Does anyone besides me think AC today is a joke?

[frankberry]

Good point, tall_guy1!

If vchimpanzee doesn't like the music which is being played on the in-store music system, a personal MP3 player/earbud combo might be in order.

 

[vchimpanzee]

But I don't want to go to this trouble. Can you imagine how I would react to being told this if I were to actually complain to them?

In the case of a drug store, they depend heavily on older people buying prescriptions. I really don't know how the people in that store when I was were able to tolerate it. If they all felt how I do, this store would be in trouble.

 

[K.M. Richards]

But I don't want to go to this trouble.

Then you just forfeited your right to continue complaining about it. Thread over.

 

[boombox4]

As has been posted before ... When I'm in a business, I don't even notice what's being played on their "background" music system.

I often do, actually. I hear a lot of pop at the local Safeway -- and some alt-rock pop -- that catches my ear. More than once I've wished the track was back-announced.

It is invariably an internet or satellite based music service at the local businesses. One guy told me they can change channels, but usually stick with the pop channel. The one at the local Safeway is more alt-rock-pop oriented than pure pop.

The local Walgreens plays an AC / Classic Hits format, probably also internet or satellite... Some of the tracks I hear don't fit any AC recurrents or Classic Hits formats I remember when I used to edit tracks to Mp3 for the company I worked for. They add a lot of tracks that weren't big hits on some of these services.

 

[JeffM]

If they all felt how I do, this store would be in trouble.

Must really suck to be you...

 

[CTListener]

I often do, actually. I hear a lot of pop at the local Safeway -- and some alt-rock pop -- that catches my ear. More than once I've wished the track was back-announced.

It is invariably an internet or satellite based music service at the local businesses. One guy told me they can change channels, but usually stick with the pop channel. The one at the local Safeway is more alt-rock-pop oriented than pure pop.

The local Walgreens plays an AC / Classic Hits format, probably also internet or satellite... Some of the tracks I hear don't fit any AC recurrents or Classic Hits formats I remember when I used to edit tracks to Mp3 for the company I worked for. They add a lot of tracks that weren't big hits on some of these services.

I was waiting to pick up a prescription at CVS yesterday and was surprised to hear Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds' "Don't Pull Your Love." That song is about 45 years old. Most of the music I usually hear there is late '80s to contemporary, so maybe they've switched feeds. Whatever the case, the music is relentlessly uptempo. A half-dozen years ago, I'd be hearing "Colors of the Wind," "I Go Crazy," "You're Still the One" (the Shania Twain song). No more. Tempo, tempo, tempo ... even when some songs are from a time during which younger listeners didn't mind a slow song every once in a while.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Then you just forfeited your right to continue complaining about it. Thread over.

Thread not over. It's not mine, and others have complained too. And I can complain if I want.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Getting back to the drug store where I was, I really should remember to ask them where they got that music. The exact mix might make an interesting discussion. I just know it wasn't background. It was very noticeable, unlike the grocery store across the street which is borderline Hot AC but has the music at a respectable volume.

 

[frankberry]

If you have a problem with the background music which is being played at a business, perhaps you should complain to them rather than to post your complaint on a website.
HINT: "And I can complain if I want" is something that a six year old might say.

 

[vchimpanzee]

If you have a problem with the background music which is being played at a business, perhaps you should complain to them rather than to post your complaint on a website.
HINT: "And I can complain if I want" is something that a six year old might say.

Right. But we all come here to comment on what we do or don't like.

A better way to word it might be, "If I have a valid concern that fits the topic and it adds to the discussion, you are not the one to decide whether I can contribute or not."

 

[frankberry]

Complain away. Just avoid the circular arguments. Repeating the same thing over-and-over-and-over .......... It gets you nowhere.
State your case and wait for others to respond.

 

[vchimpanzee]

My point about the drugstore was simply that the music changed so drastically. I should ask them about the music, but I had no desire to stay that day when that particular song was so loud, and I was late for the dentist anyway. A more detailed mix of music would mean a more substantial discussion, if there could be one.

 

[CTListener]

My point about the drugstore was simply that the music changed so drastically. I should ask them about the music, but I had no desire to stay that day when that particular song was so loud, and I was late for the dentist anyway. A more detailed mix of music would mean a more substantial discussion, if there could be one.

Most -- in fact, nearly all -- people who visit a place of business for the purpose of doing business don't flee the premises because the background music wasn't the right tempo or style for their idiosyncratic tastes. If I'm at a supermarket or a doctor's office, I'm staying until I've bought and paid for all the groceries I need or until the doctor has seen me and I've scheduled my next appointment, if necessary. Not one moment sooner. And not one moment later, even if I love every song being played at that store or office. It just isn't a huge part of most people's lives, vchimp, really!

 

[vchimpanzee]

I don't really know how to explain this to others' satisfaction, and I have said this before but you wouldn't know where to find it, but before my usual grocery store turned the music down to a respectable level, I was complaining to either the store manager or to the chain's 800 number. One store manager who was unresponsive to my needs was gone soon after that. I say this because it is a bigger problem for me than for others, and it's not something I seem to be able to make clear to people. At my usual store now, the music is much worse but the volume level is respectable and I can't even hear lyrics a lot of the time.

 

[CTListener]

I don't really know how to explain this to others' satisfaction, and I have said this before but you wouldn't know where to find it, but before my usual grocery store turned the music down to a respectable level, I was complaining to either the store manager or to the chain's 800 number. One store manager who was unresponsive to my needs was gone soon after that. I say this because it is a bigger problem for me than for others, and it's not something I seem to be able to make clear to people. At my usual store now, the music is much worse but the volume level is respectable and I can't even hear lyrics a lot of the time.

You got someone fired because the store's background music was too loud/too uptempo/too rock/too full of impolite words for your sensitive ears? That's nothing to be proud of.

 

[tall_guy1]

If you have a problem with the background music which is being played at a business, perhaps you should complain to them rather than to post your complaint on a website.
HINT: "And I can complain if I want" is something that a seventy-six year old might say.

Fixed.

 

[vchimpanzee]

You got someone fired because the store's background music was too loud/too uptempo/too rock/too full of impolite words for your sensitive ears? That's nothing to be proud of.

I'm sure they found him another store. The issue was he didn't care about keeping a customer happy. I said if he didn't care, then I'd go to the competitor. He said, "Go to the competitor!" It's not an exact quote since I don't want to name names here. I'm sure that attitude made his superiors quite happy, but it took a few weeks for anything to change. What had to change was that advertisers on the store's sound system had to give in on their ads being heard (at least one person answering the chain's 800 number said turning it down while I was in the store was certainly an option, but this one manager couldn't be bothered). But this was the excuse I was given. Now, if there are ads, I can't hear them, but they're just for the store now. The reality is I wasn't going to go 10 miles when I could go one mile if the problem were fixed.

Let me clarify this was all about SOFT AC, back in the day when AC was soft, not the topic of this thread.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Some of you may find it interesting that an iHeart AC that is very popular at Christmas (based on past years' 12+ ratings) is encouraging listeners to stick around for "the best mix" when Christmas is over. Out of the samples they played, only "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum comes close to appealing to me. It's definitely the new kind of AC. It just seems very strange people will suddently stop liking all this soft music (though more AC-sounding Christmas tunes are included, and I change the station for those).

For a song that was never a hit single, Madonna's "Into the Groove" has somehow become one of the most popular 80s hits on AC. Okay, that one's not SO bad ... see my Men Without Hats comment elsewhere.

 

[JeffM]

A few words of wisdom for vchimp, from someone his own age (more or less?)...

 

[semoochie]

Some of you may find it interesting that an iHeart AC that is very popular at Christmas (based on past years' 12+ ratings) is encouraging listeners to stick around for "the best mix" when Christmas is over. Out of the samples they played, only "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum comes close to appealing to me. It's definitely the new kind of AC. It just seems very strange people will suddently stop liking all this soft music (though more AC-sounding Christmas tunes are included, and I change the station for those).

For a song that was never a hit single, Madonna's "Into the Groove" has somehow become one of the most popular 80s hits on AC. Okay, that one's not SO bad ... see my Men Without Hats comment elsewhere.

It's my understanding that "Into the Groove" was a 12 inch single and not eligible for the Hot 100. I believe they added that qualification later however.