Muzak Headed for Bland, Easy Retirement

Remember the days when you’d get into an elevator, or walk into a store, and you’d hear the generic sounds of a saxophone/keyboard combo?
Ah, yes, muzak. Many people know it as a catch-all for plain background music, but it’s actually the name of a company.
These days, mood music is less than 1 percent of what Muzak makes and distributes. And the newest company to swallow up the Muzak brand – called Mood Media – has, thus, decided to retire the name, and hopefully the negative connotations that many associate with Muzak.
But not everyone sees Muzak as the brand of bland.  Joseph Lanza  has written in defense of the company and its music. He’s the author of “Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong.”