No Cure for Songs Stuck in Your Head

Strange News - AP | Mon Oct 20, 9:48 AM ET | By RACHEL KIPP, Associated Press Writer

[Fierce Allegiance]

ALBANY, N.Y. - Unexpected and insidious, the earworm slinks its way into the brain and refuses to leave. Symptoms vary, although high levels of annoyance and frustration are common. There are numerous potential treatments, but no cure.

"Earworm" is the term coined by University of Cincinnati marketing professor James Kellaris for the usually unwelcome songs that get stuck in people's heads. Since beginning his research in 2000, Kellaris has heard from people all over the world requesting help, sharing anecdotes and offering solutions.

"I quickly learned that virtually everybody experiences earworms at one time or another," he said. "I think because it's experienced privately and not often a topic of conversation, maybe people really long for some social comparison. They want to know if other people experience what they experience."

Kellaris, whose most pervasive personal earworm (Byzantine chants) likely has something to do with his wife's job as a church choir director, has been interested in the topic of earworms for decades. As a musician who now studies how marketers reach the public, he began wondering how widespread stuck songs really are, and began doing small surveys in 2000.

Last year, he surveyed about 500 students, faculty and staff on campus asking about the type, frequency and duration of earworms, and possible causes and cures. Among the songs respondents picked as most likely to become stuck were: "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," the Chili's restaurant "baby back ribs" jingle and "Who Let the Dogs Out."

But the choice that topped the so-called "playlist from hell" was "Other," meaning the majority of those surveyed chose a unique song of their own as the most probable earworm. That led Kellaris to conclude that stuck songs are highly idiosyncratic.

"There are certain tunes that we would describe as catchy that are more likely to become one, but just about anything can become an earworm," he said.

The study, presented at conferences of the Society for Consumer Psychology in 2001 and 2003, showed:

_Women report more irritation and frustration as a result of earworms.

_People who are constantly exposed to music suffer them more frequently.

_There may be a connection between earworms and a person's level of neurosis.

"People with higher neuroticism scores tend to react to the onset of an earworm by saying 'Oh no, here it goes again, I wonder how long this is going to last,'" Kellaris said. "That fretting about it, I think, exacerbates it."

The atmosphere is ripe for earworms at Last Vestige, a music store just west of downtown Albany. As customers flipped through compact discs and records with markers displaying such subjects as "Elvis the Pelvis" and "Beatles Cash-in Copycats," employees Jim Kaufman and Charles Monroe ruminated on recent bouts with earworms.

"Top 40 pop, usually — stuff you wouldn't catch yourself listening to at home," said Kaufman, who named Jennifer Lopez's "Jenny From the Block" as a past stuck song. "Or stuff you're ashamed to admit listening to at home."

Both men said they get rid of earworms either by trying to ignore them or by playing a tune they enjoy. Monroe said an earworm "usually happens when I only hear the song for like a second, like if I go to the laundromat and I'm kind of in and out."

Kellaris heard similar stories after news of his study reached the public. He got hundreds of e-mails from the Philippines, South Africa, Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany, Argentina and all over North America. Among the messages:

_A company that provided background music for retail stores wanted to know how to avoid using music prone to becoming an earworm.

_Sufferers of a psychiatric condition where patients hear music when none is playing sent queries and case histories hoping Kellaris had found a way to cure or treat the disorder. The professor said the two are unrelated.

_Personal stories about earworms haunting individuals for weeks, months or years.

_Suggestions of how to cure an earworm, including chewing on a cinnamon stick, passing the earworm on to someone else or erasing the offending song by singing the theme from "Gilligan's Island."

For marketers, earworms can be a "double-edged sword," helpful if consumers look upon a memorable jingle favorably but with the potential to breed negativity toward a brand if the stuck song is viewed as annoying or unwelcome, said Larry Compeau, a marketing professor at Clarkson University and executive officer of the Society for Consumer Psychology.

"I think the trick with earworms or with any kind of piece of music in advertising is to make sure the music is going to trigger the kinds of emotions or feelings you want the consumer to experience," he said.

Studying when earworms are most likely to occur is next up for Kellaris.

He said one theory is that stuck songs are "the brain's attempt to resolve missing information," and that retrieving the forgotten lyrics of a song will provide closure that "unsticks" an earworm.

[luckystarmom]

In high school, Ron Howard made a movie at my school. It was a little made for TV thing called "Cotton Candy". It was about 2 bands: a good one and a bad one. I was an extra in several of the scenes, and the song the bad band played was that one. I don't know how many times I heard that song, over and over again.

In the dance scene, we had to practice it. First they would turn on the music and then they would turn it off for filming and we would all have to continue dancing. You kind of had to know the music in your head.

I hate that song.

[eddie willers]

It's the lispy voice attachments that makes that song (YOTC)so cloying.

The lyrics and the music pretty much sucks too.

(But what do I know....I like MacArthur's Park.)

[ChemistCat]

OH YEAH. That one is BAD.

How 'bout:

Put another log on the fire
Cook me up some bacon and some beans
Then (long list of chores)
Then come and tell me why you're leavin' me

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Hoe do you top one dead and eaten kid? Why with lots of dead teens!

Debbie's smiling and waving her gun
Picking off cheerleaders one by one
Oh, Buffy's pompon just blew to bits
Oh no, Mitzi's head just did the splits
God, my best friend's on a shooting spree
Stop it, Debbie, you're embarrassing me!

Everybody run, the Homecoming Queen has got a gun
Everybody run, the Homecoming Queen has got a gun
Stop it, Debbie, you're making a mess
Powder burns all over your dress

An hour later the cops arrived
By then the entire Glee Club had died--No big loss
You should have seen what they brought to stop her
Tear gas, machine guns--even a chopper

[speedy]

Hi ya TM4!!! Wow -- I thought this was over -- I can't even read this thread. All I can say is -- And Aubrey was her name -- I never knew her but I loved her just the same -- I loved her name -- Blllecchh. I owe you one -- have to run, but back at you later. You are making my day.

[luckystarmom]

Well, at least he was a republican.

[Catspaw]

Well, at least he was a republican.

Ah, but then there's Cher.

And PLEASE don't post any lyrics of her songs. Just don't.

[New Horizon]

"I'm on my way, from misery to happiness today, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh..."

[doug from upland]

TED KENNEDY CAN'T GET THIS SONG OUT OF HIS HEAD

[PoorMuttly]

well...FIY...I saw the real MacArthur Park a while ago....and the cakes are still left out in the rain...wandering around, holding animated conversations with passing cars.

A lot of Fleetwood Mac's modern stuff sounds like it is being sung by a goat. Much aural annoyance to go around in popular music, ain't there.

[luckystarmom]

My kids watched an episode of the Simpsons where they were dancing to "Shake Your Booty". They've been singing for the past week:

Shake, shake, shake,
Shake, shake, shake,

Shake your booty
Shake your booty

[Dan from Michigan]

"I was born in a Small Town....."

[Dan from Michigan]

"A horse with no name". I hate that song.

[Diverdogz]

GYPSIES, Tramps and Theives.....

[per loin]

If a song sticks in your head, you are required to pay a fee to the RIAA each time you hear it.

[PoorMuttly]

pleeeeease...somebody derail "The City of New Orleans"...and isn't it great we're no longer hearing "Mister Bojangles?!"

American Pie was a torment, too.

This thread is a catharsis, and I am working my way through the decades. I will black out when I get to Techno-Dance.

[ChemistCat]

http://www.mothergooserocks.com/episodes/shoe.html

That should amuse you. ;-) Bwahahah.

My kids actually have most of their CDs and they're pretty good.

There's a whole class of songs we call STALKER SONGS. Here's the worst one, modified by an unscrupulous modifier of folksongs....

---

Hey girl whatcha doin' down there
Dancin' alone every night while I WATCH from above you
I can hear your music playin'
I can feel your body swayin'
One floor below me, you don't even know me
I LOVE you
Oh my darlin'
Knock three times on the ceilin' if you want me
Twice on the pipes if you DARE to say nooooooo
Oh my sweetness
Knock three times on the ceilin' if you want me
Twice on the pipes...if I have to teach you a lesson...

[Diverdogz]

If you listen really close, right now, you can probably hear that damm AFLACK duck.

[Catspaw]

The City of New Orleans

Naw, I like that one. Well, I vaguely knew the guy who wrote it.

http://www.redpajamasrecords.com/bio.html

[Dan from Michigan]

Damn it....I'm your captain..I'm your captain, and I'm feeling, Mighty Sick.