The album is a compilation of all but one of the tracks from Devo's two E-Z Listening Muzak Cassettes, which had been available only through Club Devo in 1981 and 1984, respectively, consisting of instrumental versions of classic Devo songs performed in the style of easy listening Muzak or New Age music.
This style of music is sometimes used to comedic effect in mass media such as film, where intense or dramatic scenes may be interrupted or interspersed with such anodyne music while characters use an elevator (e.g. The Blues Brothers, Dawn of the Dead, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra and Spider-Man 2).
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Mood music, easy listening, Muzak and elevator music are other common terms for the format and the style of music that it featured.
Ethel Gabriel created "The Living Strings" series of albums, which were easy-listening instrumental string versions of popular tunes, the type of music that came to be known pejoratively as elevator music.
The slogan used to be :"NO RAP, no hard stuff, and no sleepy elevator music. Just the best songs on the radio. Y100..." There were some alternative songs at the time, but the playlist was overshadowed by many other songs from Ace of Base, U2, Stereo MCs ("Connected"), and Haddaway ("What Is Love").