Thread: Super loud automobile sound systems and the urge to kill

Stu-, I agree, Slayer can come in pretty handy sometimes.

I feel sorry for you guys who are stuck in the cities today. Where I live, a hundred yards of driveway, a half mile of private road, and a few miles of dirt road off the main track, if I can hear your car stereo you are breaking more than a noise ordinance. The loudest stereo in the neighborhood is in the house of one of our neighbors and it is only cranked when everyone in earshot is already at his barbecue waiting for the burgers or another beer.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

Having grown up when people were supposed to realize that they were not the center of the universe I am sensitive to disturbing others. I have never seen a rocket propelled grenade and wouldn't know how to use one if I had it but ..... when I am sitting at a traffic light and some inconsiderate idiot's booming bass starts permeating my environment I fantasize blowing them to kingdom come with an RPG. Anyone else feel this way ?

They're about as annoying as Motorcycles with no mufflers.

One option when the guy pulls up at the light next to you with the bass assault in full effect is to pretend to enjoy it. They'll always sneak a glance at you, so without ever looking at them, rock the un-hippest head-nodding you can muster. Like a chicken - just front to back. The key is to be serious about it, not to do it in a mocking way. You're just a super uncool guy who really digs that sound (man).

The older you are, the better it works.

I've had people turn down their stereos in response, no kidding.

A guy I used to work with had a cure for this. When he stopped at a traffic light and a car nearby was too boomy with the base, he would just lay on the car horn. No looks, no gestures, no name calling, just a slight smile and solid car horn for the entire duration of the stop. I just new he was going to be shot someday.

Back in the 60's my friend's dad was an electrical engineer for the local pop radio station. They had a Klipsch horn system set in the corners of their living room that could be heard from several blocks away even though the amp was low wattage. His dad built the system from plans from popular science magazine. We would play the Rubber Soul LP on that thing and it sounded like George was there for real.

I have the widest musical tastes of anyone I know (not the best, just really, really, broad.) I'll be listening to Opera one day, classical, jazz, classic rock, ska, "alternative" (whatever the F that means anymore)harcore or punk, depending on the day.

When I listen to some of it (Ride of the Valkeries, or Dropkick Murphys come to mind), I tend to listen kind of loud. Not stupidly ear splittingly loud, but pretty loud. If my windows are down and we are at a stop light, I tend to turn it down...as I don't care so much if you can hear it, but it shouldn't be overwhelming to another person. A lot like the way I am when I smoke a cigar. Yeah, you'll be able to smell it...you live in a city...you do not have the right to a smell free zone...BUT..., if I note it is blowing right in your face, I'll do everything I can to be more polite and respectful about it (imagine that!)

Anyway, last night onthe way home (I drive through a decidedly urban neighborhood when I take this route), I was lsitening to the new Dropkick Murphys CD. A song I like was on, there was very little traffic on the road, the sun was out, the windows and sunroof were open, and the volume was up. A tinted out Ninteen Eighty-Rust toyota pulled up behind me at a light, and their bass drowned out my music. I had my volume up tot he point where I would have turned it down out of politeness had a car pulled up next to me, or pedestrians been on the street around me, and I could CLEARLY hear/feel his music to the point where mine was muddled. Really? Why? You think your loud stereo in a car worth less than my shirt is somehow impressive? Put the cost of an amp into a Maaco paint job, your bass will still be loud enough to crach the earth's crust, and perhpas you won't look like QUITE as big a jackass.

An RPG would have come in handy.

Bumper sticker sighted on my latest road trip:

IF I WANTED TO HEAR THE CRAP COMING OUT OF YOUR SPEAKERS, I'D BE SITTING IN YOUR CAR.

(This car's other bumper sticker read: WHY AM I THE ONLY PERSON ON THE PLANET WHO KNOWS HOW TO DRIVE? So I figured the owner was, like many of us, just a wee bit stressed out by modern life. This wasn't in a city, by the way, but in small-town southern Illinois.)

~Rich

My favorite bumper sticker, "Keep Honking, I'm Reloading."

Originally Posted by NYCshaver

They're about as annoying as Motorcycles with no mufflers.

guilty as charged.

Cases of chronic noise out side the home excepted, these are small things gentleman. I suspect your day will not be made any brighter by getting in a bad mood about it, but maybe it will be if you think about all the silly things you have done because you thought it made you look cool and have a bit of a laugh about it.

one of my team leaders at work told me the other day 'no matter what happens you're still bloody laughing' It's a superb position to take in life, I think. I don't have the energy to be in a bad mood for long.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

My favorite bumper sticker, "Keep Honking, I'm Reloading."

I like that.

It may be apocryphal, but I once read about somebody whose car suddenly died at an intersection and, of course, had the inevitable hothead behind him who started laying on his horn. Supposedly the driver in front, after a long minute of this, got out, walked back to the other car, and said, "Let's trade jobs a while. You try to get my car started, and I'll sit back here and honk your horn."

Of course, that was back in the days when you didn't think about getting shot for something like that.

~Rich