We have two stories this week: first, the surprising history "elevator music." Turns out, Muzak was a real company. And then we reveal how much Amazon's Alexa and other smart speakers are really ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Whether you know it or not, you’ve been in the mood for some time. That’s Mood Media Corp, one of the world’s largest providers of ...

A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-Listening, and Other Moodsong By Joseph Lanza University of Michigan. 1994, 2004 reissue. $18.95. An instrumental version of "Have You Never Been Mellow" -- does it ...

In the early '80s, Devo released two fan club cassettes featuring muzak versions of their songs. Well, now they are re-releasing the entire collection. EZ Listening Muzak will be out March 4 via ...

For much of the 20th century, it was derided as the Spam of sounds, the pablum of music. Yet in the 21st century, the South Carolina-based company that still calls itself Muzak has enjoyed some of the ...

Devo fans looking to spruce up their cocktail parties with a few spud-centric, easy-listening sounds can look forward to a new box set compiling the band's old EZ Listening Muzak cassettes. Both CD ...

Whether you know it as background music, elevator music, or, as Ted Nugent once called it, an “evil force causing people to collapse into uncontrollable fits of blandness,” Muzak has ruled speakers ...

Muzak made its mark on American culture by producing generic-sounding songs for office buildings, retail stores and the dentist. Muzak made elevator music, but it's been 25 years since the company ...

The Austin-based background music company has just emerged out of bankruptcy, with a continuing appetite for the softer hits or ambient styles it provides. Meanwhile, some fans of the old Muzak still ...