Despite being a lifelong Yankee fan, I have not gone to a live game in several years. Yeah, it's too expensive, but it's also just too loud. You don't realize it when you're watching at home but the music blares from the speakers virtually anytime the ball isn't in play. That's traditionally when we'd get to discuss strategy and compare notes on who's doing well and who's not and how in our softball game last week we got a clutch hit in just this situation... I'm fine with "Enter Sandman" when Mariano Rivera comes in to save a ballgame, and "New York New York" when the game is over, but the music nowadays is relentless. This is all in an attempt to whip the crowd up, to convince us we're excited and having a good time - even if the game is a blowout. And most of the music is crap.
Of course, that last bit is a matter of taste, but I think I'm being honest when I say that even if it were music that I liked, it's just not the way I want to experience a ballgame. For many people, going to the stadium, or to a mall, or to a bar, is something you do for a specific reason - to see a ballgame, buy a pair of jeans, grab a beer; if there's music playing in the background, you either like it well enough and it's there while you go about your business, or if you don't, you just try to ignore it. But when the music is too loud to be ignored, it changes the experience. Now you're not just watching a game or buying clothes; now you're out. You know, like, "it's Saturday night; let's go out." Well you know what? I'm not 18 anymore. If I wanna go out, I'm not gonna do it at Abercrombie & Fitch; and if I want to hear music, I won't leave it to some piped-in stuff from a demographics analyst in Oregon.
But teenagers can't go to a bar - well, not legally at least. So a lot of these stores seem to be using loud music to lure in teens, by suggesting that the best place for a hot date is your local Hot Topic, where the lighting and the sound system say "nightclub" and oh by the way wouldn't you look cool in this jacket for just $129?
I guess this isn't really new - stores, restaurants, bars have long used music to identify themselves. You walk in to a bar, and Hank Williams Jr is blaring from the jukebox. Across the street is a bar with Fourtet and other electronica coming from an iPod dock. Each is signalling to you the kind of experience you might have there. But everyone now wants that all-important 18-25 demographic, and loud music in stores is how they signal to those shoppers that this is a cool place for you to hang.
Tell us: does loud music affect your shopping? Do you find yourself spending more than you expected, or leaving before you've gotten what you wanted?
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John Schaefer has hosted Soundcheck since the show’s inception in 2002. He has also hosted and produced WNYC’s radio series New Sounds since 1982 (“The No. 1 radio show for the Global Village” – Billboard) and the New Sounds Live concert series since 1986.
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