MUZAK /// JOHN CAGE + ENVIRONMENTAL MUSIC
(b. 1912 - d. 1992) Cage was instrumental in solidifying and perpetuating Satie's contributions to music. In 1969, he wrote Cheap Imitation for solo piano and dedicated it to Satie. Cage considered Satie to be "indispensable" and his thoughts on silence echo the effects of furniture music: "The sound experience which I prefer to all others, is the experience of silence. And this silence, almost anywhere in the world today, is traffic. If you listen to Beethoven, it’s always the same, but if you listen to traffic, it’s always different." Noise is music and noise is in virtually any environment. Cage argues that Satie was the first composer since Beethoven to redefine compositional structure, memorializing him as an influential composer. Time is not measured by any element other than the passing ticking of time. Although Satie and Cage share considerable aesthetic values, they differ in regards to how furniture music (or the sounds of the environment) interact with the environment. Satie believes music should be a part of the environment, while Cage believes the environment is the music itself.
The genre of Muzak has origins firmly rooted in that of furniture or background music and the Dada movement. The Dada movement tests the limits of creation through anti-creation and ultimately, anti-art. Muzak adheres to this and is neither music nor art. Just as Satie intended for his furniture music, Muzak demands no attention, no more than one would devote to the hum of the "air-conditioning or the color of an office [wall]".
"I don’t need sound to talk to me."
JOHN CAGE
Advances in production and consumption of music in the 1970's facilitated background music in a variety of environments such as, the supermarket, gas station, and shopping mall. There is a company, Muzak Corporation, entirely devoted to producing and proliferating this music. It is a uniquely American genre, bred and born in the United States since the invention of "muzak" music in 1934. The company and its music flourished around WWII but has since declined in both popularity and sales.