Piped Music

[Drusilla1S]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/5086054.stm

Does anyone liked piped music? I can't even sit in the waiting room at my doctor's surgery without some populist, classical music interrupting the silence.

Is it possible, the more technologically advanced we become the more fearful many people are about silence and inactivity?

[fat rascal]

i hate it, i mean reaally haaaaaaaatttttteeeeee it, can't even sit in the doctors/dentists without having to listen to it..at least in shops you can walk out... then at the local M&S.. one saturday they had chuffing derval kirwen'd dulcit tones apiped over the food dept...arghhhhhhhhhhh!! good ole spike milligan used to try to get it outlawed... so we can but hope this law will get thro'.... but there again poor noddy holder will be cah strapped if he loses his slade xmas somg royalties!!

i love peace and quiet.

[Booldawg]

its supposed to drown out the screams of the patients

[jno]

I guess in surgeries, and probably other places, it's meant to calm people down. And subliminally it reassures us that life is going on. I'd sooner have cheap music playing while I'm hanging on on the phone, rather than the dead silence that makes me wonder if I've been cut off.

But loud music, Noddy Holder and so on, really annoys me. Save it for bars and clubs.

[Drusilla1S]

The most frightening place I have ever visited was the Outback in Australia. It wasn't a fear of spiders, snakes or psychotic Kangaroos, but the vastness and the silence. That's why I asked about silence becoming a 'fear' for modern people.

[gessoo]

Sorry jno, but I hate that awful quiet nothing sort of music that plays in supermarkets or on phone lines. I would rather have some good old Stones or Queen played loudly!!!! I could then dance about and sing whilst I shop or wait on the phone lines. Not Noddy Holder though!!!!

Seriously, I would rather have no music in supermarkets, doctors surgeries, etc but if there has to be music let it be loud enough to here and good enough to really appreciate. And no Christmas Carols from September onwards, perlease!!!!!!

[vehelpfulguy]

My problem is not piped music but music which seems played for the benefit of the young people working in the shop rather than the customers, rap, rock and so on.

My local Safeways became a Morrisons and started playing pop / rock music through the small tinny pa speakers.

I complained a few times and they continued to do it so now I shop at Sainsbury's

One customer lost.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Actually, if they do have to do it, I find classical music the least offensive choice. Even worse than just having a casio concerto entertain you while you hold is when they interupt it every ten seconds to tell you how valued your call is. Well answer the f___ing phone then...

When I was at school, I had a weekend job in Debenhams and the muzak tape only had 8 songs on it. I still can't hear Nielsen's version of 'Without You' without wanting to karate chop someone.

If I had the choice of piped music, I'd choose this from Porcupine Tree's In Absentia album:

The Sound of Muzak

Hear the sound of music
Drifting in the aisles
Elevator prozac
Stretching on for miles

The music of the future
Will not entertain
It's only meant to repress
And neutralise your brain

Soul gets squeezed out
Edges get blunt
Demographic
Gives what you want

Now the sound of music
Comes in silver pills
Engineered to suit you
Building cheaper thrills

The music of rebellion
Makes you wanna rage
But it's made by millionaires
Who are nearly twice your age

One of the wonders of the world is going down
It's going down I know
It's one of the blunders of the world that no-one cares
No-one cares enough

[shaneystar2]

I loathe it.... .if I ever have occasion to go into HMV I turn into a gibbering wreck . I prefer to do my shopping in peace and sit in the doctors waiting room etc in peace.It is sometimes so loud in our doctors surgery you cannot hear your name being called.I manage but people who are hard of hearing in the first place must find it annoying .
I don't mind it so much on the phone as at least you know that someone is still there and they haven't hung up on you.
But if I hear Greensleeves one more time I will not be responsible for my actions !
I love music and have music on at home more often than not but hate having it forced on me in public places.

[joko]

my local kwiksave/somerfield has started playing modern pop songs - but they have been re-recorded by another singer!!!

they are very similar to the originals but i guess they couldn't get permission to use them so had to get a karaoke version done

bizarre eh?

[shaneystar2]

Just to follow on with the being "frightened of silence" part in your Q Drusilla ..yes I think people are these days. Lots of people have to have some sort of noise around them . My sons proved this by doing homework with headphones on listening to loud music at the same time. For myself brought up in the "wireless "generation I can think of nothing worse than having to study with noise around me.I like to concentrate on what I am doing .For example I could not possibly read a book or knit with any noise in the background.I like music when I am cooking or pottering around not when I am trying to do something constructive !!

[BigDogsWang]

To walk around my local Somerfield (before they started playing music) used to be the most depressing mundane task of my daily routine. The sound of 'bleep, bleep, bleep', "Supervisor to the kiosk please", children screaming and babies crying.
Then they introduced some quite modern music on a half decent stereo and it makes the whole trip much more enjoyable. It's not loud or intrusive, you can still hear yourself think, but looking around, everybody just seems 'happier'.
It is proved that music makes you feel good because the rhythmic nature of it reassures your brain that everything in the heart is working OK.

Much more preferable than the sound of people mooching around coughing, wheezing and sniffing.

[joko]

regarding the silence thing - i sleep with a cd on a loop - either comedy shows or floaty music, and a fan on in the room - yet when i am awake i like to have some silence sometimes, like muting the tv for a bit if nothing is on or even just during the ads

i like outdoor "silence" like the sound of a distant smalll plane, or a bird or a bee, when you are lying in the garden in the sun.

its never really totally silent anywhere

[shaneystar2]

You are right there joko ..I am happy to sit in my garden and read with sounds of nature around me ..birdsong etc.....but when the guy two doors down starts wacking out gangsta rap I start to get a lttle bit peeved....!