The Merits of Mongolian Throat Singing. Not.
Earth spins faster if you go West. Now, I know that's untrue in more than one way in the scientific sense, but in daily life it makes more sense. Go West and you can eat you dinner in ten minutes (ready in two) while watching world history that's condensed in two-sentence soundbites, two minute CNN items or, for the intellectuals, twenty minutes of Discovery Channel. (And if there's no commercial as an excuse for a break, they just throw some two minute movie or a preview about a documentary coming next week, both about a completely different subject.) Your dinner, by the way, would probably be tuned to the taste of a 6-year old.
You're not supposed to listen to music exceeding a time span of three minutes. To cushion the shock of the new, much of it will be sampled bits from music that you know and it has to adhere to a format. The other day I found myself listening to the Eagles' One of These Nights on the radio. I don't have absolute hearing, but I kept wondering - was Donley Henley singing that high? No he wasn't - they radio people had just sped up the music, perhaps from the original 45 rpm to 55 or so. I don't have the original single (that was already shorter than the album version) but I bet it was longer than three minutes. So there you go. But apart from that, to compensate for the food, the choice of music has been tuned to the tastes of a 36-year old. Call it 'adult-oriented rock'.
If you go East from, say, the Greenwich Meridian, things get rapidly different in an opposite direction in more than one way.
In France and Italy, people take at least an hour to lunch, and the Sunday dinner may even last half a day. The really scary part: they don't even watch television while doing it! Dinner preparation often starts the day before. I admit it doesn't get much worse if you go further east, but trust me, you don't want to know how long it takes to get a proper cup of tea in Japan.
Music may come in short chunks too, but they might as well take a whole evening. No matter how long or how short it takes, the lyrics don't tell you how many chicks in the block the singer has available for procreation, or how much fun it is to gun down a policeman. Also, speed may vary, and it is frequently lower than 120 bpm. In general, subject matter even go beyond the story line of 'Big Guy Cuts Through Red Tape and Kills the Bad Guy, and becomes a California mayor/senator ever after.' (Hm, perhaps I'm mixing things up here.)
Are you still with me? You have just tuned in to Silk Road Radio. I'm your IJ Nick and next time I'm going to tell you about Mongolian Throat Singing. Goodnight.