The Null Device

Today's sonic atrocity from the Melbourne Central station PA system: Charles & Eddie, Would I Lie To You. Urgh, Blue-Eyed Soul; sort of like boy-band R&B for old fogies.

¶ annoyances piped music 0

I'm Wayne Kerr, and if there's one thing I hate... it's Bryan Adams songs being played on PA systems at railway stations. There should be a law against ubiquitous performance of Bryan Adams in public places (perhaps under the Geneva Convention, if we're still signatories to that oh-so-September-10 piece of paper, that is). I was subjected to Everything I Do I Do It For You whilst waiting for the train home this evening. That braying, jeans-too-tight vocal, and that moose-mating-call guitar riff were still looping in my head when I got off the train. Not a pleasant experience.

¶ annoyances bryan adams earworms mor piped music wayne kerr 13

I'm Wayne Kerr, and if there's one thing I HATE... it's the piped music at Museum Melbourne Central station. The station has an expertly-designed PA system which gives uniform coverage of all parts of the station, from the escalator leading into it to the platforms. Unfortunately, some marketing type at the newly-privatised operators of the station decided to "add value" to the waiting-for-a-train experience by piping music through this system. The music, in this case, being past chart hits, adult-contemporary rock ballads and bubblegum R&B. Supposedly, on average, people like this.

Thanks to you, Mr. Bayside Trains Marketroid, I now have I've Had The Time Of My Life playing in my head, I hate you, Mr. Marketroid.

¶ annoyances earworms piped music public transport wayne kerr 0

I'm Wayne Kerr, and if there's one thing I hate... it's the piped music they've started playing in City Loop stations. There are speakers covering the entire station, which until now have been used exclusively for announcements. Now, perhaps to make the new, privatised train companies look more like a service, they have started playing what can be loosely termed music from these. The music covers the gamut of naff radio fodder from Phil Collins to Celine Dion to indeterminable boyband ballads. Some executive at Bayside Trains probably thinks this creates a pleasant environment.

¶ annoyances piped music wayne kerr 0

British MP calls for ban on piped music: (Reuters)

``The dangers of passive, or involuntary listening are only beginning to enter the realm of public awareness,'' opposition Conservative MP Robert Key said... Like other forms of noise pollution its symptoms included raised blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and increased muscle tension, he said.

Key said his bill would ban piped music in the public parts of hospitals, doctors surgeries, public swimming pools, bus and railway stations, airports and public highways.

That rules out playing Bing Crosby at railway stations to drive teenagers away... --acb

¶ health noise pollution piped music uk 0