Oh man, definitely The Crash Test Dummies. Shit was ear-splitting, yo.

Followed closely by Tori Amos. When she hits that high note on "Me and a Gun", I thought I was about to go fucking DEAF.

mogwai or my bloody valentine

boris or sunn

recently i saw sex negatives in an underground carpark and that made my head swim. the concrete just bounced the sound around so much it hurt.

roughly in order of loudness

mbv (clearly the winner)
dinosaur jr
boris
mogwai

from there, i'm sure there are a lot of bands who are jumbled in together.


a friend of mine says the early 90s tour that Swans did in Europe was the loudest thing imaginable....the sound made his eyes quiver.

I was at both Glasgow gigs, right beside the PA, but I had earplugs in. I don't think I would hear so good if I hadn't!
I saw them on the Loveless tour when they started doing the "holocaust", but I'm sure it was WAY louder at the reunion gigs (unless I've just gone soft in the meantime!).

I was beside the PA also at that Glasgow show. I didn't wear the earplugs though.

January 28, 1990 - Dallas, TX

Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste Tour

my ears are still ringing.


I saw them open for Skinny Puppy, and honestly, I wasn't that impressed. it would have been better if they just made noise and didn't try to "sing".

The loudest show I've seen that was unaided by a PA system was Electric Wizard. Total majesty.

I've probably said this elsewhere in this thread, but those of you seeking the eye-wobbling effect could do worse than a proper Jungle or Dancehall night.

Listening to Dancehall give me hives.

lightning bolt were pretty loud but some harsh noise bands i saw a while back take the prize. microphone feedback amplified to 11.

Deathroes were pretty damn loud.

Probably gonna get scorned but The Mars Volta.....3 straight hours of them.....yea

I don't think they were singing from what I remember..

I just remember the mice costumes and this one dude had a giant cross he was swinging around. I got wasted and so did my friends and my friend davey grabbed the cross and started throwin it in the air, haha, the band seeemed to love that tho.

it was a fun drunk time, not something I'd buy tho.

Whoa, dude, I didn't know you've been to Hell!!! How is it down there?

My REAL loudest show ever was probably some dumb rave I was dragged to. The bass drum made me feel like i was going to have a heart attack. The only way to cure it was to eat 2 hits of x and grind up against some sweaty bitch.

Rave is where it's at for noise. The problem with noise is that it tends to take place in places with rubbish PAs. Raves tend to have the best PAs, and also the most liberal relationship with hearing/ sanity.

Yeah man, that rave kills any "harsh noise"/"power electronics" show I've ever attended. Not only was it loud as fuck, but it was harsh. Those fucking alvin and the chipmunk pitchshifted, trebly-ass vocals screaming "GET ON DA FUCKIN FLOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!!!!!!!" with this insane reverb that made the word float out for minutes. It was insane!!!!!!!

acid mothers temple & the cosmic inferno last year in manchester. afterwards i couldn't hear anything!