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Most casual listeners have experienced an earworm before. Certain songs, such as The Knack's "My Sharona" or Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," have the uncanny capacity to become lodged in our heads. And it's not just pop music – unshakeable musical repetitions have fascinated composers throughout the ages, from Carpentras to Berlioz. But why do some songs stick more than others?
In an attempt to find out, Kelly Jakubowski of Britain's Durham University directed a 3,000-person survey on the subject of earworms. Her study found that certain compositional elements – the combination of familiar melodic structures with unusual intervals, for example – were prone to "stickiness," independent of factors like radio popularity. But could these findings change the way composers write music? And if so, should they?
[...] Many earworms also contained slight musical quirks, such as an odd interval or repetition. "Bad Romance," which topped the list, contains such a quirk: The song's chorus, which was composed in the key of A minor, features an out-of-key E major chord.
[...] In the Durham University study, several participants reported that they could get rid of an earworm by listening to the British national anthem "God Save the Queen." Others suggested listening to the earworm itself in an effort to "unstick" it.
Gagh! The mere mention of the word "earworm" sticks the The River of Dreams (YouTube) in my head . Save me, "God Save the Queen!"
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday November 09 2016, @12:06AM
Start singing Bohemian Rhapsody: it's long enough to clear your mind of the earworm.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday November 09 2016, @12:18AM
What also works for clearing your mind of another earworm is a single word: Mahnamahna
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Touché) by VLM on Wednesday November 09 2016, @12:27PM
Speaking of Queen and earworms, two anecdotes:
1) For some reason "we are the champions" seems stuck in my head this morning. God Emperor "first president meme'd into office" coronation, weed legalized in CA, my based Trump supporting congressional rep won reelection (neo-cucks gtfo especially Paul "the traitor" Ryan may Kek torment him for all eternity).
2) When I was a kid in Government (indoctrination) class decades ago where they tried to teach us how the government worked in a blue pilled sense (three branches, balance of powers, etc etc) one task was to write to a legislator, express an opinion, and try to get their dumb form letter in response. I sent in my support for the death penalty because I was a dumb little kid who trusted the system (I have not always been this woke, I was actually pretty dumb in the 70s for example) and got the form letter you'd expect and a re-election bumper sticker, from the previous election, laughably. An acquaintance of mine tried to get our "official state song" changed from some POS march they've had since 1880 to Queens then new "Fat Bottom Girls". He got a hand written letter back explaining due to copyright fees you can't expect the state-U marching band to pay a fee every time they play it at the college football games and something about womens health vs obesity and something about churches would never sing a Queen song in choir (probably would now) blah blah blah thanks kid here's a bumper sticker now vote for me in about 5 years when you're old enough. Epic win. I just thought the idea of a state having its official song be "Fat Bottom Girls" was funny. Note that was decades ago when the obesity rate was like 4% not 40% like now. Every state has "fat bottom girls" as its unofficial state song today, of course. Here let me stick in in your ear (well, that sounded wrong) "She was such a naughty nanny"...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 09 2016, @12:32PM
"Leave it" by Yes > anything by the Queen
The Animals > the Beatles