What music do you work to? Also, What is appropriate from a business standpoint?

[Julio Avila]

Hahaha. Well put Scott.

The older I get the more I appreciate/understand country. I don't always need some 23 year old screaming at me.

If it were up to me, I'd listen to NPR a good chunk of the day. Terry gross always has great interviews. And radio lab rules!! Funny AND educational. How about that!

[hogg]

Chris Trevino once tattooed my sternum to some "25 or 6 to 4" era Chicago. That was the worst part of the whole tattoo.

I'm back in with Lehi tomorrow afternoon, so play something good, Scott!

[The Hyena]

Julio, I second Terry Gross

[Julio Avila]

Terry gross is a freakin nerrrrrd!!! But she seems to do her research about every subject. If I had to be interviewed for any reason, I'd like her to do it.

[The Hyena]

Absolutely. I just like listening to her. The interviews like you said are well researched. I feel more informed afterwards. Her interviews with Tom Waits are awesome.

[Julio Avila]

The mike judge one was awesome too. That dudes a good story teller!

[nmkcle]

At the shop I work at, the music we listen to is played for the shop as a whole. And it is probably some of the worst music imaginable. Repetitive commercial garbage. It is a ghetto shop in crappy ole' Cleveland Ohio, home of the cheap and ugly. Sometimes when I have my friends come in and work on them late, when everyone has left I can squeeze in some gism , comes, iggy and the stooges, or some old timey Appalachia type music. That I s what I would prefer to listen too. Rather then having to hear bad rap and r&b of the 21st century; while hearing the words "bitch" and the ever important ''N'' word that is in every song. But it is the inner city and as a young tattooer learning the trade, what better place to learn lettering, script and how to talk someone out of getting their "boos" name tattooed on their neck. Sorry I am bitter

[ShawnPorter]

When Josh Hoffman was doing my arm at Olde City, they used to BLAST the worst loud aggressive black metal imaginable. You're getting the ditch of your arm tattooed and you're wishing to god they'd just play some fucking Smiths or Magnetic Fields. But no. You've got another two hours of Norwegian Black Metal to deal with.

Nowadays with my spoiled method of getting tattooed it works out much better.

[Shannon Archuleta]

Lately it's been all about Pandora for me. I just set up a station and let it go, it's awesome! My main listening stations right now are, Etta James, Dinah Washington, Willie Nelson and Otis Redding. I would love to listen to the Dolly Parton station but for some reason they tend to play a lot of current crappy "country"... I like to keep it pretty mellow when I work and my clients seem to really appreciate it. I've worked at some shops where the other artists played very intense music and it just totally stressed me out, just as my taste in music did them. But I work alone now and I can play whatever I want.

[dari]

When Josh Hoffman was doing my arm at Olde City, they used to BLAST the worst loud aggressive black metal imaginable. You're getting the ditch of your arm tattooed and you're wishing to god they'd just play some fucking Smiths or Magnetic Fields. But no. You've got another two hours of Norwegian Black Metal to deal with.

I used to be a massage therapist, and once gave a tattooer at the old Primal Urge a massage in-house. (The shop was really a house with each artist having their own room.) I had to explain that his massage really wan't going to be that awesome if I did it to the black metal that he had put on, I wish I could remember what we settled on.

[ShawnPorter]

Olde City at the time was very testosterone-y. If it was just Josh and I it tended to be Smiths, Van Halen, whatever.

If the rest of the guys were in; god forbid on a weekend.... it became a "no, check THIS shit out!"

You're competing with Dave Fox and J Goldberg for music rotation. It's going to end up metal or gangsta rap.

[xjamestravisx]

I like the Van Halen/Smiths combo there.

We listen to 80's stuff (Smiths, Talking Heads, Cure), Reggae, Punk (Off With Their Heads, Face to Face, Alkaline Trio), and some more rock and roll type stuff. I save the hardcore for the day I have there by myself.

[conor blue eyes]

wu tang, high on fire, neil young. thats the perfect mix.

[conor blue eyes]

i can't work to metal or hardcore anymore, barely listen to it in general. can't take it anymore, i can't stand being yelled at! and it just gets me on edge.

so true! although ive still for the edge tattoo and crew cut, i especially cant dig a lot of the new stuff. like a 22 year old screaming about brotherhood at shows has anything to do with me...

[brimstonesix]

i prefer more mellow stuff to work to,nothing to scare the norms. i like black metal but dont really like playing it at work much

[Kev]

Let's see- I've been tattooed to psychobilly, Bill Hicks (which is tough when you want to laugh), Love and Rockets, doom metal, and Wutang. Personally, I love all of it and each time it has put me in a different state of mind. My fiance' who likes to sit with me may not agree, but I like to get deep, meditative. When I get my back done, I want some "A Man Called Horse" shit going:

[David Flores]

We used to listen to a lot of rocksteady and reggae Jimmy Cliff, Derrick Morgan, Toots and the Maytals, then it was like Buzzcocks, Sham 69, Cocksparrer, Uk Subs, Last Resort, then it was Neil Young, now it's the Animals, The Zombies, and The Sorrows.

[BSAjunkie]

we have a two story shop so somedays it's venom,exodus and all sorts of metal downstairs. then the complete opposite upstairs like the ethiopians,desmond dekker,trojan records comps etc. or mellow stuff like red sparowes. mid day mixed in 77 punk style stuff like the vicious,mass hysteri,marked men.

Im in the shop 2 hours before we open so I rock alot of the gories,the mummies,sonics or vintage country- bob wills,left frizell,wanda jackson,brenda lee etc.

[Kev]

Your name intrigues me, BSAjunkie; post some bike pics in the "Motorcycle Thread"

[posterboy7596]

I know this thread has been going on for awhile, but I'm new here, and wanted to share my experience. If I'm out of line feel free to call me an asshole. I'm not a tattoo artist, but a tattoo receiver or some are using the term "collector" these days. I was a bit of a hippie when I started getting tattooed, and the shop I went to played a mix of things, but more metal/punk than anything else. It was usually loud and vulgar, and not something I was very used to. It was a place I really wanted to fit in though so I dealt with it and it grew on me. That has been about a decade ago, and I still listen to a lot of metal and punk. To me it seemed like one of those rights of passage, classic tattoo shop things. All the guys there were always totally cool and welcoming, but it was very clear that this was their world you were being allowed in to and if you didn't like it you were free to go somewhere else.

[David Flores]

I know this thread has been going on for awhile, but I'm new here, and wanted to share my experience. If I'm out of line feel free to call me an asshole. I'm not a tattoo artist, but a tattoo receiver or some are using the term "collector" these days. I was a bit of a hippie when I started getting tattooed, and the shop I went to played a mix of things, but more metal/punk than anything else. It was usually loud and vulgar, and not something I was very used to. It was a place I really wanted to fit in though so I dealt with it and it grew on me. That has been about a decade ago, and I still listen to a lot of metal and punk. To me it seemed like one of those rights of passage, classic tattoo shop things. All the guys there were always totally cool and welcoming, but it was very clear that this was their world you were being allowed in to and if you didn't like it you were free to go somewhere else.

I have witnessed a few people try to make requests about what music we listen to. My boss tell them, "the music is for me, not for you. I'm the one working after all." It cracks me up every time, but people don't question it, because they like his grumpy old tattooer persona.

[BSAjunkie]

latley we got a few people that busted out thier phones,turned them up and tried to drown out our stereo with wannabe gangsta crap..wtf.

[Kev]

latley we got a few people that busted out thier phones,turned them up and tried to drown out our stereo with wannabe gangsta crap..wtf.

Whoa-I encounter those people on the street and at the grocery story all the time. I assume they're the same people who blast shit out of the POS factory 6x9 set-ups in their cars all treblely and annoying.

[pixxillatted]

latley we got a few people that busted out thier phones,turned them up and tried to drown out our stereo with wannabe gangsta crap..wtf.

we've had a couple do that. It usually results in our system being turned way up till they get the hint.

[pixxillatted]

we have 4 people at the shop, and the play list depends on who got to the ipod first. It can be any where from Sinatra and Bing, to hardcore rap (very not PG), to old school rock, to techno/trip hop/dup step. Of all of these it's the dub step that kills me. One song is bearable, but hours of it makes my wanna put my head through the window.