Elevator music : a surreal history of Muzak, easy-listening, and other moodsong / Joseph Lanza.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lanza, Joseph.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Muzak (Trademark).

Environmental music--History and criticism.

Music, Influence of.

Music--Psychological aspects.

Environmental music.

Physical Description:

xii, 329 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

Revised and expanded edition.

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, [2003]

Summary:

Noted music historian Joseph Lanza seriously appraises an American musical tradition.

Contents:

1. Probing the Jell-O 1

2. Lullabies from Heaven and Hell: Mood Music's Antiquity 6

3. The "Canned" Avant-Garde 14

4. Umbilical Chords: The Birth of Muzak 22

5. The Push-Button Ballroom: Mood Music and Early Radio 31

6. Ghosts in the Elevator 38

7. Emotional Archives: Background Music in the Movies 55

8. The Moodiest Years on Record 67

Mermaids After Midnight 71

Cathedralized Classics 79

Sizzle & Suds 91

Keyboards by Candlelight 95

Supermarket Symphonette 103

Gregorian Cocktail 112

Mai-Tai Melodies and the World of "Queasy Listening" 119

That Sex-Behind-the-Gauze Sound 128

9. World Music Originals: The 101 Strings and the Mystic Moods Orchestra 133

10. Walls Talk! 148

11. "Beautiful Music": The Rise of Easy-Listening FM 167

12. Violins from Space 183

13. Metarock 194

14. Elevator Noir 208

15. Who's Hearing Things? 216

16. The New Sound of 1984 222

Afterword: Channeling the Phantom Band 230.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-315), discography (pages 243-304) and index.

ISBN:

0472089420

OCLC:

54662605