Music as a Crime

How is it that we as a society have outlawed music and people who love music? I'm talking about the habit of listening to music loud. Whenever somebody turns the volume up and the neighbors don't like it everybody (=most people) adopts an attitude that the person listening to music is in the wrong and not those who complain about it. They even call the cops as if we were dealing with some awful criminal here. How has this kind of situation come to be and why do most people take it as granted that if your music bothers other people then you have to turn it down?

I'd understand the situation where your neighbor listened to it loud all the time (every day from morning to night), and at night when you want to sleep. But during the day the opinion runs the same -- if your music bothers us you have to turn it down. That's not how this works. Some people want silence and some people want music. And the compromise is not turning down the volume every time somebody tells you to. The compromise is those other people stopping being silence despots and understanding that they are trying to take away other people's liberties.

 

pretty much, yep.

 

people that have no consideration for the neighbors shouldnt have neighbors

 

so those who want silence should get what they want all the time, and the others who want to listen to music from time to time should get nothing?

how does that make sense on any level of logic?

 

Yes. You should play your music incredibly loud and be ignorant of everyone else. That's an advanced civilization.

Wear fucking headphones. If you neighbors can hear that, you may just be deaf.

 

actually, it's the other way around. they are ignorant of other people wanting to listen to their favorite music at full quality sometimes. if they get ca 90% of silence during a week, and only ca 10% is music and *still* they complain --- it is them who don't have consideration for other people.

the headphones don't have the same quality.

do you like going to the concerts? cinema?
how 'bout the next time you go to see a movie you put headphones on?

 

Seconded. You have your liberties, but not the liberty to impose on someone else.

How would that be illogical? Maybe talk to your neighbors first? I used to live with my old band mates and we would practice inside our house. You could hear it almost clear as day in the houses next to ours, but we told them ahead of time, worked out certain times, and everything was cool.

And you're expecting loud noises when you go a concert, that's just daft. You're implying that people who have neighbors should just expect them to play loud music all the time?

 

I agree with you Meridian. People need to compromise. At my previous apartment I would be very quiet more than 90% of the time, but when I tried to play loud music one night (not even late) the cops came in about 20 minutes.

 

this is exactly what I mean --- I have the same thing. I'm quiet ca 90% of the week. I don't have the chance to listen to music with college and work. And when I put the music on loud once or twice a week it's instantly a major problem. And most people completely fail to understand the need to listen to music for what it is at full quality. it's like they've lost their souls to the world and forgotten what it's like to be young or have never been young. they've made so many compromises with their life and dreams that they've become embittered by freedom. it's absurd to expect someone to take your liberties into consideration if you refuse to do the same for them.

I didn't say all the time, now did I? I specified quite particular circumstances.
and they are the ones doing the imposing by taking away people's right to listen to music. how hard is that to understand?

 

People want to control their environment, especially if they have a sense of ownership. A neighbor blasting music is an intrusion that's beyond their control, so naturally they're not gonna like it.

Besides that, is it so fucking painful to turn down your music?

 

I definately sympathise with the original post. I'm the same, Monday to Friday, I keep quiet, and don't case much noise at all... Watching a film on saturday night, not even late (like 10pm), I have my neighbor banging on the door. ( I live in a terraced house, and the sound travels freely between houses unfortunately, so it doesn't need to be very loud AT ALL to be annoying for others).

At the same time, I sympathise with those having to listen to recycled music. The music you hear through the walls is not of the quality you recieve in the room of it's origin.... I say just turn it down, and if you want loud loud music, go to a club or something. Unfortuante but this is kind of the price of living within close proximity of others who do not share your love of incredibly loud music. You could always live in an area densely populated by Students.. they don't seem to mind as much (hah).


If i'm alone I always wear headphones, and I bought a very expensive pair to ensure there is no loss of quality. It's a bit more difficult with a few friends... but such is life hey. :-(

 

"Particular circumstances" being a complete random 10% of the week. Don't think I don't sympathize...there's nothing like music at the level it should be. Let them know ahead of time, insulate your house, or maybe even check out local laws to see if there's a noise ordinance and then play music before then.

Or move into the woods. I'd be pissed if I had something planned or was trying to sleep (I had a midnight shift and slept during the day) and someone randomly started playing loud, possibly shitty, music. Maybe all it would take is going to them and working something out, like "Hey, I sleep usually from 11am to 7pm, don't play music then"

 

I agree with the op. People should not attempt to infringe upon someones right to experience music fully. While I think it would be a dick move to play loud music and keep the neighbors up all night when they have work in the morning, playing it loud on example weekends and such should not be an issue.

People need to learn that they do not own the world and stop attempted to control everyone around them. Thats like expecting all traffic on the streets to pull over and make way for you. If they expect things like that they should go buy their own city so they can have it all to themselves instead of having to share it with a million other people.

Its not really like even with my music pretty loud, the sound level in their place is not gonna be that ridiculously loud...i mean during the day does it really ever get quiet? Theres constantly some kind of noise that reminds us that we share this world and we're not alone. Somehow people think that if the source of the sound comes from another apartment that it's different than noise that comes from the street. Some people are just fuckin dicks and thats wats up.

 

i agree with the op about headphones not being the same... at all. they don't give you vibrations in your body like a good soundsystem does. i'm just lucky i'm in a detached home and i don't have to worry about bothering people.


...oh! and doesn't it seem like in some apartments there are lots of people with their TVs on?? i consider that to be irritating noise more so than muffled music. i doubt that the cops would be called on people with a loud TV :/ figures.

 

Starting to sound like the intelligence of the genre, LOL. There is a law called Disturbing the Peace, and that law has been around for a long time, and for good reason.

Why do you think you have the right to force your music upon others? That is just plain rude and unthoughtful. But then again, I suppose that is typical of the youth today, rude and unthoughtful.

 

what makes a preference of silence better than the preference of music?

 

why must the people that want music put on headphones. why not have the people who want silence wear earplugs then?

of course I would be pissed if my neighbor was blaring music at 3am and i had to be at work in the morning but 6pm on a weekend I dont understand why its such an issue?

 

At 6pm I want to watch the news. What makes your music more important than my news? What gives you the right to make my life miserable? Maybe I have to sleep at 6pm because I work graves, and I cant sleep with earplugs. What right do you have to infringe on my peace, no matter what the situation?

 

The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...and loud music?

We're still talking about the jackass next door who forces his neighbors to listen to silence, not the jackass who forces his neighbors to listen to his possibly shitty music, right?

They should buy their own city...so they don't have to listen to their neighbors music..

What the hell kind of noise is coming from your streets that's as loud as a neighbor with a cranked stereo? Do you live next to an industrial park? Maybe next to a train station? Shooting range? Atomic testing grounds?

This is getting slightly ridiculous.

 

The impression I'm getting is like having to deal with a bunch of infants...you know, when they're at that age when they see themselves as the centre of the universe and "I want" transcends anyone elses needs or feelings.

Ideally most people should have grown out of this phase long before they are old enough to start posting on forums, but I've been noticing a trend for infantile behaviour lasting longer in the population in general over the last decade or so.

One question for the Noise Rights folks... say a guy moves in next door, and he has a monster sound system that utterly overpowers yours. Every time you want to listen to your music loud, his is louder. Is he just asserting his rights justifiably, or is he violating yours ?