I can't get away from the screaming. Everywhere I go, it's the same soundtrack: "soul" music. Howling voices and blaring horns, from decades gone by. LET ME TAKE YOU HIIIIIIIIIGHER! YOW! UH! It's in the big chain stores like Staples and Old Navy. It's in the mall. It's in the supermarket. PAAAAAAARTY! HEAR ME NOW! It's at the hairdresser's. It's in fancy gourmet Whole Foods. "Soul Hits" me everywhere I go. C'MON C'MON GIT ON UP NOW!!! YOOOOW! It's in the upscale rotisserie chicken restaurant. I asked the restaurant management to change it, and they said they couldn't, the soundtrack was piped in directly from corporate headquarters. GIMME GIMME GIMME THAT THANG Jeez, it's even in my beloved Starbucks sometimes. "Soul Hits." The same songs, in so many different places. There must be some conspiracy of marketing executives somewhere, which has decided that for my area, "soul" music is what will energize the customers and make them buy more. I have actually walked out of places without buying anything, because they play this soundtrack, but I don't count. I don't count as a radio listener, either. I'm a regular contributor to my local public radio station which plays classical music, and there are plenty more like me who are willing to give their hard-earned cash to keep classical music on the air. But we don't give enough. The new management has decided that in order to bring in more contributions they must drop the classical music and go to an all-news, all-talk format. I just don't count, and neither does anyone else in my area who likes non-popular music. (That includes fans of not only classical, but folk, jazz, blues, indie rock, world, experimental, or ambient.) Instead, I am forced, if I want to be in public places, to listen to this squalling, shrieking, caterwauling, "soul" cacophony.

Posted at 8:38 pm | link