the starbucks chronicles #2

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I like to consider my artistic tastes eclectic and sometimes off-the-beaten-path, if not quite avant garde or highbrow. But I may have to reconsider after hearing two songs in a row at Starbucks this morning that I recognized from my personal music collection.

Starbucks also likes to consider its tastes eclectic and smart, and the songs they play (and sell) are both of those things, but in a safe, yuppified, short-playlist kind of way.

I’ve never bought a CD at Starbucks, but I’m clearly not as far from doing so as I’d like to be. Part of me thinks this is a sign from the universe that it’s time to punk things up a little. Another part of me—which is a really loud part these days—thinks that uniqueness is fairly futile, so it’s better to focus on goodness. Yeah, you’ve got to wonder what you’re not hearing, but you can still enjoy Bessie Smith and Joni Mitchell while they’re spinning, and think about the days when they were what wasn’t being played.

Comments

Jamie Asaye FitzGerald said…
I can sympathize. It was a challenging moment for me when I couldn't resist buying a compilation of French/Francophile music called Rendezvous a Paris sitting near the cash register at a Starbucks (where, admittedly, I was also purchasing a latte). My Starbucks snobbery was overshadowed by my Francophilia snobbery.
November 11, 2005 at 5:23 PM
Cheryl said…
Wow, that's a true snobistential crisis. Cheers! (I am raising my white Grande cup.)
November 11, 2005 at 6:21 PM
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