# Nearby auto is blasting music. Your reaction is... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 27, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272 "2010-09-27T21:00:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/21 "2010-09-28T03:35:32Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > > [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > > > Once I had my music rather loud when I pulled up to an intersection. The old couple on one side of me glared at me. The young kids on the other side of my car glared. I was so pleased with myself for pissing off two generations with one song. > > Spill it! What was the song? I’m pretty sure it was _Back in Black_ by AC/DC. So nothing too spectacular, but noisy with enough guitar to upset the seniors, and well, _not rap_ so it upset the youths. The youths actually tried to drown out my music with theirs, but being older with a much nicer car, they lost that battle. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/22 "2010-09-28T04:25:21Z")
I’m usually like, ‘who cares’. I’m only at the light for about a minute, I can handle your Lil’ Wayne blasting for that long and not a moment more. I love loud music, and I really don’t want to offend, so it’s windows up in the city, volume down at toll booths and drive thrus, etc. I don’t want anyone else to hear my music. Especially when I’m rocking out to La Roux or Bjork or anything else that makes the folks in the hood look at me like I’m crazy. The thing is, you can kind of tell when someone is rocking out from their heart, or when someone thinks they are cool because they have their favorite crap on the highest volume setting. The former may be a bit thoughtless and clueless, and the latter is a bit sad and confusing. But neither bother me. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/23 "2010-09-28T05:45:16Z")
I’m gonna be the minority on this one. I really like public life, and I enjoy public music, even when that particular music may not be my piece of cake. Heck, that sort of thing exposes me to new stuff and enriches my life. I’m all for a louder, more musical, more boisterous existence. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/24 "2010-09-28T06:37:25Z")
> [@BayouHazard](#): > > Look, \*\*the bass thumping physically hurts my ears! I mean, it’s not just annoying, it causes me pain!\*\*I can stick my fingers in my ears, but that only helps a little bit! > > I fantasize about building one of these [http://www.amazing1.com/emp.htm](http://www.amazing1.com/emp.htm) > …scroll down to the gen 2 blaster. > > Not sure how many lead-acid deep-cycles I’d have to roll with to power it, or how long I’d have to go between shots…but being able to magically fry someone’s car sounds like a wonderful idea when you’re stuck in traffic and **that someone’s bass feels like it’s stabbing your eardrums.** > > But, around here it’s fashionable to have bass that you can actually hear for half a mile from the car or better. One of my neighbors had a friend over showing off-while I was trying to sleep at ten in the morning(since I work second shift), and even though our bedroom’s about 100-some odd feet from where he was parked, I had to go ask him to please turn it down, because I couldn’t sleep. > > This with a fan and a window a/c running full blast to provide both cooling and white noise. Actually, you just need a couple of frequency generators and some decent tweeters to create a cross resonating tone that will shatter the glass of the offending car. The great thing about it is if you can pull it off the driver will think it’s his own stereo and brag about it. So you would really be doing him a favor. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/25 "2010-09-28T09:58:26Z")
In my family we call those “generous drivers”, because they like to share their music with the world. I’m ok with it so long as it’s within the same hours I’d consider appropriate to go visit someone. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/26 "2010-09-28T13:58:58Z")
Generally, it amuses me to hear other people’s music, especially when the music doesn’t “fit” the driver in some way. If I’m in public, I expect to see and hear and breathe the same air as the rest of the public. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/27 "2010-09-28T14:08:31Z")
> [@](#): > > I was so pleased with myself for pissing off… Textbook definition of tool! Chest swelling with pride, over annoying people who you don’t even know, and have done nothing to you, just for giggles. Boasting of it on the internet, too. Unless you’re 14yrs old, grow up. Look at me, I pissed off people, to no end, woo hoo! ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/28 "2010-09-28T14:15:33Z")
Tool. I put it up there with dousing yourself with perfume and figuring it’s your co-workers’ problem if they don’t like it. Sharing your music might have been cool in the dorms, but my life is boisterous enough now as it is, thanks. I swear, I’m really not a prig. ---
**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:** [September 28, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/29 "2010-09-28T14:25:24Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > > [@MacTech](#): > > > > Meh, they’ll probably be deaf by the time they reach thirty anyway… > > Which means they’ll only blast it louder! Yep. I’m 51 and wear a hearing aid that makes music sound tinny. So in the car I take the hearing aid out and blast tunes. It sounds good to me. The only negative is when my IPod shuffles up **Lords of Acid** doing _Show Me Your Pussy_ just as my kids come out to the car.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/30 "2010-09-28T14:28:01Z")
I like my music loud…but even at its loudest it is nowhere near the level of these people. I don’t understand how it’s even enjoyable, blowing out your eardrums like that. When it’s shaking MY car, I am not pleased. Beyond that you can do whatever your want…but I still think you should turn it down when you are driving through suburban neighborhoods at night. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/31 "2010-09-28T14:40:28Z")
Super-loud music should be a Capital Offense. Summary execution on the spot if it’s over 86 decibels. Torture first if it’s hip-hop. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/32 "2010-09-28T14:44:31Z")
Twice I have been woken up by car music in the middle of the night. Soonce it was opera and it was in the middle of the summer and I did have my window open… but being woken up by rap in the dead of January with all your windows closed when your room starts shaking is definitely not cool. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/33 "2010-09-28T15:24:34Z")
I voted whatever. I do agree that ridiculous bass is just dumb, particularly in the case of a lot of modern rap/R&B that over-emphasizes it. I think it’s silly to want to flaunt how awesome your the bass in your system is, to the point that it drowns out the rest of the music and makes your car vibrate. That said, I enjoy my music loud, and when I roll the windows down, it needs to be louder to hear it over the road noise. And, no, I don’t turn it down when I’m at an intersection. Sometimes I get some looks from adjacent cars, but I assume it’s more because I’m often listening to metal when I drive with the windows down, and usually singing right along with it. I will say, however, that one is a tool if it is obnoxiously loud, particularly with heavy bass, and you’re driving through a residential area late at night. But during the middle of the day, unless the song is truly awful (though, admittedly, a lot of what people seem to be listening to is), unless it’s so loud that it’s hurting your ears too, it’s not any worse than random road noise. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/34 "2010-09-28T16:34:33Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > I was so pleased with myself for pissing off… > > Textbook definition of tool! Chest swelling with pride, over annoying people who you don’t even know, and have done nothing to you, just for giggles. Boasting of it on the internet, too. Unless you’re 14yrs old, grow up. > > Look at me, I pissed off people, to no end, woo hoo! IMO, people who get pissed off at a little bit of music at a traffic light are the tools. Live a little, enjoy your surroundings, open your mind and all that sort of thing. Life is too short to get angry about stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/35 "2010-09-28T16:37:38Z")
Tool, big-time. I don’t care what kind of music he’s playing. If it’s loud enough for me to hear it, it’s too loud. I don’t care that he’ll be deaf in ten years, he deserves that. What I do care is that he can’t hear sirens or horns honking like he needs to. ---
**Author:** ![Mekhazzio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b38774/32.png) [@Mekhazzio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mekhazzio)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/36 "2010-09-28T16:56:34Z")
If it’s particularly bone-reverberating bass, my reaction is to lapse into a daydream of the ground around the vehicle collapsing away into the glittering maw of an Arrakeen sandworm, one last thump coming in muted defiance before being silenced in the metallic crunch. May His passage cleanse the world. …so yeah, definitely “Tool”. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/37 "2010-09-28T17:03:13Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Generally, it amuses me to hear other people’s music, especially when the music doesn’t “fit” the driver in some way. Yeah me too. I love it when I’ve got my windows open and the (very wight) neighbor kids and their friends have their rap thumpin’. It makes me giggle. Actually, white kids listening to rap doesn’t make me giggle as much as when some sort of smooth R&B comes on their stereo. Like R. Kelly or Ginuwine. Anyone, white or black, blasting R&B while playing shirtless basketball and polishing their sports cars just seems hilarious to me. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/38 "2010-09-28T17:12:31Z")
Tool. I tend to be extremely sensitive to loud noises anyway - it literally sets up a panic response. Since these tools tend to be jacking their music up when we’re stopped at especially long lights, it’s really bad for the blood pressure. Our house backs up to a fairly busy street. There are trees between the house and the street which dull the sound sometimes, and our bedroom is on the front side of the house (i.e. there’s a whole other room between bedroom and hack of the house)… and there are times when I can hear the tools driving behind us. At least then it’s a brief rolleyes moment. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/39 "2010-09-28T17:17:28Z")
I guess it doesn’t happen to me often enough to annoy. When it does happen, it makes me think of someone I used to know who kept a bagpipe CD in his car for just those moments. Apparently cranked up bagpipes get you odd looks from your random blaster. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272/40 "2010-09-28T17:17:33Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > > [@elbows](#): > > > > Textbook definition of tool! Chest swelling with pride, over annoying people who you don’t even know, and have done nothing to you, just for giggles. Boasting of it on the internet, too. Unless you’re 14yrs old, grow up. > > > > Look at me, I pissed off people, to no end, woo hoo! > > IMO, people who get pissed off at a little bit of music at a traffic light are the tools. Live a little, enjoy your surroundings, open your mind and all that sort of thing. Life is too short to get angry about stuff like that. A “little bit” of music? You have got to be kidding us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nearby-auto-is-blasting-music-your-reaction-is/555272.md?page=3)