# Unusual songs you hear in stores **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691 "2016-06-07T00:22:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/21 "2016-06-10T02:01:49Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > When I was in college, I worked as a hotel banquet server, and as we were setting up, I joked to a co-worker, “Could you imagine putting ‘Muzak performer’ down as your occupation on your tax return?” She replied that the people who do that are usually moonlighting symphony orchestra performers, and if they are in the union, they can make a LOT of money doing that; this was in the early 1990s, and she said that union musicians made about $50 an hour. :eek: If you think that’s bizarre, check out the [link between Muzak and the birth of grunge.](https://books.google.com/books?id=tmnYK4rTBA4C&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=mudhoney+muzak&source=bl&ots=zGGdYnlg0N&sig=qF8Vb6ytuUAAwObYKG2j19Fi68E&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8q_2ZrpzNAhVG3GMKHUpXCIcQ6AEITTAJ#v=onepage&q=mudhoney%20muzak&f=false) ---
**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:** [June 10, 2016, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/22 "2016-06-10T02:16:13Z")
I was amazed several years ago to hear “Sylvia” by '70s prog-rockers Focus playing over the sound system at the local Walgreens. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/23 "2016-06-10T03:07:42Z")
More recently, I was at a nearby resale store one weekend afternoon, and I heard, in succession, Boston’s “More Than a Feeling”, Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up”, and “Freewill” by Rush. 🆒 I would have stuck around longer but I needed to be somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/24 "2016-06-10T03:13:49Z")
We go to Ruby Tuesday’s once or twice a year, and I always find myself humming the Stones’ song when we do. Three or four months ago we were there, and while waiting for our meal it actually played overhead. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/25 "2016-06-10T03:53:42Z")
Wal-Mart played a slow, lovesong-paced version of Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out”. I also once caught a similar version of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’”. Both were gross! ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/26 "2016-06-10T05:07:22Z")
Some Ralphs grocery stores have Joy Division and the Replacements on the loop. New Order too. ---
**Author:** ![TheInimitableMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TheInimitableMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheInimitableMaven)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/27 "2016-06-10T06:15:05Z")
My little old Bluefield, VA/WV mall has actually had these songs (THE REAL ONES(!!), NOT Muzak) piped in once during different visits: “Sheila Take A Bow” by The Smiths, “Buffalo Soldier” by Bob Marley and The Wailers, “Ghost Town” by The Specials (during Halloween), and, saving the best/most awesome one for last, “I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)” by Genesis. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/28 "2016-06-10T06:26:27Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > Some Ralphs grocery stores have Joy Division and the Replacements on the loop. New Order too. That would make grocery shopping more enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![svd678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@svd678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/svd678)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/29 "2016-06-10T17:14:37Z")
Since stores never play any songs I’ve ever heard of, I make considerable effort not to hear the “music.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/30 "2016-06-10T19:36:32Z")
I was waiting for my wife in a shopping mall vestibule and noticed that the speakers were playing _Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?_ by Arctic Monkeys which seemed like an odd choice. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/31 "2016-06-10T19:44:49Z")
> [@OffByOne](#): > > Once heard a Muzak version of “Heart of Glass”, in an elevator, of course. Try the same scenario, only it’s The Beatles “Revolution”. It is to cry. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/32 "2016-06-10T21:48:04Z")
We heard “One Toke Over The Line” and KISS’ “Heaven’s On Fire” on that restaurant’s Muzak too. :eek: How about OTOTL on the “Lawrence Welk Show”? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/33 "2016-06-10T22:08:19Z")
I just now got back from Kroger, where I heard TMBG’s version of “Istanbul (not Constantinople).” Yeah, not that obscure, but a little on the quirky side. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/34 "2016-06-11T23:27:01Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I just now got back from Kroger, where I heard TMBG’s version of “Istanbul (not Constantinople).” Yeah, not that obscure, but a little on the quirky side. Back when that song was in moderate rotation on MTV, my mother heard it and remembered the original, from 1954. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/35 "2016-06-11T23:29:48Z")
Here’s another Overhead Music Tale from the grocery store. Yet another morning, an elderly customer was picking up her meds and, as she looked upwards, asked me, “What kind of music IS this, anyway?” I replied, “Oh, this song was popular around the time I graduated from high school, and I’ve seen this band in concert 4 times.” The song was “Tom Sawyer” by Rush, which was bubbling under (but never quite made) the Top 40 when I graduated in 1981. 😃 ---
**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:** [June 12, 2016, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/36 "2016-06-12T05:35:28Z")
A few years ago I was in my local Walgreens and the muzak was the original [Telstar](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryrEPzsx1gQ)! The clerk (a much younger woman) said that earlier _Purple People Eater_ had played. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/37 "2016-06-12T11:55:39Z")
Many years ago I was sitting at a Dunkin’ Donuts, getting ready to go in to my crap temp job. (Hey, any job is better than no job–and “temp” means it won’t go on forever.) Soundtrack: A Muzak rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat.” ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/38 "2016-06-12T12:24:46Z")
I don’t pay much attention to music in stores, unless it’s something I know and really like. I was in a supermarket not long ago when I heard Bruce Springsteen’s _Working on a Dream_, by the Boss himself, not a Muzak version. Many years ago while shopping, I remember a Muzak version of Supertramp’s _Breakfast in America_. ---
**Author:** ![Sodalite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@Sodalite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sodalite)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/39 "2016-06-12T14:38:39Z")
Standing in line at the pharmacy in Bi-Lo. I heard the Psychedelic Furs, “The Ghost in You” playing. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691/40 "2016-06-12T15:11:38Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Back when that song was in moderate rotation on MTV, my mother heard it and remembered the original, from 1954. > > 🆒 Oddly enough, I was thinking of starting a thread like this. Yesterday morning, on my way home from work, I stopped in a truck stop by my employer to fill up the gas tank. I went in to grab a Mountain Dew and to pay for the gas when I heard a rather obscure song by one of my favorite bands. It’s no secret on these boards that I’m a Counting Crows fan, but I didn’t know that [“Einstein on the Beach (for an Eggman)”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsW1rdT-K2w) was known to anyone except me and three other people. I’m sure that not even half of the band knew the song. Your comment reminds me of something. When my little brother was a teenager, my mother was driving him somewhere, and he switched the radio to the local rock station. The opening notes of Ozzy Osbourne’s [“Perry Mason”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j6PCDmWOjE) came through the speakers. When the first notes started, my mother recognized the tune as the theme song to the [show.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT4wkkkaFTc) "She remarked “that’s Perry Mason.” My little brother, who wasn’t aware of the theme song, thought for a few seconds that my mom was cooler than he’d assumed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unusual-songs-you-hear-in-stores/756691.md?page=3)