We love to hang out in cafes.  We’re coffee freaks, we enjoy reading and schmoozing, and it’s usually a pleasant atmosphere.  It seems that in Philly, cafe employees seem to like their music louder.  I can usually tune it out, but sometimes it’s tough.  I was wondering if this is a big city phenomenon, or if it’s really happening everywhere, and I came up with a few ideas.

1. Philadelphia is full of universities.  Lots of intelligent students.  In any university area, there are usually many cafes.  The jobs are menial and don’t pay well, so the worker might think that they can make their job suck less if they can at least play their own tunes.  I think that the smarter (or richer) they are, the more likely they’ll resent their job.  They can’t just use their Ipods because they may actually need to speak with people.
2. Obviously, someone may simply be self-centered, so they believe that of course, everyone should like their tunes, or one step beyond that, ‘screw everyone who doesn’t like my tunes’.
3. Or maybe it’s just plain ear damage.  

As a musician myself, I find it interesting that at a given volume level, not all sounds are heard equally.  A sound that takes up a large portion of the frequency spectrum, like distorted electric guitars, or even something like a tenor sax, will be extremely noticeable even at a low volume level.  So for example, if you have a style of music with no distorted electric guitars, it may not be as noticeable or harsh as music without it, even if played at the same volume.  Of course, since distorted electric guitars are nearly ubiquitous, they won’t be going away.   So I may have to opt out of those cafes, or bring my own Ipod with something to cancel that sound.

And yes, I am a guitarist.    I’ve spent a whole lot of time playing loud with plenty of distortion, barbecuing a few eardrums in the process.  Eventually it just gets really old.  And if it’s boring and annoying to me, I can only imagine how lousy it sounds to others.  How much average white male rock do we need?  Lots of distorted guitars, the omnipresent 4/4 time with a straight 8th note feel (often using the famous Slacker Beat which my friend, a drummer, parodies so hilariously), as little harmony knowledge as possible, and bonus points for yelling singing techniques.  Fortunately, there are modern musicians who break this mold, but they are definitely in the minority.