Posted on 07/13/2007 9:09:44 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
The Day the Music Died
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
Published: July 12, 2007
MICHAEL BELLUSCI’S quotation in his high school yearbook was, “It ain’t rock if it ain’t loud.” Growing up in Flushing, Queens, he played guitar and drums, idolized Jimi Hendrix and performed in cover bands. Later, he went on the road as Ringo in the musical “Beatlemania.”
These days, if his left ear happens to be covered by a pillow, Mr. Bellusci, 47, hears the alarm clock as a faint tick, tick, tick, not a blaring BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. In cacophonous restaurants, he watches people’s mouths so he can follow the conversation.
Years of high decibel noise and trauma from speaker feedback damaged his right ear. Mr. Bellusci, who plays ukulele, recorder, guitar and bass in an acoustic duo, now says, “If I could do it over again ...”
How many boomers are thinking the same thing.
As more members of the generation born after World War II enter their 60s, and the effects of age conspire with years of hearing abuse, a number find themselves jacking up the volume on their televisions, cringing at boisterous parties and shouting “What?” into their cellphones.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I had to go for a draft physical in 68’ the guy giving the hearing test had a hearing aid . They said i had a 5000 dcb loss in my right ear . I told them it was from listening to rock music with earphones .BTW, They took my blood pressure just by looking at me and writing down some numbers .The head doc then said I had Passive agressive tendancies . Good thing I didn’t have to go or I probably would have fragged a lot of 2nd Lieuts .
I loved that song, “I’ve got a line on you”...one hit wonders...Spirit was great.
Years ago I told my Husband we should get in the designer hearing aid business with all these darn booming boxes and cars.
And while I'm at it.. I am so sick of hearing the F word, the N word and all the junk coming out of the car next to me in traffic! We are supposed to be civilized society for pete's sake.
I turn 65 the end of July. Never listened to much music, but spent my career with headsets on, listening to Morse code. Somehow, my hearing has survived relatively intact.
damn, you beat me to it
Yeh. My tinnitis came courtesy of a 5" naval gun. Stupid, too, because my Dad warned me - his came from 105mm howitzers. It's at too high a frequency to really bother me but it's there.
They actually had several moderately successful songs. Natures Way, Fresh Garbage, Mechanical World and a few others. I’ve Got a Line is probably the most popular, They were a pretty good band especially live.
There were times in my old band where we’d have the amps cranked so loud I’d have a hangover the next day and hadn’t even drank anything.
What?
My hearing loss came from three places....
USS Nimitz
USS John F. Kennedy
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower
aircraft, catapaults, and arresting gear
10 years on aircraft carriers..........
Oh, and the rock music may have had something to do with it.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!
Leftist hippies armed with bullhorns bleating "Hey! Hey! LBJ! How many kids did you kill today!!??" didn't help any, either!!!
But, the hearing problems of boomers will be nothing compared to the deafness of todays' kids from bass rumblers in their cars blasting crapola and vibrating their cars to junk. Where is the NYT's concern over that!!???
Yeah I really loved that place the whole building shook to the music and like you said the hardwood floor was great no seats to get in the way. I also saw the Mothers of Invention, Frank Zappa was one hell of a musician.
Damn I wish I were still that age, Oh well I’ve got the memories, sometimes LOL.
Yea, I'm 49 and I catch myself bumping up the volume. But I mute ALL commercials, I don't care WHAT the stations claim, the commercials are clearly MUCH louder than the regular programming. I'll have the sound up to hear the dialog, and the commercials will come on and blast my eardrums out.
Robin Trower gave me tinnitus for a week one time in ‘87. Small club, 4 100-watt Marshall stacks all on 10, and I was about 10 feet away from him. Couldn’t hear the bass player, drummer, or singer.
Aaah, the memories....
When I hear the naty words I turn up whatever Christian station I am listening to and start nodding my head, for shizzle :)
Van Halen 11 times along with a host of other hard rock/heavy metal and pop shows. My friends and I back in the early 80’s all had a defacto competition to see who could put together the loudest car stereo. I know all of these factors have contributed to my hearing loss. Not serious but definitely noticeable, especially in noisy restaurants and bars.
Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane at the old Iowa Fieldhouse in 1969. My date and I were second row, center. Grace really didn’t need amplification. MG, she was LOUD !
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