The Loudest Band on Earth

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00:00 - Introduction
00:53 - 02:48 - Allow Me to Get Technical
02:49 - 04:08 - The Loudest Bands on Earth
04:09 - 05:24 - The Biggest Stack on Earth
05:25 - 06:29 - The Animal Kingdom
06:30 - 06:58 - It Came from Outer Space
06:59 - 08:41 - The Loudest Sound of All Time

[MarySpender]

First 1000 people to sign up using this link get 50% off...

[Nannada]

Mary gunna be the David Attenborough of music

[FightingTorque]

My 13-year-old, high-school-geography-class self would be so proud of me for instantly recognising Krakatoa just from the thumbnail. I did an entire project on the eruption and its aftermath - a fascinating story, and a petrifying one when you consider how many active and/or dormant volcanoes exist with the same destructive potential. The rest of the video was fascinating too - thank you for making this, Mary!

[grahamsneddon]

Astounding that there is no mention of Motorhead. Reputedly the loudest band in the world in their day. An album titled "everything louder than everything else", and the indisputable fact that Lemmy is indeed God.

[StephenMarkTurner]

As you mentioned, sound is 'logarithmic', and so is hearing. It shows how remarkable the ear is, like a weigh scale that could accurately measure a flea or an elephant. Guitarist Jeff Healey was the loudest show I was at, it was insane.

[cbecht]

A note about the whales: Decibels are a relative unit, not an absolute one. They are only meaningful with regard to some reference level. (ie: dBm is referenced to 1 milliwatt). The scales used for measuring sound in air and sound in water have completely different reference levels, and are not directly comparable.

[LenPopp]

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy notes that Disaster Area, a plutonium rock band from the Gagrakacka Mind Zones, are generally held to be not only the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, but in fact the loudest noise of any kind at all." - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Douglas Adams

[stateofsurvival]

I'm really surprised The Who didn't make the list. They were so loud, blood came out of ears and Townshend is now deaf. "1976. NOTE: The Who were next to be listed as the "record holder" at 126 dB, having been measured 32 metres (105 feet) from the speakers during a concert in London at The Valley on 31 May 1976."

[ljfinger]

I was at a loud concert a long time ago. I wore ear plugs. A little kid, perhaps 7 or so, was sitting next to me. When the music started the little guy covered his ears in pain. I reached into my pocket and pulled out an unopened package of earplugs and offered it to him. Perhaps because he had been well-trained not to accept things from strangers, he backed away and shook his head, hands still over his ears. Fortunately, his mom saw the scene and quickly intervened. Moments later, he was happily wearing those ear plugs, having one installed into one ear by his mom and one installed into the other by myself, each having taken our respective sides.

And interesting fact. Though 2x is 3db and 10db is 10x, that's physics, not human perception. Ask a human to grab a volume control and double the volume and they will up it by 10db, not 3db. Human perception.

[mutterslog]

The 1982 AC/DC "For those about to rock" tour, they set off a dozen cannons inside of the arena. It felt like the building was going to shake apart. Subsequent tours they cut back on the amount of cannon shot.
My ears are still ringing.

[hughmungus]

Mary, may I suggest that a very appropriate follow-on to this video would be one that discusses steps musicians - and audience members - can take to protect their hearing when performing it or simply listening to it, whether that happens in a concert hall or over ear buds. Perhaps you could even get Pete Townshend or Neil Young, who have both been open about struggling with hearing loss, to appear and lend their experience.

[louiejordanthemusefanboy]

I have suffered from tinnitus for the last 8 years and that video you did on it just made me a happy. Thank you. Love all the vids

[dougiemanross]

My good friend, Jeff Hair, is Manowar’s FOH engineer. Probably one of the most experienced FOH engineers in the world. Loud is one thing but loud and clean is impressive and that’s what he does best 💯

[spudgo]

Honourable mention to Motörhead for their 1984 Variety Theatre concert in Cleveland - they were measured at 130 decibels.

[neohenry]

Saw Manowar around 2010, I was in the back of hall and could feel my internal organs moving around. Wore my ear pro. Donnie Hamzik played like a god. You could almost visualize the pressure waves interacting with one another, the bass drums would break up the guitar sound. It was RAD. Sounded amazing though, like the reason they only hit 139 during sound check at Magic Circle is because it didn't sound right so they lowered it for the live set. It's such an interesting feeling to be able to scream as loud as you can and not be able to hear yourself. Protect your ears, kids.

[charlesschenk]

Thank you for posting this, Mary. It is important. How do I know? What did you say? Eh? I made my living as a musician for a period during the 1960s and 70s. Today, I'm well into my seventies, my hearing is shot. Back at age 22, part way through my music carer, I had my hearing tested, and could not hear a single thing above 10KHz - nothing. Over the years it has become worse, a lot worse.

Today my hearing starts to drop out rapidly at 2500Hz. The highest note on a piano is just above 4000Hz. I no longer hear the "ssss" sound in words hat have the letter “S”, nor the in any word that begins with the letter “F”. There is a constant, loud ringing in my right ear, and all this damage came from years of standing in front of a wall of speaker cabinets powered by multiple amplifiers. Hearing aids do help, but the can't replace what my ears can't hear at any volume level.

Personal monitoring systems had not yet been invented, and no one gave us warings about playing music this loudly.

BTW, my aunt Nellie was deaf as a door-knob by the time she was my age. During family gatherings, when it was time for dinner, we would say to her, "Are you ready to eat dinner?" She would respond with something like, "Eh? Betty has her feet on a sinner? What?" Then she would break out laughing.

C. :-Donald

[florisbackx]

I 100% sure Lemmy is turning in his grave, no way the are not mentioned in context of the loudest band on earth...

[terenzo]

Loudest sounds I can remember was back in 1968 listening right up in front of the stage to John Mayall's Bluesbreakers at the Palm Springs Blues Festival. My own fault for moving up so close. Had one hell of a headache afterwards. I generally don't mind loud music, but airplanes, motorcycles, kitchen blenders et alia drive me batty. At 73, my hearing is in better shape than it should be given my early concert attendance history. Along with Kirsty Young, with whom you may be familiar, you have a gloriously beautiful speaking voice. I wouldn't be at all surprised if the BBC came calling.

[MicahEdmonds]

I learned about Pistol Shrimps in music class during high school. Super fascinating to think of how, since sound travels differently underwater, such small creatures might sound above ground. Super cool video!

[Guardducks]

I'm sorry i couldn't hear you Mary, I'm deaf from the deep purple concert of 1972. Lol great video.