Discussion Groups / English Usage / November 2006

The page is here -- in the footnote:

http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=moa;cc=moa;xc=1;idn
o=aje1890.0007.001;g=moagrp;q1=rough%20music;size=l;frm=frameset;seq=404

There's a whole range of meanings for "music" which is not necessarily
connected to melody. Most recently, I recollect finding a reference in
George V Higgins to "music" as a slang or dialect term for a wife's
nagging - some phrase like "If knew I was gonna hafta to listen to all this
music I'd never have told ya".
And OED has a collection over the ages:

b. transf. Applied, e.g., to the song of birds, the murmur of running water,
the euphony of spoken words, etc., spec. the cry of hounds on seeing the
chase. Also in ironical collocations.
  1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vi. 25 She, more sweete then any bird on bough,
Would+strive to passe+Their native musicke by her skilful art.  1593 G.
Fletcher Licia Sonn. xiv, My love lay sleeping, where birdes musicke made.
1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 28 Clashing of swords was then daily musicke in
every street.  1653 Walton Angler i. 12 What music doth a pack of dogs then
make.  1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 225 With that another Volley
of great and small Shot: When this Musick had lasted about an Hour, they
[etc.].  1751 Johnson Rambler No. 88 37 Milton, whose ear had been
accustomed+to the music of the ancient tongues.  1808 Skurray Bidcombe Hill
9 The cheerful music of the opening hounds.  1836 W. Irving Astoria III. 25
Musquitoes, which, with their stings and their music, set all sleep at
defiance.  1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma xxxviii, The music of the hounds.

I believe we've touched on this one before. But all it would take is a
context where "music" meant something you *could* face (eg the 1687 'volley
of shot') and an appropriate turn of phrase. eg (made-up - I'm not claiming
I know any examples) "The guns of the Spanish fleet made their musick and
the bold tars faced it without flinching." or "The dogs made their violent
musick until the stag turned to face it."
And *if* (big 'if') something like that had been written, then, in some
recondite circle, the shorthand "facing the music" could well have arisen.
Which seems, I think, to lend wright to your persuasive "I don't think it
will ever be conclusively explained" theory, not to mention the "needn't
have a single origin" corollary.

And charivari was used as an instrument of social coercion, according
to Wiki:

"In charivari, people of the local community gather around to
"celebrate" a marriage, usually one they regard as questionable,
gathering outside the window of the couple. They bang metal implements
or use other items to create noise in order to keep the couple awake
all night. Sometimes they wear disguises or masks[.]

The custom dates from the Middle Ages and originates from France where
it was a regular custom after weddings. Later it became a form of
protest against socially disapproved marriages like widows who
remarried before finishing a socially acceptable period of mourning."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charivari

As George Hamilton (IV?) once put it, "Children of the night -- shut
up!"