Shop Noise

Bike shops play two types of music. Sales and mechanic.

Sales is what you hear when you walk in. Usually radio. Which is generally warm, inviting, and evokes a feeling of content. A typical choice is a classic rock station. Classic rock offers some feel good nostaligia as well as a little edge once in awhile. But, as with most radio music, it's all the same pretty much everyday.

To truly experience the heart and soul of a shop, you must lend an ear to what the wrenches are playing. The one thing the boss does not control is the music of his beloved mechanics. He knows that the crumbs of open musical selection are as important as the $10,000 a year shop regular. A happy mechanic is one that chooses his own soundtrack. Mess with this and you mess with the holy grail of every shop owner: profitability.

The following is a sampling of what we've had in regular rotation the past few months:

Thin Lizzy - The Definitive Collection
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Cosmo's Factory
Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey
Bad Brains - Rock for Light (pretty much the entire catalog including the new Build A Nation)
Led Zepplin - Remasters
Tones on Tail - Nightmusic
The Abyssinians - Satta Massagana
Fugazi - 13 Songs
Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Joy Division - Substance
Van Halen - Van Halen
The Upsetters - Return of Django
Gorilla Biscuits - Start Today
Cro Mags - Age of Quarrel
Refused - The EP Compilation
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
Bob Marley - Songs of Freedom
Rush - Moving Pictures
Manu Chao - Clandestino
Wedding Present - Bizarro
Slayer - Reign in Blood
U2 - War
Gang of Four - Entertainment!
Maritime - We, the Vehicles
The Police - Ghost in the Machine (and a homemade greatest hits disc from Wild Bill)