# WTF moments in Muzak **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2010, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673 "2010-03-08T00:37:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/21 "2010-03-09T21:47:47Z")
I was in the grocery store during a Christmas season a year or two ago, and realized that the Muzak was “Christmas is All Around,” the Christmas themed rip-off of “Love is All Around”–both of them hits of an fictional washed-up rocker in _Love, Actually_. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/22 "2010-03-09T22:05:11Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > I was in the grocery store during a Christmas season a year or two ago, and realized that the Muzak was “Christmas is All Around,” the Christmas themed rip-off of “Love is All Around”–both of them hits of an fictional washed-up rocker in _Love, Actually_. Oh man, thanks a lot! Earworms for hours now 😛 Can’t wait to hear the Muzak version of Spinal Tap’s ‘Break Like the Wind’ 😛 ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/23 "2010-03-10T01:06:39Z")
One of my friends claimed to have heard a Muzak version of Jethro Tull’s _Aqualung._ I’ve spent nearly 30 years wondering what that must be like. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/24 "2010-03-10T01:08:31Z")
Not quite the same but… A college friend arranged ‘Crazy Train’ on a 6-string accoustic, having never heard the original. \ It was not bad, but funny as hell! ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/25 "2010-03-10T01:20:01Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > I was in the grocery store during a Christmas season a year or two ago, and realized that the Muzak was “Christmas is All Around,” the Christmas themed rip-off of “Love is All Around”–both of them hits of an fictional washed-up rocker in _Love, Actually_. Hold on - “Love is All Around” wasn’t fictional - it was an actual song by The Troggs, of “Wild Thing” fame. Unless he was supposed to be in The Troggs - didn’t see the movie. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/26 "2010-03-10T01:29:07Z")
I don’t think I’ve heard muzak in the grocery store lately. The other day I heard “Rock Steady” by Whispers and had to fight the urge to dance in front of the imported beer shelf. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/27 "2010-03-10T01:37:26Z")
> [@Reno\_Nevada](#): > > I was in the grocery store during a Christmas season a year or two ago, and realized that the Muzak was “Christmas is All Around,” the Christmas themed rip-off of “Love is All Around”–both of them hits of an fictional washed-up rocker in _Love, Actually_. It was a real hit for the Troggs in 1967 and for Wet Wet Wet in 1994 and covered several other times, including by R.E.M., before it was used in _Love, Actually_, in 2003. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/28 "2010-03-10T03:05:32Z")
It’s not exactly Muzak, but … there’s a Chinese group called “Twelve Girls Band” (there are, charmingly, thirteen of them). There’s really nothing quite like hearing _Nessun Dorma_ played on traditional Chinese instruments. Er, with a rock backing. Strange but … interesting. (To say nothing of other traditional Chinese staples like _My Heart Will Go On_. And more. I laughed so much after I heard _Nessun Dorma_ that I bought the album.) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/29 "2010-03-10T04:56:26Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Walked into the supermarket this afternoon to be greeted with a string-drenched rendition of … “Amazing Grace.” :eek: I had the negative (contra-positive?) experience. Realized that the Muzak string-schmaltz that was playing was John Lennon’s “Imagine”. Hmm. An impassioned plea for atheism… wafting through the Lutheran Old Fogies Home. ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/30 "2010-03-10T05:43:31Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Heck, I walked into Walgreens the other day and I heard the original [Telstar](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ybCjf6ras)! I was floored! I mentioned it to the HS girl clerk and she said earlier they played _Purple People Eater_. I work at Walgreens and I hear “Telstar” about twice a day. Gave me a jolt to hear it at the end of an episode of “Mad Men.” ---
**Author:** ![jormundgondir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@jormundgondir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jormundgondir)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/31 "2010-03-10T05:49:19Z")
I heard a bright and bouncy muzak rendition of “Timothy Leary’s Dead” from the Moody Blue’s “In Search of the Lost Chord” in an SF grocery store about 14 years ago… it struck me as especially odd because it was right after he actually died, too. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/32 "2010-03-10T05:52:10Z")
> [@MacSpon](#): > > It’s not exactly Muzak, but … there’s a Chinese group called “Twelve Girls Band” (there are, charmingly, thirteen of them). There’s really nothing quite like hearing _Nessun Dorma_ played on traditional Chinese instruments. Er, with a rock backing. Strange but … interesting. > > (To say nothing of other traditional Chinese staples like _My Heart Will Go On_. And more. I laughed so much after I heard _Nessun Dorma_ that I bought the album.) Or El Cóndor Pasa… I’m going through the whole smiley range right now listening to it! ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/4af34b/32.png) [@Umbriel2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel2)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/33 "2010-03-10T07:30:40Z")
I was eating lunch in a Miami hotel restaurant about 20 years ago, and barely noticed a strolling string combo in full Mariachi garb, performing among the tables. It only gradually dawned on me that they were playing ABBA’s “Fernando”. “Well, at least it’s Latin themed, sort of…” I thought. Then they started in with “The Winner Takes It All”… ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/34 "2010-03-13T13:51:37Z")
There’s a Hobby Lobby near me. Hobby Lobby is a craft store, but they are also the type of place which tells you on the door to the store that they are closed on Sunday so the employees may attend church. Yesterday, I heard a song whose title I’m not sure of on what I think was a banjo–Nice traditional Christian Hymn, played slowly on a banjo. It’s not the first time I’ve been there and suddenly recognized a tune and had that moment of “What? Muzak isn’t (usually) overtly Christian. Oh, yeah, Hobby Lobby’s Muzak often is.” ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/35 "2010-03-13T16:17:42Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > In an elavator one day and it suddenly dawns on me - the music is a slow, soft _Jumping Jack Flash._ I’ve heard that in the grocery store. I’ve had a couple of WTF Muzak moments lately. In the Tuesday Morning store, I heard a sweet country girl singing Warren Zevon’s Jeannie Needs A Shooter (written with Bruce Springsteen). The lyrics were changed to accommodate her gender. It was just so unexpected. In the grocery store last Sunday morning, among the well-dress fresh from church shoppers, I was walking down the paper goods aisle and who should come on but Tower of Power singing What Is Hip. Original song by original artist, and a favorite of mine, but I had to chuckle as I sang along to: _You became a part of a new breed. Been smokin’ only the best weed._ ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/36 "2010-03-13T18:47:33Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I had the negative (contra-positive?) experience. Realized that the Muzak string-schmaltz that was playing was John Lennon’s “Imagine”. Hmm. An impassioned plea for atheism… wafting through the Lutheran Old Fogies Home. When I went to Peru last yea, literally EVERY restaurant I ate in played a[pan flute version of Imagine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzEe0fo1wyc). It was so funny to me, that I bought the CD off of some little street vendor. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/37 "2010-03-13T19:07:16Z")
My then-wife and I used to frequent a little Italian restaurant in Winston-Salem when we lived there and I said time and again it was the kind of place that made me feel like I was hearing the _Godfather_ theme every time I went in there. As we were getting ready to move to Charlotte, we decided to go there one last time. Guess what played. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2010, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/38 "2010-03-13T19:19:49Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I’ve heard Johnny Mathis’s one-man version of the Hallelujah Chorus. I never, ever want to hear it again. The [version I heard](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blMJ-fWM-ds) when I looked this up on YouTube has him just singing the tenor part most of the time while a choir behind him sings the real thing. WTF is right. I mean, at least sing the melody line. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/39 "2010-03-15T00:11:46Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Heck, I walked into Walgreens the other day and I heard the original [Telstar](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2ybCjf6ras)! I was floored! I mentioned it to the HS girl clerk and she said earlier they played _Purple People Eater_. I’d never heard that tune before, and I can’t say I thought much of it. But the video was **AWESOME**!🆒 ---
**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:** [March 15, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673/40 "2010-03-15T01:14:51Z")
I knew you’d be pleased. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-moments-in-muzak/531673.md?page=3)