Obscure Singles Heard at CVS

Teenage Fanclub's "About You" at a joint called BurgerFi.

R.E.M. — Talk About the Passion

I love how Austin needs a CVS fix every three hours.

Modern English - Someone's Calling

Devo - Through Being Cool

this thread makes me want to go and just like hang out at the cvs for an hour or two and slowly peruse the eye shadow colors or w/e

i've always wanted to know in minute detail how these songs end up being played in these places, like is it sort of a roll of the dice among select back catalogs, are artists being measured according to some arbitrary standard, is it done in-house or contracted out, if the latter do these people offer the same service for other chains, how do they differentiate amongst their clients, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muzak_(brand)#Original_artist_programming

i recall hearing "Truly Madly Deeply" at a Stop n Shop recently

Unfortunately that one's not obscure

what about "(i know) there's something going on"

hmm not sure why i thought there was a parenthetical there.

#13 on billboard hot 100

That one pops up in all kinds of strange places.

Frida was right, after all.

Publix plays 38 Special's "Second Chance" every time I'm fucking there.

They were really on a roll today with the new wave stuff at work:

The Cure — Lovesong (Extended Mix)
Devo — That's Good
New Order — Ceremony

New Order - Love Vigilantes

That's crazy, New Order have become like the Tom Petty of Goodwill.

In a grocery store right now listening to Built to Spill ' s The Plan. This is surreal.

R.E.M. - Harborcoat

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence

The Beginning of the End - Funky Nassau

Aztec Camera - Oblivious

!

I heard I Want You by Elvis Costello at my suburban New Jersey supermarket the other day, and it was loud. I normally enjoy that song but as it turns out, aching sexual obsession doesn't go well with shopping for cat food and Raisin Bran. I couldn't wait for it to be over.

The Cyrkle — Turn Down Day

Turn Down Day again this morning! And the ten minute long extended mix of 'Fascination Street' by the Cure.

OMD - Talking Loud and Clear

And more Cyrkle! 'Red Rubber Ball' this time.

Molly Hatchet: "Dreams To Remember" or whatever it's called, at Denny's

and now Elton John: "Take Me To The Pilot"!

...and as i'm leaving, most obscure of all--The Doors: "Gloria"

R.E.M. - Seven Chinese Brothers

Tom Petty: "You and Me" at Jack In The Box

.,.and now Beach Boys: "Don't Worry Baby"

^ not so obscure

Yeah, but it's now like the 10th or 12th most popular Beach Boys song on outlets that still play the Beach Boys.

FWIW, I heard "Feel Flows" at this very same JITB several years ago.

"Feel Flows" got a mini-sized "Tiny Dancer" boost from Almost Famous; I've never heard it in a chain establishment, but it's not the obscurity it once was. "Don't Worry Baby" is definitely fading from the radio landscape but it's something I would hear on oldies-type stations in the 90s and is presumably known to millions.

Kool and the Gang — Let the Music Take Your Mind

This evening I was treated to:

New Order — Ceremony
Kate Bush — Running Up That Hill

Not necessarily obscure (considering I've already heard 'Ceremony' at work once before), but the fact that they were back to back like that made me feel like I had my own iPod on shuffle.

Shuggie Otis — Strawberry Letter 23
April March — Somewhere Up Above

And the full fourteen minute version of James Brown — Papa Don't Take No Mes

Okay, that last one is ace. I would be so stoked to realize that my entire CVS trip had been soundtracked by that.

Austin, you should come up with a thread called Obscure Singles Heard at Goodwill.

Oh right. Yeah, that's still weird in its way. My Goodwill muzak experiences have either been imitation good-time workday radio stations (with nothing much rougher around the edges than idk "Brighter Than The Sun")... or Christian versions of same.

38 Special's "Second Chance" plays in my Publix all the damn time. literally twice it has come on while I was in the medicine aisle.

think it's a ploy to sell Advil

Phil collins "Dance into the Light". Ew.

^^That's another one of those songs that seems to live only on Muzak playlists.

Definitely how I got to know it.

the only time in my life I remember anybody even talking about it was when I was in high school choir and for whatever reason these two dudes were raving about it.

it was a very hot day.

heat stroke may have been involved