Turn off the music, please

(Caution: This is a rant.)

I love music. All kinds of music. I love bluegrass and classical and the blues. I love Dylan and Willie and Frank and Hank. I love Billie Holiday and Patsy Cline and Eva Cassidy. I don’t love all music, but my tastes run across a broad spectrum.

But I’m tired of other people deciding what I listen to and how loud it’s going to be, then forcing it on me everywhere I go.

Once upon a time, piped-in music was only in elevators. So mostly I could avoid it and I was only exposed to it in small doses. It’s hard to overdose on a ride from the lower level parking deck to the fourth floor.

Now, music is everywhere and most of it is too loud. It’s at the mall when I walk, sometimes with competing music coming from inside the stores as I pass their open doors. It’s at grocery stores and at restaurants when I’m trying to eat and enjoy conversation. I’ve even heard it blasted into parking lots before I walk into the stores. It’s at home improvement stores, discount stores, the auto repair waiting room, doctor’s offices…everywhere. 

Am I really the only person left who likes to talk to the person I’m walking with, shopping with, dining with? I especially like doing so without having to raise my voice. And when I’m alone, I enjoy the silence. I don’t even mind being alone with my own thoughts.

And that, I think, is the problem. Too many of us are terrified of being alone with our own thoughts. 

The irony is that I’m possibly the only person left in the universe without earbuds and an electronic device loaded with a personal soundtrack. Maybe I’m the only one still listening to all this unavoidable racket. So, please, could we just turn off the music?   

Rant over.

(Illustration by Danilo Rizzuti.)

• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this post
• Recommend on Facebook
• share via Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet about it
• Subscribe to the comments on this post