Like all nerds, I revere Brian Eno. When MusicRadar asked for a column about him, I jumped on it. They wanted something about his generative music, and Music For Airports was the obvious choice.
While I was researching, I learned that a couple of airports had tried playing the album in the terminals, and that it had not gone over well. With a little reflection, this is not surprising. Who wants to hear any kind of music in the airport? If I had to pick something, I guess I would pick Eno, but I would rather it just be quiet in there.
I have conflicting feelings about recorded music being played in public spaces. There is vastly more of that happening than in previous decades, especially since every tenth person started carrying around a Bluetooth speaker. The low point recently was when we encountered a lady playing music from one of those things on a hiking trail deep in the Mohonk Preserve. I almost always find it annoying when people play music against my will, but the key word there is “almost”. One of the best things about New York City is hearing a lot of different music out on the street. So I guess my position is, I don’t like when people impose their music on me, unless that music is extremely cool, in which case go right ahead.