# Apartment dwellers: Why do you pickle yourself in loud music? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2010, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742 "2010-03-17T10:14:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![halfliquid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e57/32.png) [@halfliquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/halfliquid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/1 "2010-03-17T10:14:27Z")
If you are someone who lives in an apartment and likes to blast music day and night to the detriment of your neighbors I would like to know why you do this? Is it that you have no thoughts in your head and need to fill the void with something? Are you trying to drive evil thoughts from your head? Are you just that inconsiderate of your neighbors? Do tell. I would really like to know. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/2 "2010-03-17T10:27:59Z")
What??? I can’t hear you!!!. _ddddddhhhhmmm ddddhhaaadddmmmm bbbboooombbbyyyyy woooooohooooo yeeeaahhhaaaaa_ ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/3 "2010-03-17T10:36:56Z")
Damn, didn’t realize this was in GQ (isn’t this more of an IMHO?). Now I have to give you a real answer 🙂 I don’t live in an apartment, but if I did, I would like to play my music loud because I enjoy music loud. However, I wouldn’t do so if I knew it was disturbing my neighbors. I would know, because I’m friendly like that and would know my neighbors personally. I think there’s a not-so-clear line between personal freedoms/lifestyle choice and inconsiderate neighbors, in the sense that if you live in an apartment complex that has really thin walls, what one person sees as inconsiderate, another would see as just living a reasonable life. This logic doesn’t apply during early/late hours, or during special circumstances where you know your neighbors are ill, etc. If your neighbor is disturbing you with their music, I would recommend starting a conversation with them about it. They might agree to play something more to your taste 😃 There is no factual answer to this question, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/4 "2010-03-17T10:47:16Z")
FAQs: They are drowning out the thudding of your hideous beating heart old man. It’s an invitation to knock on their door late at night, and who knows where it might go from there. They are not playing the music. It’s a haunted house. The sound is all in your head, and nobody else hears it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/5 "2010-03-17T11:16:18Z")
Also, why do you open the windows when you put your music on? Even in January. Car drivers with very loud music systems also seem to do this. ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/6 "2010-03-17T11:53:08Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Also, why do you open the windows when you put your music on? Even in January. Car drivers with very loud music systems also seem to do this. It may be to avoid blowing the windows out due to overpressure. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/7 "2010-03-17T11:55:10Z")
Difinitely more than one answer here, so let’s move from GQ to IMHO, **samclem** Moderator, General Questions ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/8 "2010-03-17T12:09:37Z")
Well, how do _you_ make the voices go away? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/9 "2010-03-17T12:46:45Z")
Back in the day I lived in an apartment. I played my music loud because I like loud music, but also because that was the only way to hear it above the other apartment’s music. As soon as I could afford it I moved out of an apartment and into a house on acreage. Never looked back! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/10 "2010-03-17T12:55:10Z")
I’d bet it’s this simple in almost all cases: I like loud music so I turn it up. Period. I do what I want, when I want, how I want. Everyone else simply doesn’t enter into my thoughts. Period. Me, I always find it funny when those folks react badly to somebody else behaving the same way back at them. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/11 "2010-03-17T13:00:02Z")
According to my neighbors in grad school, it was because they\* have a right \*to party. Yes, that was their actual reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/12 "2010-03-17T13:04:03Z")
I’m fortunate that my upstairs neighbor doesn’t listen to music much. That’s probably because she’s busy playing basketball. With a medicine ball. In Dutch shoes. Against elephants. ---
**Author:** ![halfliquid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e57/32.png) [@halfliquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/halfliquid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/13 "2010-03-17T14:01:39Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I’m fortunate that my upstairs neighbor doesn’t listen to music much. That’s probably because she’s busy playing basketball. With a medicine ball. In Dutch shoes. Against elephants. OMG–her twin sister lives in the apartment above me! ---
**Author:** ![halfliquid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e57/32.png) [@halfliquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/halfliquid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/14 "2010-03-17T14:04:42Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > According to my neighbors in grad school, it was because they\* have a right \*to party. Yes, that was their actual reasoning. In the past I’ve asked a couple of neighbors why they listen to music so loudly, and all I’ve ever gotten was “I don’t know.” Knowing that someone out there thought it was their right explains it better. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/15 "2010-03-17T14:06:26Z")
> [@halfliquid](#): > > OMG–her twin sister lives in the apartment above me! On the bright side, she’s kind of cute, right? ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/16 "2010-03-17T14:07:59Z")
> [@halfliquid](#): > > Are you trying to drive evil thoughts from your head? This. Definitely this. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/17 "2010-03-17T14:08:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’d bet it’s this simple in almost all cases: I like loud music so I turn it up. Period. > > I do what I want, when I want, how I want. Everyone else simply doesn’t enter into my thoughts. Period. > > Me, I always find it funny when those folks react badly to somebody else behaving the same way back at them. IMO that explains a large fraction, if not an actual majority of peoples approach to every action in life. Laws, social pressures, and the implied threat of actual physical violence is IMO about the only thing keeping us from total rudeness anarchy (and even then just barely). ---
**Author:** ![halfliquid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e57/32.png) [@halfliquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/halfliquid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/18 "2010-03-17T14:14:27Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > On the bright side, she’s kind of cute, right? No…she’s mid-fifties and still thinks she’s a teenager. Hair in a bouncy ponytail, iPod, baseball cap, tight tank top with no bra, short shorts, and all that wrinkly skin visible. Yuck! ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/19 "2010-03-17T14:36:30Z")
Buy her a nice pair of headphones for Christmas. 🙂 We’ve lived in our share of apartments, and we like our music loud. Headphones are the answer. Now we’re in a house, but we have to be more careful: if hubby has headphones on, he can’t hear his mom if she needs him. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742/20 "2010-03-17T14:46:08Z")
I live in a house, but… • I love music. I like to listen to it all the time. • I’m trying to drown out the sounds of my neighbor’s screeching children. • I live alone and get tired of talking to my dogs all the time. So I sing along a lot. So sue me. • If it’s too loud… you’re too old. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/apartment-dwellers-why-do-you-pickle-yourself-in-loud-music/532742.md?page=2)