You can't go anywhere these days

Good Harbor Beach, 2005 oil on board by Ann Black.

Every venue you drop into these days, from the local supermarket to the mall to the beach, is inundated with trash noise. It makes our head spin. What if you were to wake up to the sound of bird song outside your window? It can still happen here in Chelsea-by-the-Sea, but it's practically impossible these days in the public square what with the mindless electronic engine-pumping sounds that come with every sunrise, midday and sunset — not to mention every segment of every TV show — always some automaton's choice of background music that kills the soul. We're talking the sons and daughters of Musak, something that started with the best of intentions — don't they all? — in elevators way back when and now fills every interstice of the modrin scene. We've despised Musak from day one, of course. First time we realized our impotence in the face of relentlessly broadcast music was as a pre-teen at Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester — Yes, the same town where local losers girls just wanna have babies. In those days we imagined you could spend a day at the beach, get a little sun, body surf and listen to the soothing sounds of the ocean breaking on the sand. But no. Already then, perhaps 40 or more years ago, the rude intruders had their radios turned up loud, ruining everything for folks like us yearning to breathe free. You can't go anywhere these days.

Update: More rude intruders on parade at Dr. Sanity's Carnival of the Insanities.

Comments

[Barry]

I love the organic, natural noise of almost any space, from the birdcalls and babbling brooks of the rural countryside, to the crash of the waves at the beach, to the machinery, clash and chaos of a big city.

In fact, after 12+ years of living in New York City, a few blocks away from one of the city's biggest hospitals, an ambulance siren rocks me to sleep like a lullaby, and when I'm down in North Carolina, I have to have a radio on in the background to get to sleep. :-)

But I absolutely share your contempt for packaged audio in public places... and now, video, too. New York City recently hit a new low, installing television screens in taxicabs, spewing ads and happy-talk local news segments... thankfully, there's still an off button on the damned contraption.

[Donna B.]

I too have always hated musak. The ever-present music in retail stores drives me nuts. Perhaps it's there so we will be in a hurry to get away from and not consider our purchases carefully, comparing prices, ingredients, size, etc.

Being a musician, I always thought it was just my inability to "tune out" the music and my internal criticism of its value. It seemed like everybody else liked it.

I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone.

[Elisson]

Muzak, bad as it is, is fundamentally Background Noise, albeit subtly designed to elicit certain behaviors: Big Brother writ on a musical staff.

Far more annoying to me is the subsonic thud-thud-thud of someone driving by in a car with a 3000 watt sound system, playing a song the bass line of which is intended to loosen the teeth in their sockets.

[Gayle Miller]

Out on the streets of Washington, D.C. there is a spirit of isolationism exemplified by at least 90% of those walking around insulated within their cocoon of iPod- or MP3-ism. Why interact with your fellow humans when you can do long term damage to your hearing (if I can hear the head-banging sounds - then it's too doggone loud, kids)?!