# Have you ever stopped patronizing a business because of the music they play? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693 "2013-08-31T21:00:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/61 "2013-09-01T23:37:17Z")
IIIIIII’mmmm… gonna whine like a dog Gonna sit in a fog And tell evvvvvrrreeeeeone to fug’off… ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/62 "2013-09-01T23:52:51Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > IIIIIII’mmmm… gonna whine like a dog > Gonna sit in a fog > And tell evvvvvrrreeeeeone to fug’off… Set up a Kickstarter. I’m there. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/63 "2013-09-02T01:32:11Z")
One of the Asian stores in town has a tinny Tibetan chant box that plays some short (10-15 seconds), droning chant on an endless loop. Most of the items they carry are stocked at Wegmans or other Asian stores in town, so I’m now steering clear of the place. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/64 "2013-09-02T02:13:29Z")
The local Big Lots store seems to drag out every crappy late 70’s “soft rock” song I otherwise have blissfully forgotten. It kind of fits the general decline of that chain. ---
**Author:** ![ruh-roh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ruh-roh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruh-roh)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/65 "2013-09-02T03:01:51Z")
Any place that associates with the word Karaoke. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/66 "2013-09-02T05:01:51Z")
No. I like classical music, but almost any kind of music is okay as long as it isn’t too loud. One restaurant I went to every so often changed their music from soft rock to EXCERPTS of longer classical pieces. It was maddening! I did complain, but the manager seemed to think I was objecting to the classical music itself. In any case, the next time I went there, they were back to their soft rock. More recently, my bank STARTED playing some kind of current pop music. My complaint was that I was at the bank to transact BUSINESS and the music made it sound like a mall to me. But I had reason to go to another bank, and THEY were also playing music. Sigh. “Progress”. I call it noise pollution. And get off my lawn, you rotten kids! ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/67 "2013-09-02T07:31:22Z")
There’s a sushi place that tries to be “edgy”, both with their menu ([seen here](http://www.fusian.com/menu_choose.php)) and their music, generally some sort of ambient techno, played at high volumes that echo off their high ceiling. Sushi and loud techno are such a poor combination that I’ve given up going there. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/68 "2013-09-02T08:09:24Z")
Color me surprised that bookstores play music loud enough to discern lyrics. That seems counterintuitive. Don’t readers need quiet? I doubt I would leave a store based on their musical selection. I live in Texas, but I can’t say I hear a ton of, or excessive country in stores. If I do it’s MOR country like Brad Paisley or Faith Hill. Not that even hardcore country would put me off, to be honest. I wouldn’t eat somewhere with bad or excessively loud music. I like to eat in quiet, or have a conversation. I can’t imagine going to a place where I had to strain to hear my companion. I can tell you what irks me though. Top 40 generic female singers. They sound like American Idol contestants. I find this stuff so bland and boring, and I can’t wait for it to end. But I’m a fast shopper so hopefully I only have to endure it for a little while. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/69 "2013-09-02T13:19:18Z")
Wow. I just found this thread, but I’ve posted numerous times in other areas of the dope about my continuing problems with businesses and loud music. As to the OP, unless there are offensive lyrics I wouldn’t leave a business over the \*type \*of music. But I will over the volume. What’s bothering me is that all the little corporate/marketing wizkids seem to have read some book assuring them sales will increase as a function of volume (or something). And I am finding myself driven out of an increasing number of businesses. If I can’t comfortably talk to my wife or companions, or the sound level is uncomfortable, I will leave. Trouble is, I’m running out of places to go. Restaurants and theaters have mostly become unappealing to us. We talk of heading to a movie or eatery, but after thinking about it we nearly always decide that a meal at home and a DVD are simply more appealing than trying to hear over the awful noise. Saves us a LOT of money, but are businesses really aware of how much they’re losing? ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/70 "2013-09-02T13:35:15Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > There’s a gas station near where I work that has music blaring from the gas pumps 24/7. Country music interspersed with commercials. It can’t be muted. It’s pretty intrusive. > > I rarely stop there anymore. There are other stations that sell gas without inflicting loud music on me. > > [sub]If it’d been classic rock, I might have put up with it[/sub] This, except it \*is \*classic rock. I still avoid going there. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/71 "2013-09-02T13:57:12Z")
I used to have a favourite pub in London that played no music at all in the evenings (in order not to disturb the chess players) and only very soft 60’s pop at daytime. It was even listed in a guide to Muzak free London that I had. Then one day when I was in town I found to my horror that it was all rebuilt, no chessboards and with loud music and I left immediately. That was some ten years ago but a couple of weeks ago I went back to see if it was as bad as I remembered it and it wasn’t. It was even worse. Sic transit gloria mundi. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/72 "2013-09-03T15:29:40Z")
I can’t think of specific store names, but there are many clothing shops that either play really bad hip-hop and r&b or play any music so loudly that I can’t talk to the person next to me. Then I just turn around and leave. It’s an unpleasant experience and these are always in big malls where I have several less objectionable shops to choose from. Perhaps they do it on purpose to drive out the fuddy-duddies thus making their clothing more appealing to cool young things, but I never liked it even when I was a cool young thing (and I was). My teenage daughter isn’t that much of a fan either, and I’m the one buying the clothes for her anyway. If I leave, so does she. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/73 "2013-09-03T17:07:56Z")
I’ve never cared enough about the music played in a retail store to let it affect my shopping habits. But I know of stores that have actually TRIED to drive people away with the music they played! Seriously, when I moved to Austin in the mid-Eighties, Highland Mall was the top shopping hotspot. Over time, other, newer malls came along and took away much of their business. Increasingly, Highland Mall got a largely black and Mexican clientele, and the affluent white shoppers they used to get stopped coming. The store owners weren’t happy about that, and started doing things to discourage black and Mexican teens from hanging out there- INCLUDING playing saccharine, stereotypically “white” music! Apparently, the hope was that if they played Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand and Air Supply, minority kids would get irritated and stop hanging out at the Food Court. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693/74 "2013-09-03T20:20:38Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > p.s. That picture is the cover of the album it came from, and is a photograph of a mural in the (I think) L.A. area. IDK if it’s still there, but you can see it in the background in a scene in the classic kitsch movie “Surf Nazis Must Die”. Actually the cover of \*In the Court of the Crimson King \*was an original painting done specifically for the album by artist Barry Godber. It is an iconic image, and has been reproduced many times, presumably including the mural in L.A. that you mention. I once saw it made into a t-shirt for the Togo’s sandwich chain, with a word balloon reading something like “I told you, no peppers!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-stopped-patronizing-a-business-because-of-the-music-they-play/667693.md?page=3)