Turn It Up to 11

A reader requests a discussion about the increasing intrusion of noise in our lives, and in particular "the acceptance of loud music in public spaces, including school cafeterias, the omnipresence of music in commercial establishments, the creeping addition of percussive music underlying news reports on TV and radio, and the ghastly state of popular music."

Now I can't agree about the ghastly state of popular music. I mean has he or she not heard the excellent Dance Wiv Me by Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris, out on the Dirtee Stank label and currently topping the popular music charts?

I could be wrong about this but my guess is that this particularly reader is not in his or her early 20s. But then nor am I, and I do have a lot of sympathy for them over the other points. I now search out quieter bars, whereas once I would have been more than happy to be in places where the music was so loud you have to order drinks in sign language.

I think it might be a sign of age. Maybe some one who knows can enlighten me but could it have something to do with the aging brain being able to process fewer things at the same time – music and conversation, say? Certainly few kids seem to be big fans of silence; as you grow older, you learn to appreciate its beauty.

Not just its beauty, put also its power, and that is something the world seems to have forgotten. We seem to actually be frightened of silence, feel the need to fill it with noise. And that's a shame, because silence – in a room, a public place, a lift, or even accompanying pictures in a news report, can be a immensely powerful. Silence is like agar jelly in which thinking can germinate and grow. By destroying it, we stifle thought. And the music is there not for its own sake, but in order to fill the silence. That's a disservice both to the silence, and to the music, which is merely be used as filler.

Because of course there's a place for music. Loud, popular music (sorry, dear reader).

I may be rapidly turning in to an old fart, but I still find Dance Wiv Me by Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris works best turned up to round about 11. Just not in the library, please.

Thanks to robsig for this article idea. If you'd like to make a suggestion for a topic for us to cover, post a comment here.