Huh? I Can't Hear You!

Electronic amplification has ruined live music. Don't get me wrong, technology has made the experience of listening to music much easier. Instead of having to get a live band to play, you can listen to records, 8-tracks, cassettes, CD's, or MP3 files. It's great, and I have made use of all of the above. But I hate listening to live performances. I think it's because I can't control the volume. This isn't usually a problem with acoustic players, but every band and DJ seems to want to blast out their music at maximum volume. It hurts my ears and ruins the music for me. I feel the need for earplugs almost every time someone else in in charge of the volume knob. What makes people think it has to be loud to be good?