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Obscure Singles Heard at CVS

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One unique way they are related is that I was first exposed to a ton of their album tracks on store and restaurant Muzaks.

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 11 May 2021 18:07 (five years ago)

i heard a good one just yesterday in the grocery store but i've already forgotten what it was

― dyl, Wednesday, 12 May 2021 03:26 (five years ago)

i remember now! it was "shine" by years & years... which i know was a big hit in the uk, but i live in the states so i was v surprised to hear it in the wild like that

― dyl, Thursday, 13 May 2021 02:51 (five years ago)

how can someone even enjoy music if they think “walk of life” is a top 3 anything

― brimstead, Thursday, 13 May 2021 03:30 (five years ago)

dedication, devotion

― kinder, Thursday, 13 May 2021 06:39 (five years ago)

Us3: "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" at Fuddruckers

fuddy fuddy fudd (RUCKY RUCKY)

― Draymond is "Mr Dumpy" (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 20 May 2021 19:31 (five years ago)

I dunno, hearing "Walk of Life" in a really bleak Costco in rural Indiana while scanning the bread might just make my day.

― Loud Tsu (I M Losted), Thursday, 20 May 2021 23:16 (five years ago)

“Walk of Life” was playing in the grocery store earlier, and I was enjoying it so much I felt a flash of annoyance when someone cut through on the PA to make an announcement.

― like a d4mn sociopath! (morrisp), Monday, 31 May 2021 20:45 (five years ago)

I wish it were obscure!

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 31 May 2021 21:00 (five years ago)

XP "Super Special Two-For-One Sale On Headbands! Boppa Lula Only Today!"

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Monday, 31 May 2021 21:03 (five years ago)

we got to move these
digiorno's pizzas
we got to move these chef boyardeeeeeees

― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Monday, 31 May 2021 21:26 (five years ago)

“Walk of Life” was playing in the grocery store earlier, and I was enjoying it so much I felt a flash of annoyance when someone cut through on the PA to make an announcement.


Reminds me of when I last heard Talking Heads’ “And She Was,” in a supermarket in Lincoln, NE two years ago. It particularly struck me because the first time I’d heard the song was in a record store in Omaha 34 years earlier. My grooving to this Nebraska/Heads synergy was harshly interrupted by “PHARMACY, CALL ON LINE 2. PHARMACY, LINE 2.”

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 00:11 (five years ago)

I feel like Byrne would appreciate that.

― like a d4mn sociopath! (morrisp), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 00:34 (five years ago)

True story.

― peace, man, Tuesday, 1 June 2021 11:23 (five years ago)

While pumping gas at a Holiday station in rural upper Michigan today I heard Alphabet Street and Electric Avenue back to back which felt very out of place and amazing simultaneously

― joygoat, Friday, 4 June 2021 03:16 (five years ago)

Relevant...

Huge riffs in unexpected places: When I was walking into @LiveCasinoPHL around noon today, "Rock Bottom" by @UFO_rockband came over the sound system! A few hours later they played "Gypsy" by @uriah_heep!

Almost made losing that huge pot with top two against middle set worth it.

— Brian O'Neill (@NYC__Native) June 10, 2021

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Thursday, 10 June 2021 01:34 (five years ago)

Waiting for Somebody - Paul Westerberg

― how's life, Saturday, August 13, 2016 6:41 AM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just got Dyslexic Heart.

― peace, man, Tuesday, 15 June 2021 13:55 (five years ago)

L'Trimm - "Cars That Go Boom" at the garden center

― j.o.h.n. in evanston (john. a resident of chicago.), Wednesday, 16 June 2021 19:32 (five years ago)

the pods that go bloom

― Bobo Honk, real name, no gimmicks (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 17 June 2021 11:59 (five years ago)

three weeks pass...

Lately I feel like I have heard the Kurt Vile version of Box of Rain in grocery stores at least a couple times.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 13 July 2021 15:09 (five years ago)

I’m a bar/restaurant where I just heard 311 “Down” for the first time in about two decades, and I can report that it still slaps

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 13, 2021

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 13 July 2021 22:21 (five years ago)

yesterday I walked past Five Guys in Cambridge, they were playing Jimmy Olsen's Blues by the Spin Doctors, then they played a song I didn't know but which was identifiably by The Nation of Ulysses.

― A viking of frowns, (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 13 July 2021 22:24 (five years ago)

Five Guys is usually pretty good for eclectic Rock muzak.

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 13 July 2021 22:36 (five years ago)

i heard "The Sound" at Vons the other day, i don't think i have heard any 1975's songs in the wild before.

― Bee OK, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 02:32 (five years ago)

Yeah, I heard "Kick out the Jams" at a Five Guys once.

I realized what it was before noticing if the "motherfucker" was included but my bet is it was not.

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 03:55 (five years ago)

ALL THE WAY receives only toppings in black, Motherfucker

― aging goth couple™ (morrisp), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 04:08 (five years ago)

"It takes five seconds, five seconds of decision, five seconds to pick your mix at the Coke Freestyle machine!"

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 04:52 (five years ago)

Kroger had "All Star" playing last night (foisting it on workers twice an hour should be a crime) but I would swear it was remixed or something to be even peppier and more upbeat.

― Joe Bombin (milo z), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 06:33 (five years ago)

^^This might not be it, but I read some time ago in Rolling Stone that Smash Mouth had to rerecord parts of it when it to RockBand because the digital multitracks had become corrupted*; iirc, among other things they had redo all the drums as those tracks had all disappeared.

*This was part of a larger article about the vulnerability of digital masters being discovered as more and more tracks from the then-recent past were getting licensed in 5.1 mixes for film and games.

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:04 (five years ago)

Of course, it's really probably a "Top 40" radio mix that ultimately didn't have the legs or availability of the regular version.

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:08 (five years ago)

DJ MILF's All Whistling and Turntable Work Mix (3:55)

― I honk along darkened Bobo-doors (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:20 (five years ago)

<AS HEARD ON MTV'S ROAD RULES>

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 15:35 (five years ago)

"All Star (Upbeat Version)" by Smash Mouth

― pplains, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 19:09 (five years ago)

"All Star (Clean-Up On Aisle 12 Dub)" by Smash Mouth Ft. DJ Kroger Signature

― blue whales on ambient (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 14 July 2021 19:32 (five years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en1uwIzI3SE

― xzanfar, Wednesday, 14 July 2021 19:34 (five years ago)

The Hib-Tone Radio Free Europe at Trader Joe's. I dutifully bought an extra bag of Scandinavian Swimmers.

― campreverb, Sunday, 18 July 2021 04:16 (five years ago)

Not obscure or CVS, but our local Giant plays Ex's and Oh's by Elle King probably 1 in 5 times I go there. That song puts me into rough headspace, which has only grown worse since I looked her up and learned that she is Rob Schneider's daughter.

― peace, man, Sunday, 18 July 2021 11:40 (five years ago)

Extended remix of Tom Tom Club's cover of "Under the Boardwalk" in Wawa.

(That's a convenience store for those of you outside the U.S.)

― Hideous Lump, Friday, 30 July 2021 16:59 (five years ago)

You usually find wawa under the boardwalk.

― pplains, Friday, 30 July 2021 19:31 (five years ago)

Disappointingly, there is no WaWa in Mahwah, New Jersey.

― Hideous Lump, Friday, 30 July 2021 20:29 (five years ago)

sounds like a TMBG track

― think “Gypsy-Pixie” and misspelled. (We are a white family.) (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 1 August 2021 17:26 (five years ago)

“Love Me,” by Justin Bieber, at Dollar King.

― Malibu Cheer Chants Forensics (morrisp), Wednesday, 4 August 2021 03:34 (five years ago)

two weeks pass...

https://www.spin.com/2021/08/gin-blossoms-alt-rock-saviors/

At a time in my life when the grocery store’s overhead PA system was my lifeline, Gin Blossoms were my alt-rock radio saviors — raining down hard truths about lust masquerading as love as I sat on a milk crate, turning cans so all the labels faced the same direction, always English side out

...

“Hey Jealousy” is a song best heard over a tinny in-store PA, where you can only grasp the high-end of the guitar and the vocals. Many, many years later while test-driving a 2009 Toyota Tacoma, the salesman suggested I turn on the radio to get a feel for the overpriced stereo he was trying to upsell me. “Hey Jealousy” came on immediately, and it felt different with the full range of woofers and tweeters — dulled, despite the broader dynamics, like eating your mom’s homemade pasta in your youth and then years later going to the Olive Garden. Something was lost in the translation.

― “Heroin” (ft. Bobby Gillespie) (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 19 August 2021 15:18 (five years ago)

four weeks pass...

Tegan & Sara: "Walking With A Ghost" at James Coney Island.

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 September 2021 18:21 (five years ago)

Jethro Tull: "Teacher" at Northern Tool

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 September 2021 19:15 (five years ago)

FB memories reminded me of one of my absolute weirdest pairing of song and restaurant, which happened just a few weeks before this thread was started:

Stone Roses: "Breaking Into Heaven"...at FUDDRUCKERS.

I think the version they played didn't have the intro.

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 23 September 2021 05:23 (five years ago)

three weeks pass...

Swing Out Sister "Waiting Game" at the grocery store just now.

― New York Review of Wooks (swim), Tuesday, 19 October 2021 20:02 (four years ago)

I heard "Waiting Game" at Publix last Saturday.

Today: Breathe's "Say a Prayer."

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 19 October 2021 20:04 (four years ago)

Red Right Hand by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds at Party City.

Presumably part of some seasonal Halloween playlist. I should have stuck around to see what else they had on, but I just dropped in real quick for a Moana piñata.

― ☮ (peace, man), Wednesday, October 2, 2019 7:50 AM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Had to go in there last week and got the theme song from Demons (1985), which was definitely part of a Halloween playlist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYFP-777t-c

― peace, man, Tuesday, 19 October 2021 20:19 (four years ago)

Ha I heard Killing Moon at Party City a couple of weeks ago

― tobo73, Tuesday, 19 October 2021 20:32 (four years ago)


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