Yesterday I was in a restaurant in midtown Manhattan–not a full-tilt restaurant, more like a La Pain Quotidion style joint–and I was having trouble having a conversation over the din of the music that was playing. Was it even music? It’s hard to describe the sounds emanating from the speakers above. There were percussive noises, a relentless underlaying of bass line figures and voices–plural–singing…though I’m not really sure that they were words, more like grunts and barks and shouts. It was loud, distracting and not really suited to the vibe of the place which was a rather nice, low-key bakery/coffee/sandwich hang. I asked our server if she could turn the music down a little. The answer was no. Why not, asked I? “Because that’s the volume the owners want it at” was the reply. I shrugged it off. Conversations like this used to enrage me. Now they merely make me tired. But something good came of it; I got to thinking about the background music of yore that used to be piped into various public spaces–supermarkets, department stores, dentist offices, elevators and, yes, chain restaurants. This music–known as Muzak–has more or less disappered from our culture but it hasn’t disappeared from YouTube and today/tonight/wheneveryoureadthis I’m offering up an hour of the stuff. It makes a lovely accompaniment to nothing in particular and if you’re a certain age–like I am–it will take you back to a different time, one in which percussive, loud, unidentifiable sounds only existed in auto mechanic shops, welding factories, and the subway. Happy shopping!