It happened somewhere around the one-hour mark. I bopped to muzak. Or to be specific: Sounds for the Supermarket (1975), YouTuber Just Muzak’s self-made compilation of piped music befitting a grocery store, sourced chiefly from the archives of UK library music pioneer De Wolfe.

The first 10 minutes were amusing. As expected, it was a cheesier-than-fondue soundtrack of elevators, malls and waiting-to-be-put-through-to-customer-service.

Amusement, however, quickly turned into irritation. A genre designed not to be listened to grates whenever it is. Offensively inoffensive, it has sparked campaigns from the likes of Pipedown, which seeks to ban it from public places (“Do you loathe its incessant jingle?” the group ask).

But quickly it faded into its rightful place: the background. An innocuous and insipid accompaniment to the montage of my everyday life.

And then, chillingly, I caught myself nodding along (to Mr Lucky by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins).

Pipedown has had some success in convincing supermarkets to remove piped music – citing surveys showing the majority of people detest it – though many retailers have since reintroduced the offending notes. After all, recent research from the University of Bath found it can boost basket sizes by 10%.

And online there’s a growing appetite for mood media. YouTube’s Lofi Girl, who offers live streams of ‘beats to relax/study/chill/game to’, has amassed 1.7 billion total views.

So why not go retro with your background sounds? ‘More Sounds of the Department Store’ has some bangers.

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