ABSTRACT
Some years ago, I interviewed a young American man who lived in the UK. During the interview he described driving down a motorway in his automobile listening to music on his sound system. This was not the normal sound system we find in automobiles however. He had a very expensive and powerful amplifier fixed to the chassis of the car and twenty-three speakers placed throughout the driving compartment. He described driving at speed down the motorway to music as loud as he could bear. After a few miles the sound was so intense he had to stop on the hard shoulder. As he exited the car he described having to lean against the side of the car, unable to stand as his whole body felt like “jelly.” The experience was described as intensely pleasurable, indeed exhilarating. The meanings attached to this simple account are multiple. My American interviewee had belonged to an automobile club in the US whose whole raison d’être was to maximise the volume of sound in automobiles. The meaning attached to such activity was sub-cultural in nature whereby members learnt how to experience intense sonic listening practices in automobiles as well as showing off the sophistication of their auto sound systems. These experiences are partially learnt even though the physical response – the jellied body – is largely pre-conscious and bodily in nature. The experience itself is dependent upon forms of technological sonic capability and the legal framework within which it is acceptable to drive under these conditions. My respondent was at pains to point out that he was a considerate driver and that he would not drive through town listening thus as he considered it to be both a dangerous and anti-social activity in such spaces. Thus, the example combines a cocktail of body, sound, culture, desire, and technology in the explanatory mix of the behaviour. This matrix of sonic, and indeed the sensory factors involved in explaining, understanding and theorising such experience, lies at the heart of this Part.
