Break out the ear-plugs! The August issue of Q magazine, on sale 1 July, features the 20 loudest albums of all-time, a run down of perfect neighbour bothering material from Motorhead to the Aphex Twin. Here’s the list and some suitably time-wasting Youtube clips.
20 - Velvet Underground, White Light/White Heat (Verve, 1967)
Lou Reed doing Sister Ray from White Light/White Heat on Italian TV in the ‘80s, with the late Robert Quine, ex-Voidoid and Reed sidekick, on guitar.
19 – AC/DC, Back In Black (Columbia, 1980)
You can’t argue with the second best selling album of all time.
18 – Sunn0))), White (Southern Lord, 2006)
Cowl-wearing avant garde metal terrorists beloved of eggheads and people that like to really terrify the neighbours. Turn the sound down a bit before you click the link. Seriously.
17- Jimi Hendrix, Are You Experienced? (Track, 1967)
There’s nothing more to be said about how Hendrix revolutionized electric guitar. Just watch this footage of an ecstatic Purple Haze instead.
16 – Aphex Twin, I Care Because You Do (Warp, 1995)
Richard James’ most confrontational album. Here’s the video for its most aggro track Ventolin, which may have its uses in Guantanamo Bay.
15- Black Flag, Damaged (SST, 1981)
Early ‘80s blue-collar punks who defined what became known as ‘hardcore’ in the US. Their no-frills, commitment-is-everything approach is exemplified by this demolition of Damaged’s key track, Depression, in a friend’s garage.
14 – The Birthday Party, Prayers On Fire (4AD, 1981)
The scrawny, evil garage punks that loosed Nick Cave on the world. Here they are with Nick The Stripper. Cave looks like he could do with a sandwich.
13 – Motorhead, No Sleep Til Hammersmith (Bronze, 1981)
One of the few instances of a live album defining a band as much as a studio one. The perfect excuse to revisit Motorhead’s infamous performance of Ace Of Spades on The Young Ones in 1984.
12- Led Zeppelin, Led Zepplin (Atlantic, 1969)
Check out this vintage footage of Communication Breakdown and watch four men from the West Midlands inventing hard rock.
11 – Neil Young – Arc Weld (Reprise, 1991)
Arc Weld captured Young’s 1991 tour in all its noisy glory. Here’s a particularly rumbling Rockin The Free World.
10 – Sex Pistols, Never Mind The Bollocks (Virgin, 1977)
Time may have neutered the album’s menace but this vintage footage of Lydon and friends hurtling through God Save The Queen still seems pretty irate. Also features Steve Jones in trademark knotted hanky.
9 – Atari Teenage Riot – The Future Of War (DHR, 1997)
German dance punk anarchists Atari Teenage Riot are well named: here they are performing during an actual riot, in Berlin in 1999. The police don’t scrimp on teargas and general brutality either.
8 – My Bloody Valentine, Isn’t Anything (Creation, 1988)
Here’s the video from Feed Me With Your Kiss, from the album that invented the blurry, feedback heavy ‘shoegazing’ sound of the late ‘80s. By 1991’s Loveless My Bloody Valentine’s live shows were loud enough to ruin eardrums for life.
7 – Napalm Death, Scum (Earache, 1987)
On record, Scum’s pivotal track, You Suffer, is 1.316 seconds of belching fury and the shortest recorded song ever according to the Guinness Book Of World Records. Live it’s delivered as stand up comedy, at least in this clip.
6 - The Who, Live At Leeds (Track, 1970)
Recorded at Leeds University and widely regarded as the ultimate live album. Sadly, Youtube seems to be shy of relevant clips, apart from some pretty poor quality footage of the band’s return to the venue last summer. So here’s The Who’s appearance at 1970’s Isle Of Wight Festival instead.
5 – Big Black, Songs About Fucking (Touch And Go, 1987)
Steve Albini’s ‘80s noiseniks might have looked like librarians but they made a vicious racket, as this particularly mean live version of L Dopa proves.
4 – The Jesus And Mary Chain, Psychocandy (Blanco Y Negro, 1986)
Along with My Bloody Valentine’s Isn’t Anything, The Jesus And Mary Chain’s Psychocandy introduced indie rock to sheets of white noise during the ‘80s. Here’s a particularly ragged Never Understand.
3 – Public Enemy, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (Def Jam, 1988)
The tried to start a revolution using sirens and a man wearing a giant clock round his neck. It almost worked, too. For proof of why Public Enemy remain hip hop’s greatest ever group, watch this live performance of Rebel Without A Pause.
2 – Slayer, Reign In Blood (Def Jam, 1986)
Slayer’s Reign in Blood was the morbid genesis of thrash metal. Here’s footage of its nastiest track Angel Of Death, about murderous Nazi doctor Jose Mengele, from 1996.
1 – The Stooges, Funhouse (Elektra, 1970)
Iggy Pop and friends live in Cincinatti, Ohio, 1970, shortly after the release of their definitive album, Funhouse. Only Iggy could get away with those bacofoil gloves.
11:14 AM | 28/06/2007
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User Comments
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Where is Sleater-Kinney's The Woods? Now that is the loudest album of all-time.
Posted by Grant P at 5:04 PM | 29/06/2007 | Report Abuse
Nice to see some AC/DC on there. I hope Q has something good in store for the new album.
Posted by lloyd at 8:04 AM | 30/06/2007 | Report Abuse
The mere fact that Guitar Wolf's "Jet Generation" is absent discredits this entire list.
Posted by Dinkins at 5:46 AM | 01/07/2007 | Report Abuse
Guitar Wolf - Jet Generation
... nuff said.
Posted by wallabyted at 7:59 AM | 02/07/2007 | Report Abuse
"Fun House" deserves its' no.1 spot, but the list should have included Swans' "Children Of God" for one of the most frightening tracks of all time called "Beautiful Child".
Chrome's " Half Machine Lip Moves" is also a worthy contender. The fact that these albums have been long deleted is regrettable, because they deserve to heard. It should come as no surprise that both bands were heavily influenced by The Stooges. As for " Raw Power"........
Posted by Rob J at 11:06 PM | 02/07/2007 | Report Abuse
"Fun House" deserves its' no.1 spot, but the list should have included Swans' "Children Of God" for one of the most frightening tracks of all time called "Beautiful Child".
Chrome's " Half Machine Lip Moves" is also a worthy contender. The fact that these albums have been long deleted is regrettable, because they deserve to heard. It should come as no surprise that both bands were heavily influenced by The Stooges. As for " Raw Power"........
Posted by Rob J at 11:06 PM | 02/07/2007 | Report Abuse
Come off it, this is no way a definitive list - where's "Smell The Glove"???
Posted by Keith at 4:27 PM | 03/07/2007 | Report Abuse
Where's Metallica!!!!
Posted by Aaron at 6:26 PM | 04/07/2007 | Report Abuse
where the HELL is metallica?!?
Posted by zach at 5:08 AM | 07/07/2007 | Report Abuse
where the HELL is metallica?!?
Posted by zach at 5:08 AM | 07/07/2007 | Report Abuse
KISS made my ears bleed, and I loved every minute of it. Weren't they the highest decibel band back in the late 70's, early 80's? GODS OF THUNDER!!!
Posted by Tony E. White Jr at 7:22 PM | 08/07/2007 | Report Abuse
wtf metallica come on
Posted by alex at 9:38 PM | 08/07/2007 | Report Abuse
how could you leave metallica and pantera out??
Posted by Zoola at 4:10 PM | 11/07/2007 | Report Abuse
No, seriously. We've all got our favourites and everything - Metallica, Kiss, whatever. But Jet Generation actually _is_ the loudest record ever, so Dinkins is entirely right.
Posted by NJM at 10:20 AM | 13/07/2007 | Report Abuse
I think Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth should've been on there somewhere.
Posted by Joe at 10:46 PM | 21/07/2007 | Report Abuse
neurosis???
Posted by hyppo at 9:57 AM | 27/07/2007 | Report Abuse
Jet Generation and the Bad Brains are inexplicably absent. Also, you have to have something by Sonic Youth, and i've always thought In Utero by Nirvana was a harsh one.
Posted by Noah at 9:34 PM | 09/08/2007 | Report Abuse
DINOSAUR JR?!?
NEUROSIS?!?
THE MELVINS?!?!?!?!?!?
Posted by Keenan at 4:47 PM | 02/09/2007 | Report Abuse
Ramones - It's Alive
Dinosaur Jr - You're Living All Over Me
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
The Melvins - Lysol
Boris - Pink
King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King
Q, we need to have a talk about rock and roll.
Posted by Keenan at 4:55 PM | 02/09/2007 | Report Abuse
there are things 10 times heavier than all of this, whatever heavy is.
this list is amazingly Ameri-centric with the exception of a very few. i would be pretty safe in saying that the situation is quite the opposite.
it's sad to see no black metal.
at least they got ATR and Sunn O))) in there.
no industrial to be seen here- swans, cindytalk, skinny puppy, early covenant, coil, throbbing gristle/psychic TV.
no Merzbow... none of Mike Patton's bands... nothing from Relapse Records...
Posted by x0r at 10:49 AM | 02/12/2007 | Report Abuse
No Melvins, fathers of grunge? An utter and utterly obvious error!
Posted by Daryl Kirpalani at 5:18 PM | 15/12/2007 | Report Abuse
From http://www.villagevoice.com/music/9922,ashare,6196,22.html :
So, last week I'm reading the little press release sheet that came along from Matador with an advance copy of the new album by the Japanese garage-punk band Guitar Wolf. And here's what it said: "When we sent the new Guitar Wolf record to the mastering lab . . . the mastering engineer called back, mystified by the volume level. The levels exceeded the theoretical maximum possible on compact disc audio. In other words, Jet Generation is the loudest CD in history."
Posted by joebaby at 5:21 PM | 26/01/2008 | Report Abuse
no nirvana?, come on
Posted by Mike at 6:59 PM | 11/05/2008 | Report Abuse
Good list. FYI the singer in #5 recorded Nirvana's "In Utero" so stop complaining. Agreed with Sonic Youth, but not DayDream Nation - I'd like to see Confusion is Sex. And who do you think Public Enemy samples from? John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Miles Davis (a fan of the Stooges), Thelonious Monk, etc. I think some honorable mentions are needed before Charles Mingus' ghost rises and kicks the shit out of someone while tuning, soloing, conducting, and smoking a cigar at the same time.
Posted by ToroQ3000 at 7:54 AM | 04/09/2008 | Report Abuse
WHAT IN PETE TOWNSHEND'S NAME IS ALL THIS SUPPOSED TO MEAN? SURELY THE VOLUME OF ANY ALBUM DEPENDS ON THE LEVEL OF YOUR SPEAKERS!!!
Posted by The guy with the axe - aaaaaaargh!!! at 9:03 PM | 11/09/2008 | Report Abuse
SWANS played the loudest of any band, over 140 decibels, made audience members vomit
Posted by jon at 6:23 AM | 01/12/2008 | Report Abuse
lol Cannibal Corpse totally destroy these bands.. and louder as well
Posted by ADN - MeTal oN at 1:21 PM | 30/12/2008 | Report Abuse
the list is mostlikely of recording level and not what you think of the band, peoples comments are silly just because you play a band loud doesnt mean it was recorded that way, and because of this there is a way to define the list you can determine who goes on from the RMS scale on which they recorded it on therefore the stooges will be at the NO1 spot because they really did record it loud
Posted by Danny at 12:57 PM | 09/03/2009 | Report Abuse
It's about how loud it's recorded... not how loud they play... but yeah, Sonic Youth's Confusion is Sex should be here.
Posted by La at 7:35 PM | 24/04/2009 | Report Abuse
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