I am a firm believer in the power music has on the human spirit. One of those powers is that it helps take one’s mind off the laboriousness of a task and makes busy time go by so much faster. Since I’ve worked in a retail store for 15 years now, I’ve always had the music muzak to soothe me…. well, most of the time. Mecca decided its stores didn’t need background music a few years ago and shut down their in-house muzak factory (which in its glory days even had a midnight – 5AM show for us overnight workers).
Apparently some study showed that yanking the music was a shitty idea, because the soothing sounds from the speakers returned around the beginning of the year. But it didn’t take long, especially for someone who notices patterns in everything like me, to realize we were being fed a music loop…. a long loop that lastest beyond a regular shift, but a loop nonetheless. I later found out that the “loop” is actually a CD which was sent out to each store with orders to play it continuously during store hours (I know where it’s located in my store, and yes, I even re-start it now after the last song plays). The songs were kind of a mix of very popular, somewhat popular, and just plain obscure songs centered around the past two decades, with a handful of 70′s and 80′s thrown in for good measure. Take out the 347829433 John Mayer songs, and it really wasn’t a bad mix…
I wanna puke through the halls of my high school…
But there was one song that stood out…. like a sore thumb. It had that old ragtimey/jazy sound to it that you might hear from a Cajun band. I’ve used YouTube to research many of the songs I was unfamiliar with before hearing them on this loop, and this outlier was one of them. I was shocked to find out it was Jewel… yes, the Jewel who for a few years in the late 1990′s was considered to be the “next big thing”. The song is called “The Supermarket Song”…. check it out:
Would you be able to listen to this song every night?
Now check out the comments on You Tube for that video I just posted. Anything jump out at you?
Ohhhh, my ears!
I had to die laughing when I saw that 90% of the comments were left by other Mecca associates who couldn’t stand listening to this song! (I even jumped in a left a comment on it). It’s almost like this song exists only to torture the good people of Mecca! Of course, me being different, I kinda like this song… and after about 50 listens now still do.
It’s so hard to keep my hands inside the cart….
But enough about Jewel…. there are some other songs I was totally unfamiliar with before hearing them on the loop that I’ve come to enjoy. Some of these obscure (at least to me) gems are (all links are to the song’s You Tube video):
“Stand” – Lenny Kravitz — This is the song that directly precedes “The Supermarket Song” in the loop. This feel good song is a great lead in to the novelty of the Jewel song, too….
“Mountain Sound” – Of Monsters and Men — I only knew this as the “Hold your horses!” song until I finally looked it up. This band is from Iceland!!! Another great earworm song!
“Ick!” is not the mountain sound being referred to…
“Love You Like A Love Song” – Selena Gomez — It’s almost impossible not to notice this song amongst the others, and it seriously might be my favorite of the whole 11 hours. Do I like the funky grinding sound during the chorus better, or the cute and catchy “Re-pea-pea-pea-peat”? I can’t decide….
“Hey Leonardo” – Blessid Union of Souls — While I’d heard this song at some point since it came out in 1999… I’d have never guessed it was done by this group! Or that it was such a really cool song!
“Safe and Sound” – Capital Cities — Another modern lesser known song with a great beat… and horns!
Stay safe and sound from THIS!
Other favorites on the loop that I already liked, but grew to love upon hearing them more repeatedly include:
“Heat of the Moment” – Asia — I really have no idea why this song isn’t more representative of the decade. It’s one of the most underrated rock tunes of my time, in my opinion…
I never meant to be so bad to you…
“Breathe (2 AM)” – Anna Nalick — Just three slots after Asia is this absolutely wonderful song from a decade ago. A lot of slower, sappy songs aren’t my cup of tea… and the lyrics themselves rarely attract me to a song. But this song transcends both of those personal trends… this may just be the best song….. ever!?!? Wow, just breathe ES….
“1 2 3 4″ – Plain White T’s — This is the very first song on the CD. I absolutely detest the song “Hey There Delilah”, and I think it made me so biased against the Plain White T’s that I just automatically disliked this follow up they did to Delilah. The Mecca loop has drastically changed my opinion of it, though! I can’t get enough of the little vibrating tweeeee tweeee in the chorus!
Plain White Squirrel
No reason to bore you with more of my musical taste, or the ear candy and ear poison I have to put up with five nights a week, because I could go on and on about music forever. Just make sure you listen to “The Supermarket Song” again before after reading this post…. go ahead, you deserve to hear it again!
Of Monsters and Men! Wow that one surprised me – seeing it on the list. Have to agree with you about “Heat of the Moment.” I know many many many people who are too cool to admit that they crank that song up every time they hear it AND sing out loud (and know ALL the words.)
Awwww Plain White Squirrel is so cute!!!
So glad I don’t need to listen to that grocery store song more than once!! BTW, did you realize a video on the same YouTube page is of a barbershop quartet that has 8000 people in the audience all shout the word “SQUIRREL” simultaneously at the end? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqwkJGMOEbs
That was AWESOME!!!!
It has introduced me to some new music and bands I was unfamiliar with, that’s for sure! I would probably be one of those doing Asia karaoke as well!
Angel says thank you for the compliment!
This comment was supposed to be a reply to Juliette. Not sure why it detached itself…
That’s Jewel? Wow, it’s just awful. I loved her soo much back in the 90′s..Oh Jewel…
I was totally blown away when I found out it was her! I guess she decided to branch out into annoying kids music….
Egads. Speaking of which, do you want to help me with a children’s story? I sent you an email.
I’m glad you have kept a pretty positive outlook on the supermarket radio thing. When I had a similar job for a few years I was a lot more grumpy about it. Especially as Christmas time approached. Being forced to listen to Christmas carols non-stop is the worst.
After 15 holiday seasons now, I’m pretty numb to the nonstop Xmas music from Halloween through 12/25. As long as the damn Chipmunks are kept at a bare minimum…..
I used to work in the warehouse at a different Mecca. After five years of Christmas music, Michael Buble, and really loud announcements, I cut the speaker wires. Not that what they play on the radio nowadays is any better. Also, I have that Jewel CD. It is 80% awful, but she does sing about penguins.
Ooooh, I need to find the penguin song!
I can recall a few backroom speakers getting stuffed full of garbage by the receiving crew to shut them up… also the one in the breakroom had a volume knob that could be reached, and it was usually set on zero…
Just Like Penguins Do
Oh my… I would definitely survive if I didn’t have to listen to that song again… especially since geographical penguin misplacement is one of my pet peeves….
In her defense, she never actually says penguins are in the north. But it is still a non-sequitur, and that is one of my pet peeves. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need a shot of insulin after hearing that song again.
Enjoyed this post quite a lot. I have to admit I’m familiar with several of those songs, and I like many of them, too. But I am not sure I could survive working in a place where I had to hear the same music loop over and over and over and over and … (well, you get the idea
).
At least it never repeats in one shift. One year, for the holidays, we had a little 79 minute loop of 25 Xmas songs that played over and over. THAT was torture…. though it was funny on the night/morning of Black Friday that year to hear the customers who were waiting in lines for sale items complaining about it! They’re usually not in the store long enough to know the songs loop…
What a fascinating post! Shane sends this. Fear not we have researched penguin habitat and know that only (17?) species live in Antarctica. We also guffaw knowingly at toons that feature Polar Bears and Penguins together thanks to you!
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