Classical man silences a hip-hop den

Classical man silences a hip-hop den

News

norman lebrecht

March 15, 2023

A man in Swansea, driven to distraction by the hip-hop blasted out by girl students next door, turned his speakers to the wall and counter-attacked with full-frequency classical – Holst’s Planets, since you ask.

After three or four days, the noisy neighbours were terrorisd into silence.

Really? Story here.

Comments

  • johnw says:

    I had a similar problem here. I made a simple cd repeating loop of Anton Rubinstein’s Staccato Etude, Earl Wild was the pianist. I left for groceries and three hours later the problem was permanently solved.

  • caranome says:

    Play the Ride of the Valkyries on 11, they’ll move out in a week.

  • J Barcelo says:

    Good for him! I had a similar problem with neighbors who insisted on outdoor pool parties blasting away hip hop. I bought a cheap Blu Tooth speaker, turned the volume way up and put on Florence Foster Jenkins and Mrs. Miller. (If you haven’t heard her singing “Downtown” you’re missing out!). Neighbors and I came to an agreement and understanding. Noise pollution is a terrible thing.

  • David K. Nelson says:

    In case this remedy sounds appealing to similar sufferers here in the USA keep these statistics in mind. Total US population: 331.9 million.

    Total number of firearms in US: 393 million.

    I find no statistics available on the relative likelihood of gun ownership between hip-hop devotees and Holst enthusiasts. But my instincts tell me caution is in order.

  • Kharega says:

    I tried Xenakis. No effect.

  • Doc Martin says:

    When I was , revising for my finals at Med school at Trinity College, Dublin the folk next door kept playing U2, Black Sabbath, Motorhead etc at full blast. I put on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on repeat when I went home at the weekend to my folks. On Monday onwards it was dead quiet after that!

  • Andy says:

    Ah……..the bringer of war.

  • Doc Martin says:

    I think the music that makes Father Hackett stand up if played often enough should sort this problem out.

    Does anyone know the words?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4SIQoj1aqA

  • Nick2 says:

    That noise would also have driven me to distraction. But would environment protection laws not have been as successful? As I understand it there is a decibel limit on noise affecting others. That said, I do accept that the existence of a law is very different from the enforcement of it!

    • Barry says:

      Yes, I think you’re right. I understand that councils are reluctant to act unless several households complain. This does not tend to happen in practice.

  • Stuard Young says:

    The noisy neighbors obviously were silenced by “Venus, the Bringer of Love”.

  • Karden says:

    Owners of 7-11s and other small stores (at least in the US) have been known through the years to blast classical music on their outdoor loudspeakers in order to deter vagrants or loiterers.

    What’s interesting is the way that staccato-thump-thump rap music and its often crude lyrics (which makes hip hop no big deal) may be less offensive to some of those same vagrants or loiterers.

    Google search “Solomon Asch phenomenon” to figure out one reason why what’s going on in today’s world is growing more and more widespread.

  • Wurtfangler says:

    Shostakovich 4 first movement works pretty well in this situation as well.

  • Mystic Chord says:

    I will never forget a neighbour putting “Gangsta’s Paradise” on repeat for something like 10 hours. When I went to confront her about it she went berserk and slammed the door in my face. Even more scary … she was a nurse!!

  • John Birge says:

    Alan Civil, Telegraph obiturary: “Once on a train bound for Leeds he sat opposite a young girl who was wearing headphones from which hissed a sound unacceptable for a long journey. When asked to turn the volume down she refused, adding that it was a free country. Alan proceeded to take his horn from its case and to play Mozart loudly. The girl then left the carriage to the applause of the other occupants.” The obituary also said, “It would be unrealistic to gloss over the fact that Alan Civil enjoyed a drink.”

  • Doc Martin says:

    It must be Neil Hannon’s My lovely Horse (with sax Solo) on repeat.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzYzVMcgWhg

  • Doc Martin says:

    The great Franz Schubert wrote: “I have composed many wonderful things, the Octet, the Ninth Symphony, the Rosamunde music, the Death and the Maiden Quartet, as well as innumerable songs for voice and piano; yet when I compare myself with Neil Hannon, the composer of My Lovely Horse I desire only to throw my own work on the fire.”

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