Loudest band in the world

The loudest band in the world is a subject of some dispute in musical circles, although the claim has been made that Motorhead holds this distinction.cite web|url=http://www.antimusic.com/reviews/08/motorheadlegends.shtml|title=Motorhead Legends|publisher=antiMusic|accessdate=2008-09-24] 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. Matt Ashare from The Village Voice attributes this competition to a notion that "loudness equals greatness", a notion that he states to be clearly false.cite news|title=Total Death of Loud: Guitar Wolf, Atari Teenage Riot: louder than bombs|author=Matt Ashare|date=1999-06-08|work=The Village Voice|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/music/9922,ashare,6196,22.html]

This notion pervades rock music, however, 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.cite news|title=The A-Z of Spinal Tap|author=Karl French|date=2000-09-22|work=The Guardian|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/extracts/story/0,,371343,00.html] [cite web|url=http://www.spinaltapfan.com/atozed/TAP00160.HTM|work=Spinal Tap A to Zed|title=Eleven]

Decibel records

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 Charlton Athletic Football Ground on 1976-05-31.cite news|title=Total Death of Loud: Guitar Wolf, Atari Teenage Riot: louder than bombs|author=Matt Ashare|date=1999-06-08|work=The Village Voice|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/music/9922,ashare,6196,22.html]

1984 and 1994

The heavy metal band Manowar is one claimant of the title of "loudest band in the world",cite web|url=http://www.meyersound.com/news/2008/manowar/|title=The World's Loudest Band, Manowar Kicks It Up a Notch with Meyer Sound and Westfalen Sound |publisher=Meyer Sound Laboratories Inc.|accessdate=2008-09-24] citing a measurement of 129.5 dB in 1994 in Hanover.cite web|url=http://www.thegauntlet.com/bio/756/Manowar.html|title=Manowar Bio|publisher=The Gauntlet|accessdate=2008-09-24] However, "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. [cite web|url=http://www.dawksound.com/manowar.html|title=Manowar's Unofficial Founding Member|author=Dawk Sound Limited] [cite web|title=Manowar's History|url=http://www.metalyou.com/band/manowar/history/|work=MetalYOU] [cite web|title=Bright Channel: Flight Approved Records|author=Jose Fritz|work=Ear To The Tracks|url=http://strandedinstereo.com/music_brightchannel.shtml|publisher=Planetary Group, LLC] [cite web|author=Phil Brodie|title=UK & WORLD Record Holders|url=http://philbrodieband.com/muso-world-record-holders.htm]

1997

Metallica has styled itself the "loudest band in the world". However, after one concert on 1997-11-11, which the band dubbed the "Million Decibel March", the "Philadelphia Inquirer" reported that "neighbors who [had] feared the worst from the self-styled Loudest Band in the World complained more about the sound from the news choppers circling overhead".cite book|last=McIver|first=Joel |title=Justice for All: The Truth about Metallica|publisher=Omnibus Press|date=2004|pages=243|isbn=0711996008]

2007

British punk band Gallows allegedly broke Manowar's previous 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. [ cite web
url = http://www2.kerrang.com/2007/06/gallows_become_the_worlds_loud.html
title = Gallows become the world's loudest band!
accessmonthday = July 15
accessyear = 2007
year = 2007
month = June
format = 21
work = Kerrang! magazine]

Other dates

Other previous record holders include Deep Purple (117 decibels), The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, My Bloody Valentine (132 decibels), and KISS. Although it has never been made official, some reports suggest that New York noise rock band, Swans reached 140 decibels at some gigs. [cite web|date=2006-02-16|title=Deep Purple|author=Graham Reid|url=http://www.viewauckland.co.nz/deep_purple_concert_auckland_logan_campbell_centre_index.html|publisher=View Auckland Ltd ] [cite book|title=Canadian Review|author=Pomeroy, Carter|pages=9]

ee also

*Examples of sound pressure and sound pressure levels
*Loudness war

References

Further reading

*
* — Mick Fleetwood performs the "World's "Quietest" Concert" to help educate people about the risks of loud concerts.