September 23rd, 2008
My Bloody Valentine Want To Turn The World Into Marlee Matlin
Right now there’s a thread on My Bloody Valentine’s message board that’s getting pretty long. The topic: hearing loss after attending a My Bloody Valentine gig. It’s long been known that MBV sit comfortably in a throne marked LOUDEST BAND EVER, and now that they’re making a comeback of sorts with weekend shows at the All Tomorrows Parties Festival they curated and gigs in New York City, the complaints about their volume have reached a fever pitch. Like this one:
After trying to be patient and put on a brave face about things since the end of June, I’m gonna have to face up to how angry at myself I am but also how resentful towards one of my favourite bands I have become because basically – three months on from seeing My Bloody Valentine’s Sunday show at the Roundhouse, the hearing problems I experienced afterwards haven’t gone away, in fact they’ve got worse.
Initially I had reduced volume hearing, ’swimmer’s ear’, then – more worryingly – earache and pain which would occur even from the sound of coins dropping in the til at work. However, over the last few days this has developed into tinnitus. The reason I’m writing this at such an ungodly hour of the morning is because I’ve not been able to sleep cause of the grinding machinery-like noise I’ve had in my right ear for the last few hours.
I know I took things into my own hands by not wearing the free earplugs they gave out but I just think the band could have been a bit more emphatic on the notices plastered around the venue. The sign said ‘Tonight’s concert contains high noise-levels. Earplugs available’, or something to that effect. Seeing as they were blasting out what turned out to be 129 dbs, surely they should have warned ‘Permanent hearing damage may be caused. Please wear the earplugs provided.’Everything I’ve read since about hearing damage (No use to me AFTER the fact!) states that 120 dbs causes permanent damage after just 7 minutes.
I can’t come to terms with the fact that one concert has messed up my hearing for the rest of my life. I don’t want tinnitus. I don’t want the mediocre quality of hearing I’m now experiencing. I can’t hear my voice clearly when I talk, sing or whistle; it’s all muffled. I had perfectly good, clear normal hearing before I stepped into that venue.
I’m so depressed by all of this and, as mentioned before, it’s even making work hard, as it’s quite a noisy environment anyway. If I quit or lose this job as a result of it, how will I get another job that will accommodate my hearing-pain problems?I’ve also felt gutted to since read how the earplugs actually made the music clearer. If this was a deliberate aim of the band, why couldn’t they have advertised that a bit better too; y’know, this is how the concert’s meant to be enjoyed, by wearing these – oh, and by the way, they’ll protect your ears from PERMANENT DAMAGE too.
Seeing how members of the band know hearing-damage first hand, couldn’t they have been a bit more responsible, seeing as they knew they were going to be dishing nearly 130 dbs AND feedback through a batallion of amps?
After loving MBV’s music for 19 years, I now feel that if I could comfortably listen to a record [playing records, going to gigs, even listening to the radio have so far been impossible], I’d be too bitter to listen to them again.
I did a pointlessly reckless thing this year, I went to a gig.
Reactions to this original post vary from “Totally agree” to “Hey, asshole, they’re called ear plugs.” The ear plugs side of the argument seems to be the healthier one to be on, so if you’re heading to tonight’s Roseland Ballroom gig, pick up a pair.
Be careful. [My Bloody Valentine]
