Music selection at work: love or hate?

[Grendus]

I haven't heard any Christmas music for the past while! Now my ears aren't bleeding everytime I hear 200 different versions of Jingle Bells. I don't understand musicians who release Christmas albums. Are you that hard up for money that you HAVE to do an Xmas album?

I give some exceptions, like Band Aid and Wham. And I love Peter Schilling's depressing take on Silent Night, Holy Night, that pissed off a few people.

There's a big push to extend the Christmas season, but there's also a big push to keep it secular. There's also, as XKCD points out*, a very strong desire to appeal to the Baby Boomers by recreating the Christmas experience of their childhood. Since a huge proportion of the classic Christmas songs are religious in nature for obvious reasons, stores and radio stations keep pushing to have more versions of the 10-20 songs that are both recognizably Christmas songs and won't offend the reflexively irate Atheists in their store in order to increase sales.

That and it takes very little imagination. Heck, the band probably already knows how to play Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas... this album is in the bag! And a 1, 2, 3...

[ADeMartino]

OK, Im admit, that's cruel, but funny. Though, I personally think anyone going insane over a singer is stupid.

Aw, don't hate me TOO much - in the 1970s I had it bad for Stevie Nicks.

[ADeMartino]

On the subject of music at work, for the most part I hate it. I'm an industrial temp by day and part-time convenience store clerk by night. At the C-store, I can at least listen to the radio, but even though I favor the classic-rock station, like most 'pop' type stations, they have a very short list of songs they play. It IS a longer list than most, I'll admit, but I'm gettin serious tired of Wooden Ships by CSNY. At the industrial-temp gigs, it seems that there's always one particular group of people who seize control of whatever radio that happens to be present and it's rap/hip hop CONSTANTLY - and as has been described in this thread multiple times, it's a play list of like a dozen or so songs, over and over and over and over and over and over and over....... Till I wanna PUKE. Worse, it's played at max volume so even if by some miracle they play a song I like, it sounds like shit.

I did temp for a couple of weeks at a place that had music on the PA - classic rock, and apparently from a satellite service like XM or Sirius - no commercials, and all good stuff, too.
And yup, there was that group again, wanting to take control of the system and play their own favorite little stations - only they couldn't, and they were HATIN it.

Thing is, I can actually listen to almost anything except rap/hiphop. I know this will earn me the ire of some of the CS community, but seriously, I can't stand it. To me, it's just obnoxious noise. I listen to classical, oldies, C&W (both new and old), pop, classic rock, some modern rock (much of that's gettin kinda pointless, too), hell, I even have a few Britney Spears tunes in my MP3 player.

On a similar note, is it just me, or do radio stations just plain suck anymore?

[The Hurting]

On a similar note, is it just me, or do radio stations just plain suck anymore?

The only radio that I listen to are the 80s stations from iTunes and Jack FM

[Dadeo]

Actually that is not a joke but a song by Rascal Flatts from their album Me and My Gang.

That joke was old when I was a kid.

When I worked retail, I hated the BG music the made us play. When I got to managing my own stores I got written up more than once for not having it on. When I got to be Area Manager, I'd just say "I'm sure they're playing it. After all, it's company policy right?" when I was talking to the higher ups.

We do promo video loops for our clients, those ones that play all day on a TV wall, we make sure that any important info is in print on screen because I know from experience that staff always turns the volume down.

The only place that had good music was a now defunct record store where we played pretty much whatever we wanted as long as it was something we carried. I don't recall ever hearing a Christmas tune.

[The Hurting]

We do promo video loops for our clients, those ones that play all day on a TV wall, we make sure that any important info is in print on screen because I know from experience that staff always turns the volume down.

When I first started, the music would get interrupted by store advertisements. Nowadays, the music gets interrupted by these irritating announcements hawking our roasted chicken.

[Cooper]

I felt sooo bad for the Tech Buy employees last time I went there. Their TVs were broken, so they were stuck listening to: "I'm at a Paaaayphone trying to call on every cent I spent on you" over and over and over again as the same commercial played over and over again.

It drove me nuts just listening to it for 20 minutes or so.

At work it's pretty lax, pretty much whoever gets the main computer controls the music. My mother likes what I call the soft-pop princesses, like Colbie Caillat. Strangely she gets a lot of Christmas music from this, even in non-Christmas times. Thankfully she can skip. (She listens to Pandora or something similar.)

My uncle and cousins love classic rock and country, but there's quite a lot of variety there. Dad just wants something in the background. I tend to listen to Daft Punk and other 'teenage' sort of bands.

Meh. None of us really love any of each-others music, but the rotation is heavy enough on who gets the front desk that nobody really starts complaining.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I felt sooo bad for the Tech Buy employees last time I went there. Their TVs were broken, so they were stuck listening to: "I'm at a Paaaayphone trying to call on every cent I spent on you"

If happy ever after did exist
I would still be holding you like this
All those fairy tales are full of shit
One more fucking love song, I'll be sick

[KellyHabersham]

The only real complaint I have about music at work is that we're not "allowed" to use Internet radio on staff computers. Not that these sites are blocked, but apparently the city's personnel department considers this to be "stealing bandwidth". (not wanting to get into a Fratching sort of debate, this is just what I understand the Internet usage policy is for staff)

[The Hurting]

I heard Creed just a few minutes ago. You know what's really bad? That it's actually a step up from some of the other stuff that gets played.

[NCO]

I'm lucky at my current job to be in a small 2-bay building all by myself. Therefore I have ultimate authority over what music and radio stations I listen to. It's an auto tire and repair shop, by the way.

When I was at my last job, I built the speakers for my shop radio. Big heavy MDF cabinets. Very good sound quality.

When I brought those into my current job on my first day, that was the beginning of a "war" over my sound system that ultimately I would win. The boss HATED my system. Bitched about it every chance he got. Went in and turned it off every chance he got. I used to listen to talk radio and even though he's a conservative and all, he hates talk radio. So I got bitched at for that.

Somewhere along the line, he just gave up and left my radio alone.

And somewhere along the line, I got tired of Limbaugh and Hannity. Only talk radio I listen to now is Alex Jones.

In 2009 the boss installed wifi so we could access the repair info and parts catalogs we need without having to walk to the office and use one of the computers there. Well that meant that I have access to internet radio (and Alex Jones). I bought the adapter cable to plug my laptop into the stereo receiver that powers my monster speakers. So some days I just play a local Christian station (K-Love). Some days I play mp3's on my laptop. Some days I hit an internet station (181.fm is pretty cool). Fridays I tune in to the 80's hairband channel on 181.fm and ROCK. I mean I crank it up.

The boss hasn't said a word in at least a couple of years.

It's gonna suck when I finally leave for another shop and have to adjust to working in an environment where I have to listen to the crap that other people listen to.

[Shironu-Akaineko]

During the week I'm stuck listening to the popular stuff because bosses.

However, the weekend is MY realm. *cranks internet Radio, 80's channel* AWWWWWWWW YEAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ReverendBSB]

At my normal store the store manager always puts the music on the top 40 bs. Whenever one of the co managers opens we get best of 70's or 80's. We can always tell when the store manager gets there though because first thing he changes to the music to top 40.

[The Hurting]

However, the weekend is MY realm. *cranks internet Radio, 80's channel* AWWWWWWWW YEAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love internet radio, they have everything, they're never short of Schlager stations

At my normal store the store manager always puts the music on the top 40 bs. Whenever one of the co managers opens we get best of 70's or 80's. We can always tell when the store manager gets there though because first thing he changes to the music to top 40.

I would kill to have that all day, but throw some 90s into the mix and I'm a happy girl

[simplyanother]

Where I work now--I cannot always hear the music. There's fans or something, right above my head in the area, so it's muffled.

But, every time I catch a song it seems to be Adele.

So, in my head, they only play her songs, over and over, in a loop.