The Weather Channel is stability. It was a time before we knew fear.
May 16, 2017 9:09 PM Subscribe
"The Weather Channel music has wedged its way into our brains, imprinted itself from an early age. So many of us now associate that particular genre of inoffensive smooth jazz with feelings of home, the 1990s variety: home where you had little soaps in the shape of sea-shells, homes where you had aggressively wood-accented kitchens with lots of white appliances and everyone had very brightly colored windbreakers in various shades of teal and purple."
(From Mefi's own Faine Greenwood.)
(From Mefi's own Faine Greenwood.)
The Weather Channel Presents and more like it, including Christmas themes.
posted by gregoreo at 9:43 PM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by gregoreo at 9:43 PM on May 16, 2017 [4 favorites]
My mother and sister have always been paranoid about going out if there's a flake of snow in the air. I mean, they GO, because we live in New York, but. they have this need to fret about it as much as possible before they do.
So, from the day The Weather Channel became available, it was on from the wee hours of the morning until we left the house, and for as much as the evening and night as they could get away with.
As a result, I started making up these big, elaborate interpretive dances to the endless Weather Channel muzak. Even though she knew I was having a bit of fun as a coping mechanism against her obsession, my sister started joining me. (Usually, from a seated position because of her bad leg.)
We started calling it Weather Dancing, and we'll still break into it sometimes if we're stuck somewhere listening to that kind of music. (Say, if we're together, one of us has to make a phone call, and gets put on hold. Muzak starts and you hit the speaker button; it's time for Weather Dancing!)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:26 PM on May 16, 2017 [34 favorites]
So, from the day The Weather Channel became available, it was on from the wee hours of the morning until we left the house, and for as much as the evening and night as they could get away with.
As a result, I started making up these big, elaborate interpretive dances to the endless Weather Channel muzak. Even though she knew I was having a bit of fun as a coping mechanism against her obsession, my sister started joining me. (Usually, from a seated position because of her bad leg.)
We started calling it Weather Dancing, and we'll still break into it sometimes if we're stuck somewhere listening to that kind of music. (Say, if we're together, one of us has to make a phone call, and gets put on hold. Muzak starts and you hit the speaker button; it's time for Weather Dancing!)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:26 PM on May 16, 2017 [34 favorites]
The Calvin and Hobbes strip mentioned in TFA.
posted by bryon at 1:00 AM on May 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by bryon at 1:00 AM on May 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
I spent a long fever-dream night in front of the Weather Channel many years ago, using it to ward off inconclusive & inexplicably-disturbing dreams about playing defense for the Rangers in my pajamas. Ever since then it's been imprinted on me as safe background music & noise. I've never quite figured out why. The music must have something to do with it, but at the time I put it down to the very restricted yet continuously varying nature of the news.
posted by lodurr at 2:52 AM on May 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by lodurr at 2:52 AM on May 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
These are the kinds of things you miss when you grow up in a place without weather, like Southern California.
posted by Room 641-A at 2:54 AM on May 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Room 641-A at 2:54 AM on May 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
There was a particular piece of instrumental music the local news show used as background when they were listing school closings due to snow. Let me tell you, when I hear that music today, I certainly do experience the feels.
posted by valkane at 3:08 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by valkane at 3:08 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
aka burlap, the weather channel vaporwave album the author is talking about is probably Eco Virtual - Atmospheres 1. There's a whole series of them, but for my money #1 is the best.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 5:11 AM on May 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 5:11 AM on May 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
One of my favorite memories from adolescence was a whole pack of us going to a friend's basement in between two-a-days for football, relaxing on a room full of Ikea couches with the weather channel Muzak in the background.
posted by JPD at 5:27 AM on May 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by JPD at 5:27 AM on May 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
The videos make me nostalgic until the radar map is not where I grew up and suddenly this is not my Weather Channel.
posted by sleepingcbw at 6:27 AM on May 17, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by sleepingcbw at 6:27 AM on May 17, 2017 [7 favorites]
...using it to ward off inconclusive & inexplicably-disturbing dreams about playing defense for the Rangers in my pajamas.
How the Rangers got in my pajamas, I'll never know!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:30 AM on May 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
How the Rangers got in my pajamas, I'll never know!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:30 AM on May 17, 2017 [5 favorites]
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Local on the 8s is the best show on tv. Sure, the late 90s were the Golden Age of Local on the 8s, but it hasn't fallen too far from those heights. The music/zak remains a big part of that.
I have a lot of beef with the Weather Channel, but Local on the 8s is a perfect little program.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 6:41 AM on May 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I have a lot of beef with the Weather Channel, but Local on the 8s is a perfect little program.
posted by everybody had matching towels at 6:41 AM on May 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Local on the 8s is the best show on tv.
There for a while Local on the 8s was just showing like, regional maps, and not local stuff, and that was very distressing
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:35 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
There for a while Local on the 8s was just showing like, regional maps, and not local stuff, and that was very distressing
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:35 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I like the Weather Channel and its music, but I prefer the music from Weather Nation (which I was not aware of until we got a satellite dish). Weather Nation has fewer stories and segments and generally, I guess, less weather information? But their music sticks in my head for days and we have favorite Weather Nation songs in our home.
It's probably because the Weather Nation songs are sort of muzak versions of pop songs - the ones we have noticed the most are versions of Katy Perry's "Roar", Coldplay's "Viva La Vida", and ELO's "Mr Blue Sky".
I guess it's the Channel for vaporwave (and nostalgia) and the Nation for pop muzak.
posted by danabanana at 8:55 AM on May 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
It's probably because the Weather Nation songs are sort of muzak versions of pop songs - the ones we have noticed the most are versions of Katy Perry's "Roar", Coldplay's "Viva La Vida", and ELO's "Mr Blue Sky".
I guess it's the Channel for vaporwave (and nostalgia) and the Nation for pop muzak.
posted by danabanana at 8:55 AM on May 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
they ought to do a weather-channel-themed version of the Smooth Jazz Cruise......meet your favorite meterologists, have some drinks, jam out to Jeff Lorber, hit the buffet.......
posted by thelonius at 9:11 AM on May 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 9:11 AM on May 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
I've always associated this inoffensive smooth jazz with home because it's what I grew up listening to! It's not uncommon for me to recognize David Benoit or the Rippingtons on the Weather Channel when it's on TV at work.
posted by cp311 at 9:32 AM on May 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by cp311 at 9:32 AM on May 17, 2017 [2 favorites]
Oh wow, thanks for posting this! I am so chuffed to see that I'm not alone in my weird nostalgia for Weather Channel music. I love the interpretive dance story, Underpants Monster. And I LOVE the idea of a Smooth Jazz cruise. Maybe it could be part of a series that includes a very self-aware Yacht Rock cruise.
Also, my apologies for the link fail....I'll fix that. Thanks for naming the album, One Second (it is great).
posted by faineg at 9:57 AM on May 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Also, my apologies for the link fail....I'll fix that. Thanks for naming the album, One Second (it is great).
posted by faineg at 9:57 AM on May 17, 2017 [3 favorites]
Once I was in a Super 8 motel and before setting out in the morning, I turned on the Weather Channel, as one does. Imagine my surprise when I realized they were playing that long, awesome intro to Devo's "Gut Feeling." This is a 100% true anecdote. I would love to know if anyone else else has ever had a similar experience, because sometimes I think I dreamed it.
posted by scratch at 10:39 AM on May 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by scratch at 10:39 AM on May 17, 2017 [4 favorites]
Isn't Eco Virtual all Sade samples though?
I love this post, btw. For me the association is excitedly watching the Weather Channel slightly later than I was really supposed to be up to see if tomorrow could be a snow day, or finding out what the wind-chill outside was once I was safely back in the warmth (Vermont, yo).
posted by en forme de poire at 10:41 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
I love this post, btw. For me the association is excitedly watching the Weather Channel slightly later than I was really supposed to be up to see if tomorrow could be a snow day, or finding out what the wind-chill outside was once I was safely back in the warmth (Vermont, yo).
posted by en forme de poire at 10:41 AM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
And I LOVE the idea of a Smooth Jazz cruise.
oh, it exists...I am simply proposing a WC tie-in
posted by thelonius at 11:00 AM on May 17, 2017
oh, it exists...I am simply proposing a WC tie-in
posted by thelonius at 11:00 AM on May 17, 2017
I dreamed I heard Devo on The Weather Channel, in my Maidenform bra!
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:49 PM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:49 PM on May 17, 2017 [1 favorite]
Watching local on the 8s during a hurricane is something else. the smooth jazz is key in this situation.
I swear they have an extra bad set of thundercloud icons just for tropical storms and above.
posted by vogon_poet at 1:17 PM on May 18, 2017 [5 favorites]
I swear they have an extra bad set of thundercloud icons just for tropical storms and above.
posted by vogon_poet at 1:17 PM on May 18, 2017 [5 favorites]
I would love to know if anyone else else has ever had a similar experience, because sometimes I think I dreamed it.
Yes-in my dream state I heard the intro to The Who's "Eminence Front" during a Local on the 8s. It was such a surprise to hear, but also that it was working so well in that moment/context...
I would have felt exactly the same way hearing Devo Intro.
posted by mustachio at 5:44 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
Yes-in my dream state I heard the intro to The Who's "Eminence Front" during a Local on the 8s. It was such a surprise to hear, but also that it was working so well in that moment/context...
I would have felt exactly the same way hearing Devo Intro.
posted by mustachio at 5:44 PM on May 18, 2017 [1 favorite]
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My only quibble is the author includes this: "There is an entire, excellent album of vaporwave music produced from the raw material of Weather Channel smooth jazz, and listening to it gives you the ability to feel cool and intensely nostalgic for the homey things of childhood at the exact same time, which is usually impossible" but then doesn't tell us what the album is! I want to go listen to it!!
posted by aka burlap at 9:31 PM on May 16, 2017 [8 favorites]