Music and Meaning on the Factory Floor

Jocelyn Diaz

 

This article consisted of music being part of the factory floor at MacTells. It was said that workers would bring in their own radios, so everyone would be able to hear the music. They would switch off and by the end of the day, majority of the radios were still playing. There were four types of stations workers liked listening to. One was popular music; another was adult-orientated rock/pop music, also classical music, and stations that were devoted to talk rather than music.

 

Music was one of the reasons that would cause a "mood" during the workday. This helps them get through the day without feeling boredom; this mood brought life to

Their job, it made them "have some fun and a laugh" because they had to do "the same boring thing everyday". There was a song that the company chose to portray the company, which was U2- Beautiful Day, which was nothing that the workers felt.

 

One worker chose the song "I will survive" by Gloria Gaynor, which meant survival in the worker's eyes. This song was upbeat, free-spirited, strong, and independent. She related this song to work because she needed to "survive the indignities of the factory floor at MacTells". This worker also felt this way because they had strict discipline that was dealt with for two hours. They could hear their boss, "Less chat, more work. Come on, we need the numbers". This stressed them out, and could only cope with songs that were uplifting. They chose songs that they felt related to how they felt about their job.

 

Overall, the purpose of this study was to figure out what type of music workers liked listening to working through MacTell since it wasn't an easy and non-stressful job.