I was taking a walk the other day when I felt a pressure in my chest. My first thought was, “crap, I’m having another heart attack”. But I took an inventory of how I felt, and life support seemed to be working just fine. So, it wasn’t a heart attack.
Then, I started feeling a strange sensation throughout my body. My next thought was, “earthquake?” No. That wasn’t it either.
Then I noticed that the sensation sort of pulsed. It had a rhythm to it. Strange, but not concerning. Because I had already ruled out a heart attack.
The next thing I noticed was the windows in the houses I was walking past were vibrating. At that point, I was about a hundred feet from an intersection with a signal light. Then, I realized what it was. There was a car with the sound system blasting so loudly, I could feel the sound well before I could hear it. He had to have been a couple hundred yards away when I first felt it. And it was so loud it was shaking windows on houses beside me.
Then I got to the intersection and the sound was incredibly loud. Honestly, I have no idea how anyone could be inside a vehicle with that much noise. His ears had to be bleeding. I’m assuming it was a he because, let’s be real, when was the last time you saw a woman cranking up their car stereo to that level?
As I’m sure you know, sound outside tends to bounce around so I couldn’t tell which car was making the noise. But then the light changed, and traffic started moving. Well, some of it anyway. The first few cars started on their way while the rest of them remained in place. After a couple of seconds, I realized why. The drivers were waiting to put some distance between themselves and the asshole with the sound system.
I can relate.
A while back, I was driving down the street when I stopped at a signal light. Somewhere near me, there was a vehicle with the sound system blaring loud enough to make my entire car vibrate.
It was one of those long-ish lights, so I was probably sitting there a minute or so. As I waited, I started getting angry. Not because I was in traffic and not because some asshole’s music was vibrating my car. No, I got angry at everything. The longer I sat there, the more I was overcome with what I can only describe as an incredible rage. I gripped the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white.
Then, the light changed, the asshole sped off, and I slowly went back to being my normal, calm self.
My theory? There’s something about the obnoxiously loud deep bass that triggered some primal circuit in my brain that nearly caused me to go all Hulk-like.
It’s not that crazy of an idea. There’s actually a term for it. It’s called “misophonia”. That’s when certain sounds trigger emotional or physiological responses that some might perceive as unreasonable given the circumstance. Just like me sitting in a car becoming unreasonably angry while being hit with enough bass to rattle my fillings.
It’s not just my imagination. Since that happened to me, I’ve spoken with other people who have described similar experiences. One minute they’re calm, cool and collected. Then they’re exposed to loud, booming bass noise (I think calling it “music” is being too generous) and an irrational anger sets in.
I was in my late 50’s the first time I experienced the phenomenon and had, by then, pretty much mastered my impulse control. But not everyone has.
I know I’m not supposed to profile assholes with loud car stereos but I’m going to do it anyway. They’re primarily male and probably less than 40 years old. And, they’re stupid enough to think that driving around in a car with a stereo louder than a jet engine makes them look cool. I’ll further add to my profile and say that some of these people also think it makes them look like a badass if they’re armed.
So, they’re already not the sharpest tool in the shed. Then they crank up the volume, the misophonia hits, and then guess what happens.
If my theory is correct, it explains so much. It could easily explain road rage, drive by shootings and the times when witnesses say, “It was crazy man. Everything escalated so quickly and for no reason.” Or, “I never thought he was capable of doing something like that.”
I’m not saying that it does happen. I’m just saying that it could happen. Misophonia is a thing. And, based on my experience and observations, booming bass noise at ridiculously loud levels can trigger an unreasonable rage in certain people.
Imagine someone driving around in their car surrounded by a couple thousand watts of audio. Then some other driver cuts them off. Or imagine that same someone listening to that much noise that also contains lyrics about killing cops. Right before they get pulled over by police for a broken taillight.
It’s not difficult to imagine scenarios where those types of situations turn bad very quickly. It happens all the time.
And it’s not just other drivers that can be affected. Anyone within earshot of a vehicle driving by with the amplifier cranked way up is susceptible. And ridiculously loud music doesn’t just come from cars.
Over the past month, in six separate incidents involving guns, eight people were killed and nearly five dozen people were wounded. But here’s the thing. Four of those incidents were at or near nightclubs where loud music was playing.
Now, it’s totally possible that all of the assailants were whack-a-doodle to begin with. In fact, I’d say it’s probably certain. But maybe a couple of them weren’t quite whack-a-doodle enough to go off the deep end. That is, until something made them even more crazy than they were.
Interestingly, I couldn’t find any mention of this being studied. There have been studies about the effects of heavy metal music, but nothing real recent, and that’s not the same thing anyway.
It might be that loud music was the catalyst for at least some of these incidents. Or maybe not and it’s all just a big coincidence. We don’t know for sure either way, because nobody has bothered to look yet.
You’ve heard the quote, “Music soothes the savage beast?” Well, that’s a misquote. The real quote is “Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast”. Back around 1690 when William Congreve first said this, the term “breast” was often used to refer to someone’s emotions.
Though nearly always misquoted, the sentiment remains the same. Music can have a becalming effect on someone. That’s widely accepted by everyone as fact and has been for over 300 years. I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to believe the opposite could also be true.
I’m not saying it is true, I’m just saying it could be true.
I want you to remember what I said here the next time you’re stuck in traffic with some asshole who’s turned his amplifier up way past eleven. You’re angry because he made you angry, just maybe not in the way you think. And as he drives away, keep in mind how he could be inadvertently wreaking havoc on more than just his hearing.
