[Dixielandjazz] Why Some Bands play LOUDLY

[Steve barbone]

We've had a few threads over the years about the view of many of us that
LOUD music is wrong. Yet I remember how LOUD Condon's was in NYC. Why?

Here's why some bands, especially those with young audiences, play LOUDLY.
It is from a medical article and the relationship of increased sound levels
to hormone production in the human body.

- - -

Medical opinion: "They're trying to generate excitement and a high level of
decibels accomplishes that goal. Subjected to such intense sound, listener's
bodies produce adrenaline, noradrenaline and other hormones. These
substances make the heart pound and give the impression of increased muscle
strength. Not surprisingly, some people become psychologically addicted to
this hormone rush, which is implicated in thrill-seeking behavior. Loud
music is a way to get, and keep, fans."

- - -

My comments: Were we born too early to experience the rush of LOUD music,
sex, drugs and rock & roll? Not necessarily,  No fool was Eddie Condon. He
knew how to hold the audience and part of the equation was LOUD.

Perhaps those who eschew LOUD music did not get to experience this kind of
OKOM as played in NYC by Condon, DeParis, Janis and others? Or have we just
become conservative musically in our dotage? Or are we being elitist?

- - -

More medical info: "Loud music can activate the sacculus and create the
feeling of movement or floating. That's why listening to music above 70
decibels sends a pleasurable buzz through the sacculus that ends up at the
hypothalamus, a buzz that thrills the listener in the way bungee jumping or
swinging very high does, a simultaneous flying and falling feeling. It's no
coincidence that the distribution of frequencies typical of rock concerts
and dance clubs is at exactly the right decibel level to make listeners feel
as if they're floating. Your sacculus also speaks to the part of your brain
that controls drives like hunger, sex, and more than a few other hedonistic
responses -- the hypothalamus.

That's part of the reason sex, drugs, and rock and roll go so well together.
Of course, the drugs we take now -- Prozac, Paxil, Klonopin, Ambien,
Tamoxifen, Vioxx, Claritin, or Lipitor, Beta-blockers or ACE Inhibitors, not
to mention Advil and Tylenol PM, just aren't as much fun."

- - - 

Cheers,
Steve Barbone 

PS: Who still remembers Kenny Davern's advice after we played together at a
cutting session in a NYC loft in the mid 1950s. "Play louder kid." (He is a
year younger)