Loudest band

Many bands have claimed to be the loudest, measuring this in various ways including with decibel meters at concerts and by engineering analysis of the CDs on which their albums are published.

[10] Pluck the string so hard that it hits the wood.The "Mars" movement of Gustav Holst's 1918 work The Planets includes ffff passages.

According to James R. Oestreich (writing in 2004), modern symphony orchestras can easily reach 96 to 98 decibels, and certain brass and percussion instruments have registered 130 to 140 at close range.

When Stan raised his long arms to call for 'more,' the men in the brass section blew until their faces reddened, their eyes bulged, and incipient hernias popped.

[25] Daniel Kreps of Rolling Stone has maintained that "Whole Lotta Love" established Led Zeppelin's reputation as one of the loudest bands of their time.

Deep Purple was recognised by The Guinness Book of World Records as the "globe's loudest band" for a concert at the London Rainbow Theatre, during which the sound reached 117 dB and three members of the audience fell unconscious.

The band claimed a louder measurement of 129.5 dB in 1994 at Hanover,[30] but Guinness did not recognise it, having discontinued the category by that time for fear of encouraging hearing damage.

[36] In it, Cohen alluded to an undated concert during which Cleveland's Variety Theater actually sustained damage from Motörhead reaching a decibel level of 130.

The English House/Electronica band Leftfield, while on tour to support their debut album Leftism, gained notoriety for the sheer volume of their live shows.

A volume of 115 dB(A) risks permanent damage after only 30 seconds;[46] in the UK, Norway, and possibly certain other countries, exposure to sound at that level without ear protection for more than a few minutes is strictly prohibited.

As a consequence of this, manufacturers began making amplifiers with knobs that went up to 11, or even higher, with Eddie Van Halen reputedly being the first to purchase one.

[48][49] The fictional band Disaster Area (appearing in Douglas Adams's The Restaurant at the End of the Universe) plays concerts which can literally devastate entire planets.