The Queen's Earplugs

Agree totally. In a very unmathematical 1000%

Dreading when that tinned Christmas music starts as I DETEST that song that goes 'So here it is Merry Christmas.....' repetitive and boring. love the carols though.

The title of this conversation sounds like the title of a thriller (or a children's story).

I agree about the constant background (more like foreground these days) music. What is even more irritating is that even when there are no other customers in a restaurant, café or hairdresser's, for example, a request for the music be turned off, or at least turned down is usually denied.

The volume of music is usually turned up in pubs when there are few customers a) to attract more customers and b) apparently to encourage what customers there are to buy more drinks. I wasn't clear about the logic of this second intention but it seems that if the volume of music is such that conversation is difficult, people drink faster and require refills more frequently. I just go to another pub (or home).

The type of music I've heard when passing pubs would drive me to drink

The kind of music that annoys me is the (supposedly) background music on nature and other documentary type programmes. I switched off the programme about London at night with a commentary by Helen Mirren as all you could hear was the ,so called ,background music. There will be three cheers from me when someone is brave enough to do a nature programme without anthropomorphic background music.

I think the thing I cherish here the most is the total and utter silence. The hunting dogs aren't here at the moment so apart from the owls the nights are absolutely silent and during the days we just have the odd passing tractor. I never travel without my earplugs.

Hear, hear, Hunt! It's almost as if programme producers think we can't cope without continuous inappropriate sound! It has just occurred to me that that could be seen as patronising.... I think..... But, woteva, just turn off the unnecessary noise!

Hunt I agree. It is so irritating. Equally, when BBC Breakfast was showing extracts of the previous day's Olympics, everything was accompanied by a daft song (or, occasionally, piece of music) that was supposed to be relevant to whatever sport was being shown. Vangellis must have got massively increased public broadcast payments during that time.

Bluetack makes great earplugs. The doctor recommended it and she was right. It's more malleable which is good because normal earplugs are too big for my lugs. And it's waterproof for swimming. Are you there, Your Majesty?

Yes to all of the above. I leave premises that bombard me with annoying music.

The social club near us has a group playing once a month and, if they sounded good, we would go over for a bit of a bop. But not any more. It's so loud now we can't go in. It makes me feel physically ill.

When shopping in Asda last year the muzak was so loud and overpowering that I couldn't concentrate on my shopping, so I went to customer services and asked them to turn it down. They agreed that it was loud but said it was controlled from elsewhere and they couldn't do anything about it - oh yeh, and pigs may fly! I went to Tesco instead

It's strange how policies seem to vary from region to region. Our local Tesco, Asda and Marks and Spencer stores don't play any music at all - thank goodness! A lot of the other shops do, though, and it's true that it'll soon time for them to dust off their awful seasonal medleys...

Two weddings I have attended in recent years have been spoiled for me by excessively loud disco music. Those of us who wanted to chat rather than show off on the dance floor had to resort to shouting and I, for one, practically lost my voice. At half the volume the music would have been audible enough for dancing.

I have some hearing loss and I also find it infuriating when programmes have totally unnecessary background music drowning the dialogue.
I get the impression that many young people cannot live without constant noise - apparently it helps them to concentrate! They cannot jog without their headphones, or whatever they use, and it is very dangerous as they cannot hear traffic.
I had to laugh in one French supermarket. They play a lot of 'Anglo Saxon' (ie. American and British) pop songs and it is obvious that many do not understand what they are singing. One old dear (i.e. about my age) was singing happily to some really filthy English lyrics and I am quite sure she would be mortified if she knew.

In a pleasant spa town in the Rosillon area, our lunch was spoiled by Europop pumped out in the town centre by a local radio station.

Rousillon! sorry!

There is an organisation called "Pipe Down", at http://www.pipedown.info/
for those of us who detest un-wanted music ...

It can't be a new problem - GK Chesterton said "Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist." And there is a revealing photograph taken in Piccadilly, London, in 1923 - on the left hand side, a banner advertising the restaurant beneath proclaims: "Perfect food and NO music"!

Yes those awful French songs with "English" lyrics are dreadful. At my keep fit class we always have one that goes "we all kick the bucket in the end, the end". The others in the class can't believe it when I tell them what they are happily dancing to. I agree, annodomini, that the music playing throughout the town is a singularly ghastly idea as well.
I like the idea of "anglo-saxon" lyrics though Greatnan; maybe that is why there are always so many four letter words....

gally, I just noted a chappie whonlooked like a manager sort of chappie, and said within his hearing (I have a clear teacher voice when I want!): "I can't think straight with this racket going on. They do it deliberately you know. Let's just go now."

He moved quite quickly to some "back premises" and guess what, the volume was turned down.

Bags

The last time I visited Asda the music was great! A lot of the customers, including myself ,were singing along softly to the classic ballads.

I could never do that!

You'll be dancing in the isles next!