They were playing a song by the English indie pop band Allo Darlin today as background music at my local Publix Supermarket. It was followed by Marshall Crenshaw before the music slipped into the background again and out of my consciousness somewhere near the yogurt aisle.
This is disturbing. I don't think of Allo Darlin as "background music" and their songs certainly aren't "oldies" - true, they disbanded this year, but their recording career was between 2010 and 2016. I've seen them perform here in Atlanta at The Earl and 529, and they're what I've come to consider as "new" music after some five decades of listening to all manners of other music, but now my "new" music is supermarket background sounds.
I hope the band members get royalties from this. They seemed to be nice people.
For what it's worth, I remember when Marshall Crenshaw was considered "new" music, and when he first played Atlanta in the early 80s, he performed at the notorious 688 Club, then the au courant New Wave and punk rock club. I've had three decades to relegate Crenshaw in my mind to the "oldies" category and it wouldn't have surprised me one bit to hear him as Publix background music, but Allo Darlin was a bit of a jolt to the system.
Impermanence is swift and everything changes. What was once new is now old and what we had yesterday is gone today. If we cling to the present, we find ourselves in the past.
On the positive side, the supermarket's background music is getting better.
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