Music on store intercom systems

[TheFugitive]

The thread down on the Radio board got me thinking about store music intercom systems (at one time known as Muzak to us older folks on here).  Having worked a dozen years in retail management week after week, with hours totaling anywhere from 45 to 80+, I listened to WAY too much of it in my time.

Some chains used the true Muzak system (instrumental-only "elevator music") while others chose a more contemporary mix of popular songs that you would hear on the radio.  Two things that I heard on "muzak" systems in stores over the years struck me as incredibly strange.

1) The Muzak instrumental version of Pink Floyd's The Wall.  I literally froze in my tracks and did not move for about a minute.  Could not believe that I was hearing this.  Or that it even existed.

2) The 1996 Shawn Colvin song Sunny Came Home.  It reels you in with that bluegrass riff at the beginning and soft, lilting vocals.  Had heard it many times, both in the store and on the radio, but never really paid attention to the lyrics.  Until one day when it stopped me dead in my tracks out on the floor as I actually listened and realized "My God, this song is about a totally insane woman who comes back home and sets the house on fire with the kids inside for revenge!"

Both really strange choices for in-store music programming.  My favorite is the soon to disappear 70's Jukebox that plays on the intercom at Bottom Dollar Foods.

What is the strangest thing you've ever heard on an in-store Muzak system?

[ynkeesfn82]

When we were building the Hobby Lobby I worked at they had someone's cell phone connected to the intercom and they were playing music from Pandora. A couple of the songs were a little risque by Hobby Lobby's standards - LOL. Such songs as "Pumped Up Kicks" by Foster the People and "Stay with Me" by Sam Smith.


And speaking of music lyrics - you have no idea how dirty some song lyrics are until you hear them being sung by a child. - Quick story.

Imperial Buffet is a Chinese Buffet I frequent in Plainville, Connecticut. Sometimes instead of the Chinese Instrumental Music they normally play they put on a mix of Dance Music including the popular Korean Song "Gangum Style" by Psy. One of the lines in the song goes "Hey Sexy Lady." One time when I was having lunch there was a little boy with his father a couple tables away from where I was sitting. He was singing along. It just sounds so wrong hearing a 6 year old boy singing "Hey sexy lady."

[TheFugitive]

Back in the 80's Genius of Love by the Tom-Tom Club was a hot record.
I had to take a Greyhound bus from Pittsburgh to Cleveland one day.
Someone had a child on the bus, likely younger than the one at your buffet.
He kept singing one line of that song...

James Browwwwwwn.......James Browwwwwwwn.....James Browwwwwwn........James Browwwwwwn.....

...over and over, all the way to Cleveland at 5:30 in the morning!

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

I was shopping at Meijer today, and the song, "Glory of Love" by former Chicago vocalist Peter Cetera comes on.

[AmesNewington]

I posted something on Mood Media, which took over Muzak on the Music board.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

I heard the song "Move Your Feet" by the Danish nu-disco group Junior Senior on the first week that I worked at Walgreens this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMPfWnJGNuo

[Ameskid]

As a former church mouse, it's always fun to go into Hobby Lobby and see which Christian muzak is playing over the intercom.  Some tracks are more well-disguised than others, but they all have the same origins.