unsafe at any volume
i still recall my excitement upon encountering david bowie's instructions on his ziggy stardust album:
nice. some music just sounds better loud. really loud -- like pushing-air-across-the-room loud.
Q's feature on the 20 LOUDEST albums illustrates, once again, the fine line between clever and stupid. i vote for clever. yes, once a piece of music has been suitably commodified, listeners can play it at whatever volume they desire. nevertheless, some music has been recorded, mixed, and mastered with one bleeding ear cocked toward creating an all-encompassing, mind-blowing, face-melting transcendant listening experience.
what makes an album loud? it can be a sludgy bass drone, an absurdly punchy midrange, or even a piercing high-end screech. distortion and feedback certainly have something to do with it, as does pain tolerance and willingness to sacrifice a lifetime of aural health for a moment spent drowning in decibels. i played loud music as an adolescent, occasionally placing my head inside george's bass drum and cozying up alongside danny's ampeg stack. this has already cost me, of course, as my usual response to student questions is "what? did you say something?" moreover, i can no longer watch television or movies with other normal-eared humans.
still, it is a nice list, complete with appropriate video links. i particularly like the inclusion of Sunn0))), but that's just me.
20. Velvet Underground - White Light/White Heat (Verve, 1967)
19. AC/DC - Back In Black (Columbia, 1980)
18. Sunn0))) - White (Southern Lord, 2006)
17. Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced? (Track, 1967)
16. Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do (Warp, 1995)
15. Black Flag - Damaged (SST, 1981)
14. The Birthday Party - Prayers On Fire (4AD, 1981)
13. Motorhead - No Sleep Til Hammersmith (Bronze, 1981)
12. Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin (Atlantic, 1969)
11. Neil Young – Arc Weld (Reprise, 1991)
10. Sex Pistols - Never Mind The Bollocks (Virgin, 1977)
09. Atari Teenage Riot – The Future Of War (DHR, 1997)
08. My Bloody Valentine - Isn’t Anything (Creation, 1988)
07. Napalm Death - Scum (Earache, 1987)
06. The Who - Live At Leeds (Track, 1970)
05. Big Black - Songs About Fucking (Touch And Go, 1987)
04. The Jesus And Mary Chain - Psychocandy (Blanco Y Negro, 1986)
03. Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (Def Jam, 1988)
02. Slayer - Reign In Blood (Def Jam, 1986)
01. The Stooges - Funhouse (Elektra, 1970)
posted by christopher uggen @ 12:07 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Interesting list. The thing about loud records is that they have to be mastered correctly, otherwise you end up with an ear-piercing treble or table-rattling bass. I remember some of the mid-80s records had a similar "play it loud!" bit on the liner notes -- the first Pretenders record did, I think.
My hearing is damaged from playing music and going to concerts as well. If we ever meet in a loud place, like the main hall at ASA, the conversation could be pretty entertaining.
Have you read about the loudness controversy in mastering records? I posted about it a while back:
http://www.pike27.net/rfn/?p=772
In junior high I was blasting album number two (slayer) and I never figured out if it was the satanic lyrics or the way the sun beamed into my bedroom but my rosary beads partially melted to the side of my bed. I never listened to that slayer album again!
dave, when my ravaged ears fail me at a loud club, my normal m.o. is to just nod my head and smile. this has led me to agree to things that i probably shouldn't have.
i still prefer the analog mixes of the fifties through seventies -- real handclaps, shouts, fingersqueaks, etc. ancient songs like little richards' slippin' and slidin' never had the life squeezed out of them, so they still jump out the speakers today.
tom, the slayer story is classic. i've got a similar tale involving sabbath's n.i.b. but... i'm still too a-scared to blog about it.
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