A Dissonant Workplace

If you’re anything like me you like listening to music while you work. I don’t know exactly why but there’s something about the rhythm that seems to make me more productive. I also find silence deafening when I’m writing code, so background music actually prevents me from being distracted.

I recently moved into a new office that I share with two other developers, and (for the most part) we have compatible taste in music. The former occupant of our office left behind a rather nice Bose stereo system. . . needless to say my CD collection has received a lot of attention.

Last week I played an album that the other developers didn’t like. Well, that’s putting it mildly – they protested rather vigorously against my selection. Rather than taking it personally, I joked that I’d start picking CDs with the sole intent of annoying them as much as possible. Now, I have roughly 300 CDs covering almost every genre of music. I don’t claim to be an expert music critic by any standard, but I generally enjoy almost anything you could play through a stereo. As you might imagine (particularly if you know me well enough), I find this joke quite funny; my coworkers are finding it increasingly less amusing as each day passes.

Long story short, here’s a quick list of bands that you should play if you’re really trying to annoy someone at the office:

• Blink 182
• Frank Zappa
• Motley Crue
• Falco
• WuTang

One last thought: yes, I actually own albums by the above artists. I actually enjoy listening to Motley Crue quite a bit, though I’m much more amused by their antics than their musical talent. As for Falco and Blink 182. . . I have no excuse for spending money on those CDs. I’ll just blame those as one more bad choice I made as a teenager.