Was walking through the Food Lion in Rocky Mount,NC the other day and just as I picked up my box of Cap'N Crunch "Weather With You" came on over the P.A. Talk about a n ice shopping experience.

I'm betting that somewhere, there is a CD or DMX channel just for grocery stores or something. My mother heard Weather in the store yesterday and was floored that she was actually hearing and recognizing Finn music. (Does this mean I'm getting through to her? )And about a month ago, we heard the STUDIO VERSION of Leaky Boat in the same store, which was really, REALLY odd.

I'm noticing more and more that the music I like (acoustic rock), AND 80's music, are being played everywhere. I have a valid explanation, having worked in the lurid world of advertising. It's a SAD explanation, but one that works.

The golden demographic most businesses want to appeal to is age 35-49, because these are people in their peak earning years. These are the folks whose dollars are powering the economy, whose purchasing decisions make or break brands. I was born in an even decade year, 1970. As I get closer to hitting that target demographic, (which will be in 2005,) I will be hearing familiar things which I like, in more and more places. You'll start seeing 80's stations pop up on the radio. You'll start seeing loudly-colored pedal pushers - I mean capri pants. You'll start seeing more 80's reunion tours, re-releases, and 80's music being used in TV commercials.

Think about it...the return of bellbottoms around 1995 was no accident, nor was the use of Led Zeppelin and Steppenwolf in commercials, nor were the advent of "Jammin Oldies" stations. It was an attempt to cater to the people who were just then entering the target demographic. Grunge will return, around 2015.

So listen up in your elevators, your shopping malls, your convenience stores...Neil and Company will be singing their hearts out once again, maybe to get re-discovered by older folks and discovered for the first time by younger ones. At least their royalty checks will pick up again after all these years.

Peaceout, -h

i was thrift shopping a couple weeks ago and about fell over when i heard the beginnings of "pineapple head"! i was so giddy, dancing around, bobbing my head. my punklike friend was very understanding and patient with me

i asked the girl at the register if it was someone's mix, because all the employee's seemed to be of the alternative gender, but she said no. it was a satellite feed. whatever, as long as they were on, and it wasn't "ddio", "sss" or "wwy"~~~yay!!!!!!

Blimey !

I was having a crap the other day - and next thing I heard..

Log Cabin Fever..

Freaky.

Occasionally I hear WWY in the grocery store and that makes the experience that much better (I like grocery shopping anyway). Also, my fiance heard FAYF--musak style--in the elevator of the law firm where he works. He also heard SSS. I've always wanted to open a coffee shop where I could play Finn, and Beatles, and stuff like that. Probably because the last coffee shop owners I worked for had horrible taste in music (a constant flow of Styx, blues, and musak ). And I'd invite all the Frenz to the grand opening. (I daydream about this a lot).

There's something about those grocery stores! I worked in one for five years and WWY was played every few months. I always enjoyed the tune and never knew who did the song until I got "Recurring Dream" (and fell in love with the band, LOL.)

Robin

Don't dream it's over and fall at your feet are played to death @ our local supermarket. WHENEVER I go in there, I hear it... (no, I don't wait there until I hear one of the songs! ). All I can think of is they only have a few songs on their playlist or maybe the DJ really likes Crowded House.

Do grocery stores have dj's?

no, I don't think they have DJ's....

but the same thing that happens to secret god happens to me... it's the only reason I like to go shopping with my mum...

Why wouldn't they have DJs? Someone's got to pick the songs they play, even if they don't talk. You have to remember... that station @ my local supermarket goes out to all of that company's supermarket in Australia (?).

Here in Az, I often hear Tim's songs and sometimes CH in the mall. And I hear Tim occasionally in Safeway (grocery store). Out here, the music you hear in big stores like that tend to be from a satellite or a company like Muzak.

I am always excited to hear them and it instantly improves my outlook on the day, but it always strikes me as a little strange that for whatever reason, they are included in a soundscape for the target market in retail outlets in this area, yet they are never on the radio. Do people like to shop to the sound of the Finns?

On my lunchbreak today at work I needed to run some errands. Well, I walked into Complete Petmart to get some Eukanuba for my kitties, and "Don't Dream it's Over" was playing on the sound system. Ahhhhhh... instant pick-me-up.
It brought some sunshine to an otherwise hectic day.

Well I've heard Distant Sun being played in Yates Wine Bar in Romford, and ive heard Locked Out being played in Homebase. Thats all im afraid.

Alaska Airlines plays DDIO on their sound system once you've landed...I travel a lot for my job and fly them almost exclusively. It always gives me a chuckle when I hear it!

Cheers,
Anne

The strangest thing happened in the middle of the desert in Arizona.....I was 19 years old in 1990, and driving the car my dad bought me back to California from New Mexico. I stopped at a gas station in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE to get gas, and on the radio came Tim's "Not Even Close". The first and ONLY time I've heard Tim on the radio. It seemed a very stange atmosphere for a Finn encounter....

i heard She Will Have Her Way about a month after it was featured on Sports Night while shopping for dress pants at a Sears at a mall that has since been converted to offices.

The next time I had money in my pocket I bought Try Whistling This.

I heard a really nasty muzak version of Distant Sun in a local grocery store about 1 year ago. I didn't know whether to be happy that I was hearing something somewhat related to Neil or grossed out because it was so mired in sticky muzak sweetness.

I hear DDIO all the time in stores. It's always a nice pick-me-up, but then I always think "He's written tons of other fantastic songs, you know!"

About a year ago, i was at a store managers meeting in Lafayette, LA and I was in the bathroom in the hotel and they had an instrumental version of She Will Have Her Way, now i know that is Neil solo, but it was so weird! At the store i work at we have CH on some of the tapes we play in the store. Weather With You(the one with the chorus in the wrong place!) and Pineapple Head. Its nice to be in the middle of dealing with customers and hear CH in the background! I'll take it when i can get it!

heather

I've heard more Neil and Tim in Vons (grocery) than about anywhere. I've always thought it was a Sony music loop - some sort of lock stock and barrel purchase of music (that included luckily for Sony, Neil and Tim).

Regrettably, I think the selection's been updated and fear that neither Neil nor Tim are corporate second cousins to the music purveyors anymore.

I'm a little tempted to go in with "not even close" playing on a boom box to see who swoons!

I heard WWY on the radio...on a bus in Uganda!!! And I know it was the radio...that's the benchmark - who can beat me?!