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.

[BallparkBoys]

The worst song ever...

How about.... "Everybody have fun tonight, everybody Wang Chung tonight" ....????

[stands2reason]

Not even close.

[PoorMuttly]

...so much garbage...so many millions made on it !!!

We should have stopped when we achieved perfection..."The Monster Mash."

[BallparkBoys]

500 posts and no one has mentioned:

Eight, Six, Seven, Five, Three, Oh, Niiiiii-yiiiine!

[stands2reason]

To the funny farm, where life is beautiful all the time... They're coming to take me away, ah-hah, They're coming to take me away, ah-hah!

[stands2reason]

I was doing good until I see

Theme song from "Hogan's Heroes"

I Hate you...

[stands2reason]

"Those Were the Days My Friends,"

My mother used to sing that around the house all the time.

My mother cannot sing.

[PoorMuttly]

Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda......

[stands2reason]

You missed it. It was here earlier...

[stands2reason]

Snoopy vs the Red Baron!!!!

[stands2reason]

"Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, or more..."

[stands2reason]

Chug-a-lug chug-a-lug....

[metesky]

All my earworms are songs my mother used to sing or hum around the house when I was a kid in the late forties and early fifties.

One of Mom's favorites.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I'll see your "Billy-Jo McAllister" and raise you one "ANGIE BABY"

You live your life in the songs you hear
on the rock and roll radio.
And when a young girl doesn't have any friends
that's a really nice place to go.
Folks hoping you'd turn out cool
but they had to take you outta school.
You're a little touched you know, Angie Baby.

Lovers appear in your room each night
and they whirl you across the floor.
But they always seem to fade away
when your daddy taps on your door.
Angie girl, are you all right?
Tell the radio good-night.
All alone once more, Angie Baby.

Angie Baby, you're a special lady
Living in a world of make-believe.
Well, maybe.
Stopping at her house is a neighbor boy with evil on his mind.
'Cause he's been peeking in Angie's room
at night through the window blind.
I see your folks have gone away.
Would you dance with me today?
I'll show you how to have a good time, Angie Baby.

When he walks in the room, he feels confused
like he's walked into a play.
And the music's so loud it spins him around
'til his soul has lost it's way.
And as she turns the volume down
he's getting smaller with the sound.
It seems to pull him off the ground.
Toward the radio he's bound
never to be found.

The headlines read that a boy disappeared
and everyone thinks he died.
'Cept a crazy girl with a secret lover
who keeps her satisfied
It's so nice to be insane.
No one asks you to explain
Radio by your side, Angie Baby.

Angie Baby, you're a special lady
living in a world of make-believe.
Well, maybe. Well, maybe.

Think of being trapped in a radio forever and ever.

[PoorMuttly]

...I need to think about my colleague Snoopy's epic hit...which I loved at the time...in between doing "The Mouse", and humming "Bafalafaka."

When I start doing "The Freddy," get the net.

[Grammy]

Have there been any Wiggles songs? I think that "Crunchy Munchy Honey Cakes" should be pumped in to Gitmo to provoke confessions.

Oh thank you ever so much..... that one will haunt me for days.

Paybacks......
We will we will
ROCK YOU

[WWTraveler]

THE AMERICAN:
Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine

COMPANY:
One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me

This song will stay with me for months.

[weegee]

La Laa La-lala-laaaaaa

[weegee]

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

LOL! Their hired goons will soon be arguing this in courtrooms everywhere.

[ChemistCat]

We're gonna rock it up, roll it up,
do it all, have a ball
Saturday Night, Saturday Night

S A T U R D A Y