just about orgasm. It's the best feeling.



You made me laugh, pidge!


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## Crowley K. Jarvis (Aug 17, 2015)

My second contribution to a wonderful discussion...

Dubstep. 

There is no volume except eleven. You don't hear it, you feel it. 

{Warning: Dubstep is not recommended for children or pregnant women}


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## Thaumiel (Aug 17, 2015)

Crowley K. Jarvis said:


> My second contribution to a wonderful discussion...
> 
> Dubstep.
> 
> ...



What about Breaks? Trap? Hell, even oldschool jungle gets loud.


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## Crowley K. Jarvis (Aug 17, 2015)

James 剣 斧 血 said:


> What about Breaks? Trap? Hell, even oldschool jungle gets loud.



Anything with bass, my friend. 

Anyone remember when that word only meant a fish?

... I don't.
_*
--wubwubwubwubwubwub-BWOOO-wubbawubba--*_

-Head bob-


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## LeeC (Aug 17, 2015)

Crowley K. Jarvis said:


> Anything with bass, my friend.
> 
> Anyone remember when that word only meant a fish?
> 
> ...


Where's the groan button  Anyone remember real musicians like Gene Krupa, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Stan Getz, and on and on. Musicians that could blow you away with their virtuosity, rather than a wall of sound to hide limited log thumping abilities.


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## ppsage (Aug 17, 2015)

LeeC said:


> Where's the groan button  Anyone remember real musicians like Gene Krupa, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Stan Getz, and on and on. Musicians that could blow you away with their virtuosity, rather than a wall of sound to hide limited log thumping abilities.


Don't just remember, I listen to them daily. Jazz is my goto now. (But more like Brubeck, Cannonball, Parker, Davis, Pepper.) I listen to most music louder than my cronies prefer, and I want the psychedelic stuff to vibrate things a little. Loud sound doesn't seem to effect my ability to think, maybe too long as a grunt in industrial settings. I like being in crowds occasionally. And who wants to communicate anyway?


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## Snowflake (Aug 17, 2015)

ppsage said:


> Don't just remember, I listen to them daily. Jazz is my goto now. (But more like Brubeck, Cannonball, Parker, Davis, Pepper.) I listen to most music louder than my cronies prefer, and I want the psychedelic stuff to vibrate things a little. Loud sound doesn't seem to effect my ability to think, maybe too long as a grunt in industrial settings. I like being in crowds occasionally. And who wants to communicate anyway?





LeeC said:


> Where's the groan button  Anyone remember real musicians like Gene Krupa, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Stan Getz, and on and on. Musicians that could blow you away with their virtuosity, rather than a wall of sound to hide limited log thumping abilities.




Yes!  Yes!  The greats of yesteryear had talent!


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## Snowflake (Aug 17, 2015)

ppsage said:


> Don't just remember, I listen to them daily. Jazz is my goto now. (But more like Brubeck, Cannonball, Parker, Davis, Pepper.) I listen to most music louder than my cronies prefer, and I want the psychedelic stuff to vibrate things a little. Loud sound doesn't seem to effect my ability to think, maybe too long as a grunt in industrial settings. I like being in crowds occasionally. And who wants to communicate anyway?




I've seen young people hear a big band for the first time and they literally flip out .. love it!! Same with jazz.     Problem is, they're not exposed to it anymore.


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## Crowley K. Jarvis (Aug 17, 2015)

My parents always switched between 80's, 90's, and hit stations in car rides. 

I surprised my adult friends by singing songs from before I was born. ;} 

I enjoy electronically created music because you can create sounds not otherwise possible with any physical instrument. That, in of itself is simply amazing.

There are many songs that are as long as symphonies and match their complexity and beauty. 

The 'loud' music, in rock, electronic, etc, is simply a single genre, and there are many crappy artists. *Cough* Skrillex *Cough* Nickelback *Cough*


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## LeeC (Aug 17, 2015)

ppsage said:


> Don't just remember, I listen to them daily. Jazz is my goto now. (But more like Brubeck, Cannonball, Parker, Davis, Pepper.) I listen to most music louder than my cronies prefer, and I want the psychedelic stuff to vibrate things a little. Loud sound doesn't seem to effect my ability to think, maybe too long as a grunt in industrial settings. I like being in crowds occasionally. And who wants to communicate anyway?


Quiz for you, How did Bird (Charlie Parker) acquire his nickname?


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## Allysan (Aug 17, 2015)

I love music! I love live music! I do not love music in thumping clubs that are packed wall to wall with gyrating bodies. I do not love live music while I'm sitting at a restaurant trying to enjoy a nice meal with my family. I've had the panic attacks, it's no fun. I attended a few hippie festivals (langerado, bonnaroo) and had fun but the last couple times were a little much for my anxiety. I can't even stand large crowds anymore, blech! Guess it's just an anxiety thing for me. I need my space and a little peace to hear myself think!


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## Snowflake (Aug 18, 2015)

LeeC said:


> Quiz for you, How did Bird (Charlie Parker) acquire his nickname?



Too many versions to answer that question.

Here's another:   How did the term "scat" come to be?  (scatting is singing nonsense sounds.. like shooby dooby doo wap, etc.)


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## LeeC (Aug 18, 2015)

Well, there isn't agreement as to how scat vocals originated, and as to how the term came to be I have no idea. 

As to how Charlie Parker acquired the nickname Bird, the story goes from interviews with circa 1940s jazz musicians I heard later on, it's short for Yardbird which is an old term for chicken. As I remember the story, Charlie and three or four others were on the road going from one gig to the next, and being paid little by the poor clubs where they found gigs they were living on not much more than Coca-Cola and peanuts. One time on a rural road they passed by a place with chickens loose in the yard. Supposedly Charlie snatched one of the chickens for them to roast. Whether this happened at all or more than once I have no idea, but that's the story as I remember it of how Charlie came to be called first Yardbird then just Bird.


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## Deleted member 56686 (Aug 18, 2015)

LeeC said:


> Well, there isn't agreement as to how scat vocals originated, and as to how the term came to be I have no idea.
> 
> As to how Charlie Parker acquired the nickname Bird, the story goes from interviews with circa 1940s jazz musicians I heard later on, it's short for Yardbird which is an old term for chicken. As I remember the story, Charlie and three or four others were on the road going from one gig to the next, and being paid little by the poor clubs where they found gigs they were living on not much more than Coca-Cola and peanuts. One time on a rural road they passed by a place with chickens loose in the yard. Supposedly Charlie snatched one of the chickens for them to roast. Whether this happened at all or more than once I have no idea, but that's the story as I remember it of how *Charlie came to be called first Yardbird then just Bird*.




Interesting. I have to check, but it sounds like that's how the Yardbirds got their name. (I'm more of a classic rock enthusiast myself)


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## LeeC (Aug 18, 2015)

My understanding:




> The group formed in the south-west London suburbs in 1963. Relf and Samwell-Smith were originally in a band named the Metropolitan Blues Quartet. After being joined by Dreja, McCarty and Top Topham in late May, they performed at Kingston Art School in late May 1963 as a backup band for Cyril Davies. Following a couple of gigs in September 1963 as the Blue-Sounds, they decided to change their name to the Yardbirds, both an expression for hobos hanging around rail yards waiting for a train and a reference to the jazz saxophonist Charlie "Yardbird" Parker.


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