Vibes

Archives | RSS

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Opinion / Mike McCray / News Umm...where's the music?

Posted By on Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 11:24 AM

There's nothing more jarring than silence. Now, imagine being in a public place where you're used to hearing some mundane soundtrack to whatever you're doing and it strangely be missing. You'd be surprised how noticeable it is.

I'm sure many-a-smooth jazz or easy listening artist, doing watered down covers of Motown hits, has kept their head over water because of retail shops and elevators wanting to play something to drown out the sound of nothing.

No one wants to overhear conversations about what colors look best on you, or the cash register opening and closing reminding you that you probably shouldn't be spending your money anyway. Give me the Michael Bolton! Give me anything but the sounds of... everyday life.

Some stores don't try at all with their soundtrack and others try way too hard to cool, but a lot of times it's unnecessary. Lord knows if "Party In The USA" wasn't blaring out into the mall, teen girls would still flock to Forever 21 to try and fool older guys into thinking they're legal.

But what's also interesting are stores that play songs that don't really fit with what they sell. You'd never play 50 Cent in Bass Pro Shops, so why try to play pop in a Mexican food joint? I'm sure no one will bitch about you playing ranchero music if the tacos are good.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that's conditioned to need noise, but why can't we live without it?

If you went to The Penguin when no one's dropped some quarters in the jukebox, it takes away from the experience. (Thankfully that jukebox plays on it's own after a bit). I can't even take a shower in silence anymore and anytime I am alone with my thoughts in silence, it's an absolutely mind-numbing experience.

I'm usually a music snob to some degree but any music I consider myself 'better than' will due to kill the sound of that ticking clock in the corner. More than a few local artists have gotten their albums heard just because I didn't want to play Call of Duty or cook in silence.

So keep the music going and store owners, turn that shit up. God knows we don't want to hear each other.

Tags: , , ,

Pin It
Submit to Reddit
Favorite

More Vibes »

Speaking of...

  |  

Comments

Showing 1-1 of 1

Add a comment

 
Subscribe to this thread:
By Email
With RSS
Showing 1-1 of 1

Add a comment

Creative Loafing encourages a healthy discussion on its website from all sides of the conversation, but we reserve the right to delete any comments that detract from that. Violence, racism and personal attacks that go beyond the pale will not be tolerated.

Latest in Vibes

Search Events

all events
concerts
restaurants
movie times

www.flickr.com
items in Creative Loafing Charlotte More in Creative Loafing Charlotte pool
Most Popular
Most Shared
Most Commented

© 2019 Womack Digital, LLC
Powered by Foundation