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German Quote by Milan Kundera

“As early as 1930 Schoenberg wrote: "Radio is an enemy, a ruthless enemy marching irresistibly forward, and any resistance is hopeless"; it "force-feeds us music . . . regardless of whether we want to hear it, or whether we can grasp it," with the result that music becomes just noise, a noise among…” quote by Milan Kundera
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““As early as 1930 Schoenberg wrote: "Radio is an enemy, a ruthless enemy marching irresistibly forward, and any resistance is hopeless"; it "force-feeds us music . . . regardless of whether we want to hear it, or whether we can grasp it," with the result that music becomes just noise, a noise among other noises. Radio was the tiny stream it all began with. Then came other technical means for reproducing, proliferating, amplifying sound, and the stream became an enormous river. If in the past people would listen to music out of love for music, nowadays it roars everywhere and all the time, "regardless whether we want to hear it," it roars from loudspeakers, in cars, in restaurants, in elevators, in the streets, in waiting rooms, in gyms, in the earpieces of Walkmans, music rewritten, reorchestrated, abridged, and stretched out, fragments of rock, of jazz, of opera, a flood of everything jumbled together so that we don't know who composed it (music become noise is anonymous), so that we can't tell beginning from end (music become noise has no form): sewage-water music in which music is dying.””

Milan Kundera

About This Quote

Mass media turns music into background noise, stripping it of meaning and identity.

In simple terms: Music becomes noise due to constant, indiscriminate exposure.

Key Takeaway

Seek intentional listening.

Themes

media music culture technology

Mood

critical nostalgic

Type

observational philosophical

When to use this quote

  • commuting
  • shopping
  • gym workouts
  • waiting rooms
  • personal devices

Key Concepts

information overload attention economy aesthetic decay cultural homogenization

Questions to Reflect On

  • How does constant exposure change your music taste?
  • Can you find moments of focused listening?
A Different Perspective

Noise can erode deep appreciation of art.

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