Althouse: I hate music.

July 9, 2010

I hate music.

I'm in a forced music environment that has pushed me over the limit where that is what I end up thinking. If I were given a choice right now between continuing to hear music normally and being able to switch off my hearing of all music for the rest of my life, I would choose the latter.

Ironically, the music that's playing is easy-listening pop, obviously intended to be utterly inoffensive. I am offended. I am offended by inoffensiveness...

ADDED: Example of the type of thing I'm talking about: Belinda Carlisle, "I Get Weak." I get psychotic.

87 comments:

Original Mike said...: "Better than nothing is a high standard."; 7/9/10, 9:47 AM
AllenS said...: Someone's coffee isn't kicking in.; 7/9/10, 9:48 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Sometimes I listen to that dreck, and realize they are doing covers of actually good songs.

It is really sad but strangely entertaining. A musical freak show.; 7/9/10, 9:48 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Send Dr. Meade for another latte! STAT! Althouse needs her medicine.; 7/9/10, 9:49 AM
Phil 314 said...: Doesn't make sense. I don't get tired of good food if I'm forced to eat oatmeal for three days straight. Instead, I yearn for....

huevos rancheros.; 7/9/10, 9:53 AM
Bob Ellison said...: You lay down a fascinating choice: music or no music, forever? I've often pondered whether I would choose no vision or no hearing, forever, and I keep deciding that I'd take no vision. No more ugliness, but still all the beauty of sound. And communication would be much easier.; 7/9/10, 9:55 AM
SarcastiCarrie said...: I Hate Music, too. And don't tell too many people because they will think you're an evil monster who hates beauty. But the noise. The racket inside my head. Make it stop. Don't assault my ears. It's easy to turn away from something you don't want to see, but you can't close your ears.; 7/9/10, 9:59 AM
Opus One Media said...: How about "I hate some music" or "I prefer some music over other types"...but turn it off forever? ohmy.; 7/9/10, 10:05 AM
Joe said...: My answer is that 90% of everything is CRAP! IF, you liked the 50's or 60'd or 70's or whenever, then you listened to an incredible amount of CRAP. It's inevitable...

So today's crap bothers you, just realize that must of what you listened to, in the past, was crap too.

You can't let today's crappiness drive you away from music. I'll put up with "Riding' Dirty" or "I Kissed a Girl" for Beethoven's 9th or the Dead Kennedy's "Kill the Poor."

Bottom-line: you have to take the bad (90%) to have any good (10%) and you can't let your temporary displeasure rob you of something as beautiful as "(insert favourite song here)." Because THAT song, whatever it is, is beautiful and speaks to you.

WV: "Tripe" Blogger has a sense of humour, as I have just dished some out on the topic of tripe.; 7/9/10, 10:07 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "you have to take the bad (90%) to have any good (10%)"

If you applied that to sex, wouldn't you choose never to have sex again? I would!

I wouldn't apply it to food or anything necessary to survive, but I'm distressed by all the badness we are mired in. I'd much rather drown it out with nothingness. With sound, I'd love to be able to turn up the silence.

It's so unfair to nothing that anything always obliterates nothing.

I love nothing above nearly everything.

Those last few things that are better than nothing are... everything. Of course.; 7/9/10, 10:13 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: If I were given a choice right now between continuing to hear music normally and being able to switch off my hearing of all music for the rest of my life, I would choose the latter.

No you wouldn't. Not forever. Get a Bose headset.

Back when everyone was freaking out about Y2K and the end of life as we know it, I decided that when civilization ends the things I would miss the most were my collection music CDs and long luxurious hot showers.; 7/9/10, 10:14 AM
Joe said...: If you applied that to sex, wouldn't you choose never to have sex again? I would!

Prof. Doodette, sex is like pizza, some is better than others, but it's all pretty good.; 7/9/10, 10:14 AM
Original Mike said...: Nothing is better than eternal happiness.

A ham sandwich is better than nothing.

Therefore, a ham sandwich is better than eternal happiness.

(shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia); 7/9/10, 10:20 AM
Known Unknown said...: Get either noise-canceling headphones or headphones for your own music.

Problem solved. Geez.; 7/9/10, 10:21 AM
Dave in Tucson said...: I'm in a forced music environment

What does that even mean? You can't converse with meade? Can't put your ear-buds in and listen to something of your own choosing? Can't hum/sing quietly to yourself?

If I were given a choice right now [...] I would choose [deafness].

Althouse, how on earth did you get to where you are today if you really have such a low tolerance for inconvenience?; 7/9/10, 10:25 AM
Original Mike said...: When I head into the backcountry for a trip, I desperatley try and avoid radio and other media for the last day or so. Otherwise, I'm likley to spend my week in Quetico with the damn Burger King jingle (or some such) in my head.; 7/9/10, 10:27 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: When I head into the backcountry for a trip, I desperatley try and avoid radio and other media for the last day or so

Satellite radio. Bring your own CD collection. Sing!!!

I agree, however, I live in backcountry and can barely stand the radio stations for more than 15 minutes at a time.; 7/9/10, 10:38 AM
sonicfrog said...: I was in the bank yesterday, and a really bad cover of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" was play, not enough in the background. It had the standard triple-time disco-techno beat driving it, and the vocals, well, lets just say "no feel / no heart / all auto-tune". A few hours later, I'm eating at one of my local haunts, and another cover song comes on. I don't remember what it was, but, wouldn't you know, it had the exact same disco-techno beat, and had the same "no feel / no heart / all auto-tune" type vocals behind it. Blegh!

It's worse when you're a musician because your ears are trained to notice little nuances in music, and you end up having to try and block out this stuff that has no little nuances what-so-ever. At least traditional Musak was kind of fun because they often covered more obscure songs, and it was a game to see how many of the lesser known songs you recognized.; 7/9/10, 10:49 AM
Laura said...: I'm with Ann, I dislike most music, most of the time. It's noise to me. And the few times I've admitted it, I was met with disbelief.; 7/9/10, 10:49 AM
knox said...: The song that drives me over the edge is "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" by Glenn Medeiros. It really is the most banal melody and stupid words to go with. The "Today's Soft Rock Hits and Yesterday's Favorites!" station in Knoxville used to play it constantly. You couldn't go into a waiting room without hearing it.; 7/9/10, 10:49 AM
Phil 314 said...: agree, however, I live in backcountry and can barely stand the radio stations for more than 15 minutes at a time.

With the tone and direction of this discussion, the needle on my snob-o-meter is spiking.; 7/9/10, 10:50 AM
DADvocate said...: At the company I work, we moved into a new building a few weeks ago. The music in the restrooms changed. It's not elevator music and some of it I recognize as stuff popular in the 80s.

But as I told someone yesterday, I never realized there was so much music out there that I didn't like.; 7/9/10, 10:50 AM
Unknown said...: Ann, I have never commented before, but I just had to tell you how amusing you are today. Definitely in rare form. Between this post, the hamster stuff, and the coffee/WiFi dilemma, you have me laughing at my desk in this stuffy law office. Love your stuff anyway, but today I am particularly amused. Thank you!; 7/9/10, 10:51 AM
chuck b. said...: "I'm distressed by all the badness we are mired in"

Lots and lots of people like it, or the free market isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Interesting to think how in countries without free markets, there is nothing but dreck, unless something good gets smuggled in.; 7/9/10, 10:51 AM
Paddy O said...: I carry earplugs almost everywhere I go these days. Both for music I don't want to hear, and cell phone conversations I don't want to hear.

Around here, both seem to be everywhere.

For when I want to hear my music, not someone else's, I have my ER6i earbuds. Nice headphones and good earplugs all at once. Helps studying in the library, reading outside or at Starbucks, and generally dealing with the noise of an active apartment complex.

Peace abounds.; 7/9/10, 11:00 AM
Amy said...: I think there's a difference between occasionally being exposed to unlikeable music and being forced to be in an environment where it is continually playing. The former is a minor aggravation and not worth (IMO) whining about. The latter is conceivably defined as torture.

WV: weakes - yeah, that.; 7/9/10, 11:02 AM
kjbe said...: Having a bad day, eh?

Well, I'm generally with you on the music (noise) question. I prefer quiet over gibberish - I often drive without the radio on and rarely, rarely ever run, bike or walk with a or ipod.

And for the coffee run, earlier today, I vote for better coffee on vacations, though that wish is usually not granted on the trail...; 7/9/10, 11:04 AM
Henry said...: I've been listening to Leningrad Cowboys and the Red Russian Army Choir Total Balalaika Show the last few days. I'm totally happy with music at the moment. Here's a link.; 7/9/10, 11:08 AM
hawkeyedjb said...: I'm with Althouse on this one. Almost every public place is a 'forced music environment' and it's very unpleasant. Why do I need to listen to screechy, high-pitched music coming out of cheap tinny speakers in the grocery store, the barber shop, every restaurant on earth, the gym, the gas station? I do as much shopping as possible at Target because they don't play any music. (And I don't like the options of wearing my Bose headset everywhere I go, or even sticking my fingers in my ears when I shop); 7/9/10, 11:13 AM
Anonymous said...: Weather Report is the anti-easy-listening pop.

It will cure you of the bad vibes in a second.; 7/9/10, 11:17 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Todays music really stink.; 7/9/10, 11:20 AM
Original Mike said...: "The music in the restrooms changed."

Yeah, why do we need music to pee by?; 7/9/10, 11:31 AM
Original Mike said...: "I often drive without the radio on"

The radio in my car broke a couple of years ago. Someday I'll get around to getting it fixed. Maybe.; 7/9/10, 11:33 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Like Amy said. There is a difference between being briefly in a public place where there is music playing over which you have no control, except that you can LEAVE the place at sometime.

OR working all day in an environment where the music is playing and you CAN'T get away. Think of the clerks and other workers....trapped!!!!

@C3 There is nothing snobby about not liking certain genres of music, certain artists or not wanting to listen to 5 minutes of repetitive commercials out of every 10 minutes of air time. I'm quite sure that you would not like many of the music styles and artists that I like. That's perfectly OK. To each his own.; 7/9/10, 11:36 AM
EnigmatiCore said...: Aaargh! You put "I Get Weak" in my head. Bad, bad Althouse. I'll show you!

♫ And as he started to go, she said "Billy, keep your head low, oh oh... ♫; 7/9/10, 11:37 AM
Original Mike said...: "Example of the type of thing I'm talking about: Belinda Carlisle, "I Get Weak.""

Will. Not. Click ...; 7/9/10, 11:39 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Pretend you're a lounge singer and jump right in with the cheesiest rendition possible. Deliver the song all the way through with 100% sincerity.

[+points for putting on something sparkly and jacking a microphone into a boom box.]; 7/9/10, 11:40 AM
Original Mike said...: How about the really loud music that's played at sporting events now, whenever there's a stoppage of play? 15 seconds of mind numbing noise, cut short when play resumes.

There seems to be this assumption that every single second needs to be filled with "entertainment". It's bizarre.; 7/9/10, 11:47 AM
former law student said...: Starbucks?

Every time I hear a set of songs that were popular when I was in high school, I fear that younger people will be goaded to revolt against the tyranny of the baby boomers. When I was a kid, I don't recall forty-year-old music everywhere, from the likes of Paul Whiteman and his orchestra, or the Clicquot Club Eskimos.; 7/9/10, 11:50 AM
Opus One Media said...: ahhh why don't you listen to music you like and don't listen to music you don't like.

I've got a fairly full CD collection and I start at one end of the alphabet of composers and go to the other. If I want to hear something specific, a particular recording I don't have, conductor, whatever, I go to youtube and specially if i want to see a live performance.

With so much, there is no excuse for avoiding the 10% you like because you might run into the 90% you don't.; 7/9/10, 11:55 AM
blake said...: Satie's revenge!

(Satie tried to invent music-as-background-noise by having musicians stationed in the corners of the room, playing softly during a break. But once they started playing, everyone sat down and listened.); 7/9/10, 12:16 PM
blake said...: I'm gonna guess Joe doesn't have kids.; 7/9/10, 12:17 PM
blake said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/9/10, 12:17 PM
blake said...: And I'm with you: I hate it. The only thing I hate more is TVs playing everywhere.; 7/9/10, 12:17 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I've got a fairly full CD collection and I start at one end of the alphabet of composers and go to the other

Me too! Everything from bluegrass to opera: heavy metal to flaminco guitar music: old standards and big band music to soul music and acid rock. Hundreds of CDs and some recorded from my collection of old vinyl records that aren't available commercially.

I just put it on random shuffle and let myself be surprised by the mix. It could play for days and never repeat a song.

OR if I'm in the mood I'll play some of my favorites that I've ripped to dvds that are a mix of songs with a theme or related genres.

However, if I have choices...I can choose to not listen to some music or some artists. OF course you have listen to them several times before you can make up your mind. I'm always willing to try something new. BUT..I know what I don't like.; 7/9/10, 12:39 PM
DADvocate said...: There seems to be this assumption that every single second needs to be filled with "entertainment". It's bizarre.

Truly bizarre. I hate going to professional and some college sporting events because of this. I like to talk with the people around me about the game and such, but we're confronted with blasts of noise so loud this is nearly impossible.; 7/9/10, 12:44 PM
traditionalguy said...: The noise and the beat that passes for music is also the attempt to drown out thoughts and conversations of our chosing. There may be a time for that, but it is not all the time. Bloomies is bad about playing that soft rock background music trying to draw you into a narcissistic funk. Fighting that seduction uses energy and is an irritation. The voices in those songs all seem to be in the throes of drug use or a hypnotic trance. That is my grouch for the day.; 7/9/10, 12:45 PM
wild chicken said...: We've gone to 3 country music stations in my town and that is some awful shit nowadays, with a buttload of lyrics besides. Ridiculous aping of old rock styles, maxed out noisy mixes, with phony macho posturing, pickup trucks sex tequila fighting, and that's just the women...

And the twentysomethings here in flyover love it and know all the words.; 7/9/10, 12:49 PM
Jana said...: @knox
I didn't know that one, so I looked up the video on Youtube.

This is, quite possibly the cheesiest video I've ever seen.

Crashing waves? Check!
Running on the beach? Check!
Soulful saxophone? Check!
Meaningful looks into the distance while the wind whips through the singer's hair? Check!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLxTEV5vpyg; 7/9/10, 12:49 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: This is, quite possibly the cheesiest video I've ever seen.

Bwahahaha....his hair! And the reverb on the beach.

Silence is also nice. Often, especially on a weekend we just sit in silence in our respective comfy chairs or on the deck and read or (in my case) do some needlework.; 7/9/10, 12:57 PM
reader_iam said...: WOOOORRRRRMMMMMS!!!!!!!!!!!!; 7/9/10, 1:10 PM
reader_iam said...: Really, I'm almost NEVER exposed to forced music, which is a great thing, due to our particular, somewhat unusual lifestyle.

Coincidentally, this morning I went to fill up the vehicle and there was music blaring forth. It was really noticeable because none of the stations we use at home do that, and in fact none of the ones we use driving across country do, either. So I'm surprised every year when I pop into the gas station nearest to my in-laws' home.

***

OTOH, forced music is sort of bothersome mostly due to volume. OTOH, I'm absolutely excellent at tuning (most of it) out (most of the time). Growing up in a dual professional musicians' home, with constant--and I do mean constant--rehearsals and private lessons going on (and my brother and I were always practicing one instrument or another, too), it became profoundly necessary. It wasn't AT all unusual to have people in three separate rooms in a smallish house going at it.

A baby's cry from next door? That I can't ignore. But a brass orchestra going at it forte in the next room? Noooooo problem, dudes.

***

However, I do appear to be equisitely, profoundly prone to earworms (sorry, Althouse, I know you hate that word), which in my case can be set off merely by reading a title or a snatch of lyric. [CURSING WHICHEVER COMMENTER HERE QUOTED A SNATCH OF "BILLY DON'T BE A HERO." MAY YOU GET TRAPPED IN AN ELEVATOR WITH YOUR LEAST FAVORITE SONG IN THE WORLD ON REPEAT.]

; ); 7/9/10, 1:17 PM
Clyde said...: I have to disagree. We're incredibly fortunate to have so much recorded music available to us, in so many genres and styles. If you go back more than 80 years or so, it was rare and hard to find. Prior to the age of radio, if you wanted to listen to music, you had to go to a concert or your local church, or else rely on your friends' amateur efforts. Quality was dicey at best unless you lived in a major city. I'm sure those pre-radio days were still noisy, it's just that music wasn't usually part of it.

Today, music is everywhere, and is even better than ever before, because so much music that was obscure and hard to find is now available from sources like iTunes, Amazon.com or YouTube. It's a cornucopia, and I love it!

These are the good old days.; 7/9/10, 1:31 PM
Paddy O said...: Clyde's ipod is half full.; 7/9/10, 1:37 PM
Clyde said...: Actually, my 32 GB iPod touch is just about full.; 7/9/10, 1:45 PM
Unknown said...: Muzak is like going out on a hot, sticky day. You do what you need to do while trying to minimize the effects of the environment around you.

Ann Althouse said...

"you have to take the bad (90%) to have any good (10%)"

If you applied that to sex, wouldn't you choose never to have sex again? I would!

I wouldn't apply it to food or anything necessary to survive, but I'm distressed by all the badness we are mired in. I'd much rather drown it out with nothingness. With sound, I'd love to be able to turn up the silence.

You liked it better in the Rockies last year, didn't you? Hot and humid gets on everybody's nerves.

Dave in Tucson said...

...

If I were given a choice right now [...] I would choose [deafness].

Althouse, how on earth did you get to where you are today if you really have such a low tolerance for inconvenience?

That "Off with their heads" thing usually worked.

WV "noncryma" Newspeak for "Chill, babe".; 7/9/10, 1:48 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: That is how I feel almost all the time that music is present because I dislike almost all the music that other people like.

Also, the worst song in the world is, clearly, I Want to Hold You 'Til I Die. The lyrics are so bad, they actually make me angry. I'm getting angry just thinking about how bad that song is. It makes me picture a sad man whimpering out a horrible poem while tears stream down his red, bloated face.; 7/9/10, 2:42 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: The only thing I hate more is TVs playing everywhere.

Yes!; 7/9/10, 2:43 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: That should have been "I Want to Hold You 'Til I Die." But if the italics made it more annoying by way of grammatical error, they were fitting.; 7/9/10, 2:57 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: "The only thing I hate more is TVs playing everywhere."

Yes!

Yes.

And what else is really disconcerting is to be visiting with family or friends and they never turn off the television. They aren't watching it at all.

We were invited guests so we aren't interrupting them, by rudely dropping by, from watching a favorite show or in the middle of a movie.

The television is just on all the time.; 7/9/10, 3:01 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: And what else is really disconcerting is to be visiting with family or friends and they never turn off the television. They aren't watching it at all.

Again, yes! Sometimes one must even scream over people's television noise to carry on regular conversation.; 7/9/10, 3:06 PM
Original Mike said...: "The only thing I hate more is TVs playing everywhere."

Yes!

Yes.

YES!!!; 7/9/10, 3:12 PM
Anonymous said...: Dave in Tucson: Althouse, how on earth did you get to where you are today if you really have such a low tolerance for inconvenience?

Because "forced music environments" have been proliferating exponentially in recent years, at constantly increasing volume, to the point where it's like living with the squawking telescreen from 1984, or wearing Harrison Bergeron's dad's anti-thinking headset.

It's not as if personal music devices aren't freely available and affordable - personal choice in music is more accessible and affordable than at any time in history. So exactly why is it necessary that I be deprived of any choice at all in having corporate shit-pop rammed into my head every time I enter a public space? (Except, god bless 'em, Target, as hawkeyedjb notes.)

And yes, I consider it more than an "inconvenience" that I should have to invest in Bose headphones just to spare myself being ear-raped at the dentist, the grocery store, the doctor's waiting room, the department store, the gas station, the airport, the gym, etc., etc., etc. Sensory input has it's uses, ya know, and I'd just as soon not have to cut myself off from possibly important sensory information in a public space.

I cancelled a membership at the very nice local gym because of this. Every member had personal music and headphones, every aerobic machine had its own TV ready for headphones. And yet the corporate shit-pop was still blasted non-stop and at such high volume that it drowned out personal listening even at the highest volumes. I mean, wtf? Let's not even get into the otherwise excellent restaurants that I just don't patronize anymore.

I would think this would bother anybody who had any real appreciation for music (of any genre). I don't want a "forced music environment" even for music I love.

It's a cultural (bad) habit akin to piggish, indiscriminate eating. It's for people who don't care what crap is shoved in their ears, as long as it's all noise all the time, just like like they don't care what crap they shove in their mouths, as long as the feed-bag is strapped on and constantly refilled. "Music" at high volume in every freakin' public space possible is a form of gluttony. Pigs is pigs.; 7/9/10, 3:12 PM
hawkeyedjb said...: Angelyne - have you stolen my identity?? Your rant could have come off my keyboard if I had more time and creativity...

I travel a lot, and was in an airport once where the overhead music was loud, screechy and ubiquitous. I happened on one of those airport host-helper types, and asked her politely if there was anyplace I could go in the airport to get away from the music. She looked at me like I had three heads, then asked "Why? You don't like music?" It never occured to her that maybe I do like music, and that's why I can't stand the overhead tin-speaker sh*t.; 7/9/10, 3:30 PM
Alex said...: One thing I notice about old people is that they tend to find everything intolerable. I hope I don't end up like that when I'm old.; 7/9/10, 4:18 PM
Alex said...: I cancelled a membership at the very nice local gym because of this. Every member had personal music and headphones, every aerobic machine had its own TV ready for headphones. And yet the corporate shit-pop was still blasted non-stop and at such high volume that it drowned out personal listening even at the highest volumes. I mean, wtf? Let's not even get into the otherwise excellent restaurants that I just don't patronize anymore.

I would think this would bother anybody who had any real appreciation for music (of any genre). I don't want a "forced music environment" even for music I love.

I think 95% of the people love the corporate pop shit. Otherwise why would the gym(mine does it) be blasting it at full volume non stop? Yeah I listen to my own music as a sanity saver.; 7/9/10, 4:20 PM
Alex said...: Today, music is everywhere, and is even better than ever before, because so much music that was obscure and hard to find is now available from sources like iTunes, Amazon.com or YouTube. It's a cornucopia, and I love it!

These are the good old days.

Not when corporate pop shit is being forced on you wherever you go. Now if they played alt-rock instead of the pop shit I would be ok.; 7/9/10, 4:22 PM
Gahrie said...: ♫ And as he started to go, she said "Billy, keep your head low, oh oh... ♫

Billy Don't Be A Hero was one of my favorite songs as a young lad.....my relatives still tease me with the fact that I used to go around singing it all of the time.....; 7/9/10, 4:23 PM
David said...: Turn that thing off, Meade.; 7/9/10, 4:24 PM
Gahrie said...: I have a harddrive with over 240 gigs of music on it....; 7/9/10, 4:26 PM
Geoff Matthews said...: Strong words from a Dylan fan.; 7/9/10, 4:32 PM
NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: If it's too loud, you're too old.; 7/9/10, 4:53 PM
Aurelian said...: So we are really not talking about music vs. no music. We are talking about listening to music when you do not have a choice to listen to it or not. Interestingly enough I have been studying Benedictine spirituality and the hardest thing for novices to deal with is the lack of noise since the Benedictines place a high value on silence. Most people could not deal with total silence and would need some kind of backround noise. We just want to be able to choose the kind of backround noise.; 7/9/10, 5:14 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I don't know about that. I don't think I'd make a good monk, but I drive in silence often. Almost never have anything on in the background at home. I like silence.; 7/9/10, 5:33 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Or maybe I'm just strange. Do most people have background music on?; 7/9/10, 5:37 PM
dbp said...: A while back Althouse put up a post called, The Gold Liquid Café.

The below comment was one of the best: A perfect little essay in the middle of a comment thread. And it applies as well to this post.

Michael_H said...
I developed an odd habit during this past summer. I am a motorcycle rider who enjoys taking off a few weeks now and then
and logging 3,000-5,000 miles.
I began wearing foam earplugs under my helmet this summer on the advice of my physician, in order to reduce the noise that leads to hearing loss. I have come to enjoy the quiet that comes from wearing earplugs. Weird, eh? Wearing them makes the ride very quiet, with only a little engine, road and
wind noise intruding. Over a few months I began keeping them in after each ride ended,and wearing them while mowing the lawn as well.
After that, I began wearing them when I went shopping in a mall. And
quite a few other places as well, but never when out in the wilderness.
The strange part is, I've come to enjoy the quiet. I can hear my own
footfalls; my own breathing. I can pretend to not hear people who want my attention.
My wife is in on it, and now she sometimes wears her earplugs when we are out shopping. It feels like we are aliens from another planet, quietly making
our way unnoticed among earthlings.
A nice young woman at a Barnes and Noble noticed and asked whether we
needed a signer. I said "no, we learned to read lips a long time ago. At
Galluadet.
"When we got to our car, laughing, my wife said "read my lips: I'm an
alien from the planet of the horny women".
Welcome to the quiet world!; 7/9/10, 5:50 PM
hawkeyedjb said...: "Or maybe I'm just strange. Do most people have background music on?"

NO. Never. And it's not that I don't like music; what I don't like is amplified music. And I don't mind background noise, as long as it's natural. One of the joys of eating out in France is that most restaurants haven't adopted the barbarian practice of forcing music on their customers. The murmur of conversation is much more pleasant than anything they could pump through speakers. And that includes Mahler, Yanni, or "Billy Don't be a Hero".; 7/9/10, 6:25 PM
Anonymous said...: I'm a little bit hard of hearing. Not badly, enough that I can participate in conversations with most people without my hearing aide (but there are some that I really need it for)(yes, I'm 30 and I wear a hearing aide). One advantage of that is that I really don't notice the problems you guys are talking about. I can hear the public music, but rarely to the point that I notice it enough to be bothered.
- Lyssa; 7/9/10, 6:43 PM
blake said...: Glad to see others share my TV hatred.

My hatred of which goes back to grade school days, so I don't think it's an age thing.; 7/9/10, 7:32 PM
dbp said...: I hate, hate, hate visiting people who run the TV all the time as background noise.

I have had their kids turn our TV on while the room is full of people conversing & etc. It did not stay on.

I don't go turning theirs off, though I would like to.; 7/9/10, 7:56 PM
Banshee said...: I worked a temp job for a week at an easy listening station. One of the features was that they allowed people to request a certain song to be played at a certain time every day.

Every day, the same song at the same time.

It wasn't a bad job except for listening to that same playlist every day.; 7/9/10, 8:20 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "ahhh why don't you listen to music you like and don't listen to music you don't like."

I do that if I have to, but when I want silence, I want silence, not different noise. I don't want earphones in all the time. I want to be *in* the place where I am, not tuned out of it. We were in fact sitting in the very nice lobby lounge of our hotel, and I was trying to write. It hurt my concentration and degraded the ambience (which we were paying for). No one else was around, so the music we hated was entirely for us.

There was also one of those flat-screen TVs attached to the wall, tuned to Fox News. Fortunately, the sound was off, but I hated the jumpy, flashy distraction.; 7/10/10, 1:31 PM
*** said...: I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I hate music. All of it. I am not generalizing, I'm being honest. If I could go the rest of my life and never hear any music again, I would be happy. I know someone out there is going to say something about birds chirping as music and ambient noise as music, etc... I'm talking about a human being that is bringing order to sound, in time, and producing a product for people to listen to. That is what I'm sick of. I'm so glad someone has written on this topic.; 8/1/10, 11:06 AM
Alex said...: For those tired of the same old, try some alternative/progressive rock.; 8/6/10, 11:44 AM
Unknown said...: I think everyone posting here doesn't get it. You gripe about types of music, or the standard of music, or sugest better music to listen to, or declare what you do and don't like, or think this is just frustration that there is "so much bad music"... some people hate ALL music. I am one of them. ALL OF IT... It makes me sick, and I am bombarded by the manipulative, mood altering, annoying garbage everywhere and in everything. Every television show, movie, commercial, grocery store, coffe shope, everywhere. And there is NO music I like - in fact none I can tolerate... And yes, I have heard TONS of it. You will not win me over to any of it and as soon as the first note or drum beat or vocalization sounds I wish I were deaf... THere will never be an exception to this rule for me...Yet, it is an inescapable invasion that you can never, ever be free of, invading every single aspect of life.... even at work, my assistant has it on all the time and I can't say a word about it as it will be hurtful and make her job less pleasant. It doesn't matter that to me it is torture, no matter what music she could play - to hate music is to be non-human... Ok, then I am not human. Fine.

I really hate the stuff and how it is used everywhere constantly... like a posonous gas pervading all things.

We are sensitive to allergies, to phobias, to all sorts of sensitivities in life, except this one that people dare not declare and no one understands... The brainwashed music drones force it down out throats- an inescapable hell. The only reason I don't even the deaf is the inconvenience of it as music is truly a touch of hell on earth.; 10/3/10, 1:05 AM
Unknown said...: I too hate music. *face darkened by a shadow so as to not reveal identity*

I feel like the fucking grinch when I say something like that but I just like SILENCE. I'm done with music starting today, I'm taking a long break from it. I'm tired of feeling pressured to listen to it or have these bands I 'like'. I can barely tolerate most music. Not to mention music has been so corporatized and the integrity corrupted because of the affluence of money. The messages in it are often times horrible. It's like having something else's thoughts smashing into yours continuously.

I'll bet I'll get more work done.; 3/31/11, 9:22 PM
Anonymous said...: I too hate music - and loud noises in general. I don't care for music at all. Previously I was a heavy listener. Until the habit damaged my hearing forever. Now I can't stand it at all. Whether it was written today or a thousand years ago, I don't care. It's all unnecessary.

Call me a monk; I would gladly listen to silence for the rest of my life.; 7/30/14, 9:01 PM