Basic Trope: The soothing Muzak played in an elevator.
- Straight: Alice gets in an elevator, which is playing soothing Muzak.
- Exaggerated:
- The song is a Muzak version of a well-known song, rather than just generic Muzak.
- Everyone in the elevator begins a sing-along.
- The Muzak can be heard everywhere in the building, not just in the elevators.
- Every elevator in the city plays the same Muzak.
- Downplayed: The elevator music is intermittent, and leans slightly in the easy listening direction, but is still far from being Muzak.
- Justified:
- Technically, it's illegal to play copyrighted music without paying royalties to record companies, even if it is to keep people calm and entertained on an elevator or while holding on phone lines; Muzak is a less expensive alternative.
- It also (if it doesn't feature any singer) prevents people from becoming upset by offensive lyrics, or the company looking "unprofessional" for playing such.
- For a time, this was Truth in Television, although it's less common these days. (It's usually Played for Laughs.)
- Inverted: Over the elevator's intercom, the radio is being played, nothing but well-known hits.
- Subverted:
- The song is not electronic music
- Alice doesn't hear Muzak on the elevator
- Double Subverted:
- But it's a cover of a popular song, in a completely different style or genre than the original
- Or it's a song or artist few people have ever heard of.
- But she does hear it when she calls customer service.
- Parodied:
- Bob farts the elevator music.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment
- The Muzak becomes Hotter and Sexier, and Alice and Bob start the Elevator Going Down.
- It's the Muzak version of "Look What They've Done To My Song."
- The elevator is playing Vaporwave.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: The elevator plays no music of any kind over its intercom.
- Enforced: There is an awkward tension between Alice and Bob and the music adds to the humor.
- Lampshaded: "This elevator music is terrible."
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: The mall is hoping the Muzak will make people in the elevator want to buy more stuff.
- Defied:
- The elevator music is classical rather than Muzak.
- Operators decide not to play any music at all.
- Discussed: "Bob, I know this song from somewhere." "Yeah, Girl from Ipanema. They play it all the time in elevators."
- Conversed: ???
Tall and tan, and young and lovely, The Girl from Ipanema goes walking; and when she passes, each one she passes goes—ahhh.
