|
[ Home Page | Message Boards | News | Archive | Ask Cecil | Books | Buy Stuff | FAQs, etc. ]
22-Jan-1982
Dear Cecil:
I would like to get a little info about what's involved in making the "music"
that's sold by Muzak, which is impossible to avoid if you go into any McDonald's,
elevator, etc. It's all around us, but so mysterious. I'm told that it's made in Japan, by
heavily sedated Oriental musicians. --Bob F., Los Angeles
Dear Bob:
Muzak is recorded by studio musicians, so the smart aleck in us is inclined to agree that
a lot of it is produced under the influence of drugs. (Although from what one hears about
them, the Muzak musicians actually are a pretty clean living bunch.) At one time the
company claimed it used recording facilities "all over the world," so we might
also wish to conjecture that some of it was made in Japan--although, again, the reality is
that one of the main overseas suppliers was the Brno Radio Orchestra of Czechoslovakia.
Today, however, much of the music is recorded in a studio in Seattle. The people who make
Muzak are the same type of have-guitar-will-travel instrumentalists who do commercial and
pop-record sessions. They're currently cranking it out at a clip of roughly 1,000 new
tunes per year, and the company maintains a library of some 5,000 recordings.
In case you haven't been listening closely--and where Muzak is concerned, who does?--Muzak
isn't as Muzak-y as it used to be. By the late 70s the company had become synonymous with
pap and competitors started muscling in on its once exclusive franchise. So the company
ditched the 101-Strings-do-Perry-Como and revamped its approach. It now offers 16
thematically-organized channels, 15 of which offer original artist recordings--you may not
even realize they're being brought to you by Muzak. The 16th channel, the Environmental
Channel, is closest to the Muzak of old, with familiar tunes re-recorded to lose the
vocals and any excessively edgy instrumentals. The music has a more contemporary feel,
with tunes by artists ranging from Steely Dan and Bonnie Raitt to Cowboy Junkies.
But some things haven't changed. The music is still programmed, with the aid of a
computer, to counteract the vicissitudes of the typical worker's daily routine--an idea
that dates back to the 1940s. According to Muzak theory, the average Joe's spirits slacken
around 10:30 a.m., pick up in midday, and decline again around 3:00. Accordingly, Muzak
gets pretty bouncy in mid-morning and mid-afternoon, and downright perky around midnight
for the bleary-eyed boys on the graveyard shift. It is programmed in blocks of 15 minutes,
with peak excitement (a loosely applied term) coming at the end of each segment. You say
you never noticed this? You're not supposed to. Muzak maestros are masters of subtle
manipulation--which has some people worried. Old-fashioned Muzak was easy to hate because
it was so pathetic. The new Muzak ... well, some of it ain't bad. A lot of it, in fact,
sounds like contemporary radio (albeit minus the vocals, commercials, and annoying DJs).
But that means contemporary radio sounds a lot more like Muzak, too.
--CECIL ADAMS
The Straight Dope / Questions or
comments for Cecil Adams to: cecil@chicagoreader.com
Comments regarding this website to: webmaster@straightdope.com
Copyright © 1996-2004 Chicago Reader, Inc. All rights reserved.
No material contained in this site may be republished or reposted without express written
permission.
The Straight Dope is a registered trademark of Chicago Reader, Inc.