Signature sound of the 20th century
 

"What is the twentieth century's signature sound? You could have a debate about it. Some might say the slow drone of an aero engine. Maybe from a lone fighter crawling across an azure 1940s sky. Or the scream of a fast jet passing low overhead, shaking the ground. Or the whup, whup, whup of a helicopter. Or the roar of a laden 747 lifting off. Or the crump of bombs falling on a city. All of those would qualify. They're all uniquely twentieth-century noises. They were never heard before. Never, in all of history. Some crazy optimists might lobby for a Beatles song. A yeah, yeah, yeah chorus fading under the screams of their audience. I would have sympathy for that choice. But a song and screaming could never qualify. Music and desire have been around since the dawn of time. They weren't invented after 1900.

.....No, the twentieth century's signature sound is the squeal and clatter of tank tracks on a paved street. That sound was heard in Warsaw, and Rotterdam, and Stalingrad, and Berlin. Then it was heard again in Budapest and Prague, and Seoul and Saigon. It's a brutal sound. It's the sound of fear. It speaks of a massive overwhelming advantage in power. And it speaks of remote, impersonal indifference. Tank treads squeal and clatter and the very noise they make tells you they can't be stopped. It tells you you're weak and powerless against the machine. Then one track stops and the other keeps on going and the tank wheels around and lurches straight towards you, roaring and squealing. That's the real twentieth century sound....

We heard the XII Corps' Abrams column a long time before we saw it. The noise came at us through the fog. We heard the tracks, and the whine of the turbines. We heard the grind of the drive gear and felt fast- pattering
bass through the soles of our feet as each new tread plate came off the cogs and thumped into position. We heard grit and stone crushed under their weight.


(cont.)

Signature Sound of the twentieth century (cont.)
 

Then we saw them. The lead tank loomed at us through the mist. It was moving fast, pitching a little, staying flat, its engine roaring. Behind it was another, and another. They were all in line,single file, like an armada from Hell. It was a magnificent sight. the M1A1 Abrams is like a shark, evolved to a point of absolute perfection. It is the undisputed king of the jungle. No other tank on earth can even begin to damage it. It is wrapped in armor made out of a depleted uranium core sandwiched between rolled steel plate. The armor is dense and impregnable. Battlefield shells and rockets and kinetic devices bounce right off it. But its main trick is to stand off so far that no battlefield shell or rocket or kinetic device can even reach it. It sits there and watches enemy rounds fall short in the dirt. Then it traverses its mighty gun and fires and a second later and a mile and a half in the distance its assailant blows up and burns. It is the ultimate unfair advantage.

The lead tank rolled past us. Eleven feet wide, twenty-six feet long, nine and a half feet tall. Seventy tons. Its engine bellowed and its weight shook the ground. Its tracks squealed and clattered and slid on the concrete. Then the second tank rolled by. And the third, and the fourth, and the fifth. The noise was deafening. The huge bulk of exotic metal buffeted the air. The gun barrels dipped and swayed and bounced. Exhaust fumes swirled all around."

~~~from: Lee Child "The Enemy" (2004)

Good piece. It's true: so many sounds were birthed in the 20th century that were never heard before.

Atomic bombs are a bit noisy.

I vote "diesel clatter".

Can I super size that for you....

i second that

HHMMMM....I can't think of what sound defines it for me. I'd say something to do with the military, or government, or planes, trains, or automobiles...Perhaps the sound of a Nuclear explosion, or the space shuttle launch maybe. This is a rather tough one for me, being so mechanically inclined, is not helping. I'd have been better off not knowing anything about mecahnical stuff, than knowing as much as I do. It just makes it that much harder to decide, with all of these marvelous sounds, coming from even the most mundane pieces, of mechanical wonder, invented, or heard first in the 20th century...You've got me stumped though..Good one.

Ed Sullivan's 'really big shew'.

He introduced so much new talent to TV and to the world.

A mouse click.

hmm I feel like playing battlefield 1942 now...

How about a Saturn V rocket taking off?

Maybe . . .
 

The sound of a modem making contact . . .

The audio from the "Blazing Saddles" fireside fart scene?

I'd say the AK47 is more impartant to the 21st century then the tank. Its a very unique sound as well.

They have been heavly used in just about every armed conflict since the 60's. Not to mention probably killed more people then any other weapon in history.
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