I've been in a good number of elevators, but I've never been in one that had music playing in it. So I don't understand the expression. What exactly is Elevator Music and why is the expression so condescending?? Does Hubert Laws and Antonio Carlos Jobim play elevator music? Is that a bad thing?
In the big apple[new York, new York] there were and are elevators that plays music Now the younger generation today may not know but up until the late 80's early 90's there were many music stations throughout America that played music called easy listening music. It's format was playing light instrumental versions of popular songs through the decades, Some stations once in a while would throw in a vocal like a TONY BENNETT ballad or from other pop crooners. This music is basically what they also call elevator music that are played in elevators.Probably anyone 35 or older know what I am talking about. Now for the young ones if you want to know what I am talking about on cable tv, where they have all those music channels I believe [got to check later] if you look for the one that says easy listening , that would be the old format. On this one they only play soft instrumentals, no vocal, but otherwise that is the format that once got pretty good ratings for decades on the radio. In New York the station was called WPAT.
Its sounding more like a slur than any real description of music.
It's a slur because the music is homogenized into glossy string arrangements that rob it of any character whatsoever (like some of the Nelson Riddle film theme albums) and played at low levels, almost to the point of being subliminal. It is also sometimes referred to as Muzak (the name of one of the major providers of this type of music to elevators across America) and to have one's film compositions referred to as elevator music or Muzak is indeed quite a slap in the face.
I've been in my fair share of elevators and I've also never heard music in any of them. Perhaps it was more common in the early days of shopping malls and has since diminished in usage over the years.
I've been in my fair share of elevators and I've also never heard music in any of them. Perhaps it was more common in the early days of shopping malls and has since diminished in usage over the years.
This thread makes me wonder, are there any movies featuring muzak that uses the theme of the film itself? You'll sometimes have source music that mimics the movie's theme or style, but I can't recall if this has been done for elevator music?
This thread makes me wonder, are there any movies featuring muzak that uses the theme of the film itself? You'll sometimes have source music that mimics the movie's theme or style, but I can't recall if this has been done for elevator music?
Is because it's looping? the vibraphones? Would you guys consider this elevator music?
Absolutely not. Anything that grooves like 1960s Blue Note Bobby Hutcherson simply cannot be Elevator Music. The music, though mellow, still consciously draws my attention and is too far "active" a musical form whereas stuff produced by the Muzak company works on a much subtler basis. Read the Lanza book; it gives the history and the whys and what fors of the genre.
This thread makes me wonder, are there any movies featuring muzak that uses the theme of the film itself? You'll sometimes have source music that mimics the movie's theme or style, but I can't recall if this has been done for elevator music?
Not "elevator music" but "supermarket music" is heard in the final scene of THE STEPFORD WIVES (the '75 one). Michael Small was a genius at this kind of stuff. As we see the "perfect" wives doing the shopping, Small uses a deliberately bland version of his End Credits theme - which is bland in itself, but with the right amount of twisted and perfectly judged irony.
Man, some of you guys are young! I remember Elevator Music and Muzak only TOO well.
I'm pretty sure that MUZAK, as a company, still operates. But some time ago they found that so much contemporary pop music was already beating them at their own game, that they simply started licensing the authentic original recordings from the companies involved.
I can pinpoint this to a day back in the mid-80's... I went to work one morning and heard the original "Beth" by KISS. ("Uh-oh", thought I.)
There used to be a radio station in Atlanta during the 70's that my parents listened to, referred to as Easy Listening, 94.9 PEACH, ALL MUSIC, ALL THE TIME. It was horrific to me and my siblings. A glossy, instrumental versions of famous pop songs. Gah.
We don't have elevators in the UK so we never had elevator music but I always enjoyed easy listening music and one place, apart from lifts, to hear it was in cinemas during the intermissions. There are still tons of easy listening albums on CD - we old timers are still well catered for.
