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Realising you recognise “on hold” music

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    Realising you recognise “on hold” music

    This must be some sort of middle-age rite of passage. I’ve just called Barclays Bank’s international helpline (I have an old account with about £60 in it which I’d lost access to, and to their credit they sorted it for me).

    I had ten minutes holding, to a succession of anonymous bits of muzak, then an intro began and I thought “I know this”. Then I heard distinctively smooth tones, and sure enough it proved to be Paradise by Sade. And I like it.

    We’re not supposed to like on hold music, surely.

    #2
    Said music should always be On Hold by The xx, shouldn’t it?

    I hate the way that it sometimes cuts off mid- whatever crappy R&B dreck they’re using, leading you to believe that you’re through to the helpline - only for a different, equally-dismal fifth-form blether about somebody’s ex-partner to crank up just as you utter the ‘he-‘ of ‘hello’.

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      #3
      Ringing Northern Rail is your friend if you like hold music. I'm not convinced they actually have anyone answering the phone. I was on hold for 30 minutes yesterday before giving up.

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        #4
        I got the track cut-off false alarm, on poor Sade as it happens.

        I used Shazam to see what the next track was, and the act was a masterclass in nominative determinism: Washed Out.

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          #5
          I was asked to participate in discussions on hold music in both Frankfurt and Milan.

          I never had a strong view either way. We ended up with Rossini in Italy; I can't recall what we used in Germany.

          The concept was eventually superseded in large part by the use of third party conference call providers.

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            #6
            The DWP used to use Vivaldi, and eventually changed it because it made people anxious. Up to 45 minutes of a 30-second loop.

            https://inews.co.uk/news/the-dwp-rep...ing-mix-393196

            What the article doesn't mention is that it also had the effect of ruining the piece for some people who previously liked it.

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              #7
              It was replaced by a loop of "living in a box", "I am the 1 in 10", and "another day in paradise" after suggestions from Iain Duncan Smith.
              Last edited by Rogin the Armchair fan; 14-08-2021, 12:07.

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                #8
                Originally posted by delicatemoth View Post
                The DWP used to use Vivaldi, and eventually changed it because it made people anxious. Up to 45 minutes of a 30-second loop.

                https://inews.co.uk/news/the-dwp-rep...ing-mix-393196

                What the article doesn't mention is that it also had the effect of ruining the piece for some people who previously liked it.
                I regularly end up on hold to a calibration lab whose hold music has been the Largo from Dvorak’s New World Symphony for years. Possibly more than a decade. Painful.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by delicatemoth View Post
                  The DWP used to use Vivaldi, and eventually changed it because it made people anxious. Up to 45 minutes of a 30-second loop.

                  https://inews.co.uk/news/the-dwp-rep...ing-mix-393196

                  What the article doesn't mention is that it also had the effect of ruining the piece for some people who previously liked it.
                  Oh yeah, that got very familiar very quickly.

                  The severe bitcrushing didn't help either. Any more compression and it would have just been white noise.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Sits View Post
                    sure enough it proved to be Paradise by Sade. And I like it.
                    I love that track! More superior 'on hold' music than I've ever had. Also, it takes me to a holiday in the States in 1988 where the track was seemingly coming out of every car window for the whole of my stay.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                      Said music should always be On Hold by The xx, shouldn’t it?
                      Or Sam & Dave: 'Hold On I'm Coming'?

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                        #12
                        Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - The Waiting

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