Selects: Muzak: Easy Listening Goodness | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hey there everybody, it's me Josh and. for this week's SYSK Selects I've chosen. our 2021 episode on music. And you might. ask, who could possibly like the noisome. omniresent annoyance that was music? Well, me. I like music. So there. But if. you're not over 40, you might not even. know that there was a time you couldn't. step out in public. from department. stores, those are in something we call. malls, to elevators without schmaltzy. string arrangements of pop music.

pummeling you with their saccharine. sound. And you know what? You're the. worst off for not having experienced it. Instead, you can experience this episode. and I hope you enjoy. [Music]. it. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeart Radio. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh. Clark and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryan.

over there and there's Dave. Custen. I said it right this time. I. thought it was Kon. No, if you're in. France, that's how you would say it. But. here in the United States, you say. Kusen. Can I start this off by saying. something? Oh boy, I'm worried about what you're. going to say, but okay. Well, this. episode is on music. And uh I started. thinking last night. I was thinking.

about your love of music, which is not. at all ironic. Not in the least. But you. can't say that kind of thing these days. People don't believe you. I know, but. it's true. Everyone, I know Josh very. well. And I was thinking of your and I. like all kinds of music, too. But you. know, in my heart, I'm a rock and roll. guy. Sure. And uh I was thinking about. your top musical genres that are above. rock and roll in your picking order. Not in order. I counted easy listening. music, disco, art rock, kut rock, and I.

probably missed a couple. Kraut rock is. below rock and roll. I I want to like. crowd rock. It just doesn't quite jive. with me. I like some, but not all of it. And then stuff I think Art Rock because. there sort of that avantgard like I. don't you don't love Yoko but you. certainly are a bit of a Yoko apologist. Sure. Uh Grace Jones stuff like that but. Oh, I love Grace Jones for sure. What. about Talking Heads? They go in there. too, right? Uh they'd probably be I mean. they literally went to art school.

together. Yeah. I mean they kind of span. from art rock to new wave to like world. music by the time they finished. Yeah. Yeah, I know. But uh Yeah. I mean, I. certainly love the Talking Heads, but. all of those for you are above good. oldfashioned rock and roll, I think. Yeah. You also left out 90s techno. I've. been listening to a lot of that lately, too. Like Alternate and The Prodigy and. everything. But you love music. You. really do. Um, I do too, actually. I. don't know. I'm so glad. I don't know.

how much I like I will listen to some of. that stuff. And we'll talking about. we'll talk about Eno in here, of course. old Sour Post, Brian Eno, but um I love. listening to his ambient stuff, which he. sort of wrote as an antidote to music. Again, we'll talk about that more later, but I do like in certain circumstances. that music thing is. really great to to have on in my house. as background music and it serves that.

same purpose. One of the big reasons why. too is because you can get stuff done. with it. Like lyrics can be so. distracting. They just latch on to your. brain and say, "No, no, no. Pay. attention to me. I'm I'm talking to you. now." Music does the opposite of that. It says, "Go be free, but also enjoy. this." like there's there's like a whole. part of your brain that music can tap. into that doesn't require your conscious. thought, but it still produces like good. feelings. And you know, like people.

people just smack music around like it's. just it's so bland and it's so soulless. And I totally disagree with that. Like. if you actually stop and listen to. music, it's really really technically. proficient. It's frequently well done. And it's often very clever and creative. and inventive. Um, which is really. saying something because you're doing. this when the in the confines of. covering an existing song in a way that. makes it familiar and easy to recognize,

but also takes away any intrusiveness. that it might have. It's tough to do. And I I really I just I love music. You're absolutely right. Like I listen. to music this whole time. Yeah. Not just. when we were when we were researching. music today, but also when I was. researching the Havana syndrome and I. realized like this is my normal thing. This is the same stuff I listen to when. I'm researching. Anyway, yeah. Yeah. And. uh we can go ahead and dispel a couple. of or not myths, but clear up a couple. of things right off the bat. Um first of.

all, music is a name brand. Um, and. people can kind of collectively use the. term music or have collectively used. that term for what's called like potted. plant music or elevator music or. shopping music. Um, but it is actual. actually a brand name. Uh, which we'll. get to the history of. And then the. second thing is it it gets the name. elevator music. Um, part of the myth is that people. said, "Well, they put it on elevators. because people were afraid to death of.

elevators early on and it calmed people. down or it covered up the noise of the. clanking elevators." I'd never heard. that before. Did you? Yeah. Neither one. of those things are true. Total myth. My. uh guess is that it was played on. elevators and because you're in such a. closed little box that's usually quiet, it just was way more noticeable than. like in a big office full of people. working. So people called it elevator. music. That's my guess. Right. Yeah. I. mean, yeah, there wasn't music on.

elevators before, but for several. decades in the 20th century, like there. there weren't many elevators you could. get on because people didn't have. elevators in their house. So it was a. public building you were in where they. weren't playing music to to in of some. form very frequently musicac that great. Blues Brother scene. Yeah.Uh yeah because they're they're. going up to the what the Cook County. Assessor's Office and like they're. there's the entire Chicago police.

department is after them but they're. forced to get on this elevator and the. the girl from Epana is playing. I think. my favorite part of that scene is. there's just dozens and hundreds of cops. and SWAT guys just, you know, hut, hut, hut, hut, hut when they're repelling and. doing all this stuff. And then there's. the the one shot of the lone guy. repelling down the side of the building. and he's by himself just going hut hut. hut hut. Yeah, that's a good one. So funny. There's another scene too from around.

that era a few years later from Airplane. 2 where umh it's like Rip Torn. I believe it's Riptor Torn the Arty from. the Larry Sanders show. Yeah. Yeah. And. I don't know the other guy he's talking. to but anyway they're walking and. talking and they have to get on an. elevator. The elevator door opens and. it's just blaring like like eardrum. shattering decel um MacArthur Park and. they have to get on. People are coming. off the elevator like with their hands.

to their ears like with splitting. headaches from this. But it's just. completely the opposite of what elevator. music's supposed to be like. But it's a. good little scene too as far as elevator. music goes. Well, I mean, that's kind of. one of the points, too, is music has. long been uh a movie trope and a TV. trope and then been lampuned in scenes. just like the Blues Brothers scene where. there's something chaotic going on and. then you cut back to the sound of music. playing wherever the other scene is. setting, right? Yeah. Very, very fun. stuff. But, but that started I guess it.

started with the Blues Brothers, which. came out in 1980. But before that, that. was like music was not really lampoon. I. mean, not everybody liked it. It really. kind of started to get a little backlash. in the the late 60s, early 70s as we'll. see. But there was a very significant. chunk of the 20th century, again from. maybe 1950 to 1980, we'll say, where. everywhere you went in public, including. if you took a Greyhound bus or if you.

were on a plane or you happened to be in. Air Force One, um, or you were at the. mall, in an elevator, at your office, everywhere, music was was playing. There. was music playing everywhere. It was. just a part of life that you was. inescapable actually. Yeah. So, let's go. back in time and talk about the inventor. of music. Uh, and this is sort of a fun. fact of of music. Uh, the man's name is. George Square. Uh, it is spelled square,

but he swears it's pronounced square. I'm really impressed, man. I had not. come up with that one. Or he swore it. was pronounced square. Yeah. That's kind. of one of the funny jokes like the guy. who invented music was square. Yeah. Um, but Major General George Square was born. in 1865, if you believe that. And he has. a just a laundry list of accomplishments. as a human being. He was uh he earned a. doctorate from John's Hopkins in. electrical science. He was uh an army.

engineer with a a PhD, I think the first. one. Yeah. And he was, I believe, the. lead signal core officer for the army as. well. He was um he also was inducted. into the National Academy of Sciences, which connects this episode to the other. one today. That's right. Um because he. came up with something called a tree. telephone. He figured out how to use any. tree, but preferably one um with uh. fully leaved, I guess. I don't know what. you call that. Um as a as a receiver and.

and transmitter for radio signals, he. figured out how to use a tree, a living. tree for that. Uh he was here's another. little fun fact. He was one of the first. airplane passengers ever because he was. way into uh human flight and got. together with the the Wright brothers. and in 1906 consulted uh with them and. they said, "Hey, why don't you take a. ride in our new little biplane, you'll. probably live, right?" I looked at our um I looked at.

the document for our Wright brothers. episode and he did not appear. I don't. think we mentioned him but he might he. might have been the first airline. passenger from what I saw. Yeah. Where. he really made um a big name for himself. premuseac was this uh invention uh which. is what we call. multipplexing which is he figured out uh. or maybe wire wireless communications. which is something he worked on with the. army. He basically figured out how to. get multiple uses out of single.

telephone lines. uh telephone wires were. you know there are only so many so you. were really limited as to what you could. do with them and how many people could. use them. So he basically figured out a. way to increase their output and. efficiency uh by multipplexing and by. sending uh superimposing highfrequency. radio signals over those low frequency. telegraph signals basically just. allowing you to use the wire at the same. time the same wire. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's like if you think of like a wave,

if it's low frequency, there's big wide. gaps in between. You can fit a higher. frequency that's tighter and squished. together in those gaps and but you're. still using the same line. And you know, this was the guy who came up with that. That's an enormous advancement in. telecommunications that we're still put. in use today in some applications, but. definitely helped like the early. internet along. Um, it was an just a. huge contribution to humanity. Like. forget even just music. Like just that.

alone would would probably warrant like. an episode for for George Square. Yeah. And I think he was like everyone should. be able to use this. So I'm going to. open source it and everyone can use this. new multiplexing technology. AT&T came. along and said we'll use it. And then. you know what? You stole it from us. actually. Right. He he came up with it, but since he left it open, they decided. to just take it from him and sue him for. it. I think he sued them, but it didn't.

work. That's right. You're right. So, um, he but he still was able to use this. wire wireless technology with. multipplexing and, um, at the time. people were starting to get into radio. broadcasts, but radio wireless radio. like that you would just have in your. house that's picking up radio waves at a. station. That was not widespread at the. time. So, George Square said, "You know. what? I understand people want music in. their house. I'm going to give it to. them. I'm going to use that. multipplexing technology and I'm going.

to um run sound waves over the. electrical wires that go into the house. and I'm going to sell this. It is. brilliant. I'm going to sell this. service to people's homes for $150 a. month about $20 today. Um and it's just. part of your utility bill because it's. coming in through your electrical. company. And there's actually a section. of Cleveland called the uh Lakewood I. believe Lakewood area. um that was the pilot for this wired.

wireless radio um that that George. Square invented. Uh the problem was is. by the time they deployed it, wireless. radio was already a thing. Yeah. And so. he had this really great idea that just. no longer had an application. Yeah. He. was he in basically invented the first. music subscription service. Exactly. Yeah. And he had multiple channels too. Like when you subscribed you got news, you got um dance music. There was like I. think three different channels you could.

choose from. Yep. Howard Stern was on back then. Nice. Baba Buouie. So uh he had that. technology though and he said, "You know. what? This is a good idea though. Mhm. Uh maybe I can think of how to use this. in offices and stores. And in. 1934, he looked up at Kodak, very. successful corporation, and said, "I. love that name and I love music. Let's. just call it music." Yep. And history. changed, and maybe we should take a.

break. Okay, let's do it. All right, we'll be right back. [Music].

So in the parliament of today, Chuck, um. George Square and his Musak Corporation. pivoted. from home consumer markets to business. markets. And that just knocked it out of. the park because it turned out that. there were a lot of companies um hotels, restaurants, clubs. I think the Stor. Club was an early um customer that said, "You know what? It's really going to. make our place seem fancy if we've got.

music piping in um all the time. So, yes, we would like to sign up for your. service." And that's really where music. kind of started to take off. Yeah. So. music. um I mean we haven't even said what it. is. Surely people know but I would hope. so. Music are instrumental tracks and. you did mention that there were no. vocals. So we kind of hinted at a big. one. Yeah. But there are instrumental. tracks that are cover songs of kind of.

anything you can think of. I mean that. I've heard some some music of some heavy. rock. Um it can be classical music. It. can be old standards, but the point is. they are instrumental versions that are. re-recorded. They don't just take the. vocals out. It's not karaoke style, right? Um, it is re-record, arranged, and recorded by professional really good. musicians, orchestras sometimes. Yeah. And it is uh that's what it is. And it's. great at the end. And very frequently um.

it's it's made into a much more mellow. version of itself. Like any rough edges. are taken off. um the the since they. take the vocals out, it's not like. there's not there that vocal melody is. non-existent any longer. They just. replace it with something else. So, if. they're trying to go for something like. a little more upbeat or uptempo, they'll. replace the uh the vocals with say like. a saxophone. If they're trying to do. something a little more mellow, they'll. replace the vocals with a string. section. Yeah. Or a harp perhaps. Yeah. That's one of the things that that music.

is very famous for is like ma what's. called masses of strings. just strings. upon strings. And in fact, one of the. early um I guess bigname. groups that produced music was called. 101 strings. They probably were. absolutely accurate in that. Like. there's just a lot tons of strings. everywhere. Um violins, cellos, vias, every every string instrument you can. throw at it. They just layer upon layer.

uh in these songs. It's one of the. hallmarks of of music. Yeah. the um and. there there are many versions of Antonio. Carlos Shobim's Girl from Epana, but the. music version is one of the most popular. and that 101 strings version is the most. ubiquitous from that lot. Um I do. encourage people to go watch the YouTube. though of Frank Sinatra and uh Joe Beam. singing that song live on TV. Uhhuh. Uh. because it's great in every way. Uh, they're just sitting next to each other.

and the shot isn't wide at first and. they're just sort of singing back and. forth to each other and Frank's doing. his thing. Then it cuts to the wide and. Frank is like totally kicked back with. his legs crossed with a cigarette in his. hand. Exactly like you would hope, but. he looks like I mean he looks like he. just not rolled out of bed cuz he's put. together, but he looks like he rolled. from his wicker bag to his wicker chair, right, for this performance. Can I get. some cocaine in here, baby? So good. That's Joe Piscopo as Frank. Sinatra. Um, do you ever listen to Joe.

Beam's stuff? Oh yeah, dude. I love that. old lounge stuff. It's really great. Brazilian stuff. Yeah, his record. Stoneflower is just a masterpiece from. beginning to end. Yeah, that's good. party music. Yeah, that's another thing. though too is like it's so mellow um. that to to take that kind of music and. then make it into music is like it's. almost like it takes a certain amount of. audacity, you know, like I was listening to I.

found so there's I want to I want to. point people to two different music um. records that are on YouTube. Um one is. called More Than Music period and. environment. It's a 1981 music uh record. and it has a version of sailing. Christopher Cross's sailing. One of the. most already music to sleep to. Yeah, exactly. They they figured out how to. basically make you lose control of your. bladder listening to this your bed to. Yeah. Um that's a good one. And then the.

other one is called uh the Blue Album. Uh and it is from. 1974 I believe. And it's just both of. them are really great. That's good good. introductions to uh music if you're not. into it already. All right, so music is. trucking along in the 30s. Uh they get. to the 40s and they think, you know. what, we need a better way to sell this. stuff and to pitch this to businesses. and corporations.

So, why don't we hire some people to. research music and to figure out what. kinds of music keep people happy and. working and cuz people, you know, they. work hard in the morning and then they. sort of lag a bit before lunch and then. they really lag sort of a couple of. hours after lunch. So, why don't we do. this? Why don't we study it? Let's call. it stimulus progression. It's a bit. pseudocience. It makes sense though. It. it is in that it's not been proven. It.

it makes sense to everyone who I feel. like knows about it. Like sure, music. can pick you up and make you work. harder, but it's pseudocience and that. it's I don't think it's ever been. scientifically proven. I gotcha. Okay. Yeah. because I keep seeing it just like. dismissed as pseudocience, but then. there were plenty of early studies that. were done by legitimate industrial. psychologists and other like efficiency. experts, that kind of thing that showed. that there there really was a. significant um like improvement in.

productivity or less sick days, that. kind of stuff in places that had music. compared to places that didn't have. music pumped into the office. Yeah. I. think maybe there's specific claims. about a workday. Oh, okay. Might have. been a little in I mean, everywhere I. read said it was basically not a. marketing scam, but a marketing tool. that they kind of invented. I gotcha. But but so one thing to say about this, we're going to talk about it in a. second, stimulus progression, is that.

they they did kind of plow money that. they were making. They were making a lot. of money starting in the late 40s, early. 50s. um they plowed it back into. research to basically come up with. scientific evidence to back up their. claims which and you can really kind of. see the ghost of George Square still. looming over the company you know this. this decade or so after he died um that. it's always been this kind of uh.

science interested if not science-based. company um that's also been an early. adopter of technology as we'll see yeah. I I mean, that is certainly fair. It was. never just like, hey, we're just going. to play a bunch of what people might. consider droll background music. Like, they really did, I think, I don't think. it was a scam. I think they really did. try to study um working environments. And uh what they did with his stimulus. progression was they divided the workday. into 15-minute uh increments and.

basically set a a DJ playlist every 15. minutes to and they assigned a stimulus. value from 1 to six. One being really. really mellow, six being, you know, super up. and they basically went. through and almost like a a Pandora sort. of curated playlist type of thing to get. people to work uh hard and efficiently. throughout a day and companies bought in. including the US Army. Yeah. I think. World War II is basically cited as the.

the the moment when music kind of proved. itself enough at least to start being. adopted by very large companies and then. within a few years after the war by like. the very early 50s they started to. spread more and more to even smaller and. smaller companies. Uh and it was this. idea that if you played music and. music's you know patented stimulus. progression model um you know you're. going to avoid that midm morning slump.

that like every worker goes through you. know in productivity and then the the. mid-after afternoon slump you could. avoid that too. Think about how many. more widgets you could make if your. employees don't, you know, slack off. productivity wise at 10:30 from 10:30 to. lunch and then from like 2:30 until they. go home. Like imagine if this this very. pleasant music is just kind of keeping. them humming along. What what people. call a forward uh just a unconscious. sense of forward momentum. The tempo in.

your environment is moving subtly faster. and faster. And so, um, to keep people from going. insane, part of the stimulus progression. was that the the songs in a 15-minute. increment would kind of go up in tempo, and then you'd have a 15-minute break of. silence, and then the music would come. back on again. But then this 15 minutes, their their first song, the tempo of. their first song would probably start a. little faster than the tempo of the.

first song of the last 15 minutes, right? And so all of a sudden, next. thing you know, you're making widgets. like a a maniac because you're being. manipulated by this stimulus progression. model. At least again, according to. Musak, I I get what you're saying. Like. it's not like, you know, Harvard came. along and said, "Yes, we've studied this. thoroughly and this is exactly what. happens. This is, you know, company. claims." But it it is intuitively. sensible at least. Well, yeah. I mean, you need only to host a house party and.

play mu and play music yourself, right? To determine how music can affect the. mood of a group of people. You put on. group groove is in the heart and you. know it's going to happen. Yeah. Everybody's going to shake their groove. thing. Everyone's going to shake their. groove thing. Shake their groove thing. If you put in uh uh Old Sour Plus Brian. Eno's music for airports, not a good. party thing. No, it's not. And I since. you brought him up for the second time, I say um we discussed Brian Eno.

momentarily. Sure. I mean I love that. record and I love uh a lot of his stuff. including his ambient music experimental. um records. I think it's really really. good stuff to have on if it's a nice. gray day outside and you're getting work. done. I really enjoyed his background. music but it's definitely not up in any. way. You know what I found is a really. good one for for what you just. described. You ever listen to Future. Sound of London? No. They have an album.

like a double album called Life Forms. and it's it's about as amazing as. Ambient Kit. So, you should check that. one out. Emily uh Embley Emily got me. into Ambient. I call her Embley when. she's listening to that stuff. She. really got me. She called it Ambient. Groove. She really got me into that. stuff uh over the years. Is that like um. like 07 and uh you know stuff that's she. calls it ambient groovy just sort of. sort of mellow and groovy and like 07.

and more chiba and there was a certain. era I think where that stuff peaked. massive attack a little bit. Oh yeah, it's good stuff. Yeah, I think you'd. like life forms then. Future Sign of. London stuff is normally a lot a little. more, you know, it's super cerebral and. intelligent, but it's also fairly dancy. life forms is way it's probably their. most ambient stuff around. So Eno. though, let's get back to him. He kind. of came up with this as an am as a. antidote to music, right? Yes. If you. like ambient music, you better thank.

your lucky stars for music because were. it not for music, you might not have. ambient music. At least not now. Maybe. it would be coming 50 years from now. Who knows? Yeah. He said. um I love that in this article it says. as reported by Red Bull music right uh. Eno said this and this is I think for. the liner notes actually to airport or. music for airports. Uh whereas canned. music's intention is to brighten the. environment by adding stimulus to it. Ambient music is intended to induce calm. and space and a space to think. Uh.

ambient music must be able to. accommodate many levels of listening. attention without enforcing one in. particular. it must be as ignorable as. it is interesting. So, so he hits on something though that. people would come to really resent about. um music is not even just necessarily. the syrupiness of the the music itself, but the intent behind the music that it. was always uh intended to basically.

manipulate your mood into making you a. better worker, a more docel consumer. um. that that it it was poking at your brain. to to get you to do things that you may. or may not want to do. Maybe you you. will be less likely to punch some guy on. the bus because there's music playing, which is a good thing. We should not be. punching other people on the bus. But. the the point is you're being mind. controlled in a certain way. And. eventually people got kind of resentful. of that.

Yeah. No, that's true. We're not there. yet, though. We're not there yet, though. There was actually a point in. time, though, Chuck, where music and. popular music were basically one in the. same. Yeah, that was sort of um I mean, one of the heydays of music certainly. was in that when you know, when Glenn. the Glenn Miller Orchestra was pop music. on the radio, music wasn't a far stretch. from some of that stuff. So, it was sort. of all one and the same. I think it was.

as that as styles changed and the 60s. and 70s start rolling along that music. became really sort of a bad word to a. lot of people, right? And one of the. reasons I saw that really explained it. to me because, you know, things changed. as society just changed between the. 1950s and the 1960s. Um, it just. abruptly changed. But to the that. doesn't fully explain why music just was. suddenly looked down upon. Mhm. A good.

explanation I saw is that lyrics became. really really important in the late60s. People had something to say and music. does not include lyrics. It it. completely undermines the point of. music. If you put lyrics in or don't, you know, don't rearrange the lyrics. with strings. Um so music kind of. couldn't couldn't keep up with that. It's not like it went away. It doubled. down. It kept doing what it was doing. And in fact, it would take some of those.

pop hits that had really um monumentally. important lyrics and just take the. lyrics out and replace it with a. saxophone or something like that. Yeah. They didn't have to do that. I think. it's interesting. They could have had a. really mellow singer at a certain point. Yeah. come in and they I really respect. the fact that they were like, "Nope, the. singer has a violin and I don't want to. hear it anymore." Right. But a lot of. these songwriters in particular like I. think Joan Bayz. um uh Bruce Springsteen, Bos Skaggs,

uh all of them refused to let their. their music um be uh covered by music or. any of its competitors. Um but Paul. Simon I saw said he always knew he had a. hit when he heard a music version of it. like at the mall or something like that. which is kind of like Weird Owl covering. Nirvana. Like Kirk Cobain said that he. knew that Nirvana had made it when Weird. Al covered Smells Like Teen Spirit. I. think it's basically the same thing. Oh, I think most musicians, unless you're a.

Ted Nent who uh and we'll get to that, but very famously sort of offered to buy. music when they fell upon hard times so. he could basically burn it to the. ground. I think most musicians deep down. think it's kind of an honor when one of. their songs is musakified. It's got. Yeah, you'd have to plus I just want to. find out what somebody's going to do. with it because like I was saying at the. beginning, like it really takes some. creativity to to come up with, okay, what can I replace this with that's not. just completely predictable or boring,

but also isn't going to grab everybody's. attention because that's again not the. point of music. It's it's um one of the. the um the I don't know if it was a. slogan of the music corporation or not, but they basically said that they fill. in the awkward pauses in life to where. you know that's it. Yeah. You don't like. it's like you were saying at the party. if you're at a party that doesn't have. any music on, you just probably just get. smashed out of your skull because you're. just trying to lubricate the social.

situation so much. Whereas if you put on. music, it's like it takes a lot of that. edge off. That was one of the points too. with music. And then also to kind of get. you to to linger a little longer when. you were shopping in a store. Um that. was that was part of it as well. Yeah. I. mean music we almost always have music. on in our house unless you know it's. night and we're watching you know a. movie or watching something on TV. But. at almost all waking hours, we have. music playing in our home and it just.

feels weird and quiet and not full of. life when it's when there's no music. happening, right? It's It's strange. It. can be strange for sure. Should we take. a break? Yeah, we're we're we have. reached basically the early 70s, which. is Musak's first crisis point, and we'll. come back to that after this. [Music].

All right. So, I'm born in 1971. and uh and music starts to die a little. bit because a real rock and roller came.

into the world. That's right. Born with. a jean jacket with the Van Halen logo on. marker in the back. It did not go away. completely though. It was just sort of. um I guess the beginning of the end, but. that didn't mean there wasn't still a. business model for music cuz Musak was. never about its popularity. No, but. there was a time where it was popular. like JFK had it on Air Force One. I. think Eisenhower had it piped into the. White House. Um it was playing on board.

Apollo 11. Um like it was a like it was. everywhere. like it's really hard to get. across um how ubiquitous it was, but I. found a quote from a guy named Professor. Gary Gumpert of Queens College in New. York. Nice. He said that it that at the. time um music was just kind of amniotic. fluid that surrounds us. It never. startles us. It is never too loud. It's. never too silent. It's always there. And. that was what it was like. you were just.

kind of moving from one placid bucolic. field to the next, going from mall to. mall, store to store, elevator to. elevator, bus ride to bus ride. Um, it. was just absolutely everywhere. So, compared to that, the idea that it's. absolutely everywhere, unquestioned. Um, yeah, it really kind of started to take. a bit of a downturn in the 70s, but it. just didn't go anywhere yet. It took. decades for it to really take a hit. Yeah. I mean, even in the 80s that was. syndicated in 19 countries, there were. 80 million people uh listening whether.

or not they wanted to or not listening. to music every day. Yeah. And the. company ended up being bought and sold a. couple of times over the years. I think. in ' 81. uh or in ' 72, a company called. Teleprompter owned it. In ' 81, Westinghouse bought it. And I don't know. if I believe this. The story goes that. Westinghouse learned later on when they. they were buying teleprompter that they. owned music. And apparently they didn't. know that. That's what funding. universe.com says. I don't know. I mean,

who doesn't Maybe back then they didn't. do research into purchasing entire. corporations. They were they were on a. lot of scotch at the time, man. Although. we've had companies that bought websites. and then they learned there was a. podcast program attached. I think I've. heard of that. things you should do or. something like that. Yeah, that was. actually that that could happen now that. I think about it. That's right. Yeah, I. I kind of actually felt a deeper. affinity for music when I learned how. many times they've been passed around. corporation by corporation. Uh and then.

I think in the um I think it was was. when did Yesco come along? Was that the. '9s? So Yesco was around from the 60s. Well, when they finally came together. though, right? Yeah. But they were an. early competitor, I guess, a kind of a. mid midlife competitor to um uh to. music. But by the 80s, Yesco had. established a name for itself by doing. basically the opposite of what music. did. rather than making, you know, uh,

covers of canned music without lyrics, they would just go get the licenses of. like the hot new song of the of the. moment, and play those. And so rather. than background music, which is what. music's whole jam was, these guys were. pioneering foreground music. And they. were just this small little outfit from. Seattle that, you know, it was kind of. like the little engine that could. and. they changed the entire landscape, the.

audio landscape of the United States, um, just by being persistent, by getting. that that that word out that, hey, now. foreground's the way to go, not. background. That's old stuff. Yeah. And. I think that's why today when you go. into Publix to do your grocery shopping, you'll hear Christopher Cross singing. Sailing, instead of the music version of. sailing. Yeah. Can't we just get both, though? Sure. Do we have to choose? I. mean, I'm I'm a big Christopher Cross. fan. You're not going to find a bigger.

fan than me. For real? You You like him. that much? No, he's great. I got uh two. of his two big albums I still have on my. shelf. Oh, yeah. Well, he's sitting in. the other room at my house right now. Well, I guess you're the bigger fan. Yeah. You're like, "No, no, no. He's. just tied up." Well, I was going to say. he's not here on on his will under his. own will. In fact, you could make a pretty strong. case he's here against his will. But so. in 1984 though is when Yesco got.

um uh officially involved with Musak. I. think Musak was did they actually file. for bankruptcy or were they just at that. sort of precipice? Not yet. They were. teetering right there on the edge. And. it was actually they were bought by the. Fields Company, the company that owns. Marshall Fields. So Chicago makes. another appearance. Um, and the Fields. company said, "We like where this Yesco. group is going. We're going to merge. with them." So, Musach actually merged. with Yesco, um, the smaller company, but. then ended up moving to Seattle, right.

before the Grunge movement hit. So, Seattle's big musical contribution. before Grunge was music basically. I. remember seeing the um I remember seeing. that logo. I mean, you've probably seen. the Vans around before and really not. known. And it's that M with a circle. around it, right? I remember when I. first saw that I was like, "Wait a. minute. Is that the music?" That's Yeah. And that was a big update. They. apparently went with some design group, I can't remember the name of it, that. just completely reinvented the brand.

Yeah. Because they went from being in. the background to manipulating your. mood, uh, using stimulus progression to. this other thing, this new sound madeup. sounding thing called, um, uh, what's it. called? Quantum. physics, mechanics, suicide. Keep keep. guessing. What else? Uh, realm leap. Nope. Those are all the quantums I know. There's got to be another one, Chuck,

cuz I I'm still looking. I'm so sorry. What the heck is that thing called? It's. called It's quantum leap. We'll just. call it quantum leap. Sure. Okay. So, um, with this quantum leap thing that. they had going on, the bula effect. Quantum modulation. The bula effect. Quantum modulation. Okay. Oh, okay. I I. like bula effect. That's a great one. Um, with quantum modulation, it was um. we are evoking an emotion that is now.

tied forever to this the brand that. you're shopping whose store you're. shopping in right now. Sure. So like. this um this one so they hire people who. make playlists who curate these. playlists that are start to finish um. they all share this one theme. They all. kind of have this one like cool um not. scary uh super hip beachy you know. spring break 2008 kind of thing whatever.

the best. So, um, that like a company. will will say this is this is what our. brand is all about. Give us playlists. that fit this. And so now you're you're. kind of like you you feel cool because. of the music of where you're shopping. And so that makes you want to shop and. associate yourself with that place even. more. That's what music that's what the. what's called neo music is is all about. That's that's the current state of. affairs in the industry. Yeah. like uh.

take if you want to use Armani Exchange. as an example, what they'll do is they. will literally try and make like a DJ. mix with uh that has beat matches and it. doesn't break the momentums and it's all. crossfaded. Whereas if Ann Taylor calls. them up, they don't want to crossfade. They want Selene Dion songs and then a. little bit of a small break and then a. Sting song coming on and these gentle. fades in and fades out. And you know, it's the same sort of stuff. is just. curated foreground music, right? Um,

what I love about music is uh in the end. when they were finally uh acquired, they. had 1.5 million commercially recorded. songs in their catalog and they called. that the well, right? That's amazing. Almost 800 Beatle songs. It is. I think. that's why they never fully went under. is that catalog kept them commercially. viable for sale. Super valuable. It's. got to be. Yeah. So they were bought in. I think 2009 maybe by a group called.

Mood. Music 2011. And then two years later. they retired the music name forever. Just couldn't do anything with it. So. now it's Mood Music is the company that. that owns the Well, but they're doing. that whole for Okay. They're doing that. whole foreground music quantum uh. modulation type thing where you know you. just associate a brand with a certain. kind of music. Like you wouldn't walk. into that Armani exchange and hear you.

know Paul Simon. Yeah. Christopher. Cross. You'd be like something's off. here. The mood mood uh what is it? Mood. media. Their their job is to make sure. that there's nothing off while you're in. that store. That it all just kind of. fits together and you feel good about. where you're shopping. I don't know. though, man. You want to you want to. move some Armani gear? Put on You can. call Me. Owl and just watch it fly off. Man, those kids would freak out. They're. their frosted tips would stand up on. him.

They're like, "What is this? This is. amazing. I've never felt more alive. Why. is Chvby Jason here?". Oh, man. Uh, a really cool thing though. is what you were talking about with. music being on the tech forefront. Yeah. Uh, it's really cool that over the years. they were always early adopters of tech. And it's funny to think about them that. way, but they were always on the on the. leading edge and the forefront of what. technology was doing. Yeah. So, they I. don't know if they invented them, but.

they certainly were early adopters, if. not pioneers, in vinyl records. People. were not using vinyl at the time. Then. they eventually ditched the vinyl. records in favor of uh an electronic. brain called Mater M the number eight. and the letter R. Um which basically was. a big deck of realtore tapes that had a. bunch of different songs on it, but they. had different inaudible pulses that. would trigger a different one to come on. next. So you could curate lists on these.

huge reel to reels. It was just amazing. They were using this thing starting in. the 50s. So the whole thing became kind. of automated. They launched their own. satellite in the 70s. They had a. computer database in the 70s. Like they. were very much uh pioneers and early. adopters of a lot of different. technology that we take for granted. today. Yeah. I mean that you could make. an argument that they were doing the. Pandora Spotify thing decades before. they were doing it. Absolutely. Um Yeah. And I mean the whole point of it too was.

is virtually unchanged. I mean, it's not. necessarily to make you a docel shopper. anymore, but it's to like they're trying. to make you feel like that brand is part. of your identity by evoking memories in. you using songs to unlock them. Totally. pretty interesting stuff, man. I'm gonna. go What were those two records again? I. want to write those down. Okay. One is. uh More Than Music period and. environment. 1981 music record that has.

not just sailing on it. Has Olivia. Newton John's magic. It has um uh Take. Your Time, Do It Right, which I don't. care if the lyrics are there or not. If. you're sitting next to your mom in a. doctor's office and baby you can do it, take your time, do it right comes on, you both know what what that song's. about, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Uhhuh. It. may even be more uncomfortable in that. situation. And then it ends with Funky. Town. Nice. It's a good one. The other.

one is called the Blue Album. It's a. complete stimulus progression album and. it has a bunch of good songs on it, including um Orleans Dance with Me, which is, if you ask me, the music. covers way better than the original. So, not to be confused with Weezer's blue. album. No, it's a little different. Okay. And then if you're like, "Oh, this. music's floating my boat." Go start. looking up Ronnie Aldrich, Frank. Cexfield, Montavani, um, and just start there. Yeah. And if.

eventually you're like, I'm feeling. really goosey, how about some, uh, actual vocalists going on, and then. you'll just go right into Josh's other. favorite, which is yacht rock. Easy. listening. I like yacht rock a lot, too. I'm super right now into uh, West Coast. Cool Jazz. Um, Stan Gets, Chad Baker. Yeah. Um, oh, I can't remember. I can't. remember his name, but I just got into. him. He's a great jazz pianist from that. era. Bill Evans, the Bill Evans trio.

Oh, love Bill Evans. You're just getting. into Bill Evans. Yeah, I just just. started getting into him. I I started. with Chad Baker and just started working. my way out. Vince Garaldi is another. great one. I know he's known for the. Charlie Brown stuff, but all of Vince. Galdi is great. Yeah, he is. You can. tell just by the Charlie Brown album. that he's an amazing jazz guy. Good. stuff. So, oh, Chuck, I have one more. thing. There's an, you know, people hate. music a lot. So, there's some artists. who have like tried to, a lot of artists. have tried to make hay out of the whole.

thing. But one guy, David Schaefer, had. something from back in 2000 or 2002, something. Um, he had. X10R.1 and. X10R.2. these two CDs that he released. that were basically. his. weird unnerving remixes of music that. just turns the whole thing on its head. So much so that like you may laugh out. loud when you first hear them. And I. believe they're on his website, but it's.

like a it's like music but what you. would hear in your nightmares. Okay. It's really good. Uh and I believe he's. got it on his website to go listen to. And I think you can buy the CDs, too. So, check that out. I'll check it out. Okay. Well, if you want to know more. about music, just start listening and. loving. Just just don't prejudge. How. about that? Great. And since I said. don't prejudge, everybody, that means. it's time for listener mail. Uh, I'm going to call this from Lauren. Uh, hey guys. A man walks down the.

street and says, "Why am I soft in the. middle? The rest of my life is so hard.". Oh, wait a minute. Sorry. What a perfect. email for this one. I was reading my. forearm tattoo by. accident. Uh, hey guys. Been listening. to stuff you should know for a few. years. Often turn up the volume and play. an episode while I cook dinner. My. seven-year-old daughter, Laya, used to. complain, "Uh, you're listening to this. again?" But I recently caught her. singing the beat of the intro music. And. she'll casually mention things she's. heard from time to time. I suspect she's.

fond of the animal episodes. Anyway, you'll jokingly sometimes say, "Jerry, well, you have to edit that. You're. going to have to edit that part out.". And it has me curious. How often things. are cut from an episode and why? Bad. jokes too long? Have you ever had to. completely redo one? I think it'd be. really interesting to know. And I bet. Lyla would find it encouraging since she. likes to make videos of herself singing. and dancing. Uh for the record, y'all. make it effortless and uh seem. effortless and it's always a joy to. listen to. That is Lauren from.

Montavalo, Alabama. And she's I bet. that's not how you say that. Montavalo. Yeah, you're probably right. You put a. little too much mustard on there. She. says, "PS, how cool of a mom would I be. if my daughter heard our names on the. podcast?" Yeah, cool. So, there you go, Lauren and Laya. Uh, the answer. is very little gets edited out. Just the. singing and dancing, like that siren in. the background. We'll probably just. leave that in to prove a point. Just. leave that in. No, we don't edit a lot. out. Occasionally, like we found out,

and we've said this before, early on, we. left in the word stumbles and the ums. and the uh and just cuz it's a. conversation and we didn't want to make. it seem too scripted cuz it's not or. canned cuz it's not. Mhm. And so, we. just left that stuff in there. And the. only time like like I think today you. had to look something up real quick, but. that doesn't happen much. Yeah. I had to. poke my head out of the studio and look. at my record collection to come up with. Bill Evans name. So, I mean that's gone. now, but uh very little is edited out.

It's especially after this many years, it's we're not one take wonders, but. it's Jerry doesn't have the hardest job. in the world, you know. She We've taken. it easy on her for years. Yeah. Yeah. That that's about it, Chuck. I can't. think of anything else we really edited. out. But that's not to say that shows. that are heavily edited and very kind of. scripty and slick, like there's room for. those, too. Oh, yeah. We're We're not. the only way to do it. No, we're like. the music of podcasts. There's other. people who are all like the Ted Nan of.

podcasts, and there's room for both. Yeah. Like Roman Mars, the Ted Nent of. podcasting. That's right, man. That. guy's always wearing like a studded. leather wristband and stuff. I keep. waiting on Roman to text me and being. like, "You guys are consistently talking. smack about me." He doesn't He doesn't. listen and no one he knows listens. Listens. Oh, that's impossible. Um, so. who is that? Laya and Lauren, correct? Nice. Well, thank you very much for. writing in. Hope we answered your. question. Uh, and if you want to get in.

touch with us like Laya and Lauren did, you can send us an email. Send it off to. [Music]. Stuffpodcast.com. Stuff You Should Know. is a production of iHeart Radio. For. more podcasts, iMheart Radio, visit the. iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or. wherever you listen to your favorite. shows. [Music].