WEBVTT - Selects: Muzak: Easy Listening Goodness 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:03.239 Hey, there, everybody, it's me Josh, and for this week's 0:00:03.320 --> 0:00:07.039 SYSK Selects, I've chosen our twenty twenty one episode on Musak. 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:11.120 And you might ask, who could possibly like the noisome, 0:00:11.440 --> 0:00:16.360 omnipresent annoyance that was Musak? Well me, I like Muzak. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.280 So there. But if you're not over forty, you might 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:21.639 not even know that there was a time you couldn't 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.680 step out in public from department stores. Those are in 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:29.560 something we call malls to elevators without smalltzy string arrangements 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:32.960 of pop music pummeling you with their saccharine sound, and 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:37.519 you know what, you're the worst offtware not having experienced it. Instead, 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.599 you can experience this episode, and I hope you enjoy it. 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:53.920 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:55.840 --> 0:00:58.960 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and 0:00:59.000 --> 0:01:03.400 there's Charles w You, Chuck Bryan over there, and there's Dave. 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:07.880 See Coustin. I said it right this time. 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:10.040 I thought it was Coustain. 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:14.200 No, if you're in France, that's how you would say it. 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:16.880 But here in the United States, you say Coustin. 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:21.760 Can I start this off by saying something, Oh. 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:23.800 Boy, I'm worried about what you're going to say about. 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:28.240 Okay, well, this episode is on muzak, and I started 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.679 thinking last night. I was thinking about your love of musak, 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:34.360 which is not at all ironic. 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.560 Not in the least, but you can't say that kind 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:38.200 of thing these days. People don't believe you. 0:01:38.440 --> 0:01:41.200 I know it's true everyone. I know Josh very well, 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.039 and I was thinking of your and I like all 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.120 kinds of music too, but you know, at my heart, 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:48.360 I'm a rock and roll guy. Sure, And I was 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:52.080 thinking about your top musical genres that are above rock 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:56.160 and roll, and you're picking order, not in order. I 0:01:56.280 --> 0:02:03.240 counted easy listening, musak, disco, art rock, crowd rock, and 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:04.600 I probably missed a couple. 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.800 Crowd rock is below rock and roll. I want to 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:10.080 like crowdrock, it just doesn't quite jibe with me. I 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:11.400 like some, but not all of it. 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:13.679 And then stuff I think art rock because it's just 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.440 sort of that avant garde, like I don't you don't 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.560 love Yoko, but you certainly are a bit of a 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:23.320 Yoko apologist. Sure, Grace Jones stuff like that, But I. 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:26.120 Love Grace Jones for sure. What about talking heads? They 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.160 go in there too, right, they'd probably be. I mean 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:31.040 they literally went to art school together. 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.800 Yeah, I mean they kind of span from art rock 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:36.560 to new wave to like world music by the time 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:37.160 they finished. 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:41.240 Yeah, yeah, I know, but uh yeah. 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.080 I mean, I certainly love the Talking Heads, but all 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.800 of those, for you are above good old fashioned rock 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:46.120 and roll. 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:49.160 I think, Yeah, you also left out nineties tech noo. 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:51.280 I've been listening to a lot of that accutely too, 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:53.680 like Alternate and the Prodigy and everything. 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:56.000 But you love music, you really do. 0:02:57.639 --> 0:02:58.320 I do too. 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:01.359 Actually, I don't know, so I don't know how much 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:04.120 I like. I will listen to some of that stuff 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:06.480 and we'll talking about we'll talk about emo in here, 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:13.040 of course, old sourpust Brian Eno, but I love listening 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:17.200 to his ambient stuff, which he sort of wrote as 0:03:17.200 --> 0:03:20.280 an antidote to music. Again. We'll talk about that more later. 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:24.960 But I do like in certain circumstances that music thing 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:29.680 is really great to have on in my house as 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:32.320 background music, and it's sorts that same purpose. 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.200 One of the big reasons why too, is because you 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.440 can get stuff done with it. Like lyrics can be 0:03:38.520 --> 0:03:42.040 so distracting, they just latch onto your brain and say no, no, 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.640 pay attention to me. I'm I'm talking to you now. 0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:48.920 Music does the opposite of that. It says, go be free, 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.040 but also enjoy this, Like there's there's like a whole 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.680 part of your brain that music can tap into that 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:59.360 doesn't require your conscious thought, but it still produces like 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.920 good feeling. And you know, like Peo, people just smack 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.000 music around like it's just it's so bland and it's 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:09.600 so soulless, and I totally disagree with that. Like if 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:14.240 you actually stop and listen to music, it's really really 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:18.839 technically proficient. It's frequently well done. It's often very clever 0:04:19.279 --> 0:04:24.200 and creative and inventive, which is really saying something. Because 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:26.640 you're doing this when they in the confines of covering 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.919 an existing song in a way that makes it familiar 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.800 and easy to recognize but also takes away any intrusiveness 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:36.599 that it might have. It's tough to do. And I really, 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.479 I just I love music. You're absolutely right, Like I 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:42.279 listened to music this whole time. Yeah, not just when 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.520 we were when we were researching music today, but also 0:04:45.920 --> 0:04:49.120 when I was researching the Havana syndrome, and I realized, 0:04:49.160 --> 0:04:51.080 like this is my normal thing. This is the same 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:53.720 stuff I listen to when I'm researching anyway. 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:56.240 Yeah, and we can go ahead and dispell a couple 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:58.919 of or not myths, but clear up a couple of 0:04:58.920 --> 0:05:02.040 things right off the bat. First of all, Musak is 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:06.280 a name brand, and people can kind of collectively use 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.880 the term music or have collectively use that term for 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:13.640 what's called like potted plant music or elevator music or 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.520 shopping music. But it is actual actually a brand name, 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.640 which we'll get to the history of. And then the 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:26.240 second thing is it gets the name elevator music. Part 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.279 of the myth is that people said, well, they put 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:30.599 it on elevators because people were afraid to death of 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:33.320 elevators early on, and it calmed people down, or it 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:35.360 covered up the noise of the clanking elevators. 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:37.000 I'd never heard that before. You. 0:05:37.400 --> 0:05:40.440 Yeah, neither one of those things are true. Total myth. 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:46.240 My guess is that it was played on elevators, and 0:05:46.279 --> 0:05:50.240 because you're in such a closed little box that's usually quiet, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:53.640 it just was way more noticeable than like in a 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:56.080 big office full of people working. So people call the 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:56.840 elevator music. 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:59.640 That's my guess, right, Yeah, I mean, yeah, there wasn't 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:03.520 music gone elevators before? Before several decades in the twentieth century, Like, 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.320 there weren't many elevators you could get on because people 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.520 didn't have elevators in their house. It was a public 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:14.920 building you were in where they weren't playing music of 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.640 some form very frequently music. 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:23.320 That Great Blues Brothers scene, Yeah, yeah. 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.599 Because they're they're going up to what the Cook County 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:30.480 Assessor's office and the like. There there's the entire Chicago 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.720 Police Department is after them, but they're forced to get 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.240 on this elevator and the girl from Ipanema is playing. 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:40.000 I think my favorite part of that scene is there's 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:43.240 just dozens and hundreds of cops and swat guys just 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.599 you know, hut when they're repelling and doing all this stuff. 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:50.120 And then there's the one shot of the lone guy 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:52.480 repelling down the side of the building and he's by 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:53.800 himself just going hut. 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:57.240 Yeah. 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:58.760 That's a good one, so funny. 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:01.839 There's another scene from around the era a few years 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:09.120 later from Airplane two where it's like ripped Torn. I 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:13.040 believe it's Ripped Torn. The party from the Larry Sanders Show. Yeah, yeah, 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:14.960 and I don't know the other guy he's talking to. 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:17.360 But anyway, they're walking and talking and they have to 0:07:17.360 --> 0:07:20.480 get on an elevator and the elevator door opens and 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:26.680 it's just blaring, like ear drum shattering decibel MacArthur Park 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:28.720 and they have to get on. People are coming off 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.080 the elevator like with their hands and their ears like 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:35.040 with splitting headaches from this. But it's just completely the 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.440 opposite way elevator music's supposed to be like. But it's 0:07:38.440 --> 0:07:40.760 a good little scene too, as far as elevator music 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:41.480 goes well. 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:42.880 I mean that's kind of one of the points too, 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.040 is Musak has long been a movie trope and a 0:07:46.080 --> 0:07:48.960 TV trope and then been lampooned and scenes just like 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.440 the Blues brother scene where there's something chaotic going on 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:55.040 and then you cut back to the sound of Musaic 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.520 playing wherever the other scene is setting. Right, Yeah, very 0:07:58.600 --> 0:07:59.320 very fun stuff. 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.440 But that's started, a guess it started with The Blues Brothers, 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.480 which came out in nineteen eighty, But before that that 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.680 was like Musak was not really lampoon I mean, not 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.760 everybody liked it. It really kind of started to get 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:15.800 a little backlash in the late sixties early seventies, as 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:19.040 we'll see, but there was a very significant chunk of 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:23.880 the twentieth century again from maybe nineteen fifty to nineteen eighty. 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:28.360 We'll say where everywhere you went in public, including if 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.320 you took a Greyhound bus, or if you were on 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:34.840 a plane, or you happened to be an Air Force one, 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.400 or you were at the mall, in an elevator at 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:43.360 your office, everywhere muzak was playing. There was musach playing everywhere. 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:47.439 It was just a part of life that you was inescapable. 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.520 Actually. Yeah, so let's go back in time and talk 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:54.960 about the inventor of muzak. And this is sort of 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:59.319 a fun fact of muzak. The man's name is George Square. 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:03.880 It is spelled Squire, but he swears it's pronounced square. 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:06.360 I'm really impressed, man, I had not come up with. 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:08.400 That one or he swore it was pronounced square. Yeah, 0:09:08.440 --> 0:09:09.680 this is kind of one of the funny jokes, like 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:14.960 the guy who invented mus x was Square. But Major 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:18.600 General George Square was born in eighteen sixty five, if 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.480 you believe that, And he is just a laundry list 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:26.440 of accomplishments as a human being. He was he earned 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:30.240 a doctorate from Johns Hopkins in electrical science. He was 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:35.600 an Army engineer with a PhD. I think the first one. Yeah, 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:39.240 and he was I believe the lead Signal Corps officer 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:40.280 for the Army as well. 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:45.040 He was. He also was inducted into the National Academy 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.120 of Sciences, which connects this episode to the other one today. 0:09:48.559 --> 0:09:50.640 That's right, because he came up with something called a 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:53.280 tree telephone. He figured out how to use any tree, 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:59.040 but preferably one with fully leaved I guess, I don't 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.240 know what you'd call that as a as a receiver 0:10:02.880 --> 0:10:05.400 and transmitter for radio signals. He figured out how to 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:06.880 use a tree, a living tree for that. 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.000 He was. Here's another fun fact. He was one of 0:10:10.040 --> 0:10:14.480 the first airplane passengers ever because he was way into 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:19.319 human flight and got together with the Wright brothers and 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:23.320 a nineteen oh six, consulted with them, and they said, hey, 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:25.719 why don't you take a ride in our new little biplane. 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:28.400 You'll probably live right. 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:31.280 I looked at our I looked at the document for 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:34.640 our Wright Brothers episode, and he did not appear. I 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:36.960 don't think we mentioned him, but he might. He might 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.880 have been the first airline passenger from what I saw. 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.880 Yeah, where he really made a big name for himself 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:49.400 pre Musaic was this invention, which is what we call multiplexing, 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:54.080 which is he figured out or maybe wire wireless communications, 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:56.240 which is something he worked on with the Army. He 0:10:56.280 --> 0:11:01.120 basically figured out how to get multiple uses out of 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:05.280 single telephone lines. Telephone wires were you know, there are 0:11:05.280 --> 0:11:07.600 only so many, so you were really limited as to 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:09.640 what you could do with them and how many people 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.640 could use them. So he basically figured out a way 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:17.800 to increase their output and efficiency by multiplexing and by 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:22.320 sending super imposing high frequency radio signals over those low 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:25.680 frequency telegraph signals, basically just allowing you to use the 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:27.880 wire at the same time, the same wire. 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:30.360 Yeah, yeah, I mean it's like, if you think of 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:33.080 like a wave, if it's low frequency, there's big, wide 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.000 gaps in between. You can fit a higher frequency that's 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.439 tighter and squished together in those gaps, and but you're 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:43.280 still using the same line. And you know, this was 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:46.240 the guy who came up with that. That's an enormous 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:50.760 advancement in telecommunications that were still put in use today 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:55.000 in some applications, but definitely helped like the early Internet along. 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:59.840 It was just a huge contribution to humanity, like forget 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.760 even just music, like just that alone would would probably 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:06.720 warrant like an episode for George Square. 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.040 Yeah, and I think he was like, everyone should be 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:11.640 able to use this, So I'm going to open source 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:15.720 it and everyone can use this new multiplexing technology. AT 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.280 and T came along and said, we'll use it, and 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:20.000 then you know what, you've stole it from us. 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:23.960 Actually right, he came up with it, but since he 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:26.200 left it open, they decided to just take it from 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:27.719 him and sue him for it. 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:30.319 I think he sued them, but it didn't work. 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:34.600 That's right, you're right, so he but he still was 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:39.320 able to use this wire wireless technology with multiplexing. And 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:43.720 at the time people were starting to get into radio broadcasts. 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:47.440 But radio wireless radio like that you would just have 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:49.800 in your house. It's picking up radio waves at a 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:53.240 station that was not widespread at the time. So George 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.880 Square said, you know what, I understand people want music 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:57.559 in their house. I'm going to give it to them. 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.760 I'm going to use that multiplexing technology and I'm going 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:05.960 to run sound waves over the electrical wires that go 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:08.240 into the house, and I'm going to sell this it 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.600 is brilliant. I'm going to sell this service to people's 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:13.640 homes for a dollar fifty a month, about twenty dollars today, 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:17.760 and it's just part of your utility bill because it's 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.160 coming in through your electrical company. And there's actually a 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:26.160 section of Cleveland called the Lakewood I believe Lakewood area 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:32.559 that was the pilot for this wired wireless radio that 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.640 George Square invented. The problem was is, by the time 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:41.319 they deployed it, wireless radio was already a thing, and 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:44.600 so we had this really great idea that just no 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.040 longer had an application. 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.079 Yeah, he was. He basically invented the first music subscription 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:51.320 service exactly. 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.559 Yeah. And he had multiple channels too, Like when you subscribed, 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:59.160 you got news, you got dance music. There was like 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:01.320 I think three different channels you could choose. 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:01.920 From Howard Stern. 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:06.080 Yep, Howard Stern was on back. 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:10.320 Then Baba Boobie. So he had that technology though, and 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:12.840 he said, you know what, this is a good idea, 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:15.760 though maybe I can think of how to use this 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:20.320 in offices and stores. And in nineteen thirty four he 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.440 looked up at Kodak, very successful corporation and said, I 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:26.640 love that name, and I love music. Let's just call 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:31.200 it music and history changed and maybe we should take 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:31.640 a break. 0:14:31.920 --> 0:15:02.440 Okay, let's do it all right, We'll be right back. So, 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:06.400 in the parlance of today, Chuck George Square and his 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:14.320 Musak Corporation pivoted from home consumer markets to business markets. 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.760 And that just knocked it out of the park because 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:23.240 it turned out that there were a lot of companies, hotels, restaurants, clubs. 0:15:23.280 --> 0:15:27.320 I think the Stork Club was an early customer that said, 0:15:27.400 --> 0:15:29.440 you know what, it's really going to make our place 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:34.040 seem fancy if we've got music piping in all the time. 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:37.120 So yes, we would like to sign up for your service. 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.680 And that's really where music kind of started to take off. 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:45.360 Yeah, so Musak, I mean we haven't even said what 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:49.800 it is, surely people know, but muzak are instrumental tracks. 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:52.880 And you did mention that there were no vocals, so 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.080 we kind of hinted the big one. Yeah, but there 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:59.920 are instrumental tracks that are cover songs of kind of 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:01.840 anything you can think of. I mean that have hearts, 0:16:01.840 --> 0:16:06.640 some music of some heavy rock. It can be classical music, 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:09.120 it can be old standards. But the point is they 0:16:09.120 --> 0:16:11.640 are instrumental versions that are re recorded. They don't just 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:15.120 take the vocals out. It's not carry oukay style, right, 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:20.440 It is re record arranged and recorded by professional, really 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:25.720 good musicians orchestras. Sometimes, Yeah, and it is, that's what 0:16:25.760 --> 0:16:27.440 it is, and it's great the end. 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:32.080 And very very frequently it's it's made into a much 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.200 more mellow version of itself, Like any rough edges are 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:39.320 taken off. Since they take the vocals out, it's not 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:42.480 like there's no there that vocal melody is non existing 0:16:42.520 --> 0:16:45.040 any longer. They just replace it with something else. So 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:47.440 if they're trying to go for something like a little 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:51.160 more upbeat or up tempo, they'll replace the vocals with, 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.680 say like a saxophone. If they're trying to do something 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:56.440 a little more mellow, they'll replace the vocals with a 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:57.600 string section. 0:16:57.760 --> 0:16:58.800 Or harp perhaps. 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:01.400 Yeah. That's one of the things that that musaic is 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:05.000 very famous for, is like what's called masses of strings, 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:08.240 just strings upon strings. In fact, one of the early 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:14.359 I guess big name groups that produced musak was called 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:19.000 one hundred and one Strings. They probably were absolutely accurate 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:24.040 in that, like there's just a lot tons of strings everywhere, violins, 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.720 cello's violas, every string instrument you can throw at it. 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:31.640 They just layer upon layer in these songs. It's one 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:33.359 of the hallmarks of musak. 0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:38.320 Yeah, and there are many versions of Antonio Carlos Shobiam's 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.320 Go from Epanima, but the music version is one of 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.880 the most popular, and that one hundred and one strings 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:48.959 version is the most ubiquitous from that lot. I do 0:17:49.040 --> 0:17:51.240 encourage people to go watch the YouTube though, of Frank 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:55.119 Sinatra and Joe Beim singing that song live on TV, 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:59.320 because it's great and every way they're just sitting next 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:01.800 to each other, and the shot isn't wide at first, 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:03.480 and they're just sort of singing back and forth to 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:05.840 each other and Frank Stone is saying, then it cuts 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.760 to the wide and Frank is like totally kicked back 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:11.960 with his legs crossed with a cigarette in his hand, 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.680 exactly like you would hope. But he looks like, I mean, 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:17.480 it looks like he just not rolled out of bed 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.240 because he's put together, but he looks like he rolled 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.320 from his wicker bag to his wicker chair right for 0:18:23.359 --> 0:18:24.119 this performance. 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:26.480 Can I get some cocaine in here? Baby? 0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:30.160 So it's Joe Piscopos, Frank Sinatra. 0:18:30.920 --> 0:18:32.760 Do you ever listen to Joe beam stuff? 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.840 Oh yeah, dude, I love that old lounge stuff. It's 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:37.159 really great Brazilian stuff. 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:41.359 Yeah. His record Stone Flower is just a masterpiece from 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:42.320 beginning to end. 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:44.160 Yeah. But that's a good party music. 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:47.040 Yeah. That's another thing though too. It's like it's so 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:52.000 mellow that to take that kind of music and then 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:56.280 make it into musak is like it's almost like it 0:18:56.320 --> 0:19:00.919 takes a certain amount of audacity, Like I was listening 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:03.199 to I found so there's want to I want to 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:07.000 point people the two different music records that are on YouTube. 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:12.520 One is called More Than Music, Period and Environment. It's 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:16.119 a nineteen eighty one musak record and it has a 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:19.080 version of Sailing Christopher Crosses Sailing. 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:20.760 One of the most area music sleep. 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:25.439 Yeah exactly. They figured out how to basically make you 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:30.840 lose control of your bladder listening to this exactly. Yeah, 0:19:30.880 --> 0:19:32.679 that's a good one. And then the other one is 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:37.920 called the Blue Album, uh, and it is from nineteen 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.440 seventy four, I believe, And it's just both of them 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:45.439 are really great. That's good good introductions to musaic if 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:47.640 you're not into it already, all right. 0:19:47.560 --> 0:19:50.640 So music is trucking along in the thirties. They get 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:53.879 to the forties and they think, you know what, we 0:19:53.920 --> 0:19:56.040 need a better way to sell this stuff and to 0:19:56.119 --> 0:20:01.320 pitch this to businesses and corporations. So why don't we 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:06.280 hire some people to research music and to figure out 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:09.920 what kinds of music keep people happy and working? And 0:20:10.040 --> 0:20:12.399 because people, you know, they work hard in the morning, 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.720 and then they sort of lag a bit before lunch, 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.000 and then they really lag sort of a couple of 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:20.000 hours after lunch. So why don't we do this? So 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:22.679 why don't we study it? Let's call it stimulus progression. 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:28.639 It's a bit pseudoscience. It makes sense it is in 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:32.080 that it's not been proven. It makes sense to everyone 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:36.040 who I feel like knows about it, Like sure, music 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:38.960 can pick you up and make you work harder, But 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:41.800 it's pseudoscience in that it's I don't think it's ever 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:43.000 been scientifically proven. 0:20:43.320 --> 0:20:46.000 I gotcha, okay, yeah, because I keep seeing it just 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:49.040 like dismissed as pseudoscience. But then there were plenty of 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.919 early studies that were done by legitimate industrial psychologists and 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:55.959 other like efficiency experts, that kind of thing that showed 0:20:55.960 --> 0:21:02.240 that there really was a significant like improvement and productivity 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:05.640 or less sick days, that kind of stuff in places 0:21:05.680 --> 0:21:08.640 that have musaic compared to places that didn't have music 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:09.840 pumped into the office. 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:14.280 Yeah, I think maybe they're specific claims about a work day. Okay, 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.680 might have been a little I mean everywhere I read 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:20.840 said it was basically not a marketing scam, but a 0:21:20.880 --> 0:21:23.800 marketing tool that they kind of invented. 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:26.879 I gotcha. But so one thing to say about this 0:21:27.480 --> 0:21:29.920 we're going to talk about it in a second stimulus progression, 0:21:30.359 --> 0:21:34.560 is that they did kind of plow money that they 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:37.159 were making. We're making a lot of money starting in 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:41.320 the late forties early fifties, they plowed it back into 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:45.320 research to basically come up with scientific evidence to back 0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:48.480 up their claims, which you can really kind of see 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:52.200 the ghost of George Square still looming over the company, 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:56.560 you know, this decade or so after he died. That 0:21:56.640 --> 0:22:01.960 it's always been this kind of science interested, if not 0:22:02.160 --> 0:22:06.959 science based company that's also been an early adopter of technology, 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:07.679 as we'll see. 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:10.600 Yeah, I mean that is certainly fair. It was never 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:12.400 just like, hey, we're just going to play a bunch 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:16.560 of what people might consider droll background music, like they 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:19.320 really did. I think I don't think it was a scam. 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:23.800 I think they really did try to study working environments. 0:22:24.040 --> 0:22:27.160 And what they did with his stimulus progression was they 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:32.240 divided the work day into fifteen minute increments and basically 0:22:32.480 --> 0:22:37.679 set a DJ playlist every fifteen minutes, and they assigned 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:40.000 a stimulus value from one to six, one being really 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:43.720 really mellow, six being you know, super up. And they 0:22:43.760 --> 0:22:47.879 basically went through and almost like a Pandora sort of 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:51.960 curated playlist type of thing to get people to work 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:56.520