The Deafening Would Be (Welcome) Silence

Is it me?  Where was I when it happened?  When did businesses ratchet up the volume of the overhead music?  When did “background” music become a battle of the decibels?  I wear two hearing aids, by that definition I’m pretty much deaf.  But the noise…and I call  it noise politely…overwhelms me and makes me want to scream, before exiting an establishment in haste, “Your damned music is too freaking loud!”  I even wrote CVS pharmacy and complained about the noise that blasted me as I walked into a couple of their stores.  I got a nice reply, but of course, the noise continues blasting.  What happened to Muzak, that nice, boring, unpretentious, and hardly noticeable music that was the bane of every elevator and department store in the western world? 

I admit.  I’ve become a grump.  It’s my right; I’m over 39.  But I do like music and if it’s classical or Josh Groban, then I absolutely adore it.  Okay, call me boring, I don’t care.  That’s my right, too.  But the loud, metallic, screeching noise that passes for music now only annoys me and causes me to get out of a store as soon as possible.

Yesterday, even in this southern heat, with heat indexes of 203F (no, I don’t exaggerate either) I had to do errands and grocery shopping.  My first stop was the drive-up mail box at the post office to mail a birthday card.  No music there thankfully, but it’s only a matter of time before there’s outside speakers at every drive-up mailbox.  Fast food drive-up windows now even have music blasting.  Have you noticed?  But I digress.  My next stop was K-Mart for some cheap tank tops for the August heat.  You guessed it.  LOUD music.  I got my goods and split in record time.  Chik-fil-A is a usual stop and I got my trusty #7 and parked myself under a speaker…which wasn’t difficult because there are several speakers in the ceiling.  The music was loud and the female singers were screechers.  I was in a foul mood.  I wanted to ask one of the slacker guys if they had someone who determined how loud the music was, but I was in such a mood that I knew I couldn’t be my usual sweet Suth’un self, so I bolted my food and got out again in record time.  Again, when I got to the grocery section of the local megamart, I listened and above the din…you guessed it.  Loud music.  Once more in record time I bought groceries and left.

So.  Is it me?  Am I the only one on the planet who notices the noise?  Am I the only one who finds it annoying?  Am I the only one who doesn’t like the racket?  Am I the only one who isn’t afraid to be alone with my thoughts, or rather the chirping of the crickets which is tinnitus?  Am I the only one who cares?  Have we become such a busy technological society that we can no longer expect a quiet environment?  Does anyone else miss the mindlessness of the Muzak generation?