It Might Get Loud: The 10 Loudest Rock Bands of All Time

Volume can be a musician’s friend or foe.

Playing six-string in a straight-up rock or country band with a drummer who hits like a kicking mule, a bassist with severe hearing loss and a keyboard player or rhythm guitarist who turns up to 11 is like shouting in the midst of a tornado – pointless and painful. It’s even worse if you’re also the singer. On the other hand, if your band is called something like Nihilistic Death By 10,000 Taloned Demons, it’s likely a dream come true and you’re probably the loudest member.

This story is about groups for whom high-level volume was or is a badge of courage – a scientifically measurable gauge of power and intensity. Any volume measured at more than 85 decibels (dB) is considered dangerous and can potentially cause hearing loss or damage, like the permanent ringing known as tinnitus. For our list of the 10 loudest bands of all time, we’re only considering performers whose volume has checked in at an eardrum-rampaging 115 dB and above.

Our list of volume-drunk champions:

Motorhead

The exact dB levels of concerts by these punk-fueled granddaddies of speed and thrash metal – the sonic foundation of groups like Metallica and Napalm Death – is not published, but there are so many anecdotal tales of their outrageous displays of howling volume that they’ve earned their place on this list in spades and aces. Motorhead titled their third album Everything Louder Than Everyone Else… ’Nuff said.

The Who

These days The Who don’t seem terribly dangerous, with Pete Townshend wielding his Gibson SJ-200 as often as he hefts an electric axe. But in 1976 they earned a place in The Guinness Book of World Records for achieving a measured 126 dB roughly 100 feet from stage at the Valley, a London sports arena, touring behind The Who By Numbers.

MC5

According to their manger John Sinclair, Detroit’s MC5 were so loud they practiced with their Marshall 4x12 cabinets face-down flat on the ground, with the speakers firing straight into the floor. “Kick Out the Jams” wasn’t just a song to this influential pre-punk outfit; it was their manta. Part of that balls-out-all-the-time attitude was raw volume pushed to the maximum. Another part was sheer endurance. When they played at the infamous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago to protest the war in Vietnam, their set lasted eight hours.

AC/DC

In the early 1980s these Aussie maniacs were hell bent on becoming the world’s loudest band, fueled in large part by Angus Young’s Gibson SG-powered wall of amps. During the Back in Black tour, the group turned in a series of concerts at a whopping 130 dB. Complaints from promoters, however, moved the group to drop things down a few notches to the mere bone-crunching volume they play at today.

My Bloody Valentine

These modernist art rockers from Dublin use volume as a tool for creating fireworks and swirls within their textural guitar sound. Live, their feedback spikes and eddies of pitch-bent notes create an intoxicating and occasionally disorienting effect which is even more mesmerizing than it is painful to the naked ear. Expect no kindness from a group named after a 1981 Canadian slasher flick that was compelled to cut nine minutes of gore by the Motion Picture Association of America before it could be released the theaters.

Deep Purple

This might sound like urban legend, but The Guinness Book of World Records crowned Deep Purple the world’s loudest band after a 1972 concert at London’s 3,000-seat Rainbow Theater that rendered three fans unconscious with the intense pressure created by 117 dB of sound in an enclosed space. As Robert Ripley said, “Believe it or not!”

Led Zeppelin

Writer David Krebs made the case in Rolling Stone that Led Zeppelin’s live performances of “Whole Lotta Love” were the loudest on stage in 1970. But the year before that, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has already proven Zep’s big sound credibility by measuring a performance of “Heartbreaker” at 130 dB.

Manowar

These metal mongers from New York State are literally the band that broke the record on volume. After they scored Guinness’ recognition for the loudest musical performance at 129.5 db in 1984, they claim to have reached or exceeded that level again in 1994, but this time the famed book of records refused to acknowledge that accomplishment. Guinness had stopped including a category for world’s loudest band, supposedly because of the dangers of hearing damage caused by record seekers.

Leftfield

How loud must a group be to bring the roof down? For British electronica excessives Leftfield, the answer was an excruciating 137 dB in June 1996 at South London’s Brixton Academy, where chunks of plaster and dust began raining on their dance-crazed audience.

KISS

Thirty-six-years into their career KISS were still making headlines and defying gravitas. During a 2009 concert in Ottawa the group was reportedly clocked at 136 dB and were forced to turn down after police responded to complaints from neighbors in the area around the sports arena.

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10 Things You Might Not Know About Joe Bonamassa

No one could accuse Joe Bonamassa of not staying busy. This year alone, the guitar sensation has released three albums—a solo disc titled Dust Bowl; a group album titled 2, with Black Country Communion; and a duet album of soul classics, titled Don’t Explain, with acclaimed singer Beth Hart. Amazingly, as recently as last fall, some scribes were still calling Bonamassa “the best living guitarist you’ve never heard of.” Guitar aficionados--and Gibson players, in particular—know better, and in fact many have delved into the details of Bonamassa’s life in music thus far. Still, we found a few tidbits that might have escaped all but the most dedicated followers.

His favorite guitar is a ’59 Les Paul Sunburst, a “Holy Grail” that he actually takes on the road with him.

“I tour nine months a year,” Bonamassa told Gibson.com, in a 2011 interview. “What am I going to do, come home and noodle with it on the couch? Go, ‘Wow look at this, I’ve got a ’59 Les Paul that never gets used, maybe on a recording here and there.’ I’d rather get a nice case for it--which I did--hire an ex-secret service agent as my security guard--which I did [laughs]--and take it on the road.” In an interview with AmericanBluesScene.com, Bonamassa praised the ‘59’ Les Paul’s extraordinary tone. “I have over 300 guitars, but out of all of them, that one is definitely my favorite.”

He uses heavy gauge strings partly as a “preventative” measure.

“I’m not a shredder guy,” Bonamassa once told Premier Guitar, “but I have shredder tendencies that I think get in my way. I have a tendency to put in a million notes and show off to the world, and that’s not usually my best solo. So, the .011s keep me from going there all the time. I can ramp up to it, but I’m not living there, over-playing all the time.”

His all-time favorite guitarist is Free’s Paul Kossoff.

“He’s such an unsung hero,” Bonamassa told M – Music & Musicians, in 2011. “His playing cuts like a knife through butter. You can feel his emotions in every note, whether it’s a hard note or a soft note. He’s a tactile player. And the tone he got with that beautiful ’59 Les Paul was just crushing. I actually got to play that guitar as a show in Newcastle last year. A friend of a friend owns it, and he let me borrow it I. That was a thrill. I felt like I was channeling Kossoff.”

The first rock song he mastered, as a child, was Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile.”

“I learned that riff properly,” Bonamassa told M – Music and Musicians. “A lot of kids today learn the Stevie Ray Vaughan version of that riff. Hendrix’s ‘Slight Return’ riff is different.” Bonamassa also told GuitarMessenger.com that the only other guitar piece he learned, note for note, was the dueling solo from the film, Crossroads. “That was difficult and challenging and very frustrating,” he said. “I’m just not a note-for-note kind of guy.”

Those trademark shades he wears vary with the seasons.

“I have four sets of them,” Bonamassa once told GuitarMessenger.com. “I have the 'hot summer show' ones–called Silhouettes, because they wrap around your ears. That prevents them from sliding off. Then, when you get into the wintertime and the theater’s not that hot, I wear a set of Pradas. I also have a set of Ray Bans and a set of Revos. I’m sure I’ve bought enough sunglasses to put somebody’s kid through college.”

The place you’re most likely to find him, when he’s not on tour, is The Home Depot.

“I’m deep into home improvements,” Bonamassa told a fan forum, in 2006. “I love The Home Depot. I'm good at walking in and picking things out, buying the supplies for the deck or whatever other project is on the list. But I leave the work to the pros. I’m just good at the buying part.”

His biggest regret is that he didn’t start singing at an earlier age.

“I didn’t start singing ‘till I was 18, and that’s something I deeply regret,” Bonamassa once lamented. “But then again, there’s tons of stuff where you go back and say, ‘Well, I should’ve gone left, but instead I went right. That was a bad decision.’ Anything that doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and makes you smarter for the next day.”

He would much rather perform live than record in the studio.

“The studio is a daunting place, for me,” Bonamassa told GuitarMessenger.com, in 2007. “Some people flourish in that environment, but I don’t. Everything is decisions. ‘Is this good enough?’ ‘Is the sound just right?’ ‘Is there enough reverb?’ ‘Is it panned correctly?’ I get overwhelmed. Whereas, live, who cares? It comes from the top of your head, and you just blow it out. If I suck tonight, I’ll be better tomorrow. The cool thing about live is there’s always tomorrow to redeem yourself.”

The most important advice he received from his mentor, B.B. King, had nothing to do with guitar playing.

“He said, ‘Watch your money and keep your eye on the business side of things,’” Bonamassa told M – Music & Musicians, in 2011. “It’s about music, but it’s also about business. He sat me down and said, ‘Joe, you need to always reinvest back into what you do, back into your fan base. Fans can detect if you’re not doing that, if you’re not doing things to improve the show.’ It’s no different from running a Walgreen’s, or a Joe’s Pizza Shack.”

He believes great rhythm guitar playing is underappreciated.

“Even someone like me, who often gets caught up in soloing, plays rhythm guitar eighty percent of the time,” Bonamassa once said, in an unpublished interview. “Even a guy who puts on a ‘guitar show’ has to play rhythm, and has to be fluent in chords and voicings. Also, if you don’t learn how to back off your volume when someone else is soloing, that’s problematic. Rhythm playing is about learning how to blend in with the band, and be part of the ensemble.”

Joe Bonamassa Custom Les Paul

Joe Bonamassa 2011 Gibson.com interview

Joe Bonamassa Stirs up Dust Bowl

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The Gibson Classic Interview: They Might Be Giants' Dan Miller

Gibson.com is pleased to present “The Gibson Classic Interview,” where we open our archives and share with you interviews we’ve done over the years with some of the world’s biggest artists. This week, we revisit Courtney Grimes' 2005 interview with Dan Miller of college radio kings, They Might Be Giants.

They Might Be Giants (TMBG). Named after a ‘60s movie with George C. Scott, the underground pop/rock/hint-of-polka group continues to “Flood” the hearts of millions. The group’s core duo, John Flansburgh and John Linnell (The Johns), began their friendship in junior high, but didn’t begin to work together musically until 1981 in Brooklyn.

During the ‘80s, the Johns released their first two albums, their self-titled They Might Be Giants (1985) and Lincoln (1988), which garnered attention from most of the country, and led the Giants to a constant touring schedule (with a guitar and a four-track recorder) as well as their first national TV spot on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” By 1990, the Johns signed with Elektra Records and put out their third album, Flood, with the contributions of several guest musicians. Along with the release of Flood, came another flood – They Might Be Giants were becoming alternative college radio superstars, and soon thereafter, expanded their sound to include a full band.

In the meantime, Gibson rocker Dan Miller was flooding stages as well in North Carolina with Lincoln, a band of his own. Lincoln was asked to open for TBMG and after Dan left Lincoln, the Giants asked him to join them. Dan came onboard in 1997, just in time to help propel the Giants to “the hardest working men in show business” status and celebrate the group’s 20th Anniversary in 2002.

Dan, who has just returned from a “Giant” trip to L.A., chats in an online interview about who he’s dating, Devry applications, and his career highlight involving a two-year-old.

How was L.A.?

L.A. was a total gas. Every time we head out there, something exciting and very L.A. happens. We seem to lead very ordinary (thanks the stars) life here in NYC, but for some reason, when we head out west we live these lives that belong to someone else.
We did this taping for MusicChoice at the House of Blues on Sunset. Since I don’t have cable, can someone Tivo it for me? The gig was going along great when the lighting board blew a gasket. As any budding A/V aide knows, lighting is a crucial part of television, without it we would have no idea which Olsen twin was which. So, the show stops dead in its tracks while the crew figures out how to proceed. I’m not sure what the solution was, but I think using a dimmer switch had a lot to do with it. Eventually the show gets up and running again and we had a grand old time. I think it came out very great. 

The next evening we did an in-store at Amoeba Music. There were so many people that they had to close the doors, which for a record store can’t be a good thing.  For me, that was the highlight of the trip. We’ve been doing some family music recently and it’s great to see parents and their kids boppin’ along while standing in the “New Age Heavy Metal” section of the store. At one point I looked down and a two-year-old was giving me the thumbs up – a career highlight.

How did you come onboard with the band?

The bass player (Danny Weinkauf) and I were in a band called Lincoln. For about 18 months, on and off, we opened for TMBG. I quit the band in Winston-Salem, NC in a scene that can be replicated by watching the hotel outtakes from “The Song Remains the Same.” I believe the hotel still has a lien on my house. I hitched home and was sitting on the sofa filling out applications for the Devry Institute when the phone rang. It was Flans (John Flansburgh) asking me if I wanted to go on tour with the Giants. When I awoke from hitting my head on the ceiling I started learning the tunes.

A Quick aside for historical reason:

I head down to the rehearsal space for my first time playing with the band. For this tour the band had expanded to include horns and the like. I walked into the room, as nervous as could be, and began what has to be the worst audition in the history of music. My nerves were shredded and I couldn’t play a right note to save my life. I think the horn players thought that I’d walked into the wrong room. We took a break and figured if I hurried I could get those Devry applications out that night. As I sat dejected in the corner the Johns came up to me and basically said, hey man, this isn’t an audition, you already have the gig - just relax. The results of those kind words were that I relaxed and played way better for the remaining time. It was a moment of great generosity from the Johns and I remain appreciative to this day.

We went on the road a week or two later and that’s that. I think it was about eight (Good God!!) years ago. It’s been one sweet ride since then.

What is your favorite TMBG song?

It’s hard to have a consistent favorite. I enjoy playing certain songs at certain times. There is acoustic solo in front of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” that I really enjoy doing. It’s a chance to work into the show some things that I’ve been working on in private study. The only criterion is that at some point I state the melody to show the crowd where we’re heading. If the tune is going well the band will join in and it becomes this spontaneous composition. When the stars align and I’ve done my finger exercises I think it’s one of the high points of the show as neither we nor the crowd know how it’s going to end up. Occasionally it’s a train wreck, but there is learning in those times, too.

Overall, the songs I enjoy playing are the songs where I can learn something from each performance. One of the great things about TMBG is that we’re all free to try different things on different nights. I have a real problem with repetition, as I get bored quickly. Obviously, you always try to stay inside the music, but beyond that you can try out different things.

And a favorite non-TMBG song?

There’s a lot of music I really dig listening to. Growing up on XTC and the whole British thing, I am glad that their influence is coming back around with this new crop of bands. Beyond that I suspect that I have pretty ordinary tastes in music – I don’t really focus on guitary music, a lot of that is really just an excuse to play your Guitar Center licks. I think musicianship goes behind songwriting and energy – if it’s a good song then I’m on board. I only notice great playing if it comes with a good song. I can’t seem to focus on musicianship if I don’t like the tune.

Tell me about your Gibsons.

I have a few. The one I’m playing a lot these days is the Les Paul Deluxe. I read somewhere that the mini-humbuckers were the replacement for the P-90 - an attempt to pull back on the “my god – who’s buzzing like crazy” that the P’s can have sometimes. True to the word, I find the Deluxe tight, punchy and nicely heavy in the mid-range, like a P-90 but without the sound engineer throwing something at me.

I just did a session where I was playing it. The engineer was planning all these plug-ins and do-dads to help the sound along, but when he heard the tone he just hit record and away we went. The amp was cranked and the guitar really sailed on its own.

I also have an early ‘80s 335. This was my first foray into the world that is Gibson and it’s been a steady friend for many a year. I love the slightly wider neck that allows me to reach stuff that my genetically fat fingers say otherwise. Our tech Robbie has done some very minor enhancements to it so that it feels super comfortable and solid as a rock. I don’t think the neck has moved for ten years.

One big must for a traveling musician is the reliability of your guitars. The last thing you need when you’re on tour is to show up at the gig and have to do a reset or re-intonate the guitar. It’s a real vibe killer that I have had to deal with many times on lesser instruments. Both of these Gibsons have shown to be all-weather friends.

Which one is your favorite?

I’m dating the Deluxe these days.

Do you think it’s been harder, having a more underground following than a mainstream radio fan base?

I think it’s been a total hidden blessing to be an underground band. Although, I do feel that we have peeked our heads above ground occasionally over the years. Survival in the music industry is essentially a myth. Take 10,000 budding musicians, whittle that down to the 2,000 who get to make records, whittle that down to the 20 that actually sell and then whittle that down to the two who can still afford to make music five years down the road.

I think what TMBG have been part of is creating a new way of thinking about what defines success for a band. As the band moves forward I’m constantly amazed at the variety of projects we take on. Everyone knows that the conditions are changing and musicians have to adapt to the new climate. What used to be the charts is now the list of the most popular p2p downloads. The Giants’ natural instincts are to make creative music, regardless of the format or outlet. This may be defined as ‘underground’ but my guess is that this will, or already has, become the mainstream way for working bands. Long live the Underground!

TMBG has been around for over 20 years. In your opinion, how do you keep gaining the attention of young audiences, while keeping the older ones?

This is a question that I’ve been asking myself for many years. It seems like we’re cloning our audience every five or six years. How it happens is a mystery to me, but God bless it. One reason may be what I was talking about earlier. Another, as I pat myself on the back, is the live show. For me, certain things about live music should remain a constant – if you can’t connect to the audience in your own special way, then you need to re-think your show. The Johns are exceptionally good at connecting to the people who come to see the show. Give us a good night without the technical snafus (not that often) and we’ll give you a live experience you’re not likely to find elsewhere.

Another small point is that TMBG is the kind of music you have to seek out and that makes it special. When I was growing up the music that I had to hunt for, the stuff that was not played all over the radio, was the stuff I was, and still am, into most. Music makes up a big part of who I am. Whatever illusions I live under, I don’t want the ‘me’ to be the most popular thing out there.

If you could offer one piece of advice to up-and-coming guitarists, what would it be?

This may sound like a joke, but I know it would work. If you figure out every part Jimmy Page laid down in Led Zeppelin, including leads and rhythm, you will be one the best guitarists in the world. He covers so many styles and still found a way to bring himself into it. The more I listen (and attempt to figure out), the more respect I have. If you manage to do this, let me know, ‘cause you can show me some things. I once read an interview with Elliot Easton and he claimed that every day he figured out at least one new thing. That makes sense to me. Oh yeah – write great songs!!

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