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Why We Love Bass

"We like the cars that go boom…"

Listen to this Commentary!

By Andrew Howe

Teenagers love the thumping sounds of bass. If you’ve ever passed a car with a booming stereo system, you know what bass sounds and feels like. Many cities across the country are passing noise ordinances to curb blasting bass. For many adults, there’s nothing musical about it, but teenagers have a different view. Youth Radio’s Andrew Howe reports.

Slap electric, abrasive drums, enough of it will turn anyone’s head… When subwoofers were first making it big in car stereos in the late 80s, I was about five. So I guess you could say I grew up with bass.

Girl 1: Bass is kinda like the backbone of the song.

Girl 2: You take it away and then you realize how shallow the song sounds, it doesn’t sound complete. It sounds like it’s two dimensional, and when they add the bass it’s three-dimensional.

Guy 1: If you are going to a party it gets you excited, and hyped up and you like that kind of stuff.

Early rap artists like Run DMC started out with a rich, thumpy sound- influencing bass masterminds like Master P. And that bumpin’ sound has crossed over to rock with groups like Limp Bizkit.

That’s not to mention techno music… which is basically almost ALL bass.

As prices have gone down and technology has gotten better, more teens can afford to make their cars rumble.

Guy 1: Well my stereo is big and it has a whole bunch of speakers.

Guy 2: Two ten-inch subwoofers with a 500 watt amp

Guy 3: It has like the subwoofers so when I am listening to music with bass, I can hear and feel the bass.

My parents and people in every generation before them, tend to dislike bass at MY volume.

Adult 1: Bass to me is very threatening. I almost feel assaulted by it because of the neighborhoods I drive through. It’s usually a guy or two or three hunkered down in their car, trying to look as mean as they possibly can.

Guy 1: Neither of my parents. They hate bass. They just like the treble, like to just hear the lyrics, the words, the music.

Guy 2: If a car has hecka bass and you can hear it, to me, automatically, oh man, that’s a tight car.

It’s in the car, it’s in the clubs, it’s stuck in your head. Bass is not going away.

Back Announce: Andrew Howe comes to us from Youth Radio.