Workplace Safe Music That doesn't Suck?

[Rod Nunley]

Hey gang. I'm working in a temporary office that has no music and my boss has given me an iPod and $100 in iTunes money to get some music for the office. The mandate in the office is that we need some music that is both mellow and peppy at the same time. I guess something along the lines of Frou Frou or Postal Service?

Anyway, I'd love some outside opinions on some good tunes that I could pick up. Looking to get stuff that isn't just music that only I like.

And yes ... I already added the newest track from GWAR. ;)

[panco]

Phoenix for mainstream rock and Justice for mainstream electro.

Go France!

If you're more into Postal service you can go for James Figurine, Röyksopp, Whitest Boy Alive, Kings of Convenience etc ...

[Rod Nunley]

Phoenix for mainstream rock and Justice for mainstream electro.

Go France!

If you're more into Postal service you can go for James Figurine, Röyksopp, Whitest Boy Alive, Kings of Convenience etc ...

Phoenix is a good idea. I'll check out those other bands for sure.

[information]

The Shins, and the first two Graham Nash records would be a fine start.

[Big McLargeHuge]

Ludovico Einaudi is pretty mellow, if bordering on melancholy.

[Rod Nunley]

Thanks guys. Keep them coming. :)

[batroc the leaper]

The Go! Team is a group that I do homework with constantly. I can put their first album on repeat and crank out work.

[SgtPepper]

The Apples In Stereo.

Some songs might have some curse words, but most of their stuff is so heavy and reverb and catchy, you won't notice it.

[EmarAndZeb]

John Coltrane.

[Dude Pal]

John Coltrane.

Word.

[RickLM]

Blondie.
Devo.
The Cars.
David Bowie.

There's something pleasant about a song you haven't heard in a while, and remembering that an artist or a band was damn good.

[mattbrand]

Some of Beck's albums are great for the workplace.

Others:
Thievery Corporation
Bob Marley

[half guard]

This is why I love being the boss. Fuck "mellow and peppy"!

I've listening to Mastodon now and going straight to Slayer when to finish out the last our before lunch! :cool:

[Generic Poster]

The Beach Boys seem to fulfill the mellow, peppy, safe & good requirements.

[Rod Nunley]

Odd. I just noticed that some songs on iTunes are 1.29 instead of .99. That sucks.

[CapnChaos]

A lot of the early Cardigans could work. Especially the Life and Emmerdale albums.

Select Beach Boys. Especially Pet Sounds.

If you can go back to the classics, of course I would recommend some rat pack. I used to play Dean Martin all the time over the loudspeakers back when I worked a convenience store. Perry Como, Sinatra... or more recently Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, maybe. If you want to raise some eyebrows, just find a copy of Pat Boone's In a Metal Mood online and sneak it on there. :lol: "Did I just hear... is that?..."

[SgtPepper]

Buddy Holly
Chuck Berry
The Four Tops
The Supremes
Otis Redding
Wilson Pickett
Sam & Dave
Big Star
Cheap Trick

[Masculine Todd]

John Coltrane.

Yep. In that vein, some Fusion-era Miles Davis (Bitches Brew, Kind of Blue), Sonny Rollins (Saxophone Colossus) and Sun Ra (The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra vol. 1-2).

For some contemporary Jazz, check out Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Manhanthappa's seminal Raga-Bop collaboration Raw Materials and Terrence Blanchard's Flow.

[CapnChaos]

Buddy Holly
Chuck Berry
The Four Tops
The Supremes
Otis Redding
Wilson Pickett
Sam & Dave
Big Star
Cheap Trick

I'm liking the general cut of your jib.

[Masculine Todd]

I find Ambient/Post-Rock to be optimal for working.

Bark Psychosis -- Hex
Talk Talk -- Laughing Stock
Paik -- Corridors
The Mercury Project -- A Data Learn the Language
A Silver Mt. Zion -- He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms…

[Rod Nunley]

I find Ambient/Post-Rock to be optimal for working.

Bark Psychosis -- Hex
Talk Talk -- Laughing Stock
Paik -- Corridors
The Mercury Project -- A Data Learn the Language
A Silver Mt. Zion -- He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms…

I figured that you'd be the go to guy for this thread. Though I am liking a whole lot of what people are throwing out there.

[Hate_Prime]

Jazz is a no brainer. Good, old school jazz. Even better: reggae.

[Jef UK]

Air is great for work, especially Moon Safari.
Getz and Gilberto
Astrud Gilberto
Charles Mingus
The Kinks
Belle & Sebastian

[Jef UK]

Band of Horses

[Jef UK]

Midwestern Product
Ratatat

[Jef UK]

Ella Fitzgerald
Beth Gibbons & Rustin' Man.
Velvet Underground

[Jef UK]

The Zombies
Hank Williams Jr.

[Jef UK]

Fleet Foxes
Taka Taka

[Big McLargeHuge]

Toots and the Maytals
The Specials
Percy Sledge

[CapnChaos]

I just about said Belle and Sebastian and Ben Folds. You just have to be careful about language.

[GelfXIII]

The Beatles?
Dire Straits
Some (carefully selected) Green Day maybe
No Doubt
Garbage
Fleetwood Mack
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Weezer
Ray Charles

[SgtPepper]

The Kinks
The dB's
Chris Bell
The Posies (choose carefully, some songs have lyrics that aren't work friendly.)
The Byrds
Elvis Costello (certain songs and albums)

[Jef UK]

Stereolab
The Rushmore soundtrack.

[Caley Tibbittz]

Rob Thomas' latest album Cradlesong.

[RoShambo]

There"s a site out there that I have bookmarked (I'm not on the computer right now, I'll post a link if I can find it ,though) that has every song from every episode of a bunch of the tv shows that are on now( and a couple that aren't any more).
It's got everything from Scrubs, House, Grey's Anatomy and a bunch more.
It's got allI'm figuring if it's safe for TV, it should be safe for work, too.

[(akaRyanHoffman)]

I bet most the people in your office will pretty much hate most the suggestions in this thread because it's not music they play on the radio constantly or not music they're familiar with. When people complain about music being "too loud", they're not complaining about the volume, they're complaining about not liking the music they're hearing. You could barely hear it coming from the speakers and some assholes will complain it's too loud rather than be honest and say, "I don't like this and I don't want to hear this."

So, if not annoying a few assholes and/or appearing to be fair is your goal, go around and ask people for suggestions and then pick a few of your songs, too. Then some people are happy, though they'll still hate your choices. And maybe even complain about them.

[Lab-Rat]

Plushgun

[RoShambo]

Found it:This link is for Scrubs, season 2, but you can get to everything else from there. (www.tvshowmusic.com/shows/scrubs/season02.html)

[Lab-Rat]

I bet most the people in your office will pretty much hate most the suggestions in this thread because it's not music they play on the radio constantly or not music they're familiar with. When people complain about music being "too loud", they're not complaining about the volume, they're complaining about not liking the music they're hearing. You could barely hear it coming from the speakers and some assholes will complain it's too loud rather than be honest and say, "I don't like this and I don't want to hear this."


yeah...I can see this being an issue.

[SgtPepper]

Neil Young
Buffalo Springfield
XTC
The Tremeloes

[Rod Nunley]

I bet most the people in your office will pretty much hate most the suggestions in this thread because it's not music they play on the radio constantly or not music they're familiar with. When people complain about music being "too loud", they're not complaining about the volume, they're complaining about not liking the music they're hearing. You could barely hear it coming from the speakers and some assholes will complain it's too loud rather than be honest and say, "I don't like this and I don't want to hear this."

So, if not annoying a few assholes and/or appearing to be fair is your goal, go around and ask people for suggestions and then pick a few of your songs, too. Then some people are happy, though they'll still hate your choices. And maybe even complain about them.

Nah. I live in Austin, where people don't suck and are generally cool. Especially about music.

[Sackhead]

I bet most the people in your office will pretty much hate most the suggestions in this thread because it's not music they play on the radio constantly or not music they're familiar with. When people complain about music being "too loud", they're not complaining about the volume, they're complaining about not liking the music they're hearing. You could barely hear it coming from the speakers and some assholes will complain it's too loud rather than be honest and say, "I don't like this and I don't want to hear this."

So, if not annoying a few assholes and/or appearing to be fair is your goal, go around and ask people for suggestions and then pick a few of your songs, too. Then some people are happy, though they'll still hate your choices. And maybe even complain about them.

That was my first thought when I saw this thread. Everyone in my office (if they are listening to music) listen for themselves with headphones or at a very low level (save for the one crazy lady who blasts Christmas music around the holidays :roll:). I use earbuds so I can listen to anything from Tom Waits to Slayer without worrying about offending anyone else.