Elevator music
Subtitle: a surreal history of Muzak, easy-listening, and other moodsong
By: Joseph Lanza.
Edition: Rev. and expanded ed.
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 329
Subjects: Muzak (Trademark); Environmental music -- History and criticism.; Music, Influence of.; Music -- Psychological aspects.
Description: "With an arsenal of historical anecdotes and facts, Joseph Lanza sings seriously, with healthy doses of humor and wit, the praises of this misunderstood musical genre. Lanza traces mood music's mystifying presence from the mind-altering sirens who lured Odysseus to the harp David played to soothe King Saul, but the tale gets more intriguing in the early twentieth century, with Erik Satie's "furniture music" experiment, the birth of the Muzak Corporation, and various science fiction stories that featured mood music as a futuristic staple."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 305-315), discography (p. 243-304), and index.