5-1/2 x 8-1/4. 344 pgs. photograph section 12 B&W. (2004) Paper 978-0-472-08942-0 $18.95T  Available Add to Cart Search this Book's Content About the Book Praise Look Inside Subjects Cultural Studies / Music

Elevator Music
A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong; Revised and Expanded Edition

Joseph Lanza



Noted music historian Joseph Lanza seriously appraises an American musical tradition

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About the Book

For a sound intended to be comforting, unobtrusive, and inoffensive, "elevator music"—i.e., easy listening, mood music, "Beautiful Music," and "Music by Muzak®"—has ignited strong and often heated opinions.

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" experiments, the birth of the Muzak® Corporation, and various science fiction stories that featured mood music as a futuristic staple.

Lanza also chronicles the parallel development of the "easy listening" instrumental, discussing such "mood maestros" as Ray Conniff, Percy Faith, Andre Kostelanetz, and Mantovani. More recent "ambient" soundscapers like Brian Eno and practitioners of what some still call New Age also enter the picture. Along the way, Lanza addresses mood music's social and even governmental uses, raising questions about music's role in modern life while challenging aesthetic assumptions.

This revised and expanded edition delves deeper into the surreal phenomenon of "metarock"—the art of reinterpreting rock songs into dreamlike, string-laden, easy-listening alternatives. The author also adds an afterword about some of the actual musicians who arranged and conducted Muzak® sessions—respected names like Nelson Riddle.

Elevator Music confronts the criticisms of elites who say that elevator music is "dehumanizing" or less than music. These reactions, Lanza argues, are based more on cultural prejudices than honest musical appraisal. In a current climate where the noises are louder, and the background beats are ever more aggressive, this history of music intended as a pleasing background makes for a captivating read.

Joseph Lanza is currently writing an impressionistic history of romantic pop ballads. He has served as an independent consultant for Time Life Music and was executive producer for the two-disc collection Music for TV Dinners (Caroline Records). His most recent book is about the legendary crooner Russ Columbo.