Yesterday. I was in Music Hell.
I was working in an office that listens to some softrock, nonsense, easily forgotten radio station. I was replacing hard drives and reimaging laptops, actually enjoying myself, when the radio station played the Carpenter's "Close to Me." I tried to block it out (I'm usually good at blocking out bad music, I have a teenager) but that particular song has a way of entering the brain as if it had a purpose.
One of the women in the office commented that the radio was playing all music from the 70's that hour, and wasn't this just a wonderful song? They played it at her prom. The song ended and I thought 70's does not need to be all bad. When I think of 70's, I think Springsteen, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Doors, The Who, Rolling Stones. Even music that wasn't great, such as Queen or possibly Meatloaf, was at least fun. And there was some great R&B music like Sly, James Brown, Aretha, Gladys Knight. I was hopeful.
The next song was "Chevy Van", by some artist that I've obviously chosen to block from my memory.
The point to remember is that this is not my office and I have no control over the music. I just have to put my head down and work. And these are songs that stay with you, stay in your head, and bring the agony to you throughout the day.
I was almost done with the machines, and I just knew this station couldn't play anything worse.
Of course, I was wrong. I heard laughing from within the gates of hell.
The next song was "Clap for the Wolfman".
I was definitely in hell.
Now it isn't all bad. When I left that office of terrible music and got into my car, I heard "Funeral March for a Marionette". I knew I had escaped from my personal hell.
1 month ago
8 comments:
I guess we all have our own personal hells that we carry around with us privately. Your hell and mine are not the same. But, why should they be?
Whaddya mean, Queen wasn't good? Queen was great!
No, I don't consider Queen to be "good", although I thought that when I was 15.
Their music is fun.
You're totally dismissing the musical stylings of the Captain and Tenille, Helen Reddy, and Barry Manilow. Chevy Van? How about 'Disco Duck' and 'Seasons in the Sun'?
SG wrote:
You're totally dismissing the musical stylings of the Captain and Tenille, Helen Reddy, and Barry Manilow. Chevy Van? How about 'Disco Duck' and 'Seasons in the Sun'?
I have not only dismissed them, I've purged them from my memory.
You ever hear the joke that starts "Stevie Ray Vaughn dies, wakes up in the afterlife...?"
Huh, weird. I love classic rock, I mean a LOT. I'm listening to it now. Spirit in the Sky just came on. My classic rock station plays all kinds of great stuff from the 60s-90s, and none of the crappy stuff. Okay, maybe once in a blue moon they'll play some ZZ Flop and there's way too much George Throughlybad for my tastes, but all in all, usually tip-top.
This news you bring me is disturbing. Apparently there is a new assault on good music: radio stations that play nothing but appallingly bad 70s music. We must find a way to destroy them before they destroy us all.
Nate,
I've given up on commercial radio. I listen to public radio stations and college stations.
Of course my tastes have changed in the past 30 years.
I just can't seem to get enough classical music!
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