Muzak in (food) stores, at stations etc: love or hate?

[bovlomov]

Further apologies for further 'killing' of the said jokes in my above post.

And may I add my apologies (one thousand of them), for addressing a misconception that no one here had misconceived? I wasn't correcting the logic behind TC's joke, but merely using the subject as a springboard to launch a complaint about something that is happening somewhere else.

[661-Pete]

Could one use a bouquet garni to make tea, how would it taste?

I am currently, as I post this, drinking a mug of herb tea - one of a variety of herb and spice infusions (tonight it's "lemon and ginger" but we vary them from night to night). The big advantage (for me at any rate, being a poor sleeper) is that they are caffeine-free - and certainly taste better than 'decaf' tea or coffee which I loathe!

In fact, whenever we have evening meal out at a restaurant, we usually ask for this after the meal - instead of the coffee which most other diners order. Unfortunately some restaurants don't really appreciate the health benefits of this and charge over-the-odds (it's only a cup of flavoured water, after all...)

So the answer, I'd say, is "yes".

[ThePinkOne]

I am on the autistic spectrum and noise-sensitive. I find the "music" in many shops and eateries deeply unpleasant and overwhelming of my cognitive processing; and why on earth is it soooooooooo loud?

That said, I have also noticed how many people seem unable to do anything without some inane warble-plus-beat noise accompanying them, and they also seem wholly unaware of how many others in the surrounding vicinity have to put up with their noise pollution.

I don't dislike music, but I struggle to cope with the constant barrage of noise in many places. Online shopping is truly a Godsend!

I enjoy listening to the sounds of nature.... Birdsong, rain falling, the wind in the trees, water in a stream, a buzzing bumbly bee.....

TPO

[Cyril Haearn]

Cycling is almost silent, +1
I like the sounds of trains, waves breaking on the beach, a trickling stream

What about the half-minute of music from the mobile ice-cream van? That might arouse happy childhood memories

Jingles on radio are another big minus, listeners are tortured many times an hour with the same annoying little melody, - 99

[661-Pete]

I like the sounds of trains, waves breaking on the beach, a trickling stream

Need to be selective, though, about the first of those. One guess as to which specimen I'd rather be hearing, in this snippet!

[Cyril Haearn]

I like the sounds of trains, waves breaking on the beach, a trickling stream

Need to be selective, though, about the first of those. One guess as to which specimen I'd rather be hearing, in this snippet!

Diesels, boooo
Actually I like diesels, am I not normal?
A departing HST makes a thrilling sound as the trailing power car passes developing its full XXX horespower

What I do hate is people driving to see such "iconic" things as the FS, and I do dislike the word "iconic"

[Cyril Haearn]

Watched the crazy video of a Colin making a bike with springs for the main tubes, +1
There was some music (not muzak), didn't upset me. Because it was Entertainment, not Information I guess

Still no positive thoughts about muzak. What do the con-sultants call it?

[ThePinkOne]

I like the sounds of trains, waves breaking on the beach, a trickling stream

Need to be selective, though, about the first of those. One guess as to which specimen I'd rather be hearing, in this snippet!

Diesels, boooo
Actually I like diesels, am I not normal?
A departing HST makes a thrilling sound as the trailing power car passes developing its full XXX horespower

What I do hate is people driving to see such "iconic" things as the FS, and I do dislike the word "iconic"

Depends on how you define "normal."

My day-job often takes me to a small independent (freight) train maintenance depot. Pretty much everyone in the workshop likes diesel locos and can recognise different classes from the sound.... Bear in mind they get load-banked for fault diagnosis/testing so effectively you hear them over the range of load. HST power cars occasionally visit the yard too......

You sound perfectly normal to me Cyril Haearn..... But maybe I'm not the best person to judge...?!

TPO

[bovlomov]

Still no positive thoughts about muzak.

While we think about that, here is balm for the ears: two hours of panpipe classics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4_NHGbYtJA

Hey Jude rendered in panpipe, I think you will agree, is far superior to the original. In the words of YouTube commenter Alain Mercier, Tout simplement sublime!

[Cyril Haearn]

Still no positive thoughts about muzak.

While we think about that, here is balm for the ears: two hours of panpipe classics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4_NHGbYtJA

Hey Jude rendered in panpipe, I think you will agree, is far superior to the original. In the words of YouTube commenter Alain Mercier, Tout simplement sublime!

I visited an old church, a CD of beetles music played on a church organ was being played. Found it very inappropriate. What exactly are the beetles, btw? Looked back several decades, found nothing

Another awful situation: music at breakfast in a YH or hotel, with no quiet refuge

[Cyril Haearn]

I love to hate buskers too

Some are good, not too loud, singing in Russian, or playing a squeezebox or bagpipes or classical violin, one hears them for a minute or two while walking by, +1!

Others cannae play, use amplification, howl like wounded animals. Must be torture for people working in the shops nearby. I ostentatiously block my ears as I hurry by

[thirdcrank]

... here is balm for the ears: two hours of panpipe classics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4_NHGbYtJA

Hey Jude rendered in panpipe, I think you will agree, is far superior to the original. In the words of YouTube commenter Alain Mercier, Tout simplement sublime!

The panpipes, as piped music, are piped music and it's piped music that some find unwelcome.

[Cyril Haearn]

Reminds me of mobbing at work

Three could be a vote, if 51% like muzak it is played
49% including me shop elsewhere if possible, but it might mean more travelling

But we who dislike it are surely in the minority, the stores play it for "good" reason$

[bovlomov]

The panpipes, as piped music, are piped music and it's piped music that some find unwelcome.

I should have been clearer. Pan pipes, piped or unpiped, are unacceptable.

And that brings me to Cyril Haearn's point about buskers. I prefer buskers to piped music. Even the terrible ones. But, increasingly, buskers are nothing of the sort, as they have been selected and licensed. It all feels rather corporate and bland. Landowners and burghers have decided that every cultural centre needs a certain type of live performer - and from Budapest to Bath they have chosen the same things: panpipers in ponchos, robots, floating yodas, living statues, steel drum players... it's all so depressingly predictable. Then there are the professional guitar balladeers, who come with amplification. This type is the preferred official performer of the London Underground committee. Yuk!

I'd prefer to take my chances with proper buskers, who might be a bloke warbling Streets of London to the accompaniment of a three stringed guitar, or who might be something much better.

[thirdcrank]

I rarely go into Leeds centre these days, but the majority of buskers there are using a sort of instrumental karaoke on high volume.

Live music in pubs and the like seems OK to me and as it's generally advertised you can avoid anything not to your taste. We had a family meal out yesterday (Crab and Lobster, Asenby) in a separate dining room. They have occasional live performers and part of the attraction is that they can play music to suit the audience. A child of 21 months spontaneously standing on a chair and dancing in time to I wanna be like you. Just the thing to raise the spirits of a grumpy git who avoids piped music.

PS The big attraction for me of the upstairs room there is that they can switch off the piped music.