ninehertz

1. • Mazz
   • Will sent me a Wiki link
     
     "The loudest band in the world is a subject of some dispute in musical circles. Many bands have claimed to be the loudest, measuring this in various ways including with decibel meters at concerts and by engineering analysis of the CDs on which their albums are published.
     
     Parodies
     The notion of "loudness equals greatness" pervades rock music to the extent that it has been satirized. In the mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, the band is presented by the fictional filmmaker Marty di Bergi, as "one of England's loudest bands". One popular joke from the film features Nigel Tufnel displaying the band's amplifiers which are calibrated up to 11, instead of up to 10, allowing them to go "one louder". As a consequence of this, real bands and musicians started buying equipment whose knobs went up to 11, or even higher, with Eddie Van Halen reputedly being the first to do so. Marshall, the company that provided amplifiers for the film that the custom marked knobs were applied to, now sells amplifiers such as its JCM900 (first sold in 1990) whose knobs are marked from 0 to 20.
     
     Japanese garage punk band Guitar Wolf humorously claim that their album Jet Generation is the loudest album ever recorded and "may cause irreparable damage to stereo equipment".
     
     Another well-known parody is the fictional band Disaster Area (appearing in Douglas Adams's The Restaurant at the End of the Universe), whose concerts can literally devastate entire planets.
     
     Decibel records
     [1969
     Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" is said to have reached 130 dB observed by a team of participants at the American Speech–Language–Hearing Association. Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone argues that "Whole Lotta Love" established Led Zeppelin's reputation as one of the loudest bands of their time.
     
     1972
     Deep Purple broke the record and were recognized by The Guinness Book of World Records as the "loudest pop group" when in a concert at the London Rainbow Theatre their sound reached 117 dB. Three of their audience members were rendered unconscious.
     
     1976
     The Who were listed as the "record holder", at 126 dB, measured at a distance of 32 meters from the speakers at a concert at The Valley (home ground of Charlton Athletic F.C.) on 31 May 1976.
     
     1980
     The Australian hard rock band AC/DC once had a trademark of performing painfully loud. During Back in Black tour, they reached 130 dB at some gigs but since there were too many noise complaints, they turned the volume down later.
     
     1984 and 1994
     The heavy metal band Manowar is one claimant of the title of "loudest band in the world", citing a measurement of 129.5 dB in 1994 in Hanover.[8] However, The Guinness Book of World Records listed Manowar as the record holder for the loudest musical performance for an earlier performance in 1984. Guinness does not recognize Manowar's later claim, because it no longer includes a category of loudest band, reportedly because it does not want to encourage hearing damage. Manowar achieved a SPL of 139 dB during the sound check (not the actual performance) at the Magic Circle Fest in 2008.[
     
     2007
     British punk band Gallows allegedly broke Manowar's next to last record for loudest band in the world, claiming to have achieved 132.5 dB; however, this record was claimed in an isolated studio environment as opposed to live.
     
     2009
     On July 15, 2009, at the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest in Ottawa, Canada, the band KISS achieved a SPL of 136 dB measured by City of Ottawa Bylaw officers at the sound tent during their live performance (not the sound check). This was 46 dB greater, almost 32 times louder, than the official festival limit of 90 dB. After noise complaints from neighbors in the area, the band was forced to turn the volume down."
     
     
   • [10:56 on 26/01/11]
2. • FDFC
   • I want to be in the lewdest band in the world.
   • [12:39 on 26/01/11]
3. • bad admiral
   • FDFC says:

     I want to be in the lewdest band in the world.
     
     
     you got work to do boy. i chased a bloke in a wheelchair around last gig we played.
   • [12:43 on 26/01/11]
4. • Mazz
   • bad admiral says:

     FDFC says:

     I want to be in the lewdest band in the world.

     
     
     you got work to do boy. i chased a bloke in a wheelchair around last gig we played.
     
     
     FAR OUT
   • [12:56 on 26/01/11]
5. • basstard
   • We regularly hit 140dB before we even turn our amps on, usually after our drummer has had a curry. Beware the arsequake.
   • [13:11 on 26/01/11]
6. • FDFC
   • bad admiral says:

     FDFC says:

     I want to be in the lewdest band in the world.

     
     
     you got work to do boy. i chased a bloke in a wheelchair around last gig we played.
     
     I don't want to earn the reputation, I just want to revel in it.
   • [13:13 on 26/01/11]
7. • bad admiral
   • FDFC says:

     bad admiral says:

     FDFC says:

     I want to be in the lewdest band in the world.

     
     
     you got work to do boy. i chased a bloke in a wheelchair around last gig we played.

     
     I don't want to earn the reputation, I just want to revel in it.
     
     
     probably for the best young man...tell everyone you fucked a dolphin. that's pretty lewd.
   • [17:28 on 26/01/11]
8. • FDFC
   • It's not called a "blowhole" for nothing you know.
   • [17:59 on 26/01/11]
9. • Ragnarocker
   • no mention of Motorhead and Neurosis? the latter maybe understandibly but motorhead are ear bleeding!
     
     Taint made 2 people pass out at a gig in sheffield a few years back, 2 different people stepping into a vortex of sheer bass volume, had to be taken outside! we didn't find out til after people were coming up and telling us, this was all due to Knut's sound man Serge, he's a bit of a legend, always sets the tone then pushes EVERYTHING up! he's recently been touring with Vitus.
     
     Plus on another note Scott Kelly once told me the levels they operate at, i.e. 120db and up actually caused a miscarriage in a pregnant friend of theirs once, scary point that should be noted, My pregnant wife doesn't risk it at all, i'd say be careful to anyone else out there in our circles in this predicament
   • [10:51 on 27/01/11]
10. • mike
    • That is just mad.
      
      I remember that Sheffield gig well, saw both people drop, we wondered if you had a special pedal ("Too close, down you go!").
    • [11:53 on 27/01/11]
11. • Ragnarocker
    • haha, that would be amazing! the new pedal from electro HARMonix, see what i did there?
      
      As for the passing out incident we had only heard it from others and didn't even know if it was true, for years i was of course proud of this acheivement though haha, but then a few years later the guy who it happened to came up to me at at gig and told me what had happened, mental! The power of the riff eh?
    • [12:50 on 27/01/11]
12. • mike
    • Brilliant, we just had the power to make people leave the room, not quite the same!
    • [12:53 on 27/01/11]
13. • bad admiral
    • mike says:

      Brilliant, we just had the power to make people leave the room, not quite the same!
      
      
      ditto.
    • [13:06 on 27/01/11]
14. • basstard
    • Not sure how intensely loud they were (can't imagine them being quiet in the Lemmy era though), but early 70s Hawkwind gigs were notorious for people passing out due to the oscillation from their fucked-up and freaked-out electronic effects. May have been something to do with all the acid too....
    • [13:10 on 27/01/11]
15. • slack mammoth
    • Emily managed to shake a light fitting out of the ceiling once. I was very proud of her.
    • [13:47 on 27/01/11]
16. • Hopkins
    • read some stuff on this t'other week
      www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/jan/11/ask-indie-prof...
    • [15:47 on 27/01/11]
17. • bad admiral
    • i shall certainluy take that into consideration...
    • [17:08 on 27/01/11]
18. • bazzathespaz
    • christaint says:

      Scott Kelly once told me the levels they operate at, i.e. 120db and up actually caused a miscarriage in a pregnant friend of theirs once, scary point that should be noted
      
      If that's true that's fucking dark
    • [15:57 on 30/01/11]
19. • Ragnarocker
    • bazzathespaz says:

      christaint says:

      Scott Kelly once told me the levels they operate at, i.e. 120db and up actually caused a miscarriage in a pregnant friend of theirs once, scary point that should be noted

      
      If that's true that's fucking dark
      
      
      Certainly is, when we played with them in germany a friend of ours who lived there was gonna bring his pregnant wife and Scott warned us against it because of this happening to a close friend of theirs, my wife's pregnant now and we've agreed that it aint even worth the risk with any kind of heavy bass vibe music, gonna wait til he's born to blast the heavy!
    • [08:32 on 31/01/11]
20. • Gareth
    • christaint says:

      my wife's pregnant now
      
      
      Congratulations!
      
      I remember that Sheffield show, I was stood at the back wondering why everyone seemed to be panicking at the front of the stage.
    • [21:46 on 31/01/11]

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