# The day the elevator music died.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-elevator-music-died/539464
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 14, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-elevator-music-died/539464 "2010-05-14T19:48:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-elevator-music-died/539464/1 "2010-05-14T19:48:20Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-elevator-music-died/539464/2 "2010-05-14T21:13:11Z")
Interesting question.
I can’t recall ever hearing music in an elevator in my life (born 63).
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2010, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-elevator-music-died/539464/3 "2010-05-14T21:16:53Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2010, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-elevator-music-died/539464/4 "2010-05-14T21:28:08Z")
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).
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### Author:  [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-elevator-music-died/539464/5 "2010-05-14T21:36:51Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2010, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-elevator-music-died/539464/6 "2010-05-14T21:38:33Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-elevator-music-died/539464/7 "2010-05-14T21:47:13Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-day-the-elevator-music-died/539464/8 "2010-05-14T23:33:14Z")
The building I’m currently working in plays classic rock in the elevators.
A different annoying-as-hell earworm each and every morning.