[78-L] Well EXCUUUUUUSE MEEEEE!!!

[David Lennick]

On 9/18/2010 12:03 AM, Steven C. Barr wrote:
> see end
> From: "Cary Ginell"<soundthink at live.com>
>> Before it was Easy Listening, it was known (at least as far as radio
>> formats go) as Beautiful Music. Before that, it was "MOR" (for
>> Middle-Of-the-Road).
>> Cary Ginell

>>> Point being that so-called "Easy Listening" (an actual radio category at
>>> one
>>> time?!) was music carefully designed to offend as few listeners as
>>> possible,
>>> while NOT inspiring any of its hearers...?! It is effectively music
>>> stripped
>>> of
>>> any emotional content...and the latter is and always has been the primary
>>> purpose of its existence...?!
>>> Steven C. Barr
>>
> WHATEVER they called it...it was (and remains) "content-free"
> "music(?!)"...?!
> "Nice" music that one can listen to without EVER having to think about it
> (or anything else?!)...! Admittedly, the Internet is making equivalent
> content
> readily available in virtually ALL fields...?!
>
> THINK?! Naah...why bother? That task can be given to less-paid peasants...?!
>
> I await an inevitable crisis as things we take for granted begin NOT to
> occur...?!
>
> Steven C. Barr
>

Point being that it wasn't supposed to be "music to think about". It was the 
extension of the Mood Music records that began in the early 40s (or actually a 
bit earlier, based on a "mood music" listing I noticed in an early Decca 
catalog). 8 records of soft music stacked on a changer provided 24 minutes of 
music to eat and get sloshed by, the flip sides might provide another 24 
minutes of music to get lucky by, and in an era when most radio stations were 
broadcasting individual programs plus DJ assortments of the popular music of 
the day, instrumentals were still important. And there was room for interesting 
arranging. Folks who listen only to blues or R&B will not want to hear that 
Mantovani had 2 or 3 hits beautifully arranged by Ronald Binge, which still 
sound great 60 years later, or that Frank Chacksfield had Top 5 hits with Ebb 
Tide and Limelight. Nobody drugged record buyers or hit them over the head to 
make them buy those records. This wasn't Muzak.

dl