Actual Classic MUZAK sighted in the wild! I thought it was extinct in the US.

I was on hold with a big tech company. First song was “La Vie En Rose,” all lush strings but not too overtly lush, like Mantovani or 1001 Strings (anyway, I would’ve recognized them), but just vaguely pleasant. Next up was something familiar but which I couldn’t pin down, almost as if the composer/arranger had based it on a song he couldn’t get the rights for. It also was lush but not too lush. Third song was “Islands in the Stream,” with an arrangement that caused it to go in one ear and out the other. Or would have, were I not a fan of Ambient Music. With that I was sure this was MUZAK, and apparently their Easy Instrumentals program. I thought they had given up selling that in the US because it’s only still popular in Japan. But like I said, this was a big tech company so I shouldn’t be surprised they went with the most ironic choice.

I realize my tastes are often on the wrong side of history here, but I just love ambient music, from Satie’s musique d’ameublement to elevator music to space music. It keeps part of my brain occupied so it doesn’t listen to the voices in my head.

What is your thinking of music you are supposed to ignore?

I don’t mind it. If it’s classical I’ll probably enjoy it as a background to whatever I’m going to do next.

Our local clinic has been playing the same song when they put you on hold over the telephone for about thirty years. I can barely tolerate it.

In fact I don’t mind listening to other people’s music if they don’t play it too loud and have reasonably good taste - meaning my taste, of course. It’s eclectic so I’m easy that way. I kinda miss that since people have started using earbuds.

Our society had a bump when we all hated Rap and thumping bass coming out of car trunks, but now our communal musics are “Country” and “R&B,” so insipid you can’t tell them apart. All someone needs to do to bring about a new Golden Age of Easy Listening is slow them down a bit. And turn down the volume so nobody can really hear it. And maybe remove the vocals, since the singers all sound alike. And play them in fifteen minute blocks, the tempo gradually increasing as the block goes on, followed by a fifteen-minute block of silence. THEN we’d see some productivity gains!