Knee-jerk reaction for indie kids is to equate “loud” with “sludgy rock guitars,” and so it is in Q mag’s list for the 20 loudest records in the history of mankind (or at least, since 1967). But hey it’s nice to see Aphex Twin and even Public Enemy thrown in there with the mandatory Sunn0))) and Big Black drops. Have a look see…
20. Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat (Verve, 1967)
19. AC/DC – Back In Black (Columbia, 1980)
18. Sunn0))) – White (Southern Lord, 2006)
17. Jimi Hendrix – Are You Experienced? (Track, 1967)
16. Aphex Twin – I Care Because You Do (Warp, 1995)
15. Black Flag – Damaged (SST, 1981)
14. The Birthday Party – Prayers On Fire (4AD, 1981)
13. Motorhead – No Sleep Til Hammersmith (Bronze, 1981)
12. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (Atlantic, 1969)
11. Neil Young – Arc Weld (Reprise, 1991)
10. Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks (Virgin, 1977)
09. Atari Teenage Riot – The Future Of War (DHR, 1997)
08. My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything (Creation, 1988)
07. Napalm Death – Scum (Earache, 1987)
06. The Who – Live At Leeds (Track, 1970)
05. Big Black – Songs About Fucking (Touch And Go, 1987)
04. The Jesus And Mary Chain – Psychocandy (Blanco Y Negro, 1986)
03. Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (Def Jam, 1988)
02. Slayer – Reign In Blood (Def Jam, 1986)
01. The Stooges – Funhouse (Elektra, 1970)
What, no Spinal Tap? Don’t they go to 11?
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erm, doesn’t it depend how loud you listen to them?
at a low enough volume even death metal sounds ambient.
long live Napalm Death
kill ‘m all.
I can’t endorse this list. Any list of decibel daring discs would have to include “Three Dollar Bill Y’All” to have any credibility among the leading music critics.
erm, doesn’t it depend how loud you listen to them?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The answer to your question is “no.”
Velvets should be up a bit higher…
yes, it does depend on how loudly you listen to them. replace “loudest” with “noisiest” and it makes more sense.
can we all just agree that no one gives a good god damn about these lists? they get more and more irrelevant with every post. at this rate we will soon see a list of rock stars arranged in order of their largest shits.
“…they get more and more irrelevant with every post. at this rate we will soon see a list of rock stars arranged in order of their largest shits.”
Corgan’s is three versions long, by the way.
DwD
How the hell is Guitar Wolf “Jet Generation” not on that list? It really is the loudest fucking album ever.
What? No NIN?
Raw Power is whole lot louder than Fun House.
Cannot believe I’m looking at My Bloody Valentine on this list. Get these guys Favourite Worst Nightmare.
Oasis’s Be Here Now is also pretty damn loud – dozens upon dozens of layers of guitars, all mixed well into the reds…
May I submit Primal Scream – XTRMNTR to the voting board. Thank you.
the SSD “get it away” 12in should be on there…and i agree that the Iggy remix of “raw power” is certainly louder than “funhouse”. interesting list…what are the criteria?
Yeah, for one, listening to Psychocandy has always hurt a little bit more than listening to Fun House (both are increedible.)
And yeah, Iggy’s mix of raw power is ten times louder than Fun House, plus White Light/White Heat should be higher than something like Live at Leeds, but it’s not a horrible list.
Oh, and I second what Nathan said, Jet Generation is fucking loud.
Here’s the criteria: Editor: “Hmmm, look at all the bloody pages I’ve got to fill this month…. Nigel, tell Clive to turn down the stereo, it’s too loud…. I AM A GENIUS! with graphics that’ll fill at least two pages.
Paranoid & Sunburnt by Skunk Anansie… hell, anything by Skunk Anansie.
Kinda expected to see some Sonic Youth or Wire on there myself…
isn’t RHCP’s californication supposed to be one of the loudest albums ever?
i guess they’re going with consistantly punishingly loud..
I remember reading somewhere the last Killers’ record was one of the loudest ever mixed.
No Brainiac, Six Finger Satellite, Jesus Lizard, or Locust? Of course, Songs About Fucking is a great choice, but I might have to say that Fear of a Black Planet is louder/noisier than Nation of Millions.
For the record, the loudest, rattlingest, stereo shakingest album I’ve ever heard is In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. On max volume, that thing is ungodly loud, but great regardless. And if we’re going by sheer pain, shouldn’t Metal Machine Music be an obvious #1?
No Sonic Youth? W – T – F ?!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with fido ^ about Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Metal. If the CIA is reading this, use that as your method of torture. I personally think that Every Time I Die’s “Gutter Phenomenon” is the loudest album I’ve listened to in guite some time
Oh yeah, from my limited understanding of that list’s criteria, I think Surfer Rosa deserves a spot on there.
Quietest Album of All Time: I See a Darkness. On my old computer, each song took me a few seconds to know it had started.
No MC5, no Blue Cheer, No Lou Reed Metal…
C’MON! Bad Penny? L Dopa? Precious Thing? Ergot? Songs About Fucking is WAAAAY number one. And the Bulldozer EP and Two Nuns and a Pack Mule are close runners up.
Loudest mix: Source Tags and Codes. I’ve never heard anything louder than that.
THIS LIST SUCKS
i agree californication is one loudly mastered album. but listen to that and listen to live at leeds. live at leeds sounds loud, no matter what volume it’s at.
Led Zeppelin 1 sure is a loud album, if a 15 watt fender practice amp is loud. Seriously.. what record player was used for this survey. Zep 2 is twice as loud and EVERYONE knows it.
Celine Dion
At any volume, it’s way too loud.
i think NOXAGT should be on there
there’s a teengenerate record that claimed to be the loudest record ever. it sounded horrible, and of course loud.
If they were smart this list would only go to 11.
Why?
Because it’s one louder.
MEATLOAF
Yes, what Nathan said. Guitar Wolf’s Jet Generation is pure heat. That was the first album I thought of when I saw this list. It’s a shame Q went with the cool albums rather than albums that deserve to be there.
Maybe it’s something about Japan, because High Rise could easily be on this list, too.
I was thinking the same thing as clay loudermilk; NOXAGT should be on the list. Also missing Lily Allen.
Erm, aren’t Manowar the loudest band on the planet? Or at least they held the world record for being the loudest live band. Also, their last album is actually punishingly loud. Although, it’s to be expected when it’s the first concept album in a series of concept albums about Odin, the Norse God of War. It’s so ostentatious in fact, that the sleeve notes are written in Norse. But yeah, Manowar are phenomenally loud.
LIGHTNING BOLT???!!!!! MINOR THREAT???!!!!
The word your looking for is MINISTRY. Christ, 3 or 4 guitars, 2 drums, countless fuzz keyboards…..AJ screaming his ass off. Check out the live version of STIGMATA. Loudest thing ever.
HA! immediately upon reading the headline of the post i thought Raw Power…then i saw Iggy at #1 for the wrong album! raw power is WAY louder than Funhouse! THEN i saw that someone else already said that! here here!
Psssh. Ministry can’t bring noise like the way superior Touch & Go industrial bands of Ministry’s heyday could. Watered down crap. It’s like saying that the Mars Volta should be on there. If any loud industrial dance band deserves to be on here it’s KMFDM.
Oh yeah, forgot Lightning Bolt. As for Japanese bands, anything by Boris?
i think this may be the stupidest rock-oriented list i’ve ever seen. white light/white heat? even if you crank your stereo to the max that album can’t go above about 10 dbs. who things KMFDM is louder than Ministry? um, noo. and ‘loveless’ is much, much louder than ‘isn’t anything’. its not even close. the loudest album i know of is husker du’s ‘new day rising’.
Where is Venom on the list?
Lightning Bolt? Wolf Eyes? Tony Conrad? Merzbow?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!
yeah. no locust, no list.
I have to say, Mogwai’s live album is pretty fucking unbearably loud.
word, what’s been said above: you guys need to hear Guitar Wolf’s Jet Generation. It’s some fuckin loud lock and loll.
now is the perfect time for a reference to The Loud Family,,,, so i’m ganna say ‘days for days’ but that is open to argument, huh, isn’t it, right? huh, right? oh you look terrific.
Will Haven’s Carpe Diem
What about Master of Puppets or Mastodon? certainly louder than “Are you experienced.” this list is on my shit list now
What about Master of Puppets or Mastodon? certainly louder than “Are you experienced.” this list is on my shit list now
No (early) Swans?! Unlistenable… but loud.
I think that stuff like Metal Machine Music or early Swans is too artsy for a list like this. I think what this list considers loud includes an inherently “badass” quality, which is why stuff like Merzbow or Sonic Youth’s really loud (early) stuff isn’t included. But if that’s the case, the absence of bands like Mastodon and Guitar Wolf is perplexing. It’s not like this list is too hip for the former, at least.
So Blue Cheer, once called “The World’s Loudest Band,” don’t even make the top 20? Uh. That’s bullshit.
Zeppelin’s first is not loud. I demand it be stricken and replaced by Sepultura’s “Roots”.
DwD
i agree with everyone who’s wondering why the hell there’s no lightning bolt on this list. and donde esta “blue cathedral” by comets on fire and “jane doe” by converge? this is a pretty weak list, if you ask me, even if it includes both “songs about fucking” and that neil young noise album no one ever remembers. other than that, to quote jack black in high fidelity, very PUSSY!
Madonna “Confessions on a Dance Floor”
The loudest album I’ve ever heard is Peaches’ Teaches of Peaches.
I used to go to a local bar and every time someone playes a track from that on the jukebox it was 3x louder than anything else.
Of course this is just basic recording math: it’s stripped down to vocal, percussion and one or two synth lines so they’re all turned up. Also Elastica’s debut basically holds maximum EQ throughout the majority of the record. just sayin’
haven’t you heard young team then?
Melvins are very loud live.
“The Woods” by Sleater-Kinney
Yes! This album blew my car speakers on the first note.
“Fun House” deserves its No.1 rating. Nothing has touched it, although I agree with some reviews regarding the remixed brutality of “Raw Power”. Other albums missing from the list are:-
Swans’ terrifying “Children Of God” which is the aural equivalent of “Saw”, and Chrome’s “Half Machine Lip Moves”. Since these albums are long deleted, noise fans have missed two unholy treats. It should come as no surprise that both groups were influenced by The Stooges.
However, there is one album which is readily available that should be on the list, notably
Henry Rollins’ “End Of Silence”. By the way, Henry was talking about “Fun House” back in 1985……
MELVINS, TAD, Ministry, Hank Williams III
We all know what they’re getting at with choices such as MBV and Aphex Twin… but, really? If we’re going simply for “loud”, this list should be dominated by Pantera and Metallica and Mastodon and buttloads of Scandinavian death metal…
“can we all just agree that no one gives a good god damn about these lists? they get more and more irrelevant with every post. at this rate we will soon see a list of rock stars arranged in order of their largest shits.” -from some guy up near the top
the point of these lists is to get people interested in music they’ve never listened to. which is what makes it so dissapointing that no one can manufacture decent lists that get people interested in the right music.
erm……. METALLICA SHOULD BE ON THE TOP LIST CAUSE THEY MADE ONE OF THE LOUDEST ALBUMS….
C’mon We all gotta love Metallica a bit… Do some research on METALLICA then you will know what album is there loudest
METALLICA RULES
KISS MY ASS: LONDON cyber-cafe:
What about No New York?
wow this is really a sad list. the only 2 i agree with are atari teenage riot (AMAZING band) and big black. other than that i dont see why merzbow,guitar wolf,melt banana,an albatross,holy molar,pig destroyer,aids wolf,or the locust arent on here. and ministry is MUCH louder than kmfdm but they are both good
MBV live… 30 mins of the loudest wall of noise ever, if anyone has seen them you know what i mean.
lightning bolt!!!