One near 60 degree day and I'm reminded just how much I HATE BASS. And that's coming from a bass player! Gone are the days when the bass part moved as a counterpoint to a strong, well crafted melody; subtle and unnoticed until it was taken out of the mix. Now you're lucky if you get the root AND the fifth out of any boom car stereo's 150 decibel assault on the senses. What bothers me the most is the advertising campaigns looking to boost the testosterone levels of every young adult male between 16 and 25. Check out some of the neighborly slogans of the biggest car audio manufacturers:
JL Audio: "Be Very Afraid."
Kicker: "You deserve a beating...Kicker's loudest, meanest subwoofer ever!"
Lightning Audio: "Sonic submission."
Boss Audio System: "Turn it down? I don't think so."
Cerwin-Vega Mobile Audio: "Shake the living, wake the dead."
Orion High Performance Car Audio: "Be Loud. Be Obnoxious."
But the real killers are Sony's "Disturb the Peace" and Pioneer's "Disturb, Defy, Disrupt, Ignite".
Brilliant...just what every male teen needs to hear.
One thing is for sure: it's no longer about the music; it's all about the power...to disturb. And that in and of itself is disturbing. Hate to sound like an old fart, but something needs to be done. Otherwise, this is only the beginning of what could prove to be one long, hot summer.
I'm all for a little radicalism, defiance, and disturbance to shake up the establishment. And though I've always preferred the soulful pleas of Curtis Mayfield's "If There's a Hell Below" over the in your face brashness of the Dead Kennedy's "Let's Lynch the Landlord", I appreciate the power of a song to challenge, disturb or revolutionize. I don't even have a problem with volume levels. But this isn't about defiance or disturbance in a socio-political kind of way; it's about the physical power of bass to disturb and to disrupt. This is not about loud music; it's about subwoofer submission. This is not about radicalism; it's about major corporations encouraging sonic rape.
I'm kinda partial to the soothing sounds of Barry Manilow these days......."Weekend in New England" just makes me feel better regardless of my surroundings. but while walking along the river last weekend i heard, ah felt, the booming bass you speak of as they rolled by all tricked out and low riding. but while reading your most recent post i remembered back to those days when i walked the streets of this fine city with pride holding my Sony Boom Box that required enough D batteries to push a train. yes! blasting AC/DC's " Back in Black" and wearing my faded Blizzard of Oz tee shirt..telling the world around me; Hey man! Listen to this! Bon Scott is dead but Brian Johnson is totally awesome!
great post peter!
I took the fire-with-fire approach by installing my own 200W of audio power in my little 45 cubic foot passenger space. It's not a perfect solution, but at least I won't lose the thread on the Mighty Mighty Bosstones' "Awfully Quiet" while sitting next to a one-note-wonder at the lights. ("I like noise that's why I'm living where I am / I like the noise and confusion of a traffic jam", etc.)
Though, I have to scratch my head to decide what about Iggy and the Stooges wasn't purely intended to disturb back in the day... Or the Dead Kennedys... Rancid, on the other hand--that's poetry. :-)