money for a good time... (another off topic post)...

[snake]

you get what you pay for....!!

I was in town today doing some xmas shopping with my good companion... my MP3 player.... I decided to splash out £25 on a new pair of headphones for myself (seeing as I was spending so much on everyone else.... ) and my, oh my, did I do well....

amazing how a pair of decent headphones can improve your xmas shopping experience... at the very least it saves you from listening to the APPALLING xmas music selection favoured by most high-street stores.... 'Frosty the snowman' can just get to fuck!!

I suppose it depends on what you're listening to on those new 'phones.... for me it was a mixture of Front 242, Jack off Jill and Cinematic Orchestra (yes, my taste in music is a little eclectic....) - each to his/her own!

who has similar xmas shopping experiences?

I can't be the only one who NEEDS to block out the xmas dirge.....!

DD, I know you'll be with me on this!

[DungeonMasterOne]

The trade unions are suggesting that subjecting shop workers to endless repeats of the same old Xmas music over and over again should be counted as a form of abuse, so you may be on to somrthing there.

[snake]

I'd support strong action against said abuse!
down with the xmas dirge!

[DecadentDoll]

you get what you pay for....!!



I suppose it depends on what you're listening to on those new 'phones.... for me it was a mixture of Front 242, Jack off Jill and Cinematic Orchestra (yes, my taste in music is a little eclectic....) - each to his/her own!


I can't be the only one who NEEDS to block out the xmas dirge.....!

DD, I know you'll be with me on this!

i am DEFINETELY with you on this one. I was marching through woolies listening to Skinny Puppy, JOJ, anything but Jingle Bells!

I like to pretend im in a music video, especially to Love Dump by Static X!

x x x DD

[wamram]

Wait til you hear Co-oP FM that they play all year round in our local store it makes you want to cut your ears off .

wamram

[Hayley]

Hi

You think that's bad...

When I was a single mum all those years ago, I worked on the check-out at B&Q. Not only did they have musak carols but I was right next to a movement-activated toy parrot in a cage which every time anyone went through my check-out squawked "Akkkk you can do it, if you B&Q it. Akkkk!"

I am still receiving therapy for it.

Hayley

PS Yes, I did wear a B&Q uniform at the time!

[andy250]

I can beat that!!!

I once worked in a cash and carry where they only played Neil Sedarker all day long. Oh bloody Carol, all day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

regards

Andy
(yes i too had to wear a uniform)

[stace]

Carols haunt me!! I worked in Woolies for 2 1/2 years - guaranteed that as soon as November 1 rolled around the Carols would start. Then as it got closer to Christmas we had a band right near all us checkout chicks...argh! They had the trombones in there, trumpets, cymbols...all that really *loud* stuff...grrr.

...now I'm a travel agent (hazar!)...the other weekend though the exact same big band group parked themselves right outside our shop and started playing!!! The shopping centre that I work in now, started playing carols mid way through November and you could hear them echoing down the corridors...there was actually an appeal sent in to centre management to hold off on the carols until Christmas got a little closer...bargh!!

[DungeonMasterOne]

What is needed is an EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) weapon, as soon as they start playing annoying crap, aim it at the centre's / shop's music system and fry the bugger.

I actually like Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas", but hearing it 20 times a day in every shopping mall and supermarket in the district is en encouragement for just about anyone to go postal...

[Phantom]

I had the job of Santa in my home city's biggest department store about 10 years ago.

Great pay - 7 quid an hour to sit around ho-ho-ho-ing ... but over-heating in the santa suit and listening to the grotto's ONE-AND-ONLY song looped over and over again (on a tape that flipped itself over when it got to the end) slowly drove me crazy.

The job only lasted three weeks, but it was six - eight hour shifts. By the end of it, that one single song started haunting my dreams ... and even when I was awake it seemed to follow me everywhere - the toilet, the bus, the dinner table ... over and over in my head, like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.

However, a nice perk of that job was having Vicky Michelle from 'Allo 'Allo pop into my grotto with her daugher. Vicky posed for a pic, sitting on my knee - and I think I've still got that photo somewhere (at my Mum's)

Ahh - Christmas!!!

Phantom


.

[stonecastle]

I get my headphones from pound shops and find that they are quite adequate. I only listen to music from the internet though on sites like google video and youtube. Where I can listen to my old punk favs.

[snake]

Wow! I didn't expect his many responses to my rant! Good to hear all your stories of xmas music nightmares!. Good call on the EMP DungeonMasterOne!!!

I'm with stonecastle on the youtube thing - I recently discovered you can actually save their videos and convert them to MP3 format fairly easily... my MP3 collection has swelled as a result of this... let's hope they don't take this wonderful, ahem, service, away!

I also recently found out about an excellent music site called pandora (pandora.com). It is built around a thing called the 'music genome project' which aims to classify music tracks based on the sound rather than loose genres. For example, it uses things like 'use of tonal harmonies', 'minimalist arrangements', 'a highly synthetic sonority' as well as a whole lot of other decriptive terms...

Basically the site helps you find music you'll like based and might have overlooked... I listen to it almost every day at work. Its a bit like having your own personalised radio station. Excellent for those of us who have listened to their MP3 collections to death and need new stuff...! You can set up separate 'stations' then just sit back and listen to a new mix of music each day. And best of all... its free and LEGAL!

The only downside is that you can't go back to a song once its been played (although they do replay eventually) but you can give each song 'a thumb up' or 'thumb down' and this will have an influence of what songs are chosen next. You can also add songs to your personal 'bookmarks' so you don't forget them.

You do need to register after the 5th song (I think) but its free and well worth it (and LEGAL - hey did I say that already?!) Brilliant stuff! Go check it out!

Sorry for the long reply - and no! I don't work for Pandora... just thought some of you might like itas much as I do....

[DecadentDoll]

I also recently found out about an excellent music site called pandora (pandora.com). I
The only downside is that you can't go back to a song once its been played (although they do replay eventually) but you can give each song 'a thumb up' or 'thumb down' and this will have an influence of what songs are chosen next. You can also add songs to your personal 'bookmarks' so you don't forget them.

I LOVE pandora.

currently in my list "rob zombie radio" "clutch radio" and "rammstein radio"

[Hayley]

I had the job of Santa in my home city's biggest department store about 10 years ago.
.

I'm sorry, I'm still thinking of Phantom as Santa! Scary!!

Hayley

[Phantom]

The 'South Wales Echo' voted me Cardiff's best in-store Santa that year, although they commented I was a little too young and a little too slim (that was a loooonnnnggg time ago, and both problems have been rectified).

There's nothing scary about me as Santa. I might not be very patient with stropy mods, but I'm great with kids, very professional in my work with children and teens, and I would NEVER do anything to harm a child.

Cheers

Phantom