Hi Mary - I don't mind soft background music in some shops, but fully understand what you mean!
We've just been into Asda to buy some DVD's & it was deafening! We couldn't hear each other speak, so I complained to the counter assistant & was told they weren't allowed to turn it down!
I then spoke to the store manager, explaining that two different types of loud music competing with each other in the same department, sounded like a blinking fairgroud! He immediately turned it down, but I still made a comment in the complaints book - which will probably fall on 'deaf ears' - pardon the pun!