Chances Are The Song In The Casino Is Pitbull Or Train

My Vegas vacation last week took me to quite a few different casinos. In the past this meant I would hear a nice variety of music – even if it was surrounded adult contemporary or pop music. Every casino had their own vibe and the music reflected that. Nowadays there isn’t much variety in music whether you’re in the middle of the Vegas Strip or Downtown Vegas. (This speaks to a bigger issue of homogenization in Las Vegas but I’ll save that for another day.)

There was a time where I could go to the Hard Rock casino and hear only rock music. That was awesome. Those days are over and, while they still play some good rock jams, they’ve added pop and rap to the mix. This isn’t the exclusive rock soundtrack I want or expect from the Hard Rock casino but it’s better than most. With the exception of the Margaritaville section of Flamingo many casinos have a similar mix of today’s pop and rock hits.

My musical tastes are questionable (at best) but I listen to a lot of music and usually know what I’m listening to. Last week I found myself asking my friend to Shazam songs so we could find out what we were listening to. Almost every time we Shazam’d a rock song it was a song by Train. Like Lifehouse before them I know that I’ve heard Train but never knew who they were…until now.

If a disposable-middle-of-the-road pop-rock song wasn’t playing it was a pop song featuring my man Pitbull. Pitbull and I go way back to his days on TVT records when he was still rapping about butts in spanish. Now, he’s adding a little flavor to just about every pop song. I love and hate this but the world will always be a better place when I hear Pitbull. This song was the one I remember hearing most.

There’s no way to escape Pitbull or Train in the casinos so just learn the songs and make the best of it. Maybe a Pitbull and Train drinking game will distract you enough.