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Muzak

At Hardee's, a fast-food restaurant which is similar to Carls Jr. after a corporate merger, they have some kind of AC with Hardee's commercials. It was what sounded to me like hot AC, or at least it was very uptempo, but with a lot of 80s songs like "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" and "Love Shack". Last week, it was more tolerable for some reason. A new version of "Hall and Oates' "Maneater" and Juice Newton's "Queen of Hearts".

In my grocery store, I did hear lyrics for one song I didn't know but now I've forgotten. It was a female voclaist. something about "wait for you" or "return to you".

The songs I did know were "Only Wanna Be With You" by Hootie and the Blowfish, "Don't Dream it's Over" (the original, I think), and "Mockingbird" by Carly Simon and James Taylor.
 
I was in a store the other day that played Marshall Crenshaw-Mary Anne on their muzak. This was an amazing muzak experience, it actually gave me the chills and made the hair on my arms stand up. It was the first time I heard it since 1982 when Ihad the album. I felt like I was travelling to another life time.

No radio song that's been played all along could give me that same sensation. That's another thing that amazed me, how did Muzak pick this song? IIRC it was never released as a single.

I also had the thought that of everyone in every business that had that muzak channel on I could be the only one familiar with it. Although a woman in the store apparently named Mary Anne started sining the song, telling her friend "hey this song is about me".

Finally the song sounded rather contempoary. It wouldn't shock anyone if they were told the song was new. No one in 1982 could have said that about any song recorded in 1952.
 
At the grocery Saturday I heard a song which could be mistaken for Earth, Wind & Fire's "That's the Way of the World" but actually has the words "It's over". Amazingly, this followed "Rubberband Man", leading me to believe they had switched to oldies. They hadn't. One other song with the words "Are you ready" made me think of Bonnie Raitt. I heard lyrics for a song that was definitely AC but forgot them.

Yesterday in Sears I heard a song I know was recorded by Sade but I couldn't hear lyrics. It has a very distinctive bass guitar part. I'm going to guess "Paradise" or possibly "Love Is Stronger Than Pride" based on looking at a list of their songs. Later I heard "1-2-3-4" by Feist which was a cute song in a commercial, though I've heard she doesn't just want to be thought of as cute.
 
"Cute" is a pretty severe stretch. She tends to be thought "annoying" more often than "cute"!
 
"Running on Empty" by Jackson Browne (with applause) and "I.G.Y." by Donald Fagen, a newer version of "Let's Stay Together" were played in my grocery store Saturday. I don't know what other songs were played, but these I recognized.

On the other hand, I was subjected to a female vocalist singing Seal's "Crazy" (though Seal's version is worse) and a newere version of "The Tide Is High". I wish Sears would go back to playing "everything". Unlike the Jack stations, they actually had big band jazz and smooth jazz from time to time.
 
"On the other hand, I was subjected to a female vocalist singing Seal's 'Crazy'".
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Alannis Morisette. Gag me with a spoon; I'd much rather hear Seal's version. Heard more than I could stand of her back in the 90s!

(F.Y.I., Sears uses Trusonic, *not* Muzak. Although by now they may be using "In-Store Broadcast Network", which might explain the erratic blend you described. Fred Meyer's have been using them since Kroger gobbled them up however long ago. Talk about gagging one with a spoon........)
 
The other day I went to Kroger (regional supermarket) and I can't believe some of the music they are playing now. The first song I heard was "Everybody Wants You" by Billy Squier. That was followed by a softer, more appropriate song. But then right after that was "Hot Legs" by Rod Stewart. I don't think either song is really appropriate for a major grocery chain.
 
RMarino said:
The other day I went to Kroger (regional supermarket) and I can't believe some of the music they are playing now. The first song I heard was "Everybody Wants You" by Billy Squier. That was followed by a softer, more appropriate song. But then right after that was "Hot Legs" by Rod Stewart. I don't think either song is really appropriate for a major grocery chain.
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That's crazy. I thought the mainstream AC I was hearing in Harris-Teeter was bad enough. But when I went there last week they had classical music playing. That is so nice.

In my usual grocery store this past week: "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" adn "Betcha By Golly Wow" (but I don't think it was The Stylistics), plus a Motown song that didn't seem like the original. The others were newer sounding and I didn't recognize them.
 
Darth_vader said:
"On the other hand, I was subjected to a female vocalist singing Seal's 'Crazy'".
Click to expand...

Alannis Morisette. Gag me with a spoon; I'd much rather hear Seal's version. Heard more than I could stand of her back in the 90s!

(F.Y.I., Sears uses Trusonic, *not* Muzak. Although by now they may be using "In-Store Broadcast Network", which might explain the erratic blend you described. Fred Meyer's have been using them since Kroger gobbled them up however long ago. Talk about gagging one with a spoon........)
Click to expand...
I had this idea based on some songs I had heard that they were using FM1, but maybe not.

The next store I was in had James Taylor. Much more pleasant.
 
More classic adds on FM1 recently:

"Love Train" 1973
"Midnight Train to Georgia" 1973
"Nobody Does it Better" 1977

and "Clocks" 2003
 
vchimpanzee said:
plus a Motown song that didn't seem like the original.
Click to expand...

Been hearing a strange (and terrible) version of "I Want You Back" lately. It is not the original by the Jackson 5.
 
I heard "Reminiscing" by Little River Band at the grocery store, along with "Standing Still" by Jewel. That second one probably still gets AC airplay. I would definitely say a Caribbean-sounding version of "I Got You, Babe" is appropriate even for today's AC radio. Then there was a song where a man sang that he was his own archenemy. I couldn't hear lyrics for the other songs, but I wouldn't have known them.
 
"Love Takes Time", the word "justify" repeated over and over by 'NSync or a group that sounds like them, and "Just Haven't Met You Yet" were played in my grocery store.
 
I keep misplacing the lists of songs I hear at my grocery store. Last week, though, i didn't recognize anything.

Although it is not about AC, I had to get a new watchband yesterday. I have not verified that the store uses Muzak, but adfter that experience I'd like to find a new place to get a watchband. I can remember when this store had instrumental music. I may be right that they did have Muzak at that time, but I'm not sure. The past several times I have gotten a watchband replaced, there was some curious mix of easy listening and AC. I don't know how to describe the mess I heard yesterday.

The first song was loud rock. It reminded me of U2, but that's not necessarily who it was. That was followed by "Hold the Line' by Toto, which should have been my cue to leave. The next song was "Jimmy Mack" (apparently by Martha and the Vandellas). The song after that fit the style of the previous song. Just before I left, I heard "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel. So much for the theory it was 60s and 70s music.

Anyway, that's completely out of place in a dignified jewelry store.
 
"'Betcha By Golly Wow' (but I don't think it was The Stylistics.)"
Click to expand...

Probably Aaron Neville. They run his version all the time.

"Been hearing a strange (and terrible) version of 'I Want You Back' lately. It is not the original by the Jackson 5."
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I have no idea who this is. It's some teenybopper girl whose shrill, grating voice and insipid, overly-melismatic style I really hope change soon. Much as I hate the things, she really sounds like she could use a few cigarettes every now and again!

"I would definitely say a Caribbean-sounding version of 'I Got You, Babe' is appropriate even for today's AC radio."
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I'm fairly sure that's Big Mountain with that lead-singer girl from the Pretenders (can't remember her nameright off the top of my head, but she was the one who once commented on how "Muzak filled the air from Seneca to Cuyahoga Falls".) Don't quote me on that, though.

"More classic adds on FM1 recently: 'Love Train' 1973, 'Midnight Train to Georgia' 1973, 'Nobody Does it Better' 1977 and 'Clocks' 2003."
Click to expand...

Again, all of which have been in regular rotation on FM1 for years. Also, I would hardly consider anything from 2003 to be remotely "classic" yet. Might want to give it another 11 years! ;o)
 
"I Got You Babe" as covered by UB40 and Chrissy Hynde of the Pretenders.
 
Yup, that's who it was; Chrissy Hynde. Well, at least I got half of it right. ;o)

Muzak run that particular version at least once a week on FM1.

@vchimp--

Your "curious mix" at the jewellers sounds like it could have been either Jukebox Gold on Muzak, or Classic Hit Blend on DMX (if they even still have that programme any more.) The latter sounds kind of like a very heavily oldies-driven and upbeat version of FM1, like a cross between it and JG.
 
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