Casinos always have upbeat music blasting out of their PA systems, because the gambling psychology says the quicker the tempo, the more money you’ll put in the slot machines.
The genre of music they play varies. In St. Louis, most of the tunes are recent pop hits with a little bit of hip-hop, but absolutely no ballads. When I was at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi a couple of weeks ago, most of the songs were by country artists. But a couple of hours away here in Tunica, the Harrah’s PA system is rocking.
What’s weird is that it’s a classic rock playlist. As I waited for a seat in a poker game, here’s a sample of the songs I heard, in this order:
Boston “Smokin'”
Foghat “I Just Wanna Make Love To You”
Beatles “Revolution”
Stephen Stills “Love The One You’re With”
Fleetwood Mac “The Chain”
That’s like a set you would have heard on a Lee Abrams Superstars station circa 1978. I know, because that’s where my career started — on FM 104, The Album Station, WRCN/Riverhead (NY), where I played all those songs approximately seventeen gazillion times from 1978 to 1981.
Little did I know we were developing the playlist that would be used 3 decades later to get more money out of Mississippi gamblers.