For decades, musicians have cranked their amps up to 11 in a quest to blow audiences away with their walls of sound.
From old-school heavy metal to cutting-edge electronic artists, bands from a variety of genres have shattered eardrums, damaged buildings, and even caused earthquakes due to the sonic booms they’ve produced.
In this article, we profile 10 of the loudest bands in history, outline the impact their audio assaults have had on their audiences and arenas, and detail how each of them earned their reputation as soldiers of sound.
Motor head
Lemmy Kilmister and his crew started out with the goal of being the loudest, dirtiest, fastest, toughest band in the world, and many will say they achieved it.
His live concerts could reach a mighty 130 decibels, and venues around the world suffered the consequences.
At the Cleveland Variety Theater in 1984, they caused the ceiling plaster to break off and fall onto the audience below, while in the UK they smashed the roof of Newcastle Town Hall, shattered the windows of Wolverhampton Polytechnic and set fire to fire to the speakers at Puerto Vale FC.
It’s no surprise then that they’ve titled one of their live albums ‘Everything Louder Than Everyone Else’.
Left Garden
This electronic duo proved that they could match any heavy metal band in destructive noise when they performed at the Brixton Academy in June 1996.
Their concert was measured at 137 decibels, and the brutally loud beats tore chunks out of the building. Having covered their audience with bits of plaster and dust from the walls and ceilings, the group was not invited to perform at the venue for another four years, and only on the condition that the volume was turned down.
my bloody valentine
This alternative rock band practically reinvented how guitars could sound on their 1991 album heartbreak, immersing songs in layer after layer of feedback and distortion. When performed live, the combined force of all the sound levels became terrifyingly loud.
While touring to promote the album, the band set out to test their audience’s ability to withstand extreme volume for extended periods of time, leading one journalist to describe the shows as “more torture than entertainment”.
Fans attending concerts were often given earplugs before entering, and despite the band spending over 20 years on hiatus, either broke up entirely or tried unsuccessfully to record the follow-up to Loveless, the first few days left their mark in the form of chronic tinnitus. .
“I consider him a friend,” said singer/guitarist Kevin Shields.
The OMS
On May 31, 1976, 75,000 people packed the Charlton Athletic football ground in London to watch a line-up headlined by The Who. His performance that night was measured at 126 decibels… 100 feet from the speakers.
However, being among the loudest bands in history came at a price for the members, as Roger Daltrey told reporters in 2018: “I advise all you rock and roll fans: take your damn earplugs to concerts.” If only we had known when we were young…we are reading lips.’
blue joy
American psychedelic rockers Blue Cheer are considered pioneers of extreme volume, being the first band included in the Guinness Book of World Records as the loudest band in the world.
By the late 1960s, his volume levels were far beyond what people were accused of, and fans at his concerts often had to leave the front rows because they couldn’t stand the noise.
Blue Cheer were so loud that they had to record outdoors, and part of their second album was recorded on a San Francisco pier.
Manowar
These power metal brawlers often write songs influenced by sword tales, witchcraft, fantasy, and mythology, and are well known for their epic, bone-crushing sound. It seems fitting, then, that Manowar has apparently been on a quest to reach volume levels no other band can.
In 1984, the group was named by the Guinness Book of World Records for giving the loudest performance in history, and since then they have broken their own record twice more.
Their current personal best decibel count was achieved during a sound check at Magic Circle Fest in 2008, when they hit a mighty 139 decibels.
Dark purple
Another band recognized as the world’s loudest by the Guinness Book of World Records, Deep Purple are among the creators of inflicting supreme noise punishment on their overeager audiences.
An entire generation grew up with Deep Purple banging on their eardrums and earning their place in rock folklore, while some fans ended up getting hit harder than they bargained for, as three audience members attending a 1972 concert at the London Rainbow Theater were knocked unconscious by the blow. strength of the sonic assault they were subjected to.
Kiss
Gene Simmons’ latex-clad performers had their heyday in the 1970s and ’80s, so it’s perhaps surprising that their loudest moment came in December 2009.
During a performance in Ottawa, Canada, the band reached an extraordinary 136 decibels. Apparently, the concert was so loud that noise complaints from city residents forced the band to turn down the volume midway through the show.
foo fighters
During a show in Auckland, New Zealand on December 13, 2011, Dave Grohl and his crew literally shook the earth. Over the course of their 3-hour set, the band caused a movement in the ground similar to a volcanic tremor that was felt up to a mile away.
Clearly that wasn’t enough, as the following year they played a concert in Belfast for 32,000 fans that could be heard up to 12 miles away, resulting in 140 noise complaints.
led zeppelin
These rock gods have long been considered one of the best, loudest and most influential bands in history. Known as one of the founders of heavy metal, Led Zeppelin’s soulful crunch hit harder than almost all previous bands.
Anecdotally, many music journalists believe the group’s performances during the 1970s were the loudest of that decade, but their legacy of loudness gained official recognition when the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) measured a performance by heartbreaker at a staggering 130 decibels.