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Interpretations:Man, It's So Loud In Here

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Bryce's interpretation: dawning awareness of love.

(Disclaimer: As always, this is not an attempt to infer the Johns' intentions; it's more like a moiré pattern formed by laying the song across my mind. As such, this interp may be affected by recent events which include sidewalk racing, pistol and gun shots, and glass clinking and stuff. If it sickens the more cynically inclined among you, too bad.)
My first instinct was to interpret the song fairly literally, as describing actual events or possibly a dream. Now I think that all the confusion is in the narrator's head, that he's just seeing things differently, because he's euphoric with love. This feeling is so unfamiliar to him, though, that he doesn't really recognize it for what it is. (Even if it is a dream of the narrator's, and not delusion occurring in a conscious state, the dream's symbols could still be interpreted this way.)
They fixed up the corner store like it was a night club
It's permanently disco
Everyone is dressed so oddly
I can't recognize them
I can't tell the staff from the customers
To me, the corner store symbolizes the mundane, the everyday. You've been there a million times, you know what to expect. Its disco decor comes as a surprise, which disorients the narrator. None of this necessarily suggests that he's imagining it, but at least it doesn't contradict the idea. In fact, his disorientation could lead him to doubt his senses (although he seems to take them at face value throughout the song).
The music contributes to the feeling of uncertainty when it teeters between the major tonic (I) and the minor subdominant (iv). However, the reassuringly predictable dance beat relieves this tension and lends a sense of inevitable, automatic progression. This stabilizing force is supplied, notably, by a drum machine, whose rhythmic steadiness is reminiscent of a heartbeat.
Baby, check this out I've got something to say
By addressing someone as "Baby," he indicates a certain level of affection. His forthcoming statement must be significant, since he feels the need to announce it beforehand.
Man, it's so loud in here
When they stop the drum machine and I can think again
I'll remember what it was
If the drum machine represents a heart, this suggests that he's overcome with emotion to the point that he can't think clearly.
You have to carry all your things
You can't misplace them
There's nowhere to place anything
Beyond being descriptive of a nightclub, this verse emphasizes the disorienting lack of landmarks by which the narrator could hope to get his bearings. I'm not sure about the significance of the carried things. Perhaps they represent the rest of his life, and he'd rather discard them to focus on her.
They're all shouting something at us
Waving and pointing
The pronoun "us" confirms again that the narrator is with someone. Apparently "they" are trying to alert the narrator and his Baby to something, which supports the idea that he is failing to recognize something significant.
They revamped the airport completely
Now it looks just like a nightclub
Everyone's excited and confused
This returns to the theme of the first verses. We learn that it's not just the corner store that's undergone a transformation; the nightclub atmosphere seems omnipresent, or at least increasingly present. The fact that it seems to follow the narrator leads me to believe that it's in his mind. It's a simpler explanation, at least, than a sudden conspiracy of interior decorators.
When they start the love machine and I can love again
I'll remember what it was
This is essentially the foundation of the interp. The substitution of the word "love" in this final chorus associates it with both the drum machine and the narrator's thought, if only by means of parallel structure. He still doesn't recognize it, but it's as though what he's been trying to think of is finally coming to the surface, and it has to do with love. He needs the love machine to start before he can remember. So, I think he's trying to tell her that he loves her.

Charlie's interpretation: dawning awareness of old age

You see, I used to play in a rock band here in New York. And it's a pretty unpleasant experience, all things considered. The NYC music scene has changed from its days of yore; people are no longer going out to seek new bands or new sounds. No one gives a rat's ass about your music unless they know you or they know the tunes you're playing, no matter how good you are. And I can't even be upset about this, because I did it just the same to other bands as it was done to me. Once my band's 45 minutes were up, I was done. Maybe I'd have a drink, and then I'd split. Chances were pretty strong that the next act up after you would be at worst unlistenable and at best forgettable. But the one thing they all shared in common: loud loud loud fucking loud way too fucking loud. After a gig, the band and I would always want to go chat with the friends that came out to support us. To do this, we were forced to leave the club. Period. It's impossible to hold a conversation in these places. In some, even, shouting an inch away from another person's ear does no good. As time wore on, I was able to tolerate it less and less. The Johns have about a decade on me, so I can only imagine what the scene feels like for them now.

Another bizarre trend about the NY rock clubs - also referenced in the song - is how there are, in front of the band stage, these wide-open, generally table-less areas (even though NY's old-timey cabaret law forbids dancing in these places without a special, expensive license which none of them have). When I first heard Man, It's So Loud in Here, and it got to that bit about having to carry all your things, I fell out of my chair with laughter. It's funny because it's true.

A note about the "corner store" bit: I think this is a reference to a specific location in Manhattan. There is a club downtown which was and is still pretty hot on the live rock scene. It's called Arlene Grocery. Nothing inside the place suggests any sort of grocery store theme; the name of the place is as far as the idea goes. The whole reason, however, that it's called that is because the club started by leasing a space that was formerly used by one of the many deli/grocery places in Manhattan, converting the interior to a nightclub, but leaving the exterior exactly the same. The metal awning above the store front says Arlene Grocery just as it did back when the place was really a grocery store, and the usual other awning blurbs, like "Cold Beer & Cigarettes" and such, are still on there too. Only the darkened windows tell the uninformed observer that it may not be a grocery store any longer. The city is rife with this sort of thing. There's a bar on 14th St. called the Beauty Shop, or something like that. Same deal, it's just a former beauty salon converted into a bar (though this place kept a lot of the interior as well as the exterior). These places crop up a lot because a) it allows the enterprising nightclub owner to set things up on the cheap, and b) it adds a unique flavor to the place so it's not yet another tragically hip watering hole like all the rest of them.

So, yeah, I can totally relate to the fact that - now that I'm older and no longer single - places like that with all the clubby people and the trendy hipness and particularly the deafening sound system have pretty much lost all appeal. And that's what I think this song is about. Linnell is illustrating that, when you take away the excitement to be in such places, the whole arrangement and premise of them are pretty ridiculous.

Awesome interpretation Charlie - we need more people who know New York interpreting Their songs, because I think a lot of the strange ideas people come up with can be explained better by observing the sort of places John & John frequent (e.g. the Arlene Grocery club)

i believe this a song about how the reinvention of things often ruins them. "everyone is dressed so oddly, i cant recognize them, i cant tell the staff from the customers" and "You have to carry all your things, you cant missplace them, theres no where to place anything" are good examples of how things like hypermodernism when applied to certain things just causes confusion and inconveinience

Its definitley about the increasing prevalence of soundbite "QUICK LOOK AT ME" advertising. Everything is full of loud colors and flashy advertisments, loud radio music, and the singer is becoming increasingly discombobulated

They fixed up the corner store
Like it was a nightclub
It's permanently disco
Everyone is dressed so oddly
I can't recognize them
I can't tell the staff from the customers

the singer walks into the corner store and is surprised by their new advertisements all over the walls, the loud advertisments and music playing over loudspeakers and is confused by it

Baby, check this out I've got something to say,
Man, it's so loud in here
When they stop the drum machine And I can think again
I'll remember what it was

Later, the singer outside on a date with their "baby" and finds that all the flashy ads and fast paced music makes it so that they cant concentrate. He is hoping to find a secluded spot away from the fast paced bustle of society to collect his thoughts

You have to carry all your things
You can't misplace them
There's nowhere to place anything

Becoming increasingly vexed, the singer notices how everything in society is becoming priced, perhaps they are in the airport looking at those pay locker thingys, but he is noticing how modernized society discourages anything but carrying everything with you outside the home, no leaving your bag on the park bench, no leaving your bike on the curb while you go for a muffin.


They're all shouting
Something at us
Waving and pointing

they are not following the new rules of modernized society and are being ostracized and cursed, but they cant hear over the din what their accused sins are.

They've revamped the airport
Now it looks just like a night club
Everyone's excited and confused

a restatement of the sentiments about the corner store.

The bit about the love machine is not only a restatement of the bit about the drum machine, but also it is a statement about the increasing dependence on modern society

I really like the description about the rock clubs too.


It's about moving. I know it! -Walrus

I make no grand claims about having the answer, but the first time I visited O'Hare in Chicago, I had to travel down a dark tunnel passing beneath the airpot which was lit with many a oddly colored neon light and it automatically brought me to this song. --KraDakar

Ok, so my two bits on the song (after reading all the foregoing interpretations) is still the same as it was the first time I heard the song. All the comments about the environment being described (clubs) is not exactly positive. It's not like the singer is trashing on them, he's just pointing out that things are odd, disorienting, loud, making him forget, etc. I think that to describe clubs using dance music is a very clever and very tongue-in-cheek way of doing it - and I love it. The first time I heard the song I though, "great - a dance/club tune." (I don't particularly care for dub.) But when I listened to the lyrics I thought it was both funny and appropriate. It's almost like it's a person who happens to be singing along to some other song, instead of a tmbg song. If that makes any sense.

At any rate, as for the thing he's trying to tell his Baby, I definitely agree that he's trying to tell her he loves her. But it's just SO LOUD he can't hear himself think. Which is funny because in the last chorus, he halfway remembers what it was, as he mentions the love machine.

I think my interpretation of this song is a tad more literal than some of the other ones. The singer of the song is going out with someone who frequently attends places like the corner store club, though he doesn't really go for that sort of thing very much. Thinking that this is big enough of an issue to break up with her, he does so, though he has a hard time remembering what he was going to say, due to the thunderous music. Eventually, for one reason or another, he gets out what needs to be said. They get into a big fight, which leads to the bouncers demanding them to take it outside, hence the waving and pointing. As she storms off angrily from him, he considers if he hasn't maybe made a mistake.

Some time passes, and he hears about how the airport got revamped into a night club, and decides to head over there to try and find Baby and apoligize. When he finds her, however, he realizes that he doesn't actually love her, and decides that the apology isn't really worth it. He tells her thaat in case the "love machine" ever starts up, he'll "remember" what he was going to tell her, and apologize.

You know what? This sounded much better in my head.

Just a quick side idea: What if by "love machine," he litterally means his heart? What if the guy had a heart attack?

Just a few things to add:
First, Doesn't it say on Linnell's page that he doesn't like loud, loud music, and always wears earplugs? Could be this song relates to that. Second, I think the chorus might refer to the joke you sometimes see on old TV shows of two guys saying to each other, "Man, it's so loud in here!" "What? I can't here you. It's too loud in here!" Also, I think the line "I can't tell the staff from the customers" refers to the practice of having proffesional club-goers at a club. You can't tell who's there actually having a good time from the people who are just there getting paid to have a good time. Lastly, I think it's really great how this song parodies club culture with its lyrics while, at the same time, parodying club music with its music. There's something similar at work, I think, with country music as its target, in Lucky Ball And Chain and Alienation's For The Rich. Tutt 14:46, 24 Oct 2005 (EDT)MasterChivo

Well, chaps, from my point of view, this is a club-style song (if outdated) which subverts the whole club ethos by asking us to imagine whether we'd tolerate a nightclub environment anywhere in the "real world". Trouble is, though I hate clubs, and I hate songs in the cheesy Stock-Aitken-Waterman style here, when you run the New Order-style (80s Link Wray?) guitar motifs over the sequencers, it actually doesn't sound half bad. In fact, I love it. See, they did it again... take a crazy idea, marry it with a strong musical style, knock out a great tune and the sum is greater than its constituent parts. --Balb Kubrox

I think it's about a guy who doesn't have the guts to tell the girl that he loves her. He meets her at a local "stop-n-go" mini-mart where he uses the excuse that the muzak coming over the speakers is distracting him, making him 'forget' what he wanted to say. They begin a relationship, but she eventually leaves him. As they say goodbye at the airport, he again finds in the piped-in music a sufficient distraction to avoid saying how he feels. (He's excited and confused, but avoids confessing these emotions by attributing them to 'everyone'.) The word 'love' sneaks out in this song in the same way that the word 'nightmare' sneaks out in the song They'll Need A Crane, an accidental revelation of a secret thought. --Nehushtan 17:54, 15 Feb 2006 (CST)

Freudian slip. Doug the Aquacell Guy 22:21, 20 May 2006 (CDT)

I always think of Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash when I hear this song.

A nightclub song that is critical of nightclub songs, hilarity ensues.

This to me is a song about the clash of the older.

A song about getting old and feeling old. Linnell has a hard time with loud music these days and also is not exactly a nightclub person. One really gets the impression the narrator of the song is totally out of step with the modern world so that everything looks like a disco. Perhaps also a critique of modern life. A brilliant riff, and really a Linnell solo song as Flans may not even play on the track. With a major label backing this would have been a smash hit if it had gotten the airplay that it deserved. (Mr Tuck)

I can definitely hear a guitar, Tuck. Listen closer. Also, Flans wrote it. Just a note. -Ecks

I stand totally corrected. I assumed a la Beatles that the one that sung it, wrote it. In the Two Johns DVD it appears Linnell is the total author of the song. (Mr Tuck)

Umm, on the Gigantic DVD this is the song that Flans is playing for John to get feedback. Just another note. - Rilom

No your wrong. Linnell is the one playing it to the rest of them. He's embarassed. Watch it again and you will see I am, as usual right. (Mr Tuck)

Digga-digga-digga system...the system-is down! The system-is down!

[edit] Information Overload

I think I sort of agree with lots of these interpretations. Mine: This is a song which seems at first to be a sort of satire of nightclub culture but eventually makes clear that it's about everything - the whole world has gotten so loud and user unfriendly that the narrator is unable to complete a simple thought (the thought in this case being, pretty obviously, "I love you"). The substitution of "love" for "drum" in the last verse also suggests that all the noise not only prevents him from thinking clearly but also, possibly, from feeling clearly. I really love this song.

-Northside Jonny, Sept 28, 2007

You know, when Muzak first came on the scene, the idea was that a public place might play music quietly - almost subliminally - as a way to put shoppers in a happy mood so they would buy more stuff. Over the years, Muzak has gotten louder and louder and switched from instrumental elevator tunes to modern pop and club hit music. It's not rare to hear a semi-obscene dance song played at 90 decibels in a Taco Bell these days. I'm pretty sure the Johns are addressing that change in this song.

This has very little to do with actual nightclubs. It is about unrelated industries - convenience stores and airports - that have embraced club culture as a way to relate to a young, club-going demographic. Of course, this annoys the heck out of people who just want to get on a plane or get some coffee and don't want to have to step through a nightclub to do it. It's a cranky old man song, sort of like "I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die." They're saying "I'm not trying to relate to this club culture right now. I just want to get on my plane!" Kris Wright 01:55, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

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