Whats your favourite track to play to the non hi-fi visitor?


Lets be clear, the uninitiated offer an opportunity to show off your hi-fi, and give them an unexpected experience. Most visitors wonder why there is laboratory equipment and Stanly Kubrick 2001 monoliths in the lounge - some even make the connection to the wall of vinyl.

Time to pull out the Matt Bianco LP ’Who’s side are you on’, after warming up the system for an hour or so.
Some people don’t get it at all, but most can be impressed - but not with extended playtime. So, its a rare person that will sit and listen, as the demo nearly always gets turned down to background music to allow conversation.

I once had a good mate over for an evening of music and the odd wine, at one point during the evening he rushed to the kitchen and came back with spoons, which he played alongside the hi-fi to everything - including Pink Floyd. Mind you after a few wines it did bizarrely become a fitting accompaniment.

Whats your ’knock them dead track’ to play to non audiophiles?
128x128surferandy
I don't ever try to impress my friends with my stereo. I did invite a friend over who had inquired about my stereo while we having drinks at a bar. I went to the bathroom while he was listening and fell and knocked my amp off off the rack its was on. The rack and amp are very heavy. I don't know how he did it. He was drunk, I guess and probably blacked out and fell. I've never been that furious in my life. I ask him to leave immediately. If he hadn't I think I might have at a minimum seriously injured him. My stereo is now not a reason to come over and be impressed by.

If anybody asks while they're over, I ask them what they want to hear. I don't really care if they're impressed or not. But, if they want to hear their favorite song, I oblige. If they request something that I know won't sound all that spectacular, I suggest something else that is similar. I figure if it's song they're familiar with, they'll figure out what they've been missing out on their own.
I try to play something they like and know.  Next choice is genre they like.  Last choice depends on the evening's (or morning's or afternoon's) diversions.
Bump.  This is too good a thread to let die.

Another suggestion: John Adams' "Short Ride on a Fast Machine" played by Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.