5.12.2010

Grocery store music

Whenever I hear a song in the grocery store that I think has artistic merit, I think about how disheartening it might be to hear one of your songs being played in a grocery store.
Background music in a grocery store seems like one of the lowest forms of artistic expression. Something deliberately not meant to have a strong impact on the listener, but rather to be as non-intrusive and easily digestible as possible.
I imagine the artist buying groceries, feeling at first a surge of excitement at the recognition of his own music over the speakers but then saddened to realize that this is what his or her music has come to.
Well, I was listening to an interview on Npr with some 'Creed' sounding musician who surprised me when he said that hearing his music in the grocery store is one of the best feelings in the world.

1 comment:

Vincent said...

Over here they often play songs which are chosen deliberately to have a strong impact on the listener - perhaps the best British pop songs of the last twenty-five years. That I find offensive and intrusive. Bring back the original style of Muzak if you must play something - the sort of bland calming stuff that they used to play in airports or when the plane is just about to land. You can ignore that.