Gay bars all over the world are known for playing loud music in a club-like atmosphere. Nothing new here. People who don't like the loud music typically avoid these places and seek quieter venues which are also around. Thailand is no different. The choice is always yours.
When young Thais go out to party with friends they commonly end up in one of the discos or karaoke bars with music blasting so loud you have to shout in order for the person standing next to you to hear you. They are socializing in this manner the same way me and my friends used to party and socialize in the live-music bars, discos, rock concerts, etc., back in the day. Nothing different. Loud music lifts the spirits...unleashes a bit of "wild" in a person...revs up the engine...gets the blood flowing. That's why so many young people like it.
Not to be rude to you or anyone else here, but to be brutally honest, every time I see a bar full of older farang sitting next to host boys - the farang are entrenched in discussions with other farang that are so boring that I'm surprised the boys can even keep their eyes open. They just sit there with catatonic expressions on their faces bored to death - while their farang-for-the-night keeps babbling on about the price of tea in China...as if anyone gives a shit. There you have it: Farang so deeply saturated in "themselves" that they're totally oblivious to the fact that they have an interesting young man sitting next to them who is out to have a good time as well.
Maybe some of the boys turn the volume up just to block people like this out, and I wouldn't blame them if they did.
Comments about music damaging your ears reminds me of my dear old grandmothers very words - so thank you for that hint of nostalgia.