“He Finally Learned His Lesson”: 10 People Share Stories About Loud Neighbors From Hell

We've often heard about good neighbors—the ones that bake you pies, invite you over for barbecues, help with renovation, pet-sit—the list goes on. But on the other side of the spectrum are the annoying people who make living next door to them impossible. Whether they block your parking space or throw their trash on your patio, some individuals need a lesson or two on how to be neighborly.

Today, the Pictolic team has compiled a list of people who love being neighborhood DJs. Yes, we are talking about the ones who play their soundtracks on blast. These folks don’t consider that people might be sleeping, working, attending a seminar, or simply enjoying their serenity when they make excessive noise. Cover your ears, pandas, as we look at some music lovers who can’t keep the volume down.

10 PHOTOS

#1

I have set up a decibel alarm right by my fence.. when the punk kids' music gets too loud my siren goes off the only way it will stop is if he lowers his noise. At first, it was going off all the time. But now it hasn't gone off in months.. he finally learned his lesson

Many people listen to music using headphones, and by doing so they only subject themselves to loud sounds, not anyone else. When individuals attend concerts or go to clubs, they are choosing to be at a place where things get noisy. However, when your next-door neighbors play songs on loudspeakers, they expose everyone around them to high decibels (dB) of sound.

Hearing music can be relaxing, but regularly listening to songs at high volume can be dangerous. Studies show prolonged exposure to high levels of noise can lead to hearing impairment.

#2

Many years ago we had awful neighbors across from us who had loud noisy parties. Several nights every week. The landlord - who lived in the area - never seemed to follow up. Not just us, several neighbors also struggled with the antisocial behavior and loud thumpy music. (Had to report complaints through a letting agency btw and they did nothing.) But someone down the road also knew the landlord and told us apparently he was well aware there was an issue, just not bothered to do anything and allegedly didn't want the hassle and to lose money with the costs of evicting and reletting fees, etc. By chance, we got the landlord's phone number. Every time there was a party late at night /early morning we would phone him and stand outside our door and play the noise over the phone so he could hear what we had to put up with. He asked why bother him so late, we said well we thought you should know just how horrible the constant noise is at all hours. Shared the number with other suffering neighbors so they also did the same. It sometimes went to his voicemail so we prefaced the noisy recording with the date and time and how long it had gone on for. And left heaps of messages with the noise …. Within 2 months the noisy tenants were given notice

#3

If you are visiting an apartment you are considering renting/buying and you hear loud music from other apartments, GTFO out of there ASAP. It is NOT a one-time thing. No, these people are not celebrating birthdays, new family members, or promotions, don't fool yourself. They are neighbors from hell. People who blast loud music do it all the time and they won't stop. Considerate people don't blast loud music inside apartments even during holidays. Considerate people know that neighbors don't care about your holidays and don't want to listen to your music

While you can’t really escape everyday commotion, when it comes to certain activities like music events, bars, and nightclubs, you can choose to control your exposure. Many young adults enjoy leisure noise exposure these days. For instance, they feel motivated to work out when they listen to peppy songs. Other factors include personal preference, socializing, or a desire for rebelliousness.

A 2022 study revealed that unsafe music listening habits are putting 1.35 billion young adults at risk of damaging their hearing. Researchers found that people between the ages of 18 and 34 listen to loud music at entertainment venues for unsafe lengths of time. While it might be an enjoyable activity for individuals, they are risking their future ear health by doing so.

#4

Our old neighbor, TripleH (HipHop Honky - we’re white af so it felt ok to call him this). He played HipHop constantly, and loudly whenever he was home. Sometimes he’d drive around the neighborhood in his s**tbox doing the same. The dude was always picking fights and being a general nuisance. One day somebody must’ve had too much because the cops came and he ended up brawling with them in the street. They took his a** away and we never saw him again. All his crap was on the lawn about a month later (he rented it). God was that satisfying

#5

I’ve lived here for 7 years and this kid just moved in caddy corner across the street from me about 6 months ago. Apparently his grandpa used to live there but now the kid is taking over the house but his mom technically owns it. Anyways, he starts blasting music super loud in the middle of the night and afternoon. If my door is open, it sounds like I have my stereo cranked to full blast. It’s the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. I’ve called the non-emergency police line numerous times and they do nothing. Apparently I can keep a log of the disturbances and take him to court but I really have wanted this to remain anonymous. One of my neighbors knows the mother who owns the home and called her to tell her what was going on and it stopped for a short while but he is back at it. Since the cops won’t do anything about it, I’m ready to take matters into my own hands. Was thinking of stink bombing his house so he decides to move eventually, some random thing periodically like egg his house, blast a horn by his house early in the morning, anything to pester him repeatedly without getting caught

#6

I'm an incredibly petty individual.

Ever since my neighbor moved in earlier this year, I've had constant nights of being woken up by his music at 5 am (after all the clubs have shut), mostly on work nights. About 2 nights a week on average.

I (and other residents) first tried speaking to him with no success, so I then complained to the council during the summer and they sent their toothless letter, etc that worked for a while, and then it started again in September.

About 6 weeks ago, I messaged his landlord to get him to stop. Thankfully, this seemed to work.

However, last night, right in the queue, started blasting out music at 5:30 in the morning with girls screaming their heads off. Turns out he'd actually been travelling for a month so his landlord's bollocking lasted all of about 2 weeks.

I've been ill all week with flu, and I couldn't back to sleep despite only needing to be up at 8 am, so I lay awake for about 2 hours trying to sleep to no avail.

Now, I want payback. The idea I currently have is to put my Alexa in the room adjacent to his whilst I go away this weekend and get her to play Baby Shark at full volume at 4 in the morning.

Among young people, a major source of leisure noise exposure is nightclubs. Loud music is beneficial for businesses, as people tend to drink more when there is less social interaction. In the absence of any conversation, people quickly finish their cocktails or mocktails. Clubbers, on average, experience continuous noise levels of close to 98 dB if they spend roughly five hours a week at a disco. Clubbing for 10 years generates more than 60% of the maximum noise exposure acceptable for a working life of 42 years.

So how much is too much? Anything below 85 dB is okay. For instance, when you're walking down a bustling street, you will encounter various sounds, such as honking cars, people talking, and occasional construction work. Such noises combined fall within the range of around 70 to 85 dB. Anything louder than that might require hearing protection.

#7

I know it probably bothers me more than most because I’m on the spectrum, but I don’t even live next door to these people. They’re literally 3 streets away. And you can hear their bass from their music in the entire front half of the neighborhood.

I’m ordering noise reducing curtains but part of the reason I got a house is to leave the noise of an apartment behind. I don’t know how their next door neighbors deal with it. I can slightly feel it in the walls if I touch them, and it’s coming from a car with brand new speakers in it. People are so inconsiderate.

But the neighbors behind me have told me a lot of people have been moving out of this neighborhood because neighbors like this one. They buy a house here and play really loud music. She bought her house a year before we got ours, and the previous owners of her home moved because of who lived in mine. They frequently threw old food out in the backyard and attracted mice to the street. Everyone on our street had to get exterminators because of who used to live in my house

#8

I just bought my first home and didn’t realize my neighbor would be such a problem. I’ve never had issues with any neighbors. I mind my business and don’t care what my neighbors do, but this guy literally plays music daily from around 9-10 am until 1-2 am. Occasionally playing music loud is no problem, but it’s every single day. I have young children and he even plays it with them playing in the driveway 15/20 ft away, with every other word being the n word or f**k or b***h. Sure I could ask him to be quiet, but also this guy is in 50’s and I feel like I shouldn’t have to teach someone twenty years my senior basic human decency. I set up my sound bar and subwoofers today and played music louder than his, next time I’ll take it a step further and set it up right in the driveway like he does. Only thing is I don’t want to piss off my other neighbors but also this guy can eat s**t

#9

I (27F) know that COVID is kind of old news by now, but my organization is healthcare related and hasn't moved corporate staff back to the office. I'm fine with it although there are some quirks to working from home for the last year.

One of the quirks is that, since we live in an apartment, we have neighbors. I believe that the person whose room is on the opposite side of the wall from my office is a teenager or at least a young person because I can see a sliver of their room through a window and it looks like teenage wall decor. (Not trying to creep, obviously -- their wall juts out further than mine does and their window looks in on my office window.) I can only assume they're not in school though because they BLAST music during the day.

It's not every single day, and it's not music I don't like (it's usually American pop music or Spanish music) but it's just so loud that I'm afraid to turn on my mic during video calls for work. I can hear basically all the words and certainly the notes and VERY certainly the beat. It gets even worse if they open their window and terrible if we both want to have the windows open on a nice spring day.

I love music as much as the next person, but damn. I have a job.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, USA, suggests that you shouldn’t be exposed to 90 dB for more than 8 hours per day. In a busy restaurant, the overall ambient noise level—a lot of conversations, clinking dishes, chaotic kitchen noise, and other background sounds—can reach around 90 dB.

Being exposed to 100 dB for more than 15 minutes is usually not recommended. When you attend a rock concert in a small venue, the volume is generally high to create a vibrant atmosphere. In such places, chances are the music reaches 100 dB or even higher, especially near the stage or speakers.

#10

My brother works from home. The walls shake from their music at all hours. He knocked on their door and told them he was trying to work... They turned it down. When they did it at 12 am on a Tuesday, he wasn't happy and came knocking on their door. Basically said, "Dude, it's 12 in the morning... The walls are shaking and we need to sleep." The guy just said oh ok like it was new to him that it was loud. Fortunately, It's been mainly quiet since then