Obscure Singles Heard at CVS

Our local supermarket extended its hours until 1am, so we've gotten into the habit of doing our big in-person shopping at midnight - no one is in the store then except for an occasional last-minute alcohol buyer and the crew restocking the shelves. Lately the restocking crew have been playing whatever they want to while they work - last week we heard The Supremes' A Bit Of Liverpool. A couple nights ago it was Nina Simone's Here Comes The Sun.

Wow, I’d be stunned to hear either of those in a supermarket setting

Kacey Musgraves: "Pageant Material" at Rudy's BBQ

Prodigy - Breathe

followed by

Happy Clappers - I Believe

Bosley's (pet food store)

I have also come to love late-night grocery shopping during pandemic times. The other night:

The Waterboys - The Whole of the Moon

Not a chain store, so maybe not within this thread's purview, but the new locally-owned ice cream shop was playing Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight by Spinal Tap yesterday.

not obscure, not a cvs, but they played Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man" at my physical therapist's this morning

"Fade Into You" was playing as I got a tooth drilled into this morning, and then the JJ Cale version of "Cocaine." It was a little weird, but then again, I remember when "Blackwater" by the Doobies played when I was getting a radiation treatment.

wow the latter is extra nightmarish

It's an odd gambit— doctors and dentists have always told me that a lot of people bring their favorite music to these appointments and just put on their earphones, but I've never wanted to associate music I like with dire medical procedures, so I always deal with what they're playing over the speakers. I think once in radiation, I asked them to turn off "American Pie" for personal reasons.

Back in my oncology days, I'd listen to Blonde Redhead or Steely Dan on the iPod. Nice n' sterile.

Last time I had a crown put in at the dentist, he was playing some Black Crowes channel. I felt filthy afterwards.

The Southern Harmony & Dental Companion

lol.

More like Hotel Drillness.

Well-played, sir.

this is 100% true. When my partner was going on for heart surgery, in the waiting room the radio was playing some song that kept saying "I will fix your heart" (or maybe "i can fix your heart"). I never figured out of it was intentional or not but it seemed like "live" radio iirc

"Shake Your Hips" (Rolling Stones) at a San Diego Zoo snack bar.

Shake Your Hippos

Neko Case: "Bad Luck" in the lobby of a Sleep Inn.

Paramore: "Hard Times" and Sheryl Crow: "Hole In My Pocket" at Dairy Queen.

Ben Kweller: "Magic" at Walmart.

Which reminds me that one of the Pop Conference presentations is about retail soundscapes, specifically those at Walmart. Hopefully this thread is in the citations.

my friend just heard the sundays “here’s where the story ends” in cvs

it made her day. would make mine too

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/05/1096564202/gap-store-playlist-music-collection?

I've heard "Here's Where the Story Ends" quite a lot in the wild, still catches me offguard.

xp That’s cool… I had a side job at the Gap for a few years in the early 2000s, I was definitely interested in the playlists.

Martha & The Vandellas: "You've Been In Love Too Long" at Cheddar's.

Going Back Where I Belong by Sugar Pie De Santo at the non-Starbucks coffee chain I went to a couple days ago (but I cant recall name of it).

Everything from "Mama I'm Coming Home" by Ozzy Osbourne to "The Angels Wanna Wear My Red Shoes" at my blue-collar, mixed-culture Kroger.

Speaking of retail playlists, the monthly ones from The Row can be pretty great. Obscurities and album cuts.

Hib-tone version of "Radio Free Europe" at Dairy Queen

When you’re getting dinner in Portland and a song you used to goth out to at the legendary City Nightclub comes on thirty-six years down the line pic.twitter.com/HwptOybvB1

— The Mountain Goats (@mountain_goats) May 10, 2022

This barely fits the thread - but I was pumping gas a few weeks ago, and a promotional interview with "up & coming" singer Maeta (whom you may know from the rolling r&b threads) came on the pump's screen. I've never encountered her anywhere but my own little listening world, so it was pleasantly jarring.

Whoa -- Caron Wheeler's "Livin' in the Light."

xp

It's not so strange to hear Siouxsie in a restaurant in Portland. If he were shopping at the Hawthorne Fred's, that might be a different story. It's still a possibility though.

Doing an errand this morning at CVS/Target, they played 00s-style club bangers by Daft Punk, Justice, Boys Noize, Deadmaus etc. Two upset women walked by me, one of them saying “I’m tired of this car-commercial shit music.”

— Steady State Sounds (@StateSounds) May 14, 2022

Just heard Portishead’s “Glory Box” in Trader Joe’s (I haven’t heard that song in over 20 years).

Dinosaur jr start choppin at westin dia public restroom

Heard "I'm in love with the Other Woman" on a classic rock station out of Beaumont Texas driving home today. Knew the tune was stumped for an hour or so until I got to the next place I stopped and could pull out my phone to look it up that it was Ray Parker Jr. Cool tune. Awesome playlist on that funky station, they also literally went back to back from Sabbath's "Iron Man" to Olivia Newton John's "Magic", which I also had not heard in a couple decades. It's a cool tune too.

If he were shopping at the Hawthorne Fred's, that might be a different story.

Heard "See No Evil" by Television there once!

"Don't Cry out Loud," a live version by Joe Longthorne (!), blasted out of flat window I happened to be walking past, with the entire room singing along.

I don't know the song, or Joe Longthorne beyond his cheesy reputation, but I found it to be a strangely affecting piece of bombastic kitsch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0yvXmSmZxQ

went back to back from Sabbath's "Iron Man" to Olivia Newton John's "Magic"

What in the ...

“Don’t Cry Out Loud” is a great song and I appreciate that strange man for trying it. Melissa Manchester’s version is obviously definitive

"Longthorne was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to charity."

and he just keeps giving

Music best heard in a charity shop

Animals: "Boom Boom" at Freebirds

Cool

Not obscure, really, by my local Trader Joe's recently did something I've never heard in a supermarket before - back-to-back songs by the same artist.

"Time After Time" --> "The Goonies 'R' Good Enough."

Dave Mason ft. Michael Jackson "Save Me" at Rexall's

Stephen Bishop "Save it for a Rainy Day" at Giant Food

Nick Drake's "Northern Sky" at Lidl

Head East's "Love Me Tonight"* at a Sonoco convenience store.

(note: "Love me Tonight" was a bigger hit than "Never Been Any Reason")