"Background Music"

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Insult, compliment, neutral, or context-dependent? And has your opinion about this question changed over time?

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 8 September 2006 18:15 (nineteen years ago)

Mine has: music that could fade into the background used to rankle my nerves something fierce, now I enjoy fading with it

― Thomas Tallis (Tommy), Friday, 8 September 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

Horses for courses, etc etc

Could conceivably be used to insult a certain type of listener or musician, one who doesn't think the music they're listening to/making is background music ("oh of course you think this stuff is so interesting, but it's not even sufficient distract me from my spreadsheets"), but you can make anything an insult if you're enough of a dick.

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Friday, 8 September 2006 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

That being said, I would never use the term "background music" in a positive sense because anything background-y that I enjoy probably fills a more specific role, i.e. "driving music" or "cleaning music" or "pipetting music".

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Friday, 8 September 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

I always end up really hating music that demands I focus on just it, but I think calling something "background music" is an insult of insults.

"Music for airports" is the complimentary term :)

― ian z (rodox.video), Saturday, 9 September 2006 00:04 (nineteen years ago)

Hmmm. I often think that sometimes the loudest and most dynamic music I've heard can become background if my attention is distracted enough, so it's kinda hard to say. Good question, this.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 9 September 2006 01:46 (nineteen years ago)

The real question for me is how often do you actually devote your full attention to music? I mean you can pay more attention while doing the dishes, say, than while writing code, I suppose, but still a lot of most people's music listening, even music nerds, involves some kind of "background" function.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Saturday, 9 September 2006 04:08 (nineteen years ago)

ten years pass...

http://www.chartattack.com/news/2015/10/09/someone-just-uploaded-their-complete-collection-of-kmart-in-store-background-music/

― Why shout alone at your TV when you can shout at the world on ILX (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 11 October 2016 14:50 (nine years ago)

Wow. Is it mixes or original Muzak?

― calstars, Tuesday, 11 October 2016 16:11 (nine years ago)

Original, hours of it from fuzzy cassettes, interspersed with "K-Mart shoppers, stop by the men's department where a wide assortment of sweaters and shaker knits are available..."

― Their all losers and I like associating with loser (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 11 October 2016 16:52 (nine years ago)

oh wow.. hope there's plenty of dueling flute/trumpet melodies

― brimstead, Tuesday, 11 October 2016 19:45 (nine years ago)

The fact that it's original shit is fascinating. Who's the producer ? Under what conditions was it recorded? Instruments used? The fact that we may never know the answers to these questions just adds gravitas to the sonics.

― calstars, Tuesday, 11 October 2016 20:03 (nine years ago)

been a fan of k-mark for a minute. if I understand his research, much of his collection originates from Seeburg 16rpm transferred to reel-to-reel before the cassette overhaul of K-Mart's system. Lots of great Seeburg uploads on youtube and other places.

K-Mark was a serious archivist for his job. This youtube video has a good overview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_356XV-Oro

His DEEP audio archive @ archive.org: https://archive.org/details/@davismv

That 1973 reel is melted cinnamon butter

― PappaWheelie V, Monday, 17 October 2016 18:14 (nine years ago)

SeeburgUp2Speed

― PappaWheelie V, Monday, 17 October 2016 18:19 (nine years ago)

Thank u

― Inspired by an argument in the Stereogum comment section (brimstead), Monday, 17 October 2016 20:24 (nine years ago)

Didn't realize there is a pretty good wiki on Seeburg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeburg_1000

― PappaWheelie V, Monday, 17 October 2016 20:39 (nine years ago)

many Jurg Frey recordings don't work well as "background music", even though it's extremely pleasant. if i put it on for a background ambiance, it can become frustratingly static (distracting) or too plain or repetitive, to the point of agitation. other artists, like Alva Noto (Xerrox series, for example), work well as background music.

― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Tuesday, 18 October 2016 05:37 (nine years ago)

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