I’m 26 years old and I’ve never heard elevator music being played in an elevator. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever heard any music being played in an elevator. So, on the assumption that all fossilized usages were live at one point, when did elevators stop playing music?
Interesting question.
I can’t recall ever hearing music in an elevator in my life (born 63).
I was just thinking about this the other day. I was born in the same year as Bosda and I’m not sure if I’ve ever actually heard music in an elevator either. You still see it all the time in movies/tv shows as if it’s a normal thing.
I heard it back in the 1970s in major department stores like Macy’s. “Classic Muzak” (current Muzak is any of dozens of different channels).
According to Joseph Lanza, author of Elevator Music, “background music companies never considered elevators their biggest market. Their primary customers were places of work and recreation that used music as a mood boost.”
So perhaps it makes more sense to think of the term as “mood elevator” music.
The casino’s around here all had elevator music, more like a radio station, it was interladen with ads for the casino / hotel / buffet etc.
In the late 80s a local radio station had a contest called Elevator from Hell where they played Muzak versions of rock songs and you had to guess the song, it was hard.
The building I’m currently working in plays classic rock in the elevators.
A different annoying-as-hell earworm each and every morning.