Why is it ok to play music while outside?

When and/or why did it become socially acceptable to play music through a portable radio or car speakers when working outside? I will admit that one of my favorite things in the entire world is silence, so I may not be the most sensible person in evaluating this. I’m open to the possibility that I am overlooking something that is just part of human nature or part of our collective history or something.

Here are some scenarios that are quite common:
– Person is cleaning car in driveway. Music is played loudly through the car speakers.
– Someone is painting the exterior of a house. Music is played loudly through a “boombox” (whatever you call those things now).

Again, I will show my bias here. My instant reaction is to interpret this avoidance of being present for a simple, honest task as a way to drown out the voices in one’s head. How is painting a house not enough? Existence for most of us is a perpetual assault of audio input. Is there nothing appealing to simply attending to a task? And more importantly – where do they get the confidence to say, “I want to listen to music, so I am also going to make you listen to my music.”?

Is this public music blasting a mere co-opting of some other social, human desire that has disappeared in modern society, or is this simply a case of people not giving a sh*t about anyone else?

NOTE: Please hold the first world problem comments. I’m well aware that this is one.