The omnipresent amplification of music in all aspects of society--malls, elevators, gas station pumps, cafe patios, ipods, commercials, films, birthday cards, caskets--resulted in a "soundtrack without end", making life seem more like a take on a reality TV show or a scene from "this summer's greatest experience" than the real deal: made him wonder in moments of unbelievable and unexpected silence if he was in fact asleep and struggling somewhere in his subconsciousness to inform himself that "it [was] only a dream."