Do I Suck For… Cutting Off My Neighbor’s Power Because His Band Practice Sounded Terrible?

Smokey Goretooth here, clocking in with a new “Do I Suck?,” MetalSucks’ version of “Am I The Asshole?” where we take real life horror stories and bring them to our readers to decide if the OP sucks for some bullshit they may or may not have done.

This week’s submission comes from a user named “thisguystinks01,” who was apparently very upset with his neighbor’s lack of skill…

So, I live in an apartment building that’s next door to a duplex. I’m really cool with the downstairs neighbors (have no clue about who lives upstairs), and they’re all young dudes in their late 20s. They’ve got the face tattoos, the cut off band tees, the whole nine. I should say I don’t know exactly who all lives there, since it seems to be a young house of actual roommates and rotating friends who need a couch to crash on sometimes when they’re in town.

I work from home some days and this particular situation started around 10:30 a.m. yesterday. My morning meeting just finished when I hear that undeniable sound of something being plugged into an amp. Since I live in a family neighborhood, again in an apartment next to a duplex, I wasn’t necessarily expecting this since places in my area don’t have basements and barely have garages that could be used as a practice space. That’s when the true horror of my morning began —I hear the introductory notes to “Painkiller” by Judas Priest. It took me a second to recognize what it was without the epic drums that open it, but it also took me awhile because whoever was playing was doing it so, so terribly.

Then comes the shockingly poor attempt at the vocals. It didn’t sound like they were singing into a mic, rather more so just shouting at the their highest volume and horrible octave known to man. Even my dog was wincing, and he’s old, so the fact that he mustered up the energy to react should say something.

Now, I obviously understand that you’re gonna have to practice something a lot to get good at it, but this went on for HOURS. The same terrible execution over and over again, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. No matter how loud I had on whatever I was listening to in my headphones, their attempt at practicing overpowered it, and I had enough.

Bit of back story, I had helped them a few months back with some electrical shit since I had lived here years before they ever, so I knew where their powerbox was on the outside of the building. At this point, I didn’t even care whoever else in their duplex it could’ve affected because I was on a mission for silence I went downstairs and over to their side of the fence, and as soon as I got to the box, I flipped every last bit of shit in there without hesitation. Literally every single switch. Once I heard the awful racket get somewhat quieter — and the person scream “FUCK!” really loud — I knew I found the sweet spot. I snuck my way back to my side of the fence when I heard whoever it was on the phone saying something to the effect of “shit, I think I blew a fuse or something. What should I do?” This led me to think that whoever it was isn’t one of the actual roommates, but one of those just passing through.

They eventually found the box and flipped all the breakers again, but I guess they were too scared that it’d happen again so they stopped playing and I enjoyed the rest of the day in peace.

I honestly don’t see how this could’ve gone any other way. I’ve had one of my neighbors in my own building mention to me before how they’ve tried to go over there to talk to them about noise before (that I guess happened when I wasn’t home one day) and it didn’t go over well or resolve anything, so I don’t really feel like I’m in the wrong. But, my best friend’s boyfriend, who is in a band, heard me telling her about my revenge and he said that I truly sucked. But like, do I really suck, though?

Ahh, the age old battle between shitty playing and ears that work too well for the circumstances. What do we think, readers?