Elektra

Fred said:

Ok - Is it just an "ear worm" in my brain, or did anyone else expierience it? ... Just wondering if "ear worms" can be "engineered" like computer worms or viruses.. Does our neurology have enough in common for this to happen, and for a large number of people to be infected by a tune which, even if not irritating at first, becomes irritating? -- If so, laws should be passed to ban them!

There's people who research exactly that! Perhaps this could be interesting:

http://www.gold.ac.uk/music-mind-brain/earworm-project/

Disclaimer: I haven't read any of that research, so I don't know if it's actually interesting or not.

Interesting study.

[ But 15% of people classified their earworms as  "disturbing" ]

I can believe that, for example if you have a Justin Bieber tune stuck in your head...

I've had Weird Al's 'I love RockyRoad"  stuck in my head (with the occasional 'Another one rides the Bus' slipping into the rotation )  since hearing him on a NPR interview, like 2 weeks ago.    Disturbing?

Thank you AIK for that facinating link! - Phew! I am lucky - only ever get ear worms extremely rarely.. Some people suffer it weekly!

Not going to paraphrase any of the stuff in the reports - its all easy to see on the website and linked reports -

36 hours was more than enough for me - that damn song was playing repeatedly, and the head music I usually listen to was gone... In fact, thats still gone - But thats probably because I deliberately kept music playing on the Tannoys or on cans from my MP3 player - and had the volume cranked near maximum for both..

So I am quite glad to have silence in my head right now - though I will miss it if the music doesnt come back.

Fred.

roguewave: [ But 15% of people classified their earworms as  "disturbing" ]

I can believe that, for example if you have a Justin Bieber tune stuck in your head...

rogue!!

Are we to interpret this as a not-so-veiled CRITICISM of the music of Justin Bieber.....perhaps bordering on dislike or rejection? Surely not!

LOL ;-)  ... Criticism is certainly something thats easy to criticise..

Oooops....

Everything I stumble on lately that I like, for better and worse, functions as an ear worm.  Found The Weepies a week ago and How You Survived the War (as well as many others, most notably Old Coyote) will not get out of my head.  Songs with words vague enough to apply to many situations yet specific enough to have wisdom for each are fascinating.  Beautiful harmonies then cinch the deal.  I go to sleep hearing it, and here and there all day long.  Can't say it's 100% enjoyable but I don't really want it to stop either.

"How You Survived The War"

You never change your mind once it's made up
Unless it's to crawl back on your knees

Is that the way you want it?
You get back to the wall
And put your hands up
It's a holdup
You give up like every time before
That is how you survived the war

You never multiply, all these divisions
You give yourself the least of parts
I put on my green felt hat, pack our privisions
Playing a merry Prince of Thieves

Is that the way you want it?
You get back to the wall
And put your hands up
It's a holdup
You give up like every time before
That is how you survived the war

You're not gonna lose this one
You don't have to cut and run
I think you can choose to love and what is more
That is how you survived the war

Now in a summer's day, spring a ripened plum
How will you live under the sun?
You follow the open road, remembering the guns
When you get lost under the trees

Is that the way you want it?
You get back to the wall
And put your hands up
It's a holdup
You give up like every time before
That is how you survived the war
That is how you survived the war

You never change your mind once it's made up

" Beautiful harmonies then cinch the deal.  I go to sleep hearing it, and here and there all day long.  Can't say it's 100% enjoyable but I don't really want it to stop either." - Dewster

Hmmm..  I have music playing most of the time - I only really have a problem when something plays repeatedly which I dont enjoy.... So perhaps I "suffer" from "ear worm syndrome" too -

For me, its only when the tune is unpleasant or bothersome that I regard it as a "worm" - Ok, the other music isnt always 100% enjoyable or "wanted" - but mostly its still enjoyable and wanted to some degree, and I wouldnt want it to stop.

The Elektra song was an unusual exception - I did want it to stop.. Most of my head music "plays" at appropriate times, and when played leads to a different piece - often this follows the order of the album I first listened to with the song on - (I really hate it when albums are re-engineered for CD, and the order is changed and  tracks added or deleted or moved - Particularly albums from the 60's and 70's - the musicians, IMO, took great care in the sequence of songs on their albums - or at least it feels that way to me - because in re-ordering the songs something is lost for me).

Perhaps for me an "ear worm" is music which dominates, plays repeatedly, and doesnt allow other music to follow it.. I dont catch these often, but when I do, I hate it - Even an enjoyable piece repeated too often becomes an irritation.. It is simple pieces repeated which are the most irritating IMO - I often "deliberately play" complex pieces repeatedly in my head - Some of Joe Zawinul's pieces, or early Pink Floyd or Return to Forever tracks or albums can be playing in my head for days without a problem..

I got a MP3 player recently, put all my albums on it, and had a few days wearing cans and playing through my albums - but I stopped doing this - I much prefer my mental 'selection' process, and actually prefer the fidelity of my mental music.

Fred.

"

You give up like every time before
That is how you survived the war

"

Ouch!

"Perhaps for me an "ear worm" is music which dominates, plays repeatedly, and doesnt allow other music to follow it.. I dont catch these often, but when I do, I hate it - Even an enjoyable piece repeated too often becomes an irritation.."  - FredM

I agree, I shouldn't have categorized The Weepies playing over and over in my head as "ear worm" behavior as I mostly enjoy it.

The Weepies do this thing that I've been noticing more and more in popular entertainment (probably more due to my age than an actual increase in frequency) and that is an over dramatization of the content and delivery.  Elektra does this in spades.  I imagine drama, like sex, sells.

Another thing I've noticed with popular singing lately is that there are often seemingly intentionally annoying aspects to the delivery.  The Weepies have awesome harmonies (which I can't help but wonder are "enhanced" by studio pitch correction) but both of their voices have strange elements  - his overall is somewhat grating and nerdy sounding; hers has too much lilting going on and the Rs over-pronounced.  It's often these things that the needle on my mental record player chooses to skip on.