My wife has stopped complaining over my music now...... She's grown accustomed to this abyss I enjoy dwelling in.....

Occasionally we'll go see a band we can both enjoy, such as Iron Maiden, which NONE of my old goth girlfriends would be caught dead seeing with me, and she'll occasionally throw on something we can both agree on, such as WASP, Judas Priest, old Motley Crue, or old Metallica,
but when she starts up with the Linkin Park, Evanescence, or Avenged Sevenfold, I generally have to vacate the apartment and take a walk until the nasal whinging over farting power chords stops.......

That's why I've always had a good radio in my car. It's the only place I can listen to whatever I want, at whatever volume I want, without causing problems with the people around me. I can remember a conversation I had with a classmate once: "You were listening to #artist-I-forget-which one yesterday on your way home, weren't you?"

Me: "How did you know that?
Classmate: "Because I heard it. In my living room."
Me: "That's absurd, I didn't even drive threw your neighborhood."
Classmate: "That's my point."

I don't play anything that loud anymore because 1- since then I learned that people on one branch of my family go deaf in their old age, 2- now I live near a police jurisdiction where the laws on the books actually allow them to impound your car on the spot if your radio volume is high enough to be deemed a safety risk.

Wow. If that were true where I live, I'd be corresponding with you from prison. I feel your pain.

Sgath, that sucks! I like to listen to my music loud and sometimes if I happen to be driving around with my sister she lets me blast TON in her mustang. it can be deafening.

I'm glad we haven't gotten pulled over for noise pollution.

I'm stuck with making myself deaf and blasting my music on headphones on the subway.....
Owning a car.... pfffft!!!

I actually kinda like it that way, as to me, music is three dimensional, and if I don't fully deprive myself of all other audio distractions and listen to every minute detail of the music on maximum headphone volume, then I really haven't heard it....

However, my recent crappy cheap headphones allow noise to escape and be heard by nearby evesdroppers at full volume..... therefore I got quite a few stares from old grannies listening to SPK's orchestrations of female screams this morning..... They probably thought I was some sleazy loony listening to a rape/snuff recording

Owning a car isn't expensive in Japan from what I've heard. It's owning a place to park it that's expensive!

Same deal in New York City, particularly Manhattan. If I lived in Manhattan, I would not own a car. As it is, I use public transportation whenever I go into Manhattan.

In answer to the OP: No, I don't judge individuals by the music they listen to, as I don't think that one's taste in music is a reflection on the one thing that really matters: Which is how you treat other people.

-- Nephele