Song Stuck in Your Head? You're Not Alone

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By Alison McCook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The vast majority of people say they have been mentally tortured at one point in their lives by a song that keeps repeating itself over and over in their heads.

And new research shows that people most frequently plagued by this phenomenon are those with slightly neurotic tendencies, and people who enjoy and listen to music often.

These mental broken records are also more likely to play the first or last song we hear in different situations, such as the first song that comes on in the morning alarm, or the last song playing before we turn off the car, study findings show.

Songs that topped the list as being most likely to stick around in someone's head included the Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out?" and the Chili's restaurant jingle about Baby Back Ribs.

But the number one song rated most likely to cause this phenomenon, referred to as an "earworm" in Germany, is "other"--indicating that many different songs can become stuck in our heads.

"Just about anything can get stuck in people's heads," study author Dr. James Kellaris of the University of Cincinnati told Reuters Health.

"We each have our personal demonic tunes that get stuck in our heads, I guess," he added.

Kellaris presented results from his current study on Saturday at the Society for Consumer Psychology Winter Conference in New Orleans.

Kellaris's previous research into the phenomenon of earworms revealed that "sticky" songs are those that are relatively simple, repetitive, and contain an element that surprises the listener. This incongruous element can be an interrupted pattern, or something that violates expectations of what comes next.

During the current study, Kellaris distributed surveys to 559 people aged 18 to 49 asking them about their personalities, how often tunes got stuck in their heads, how long the episodes lasted, and when the phenomenon was most likely to happen.

Ninety-eight percent of respondents said they had experienced stuck songs. Most said the episodes occurred "frequently," and lasted an average of a few hours.

Songs with lyrics were most often the culprits, a trend that Kellaris said is not surprising. Often what gets sticky is not just a tune, but also lyrics, a trend he calls "stupid lyrics syndrome." Combining a tune and lyrics ups the chance of song snippets staying with the listener for hours, he said.

Episodes of earworms also tend to strike people with neurotic tendencies more often. These people are not seriously neurotic, Kellaris said, but may simply be more prone to worrying and anxiety, and may have neurotic habits like biting pencils or tapping fingernails.

Women were more likely than men to report feeling annoyed, frustrated, or irritated about having songs stuck in their heads--a trend Kellaris said he is hard pressed to explain.

In terms of how to protect yourself from earworms, Kellaris recommended that people not worry about a stuck song as soon as it appears, and perhaps avoid listening to music for a spell if it becomes too sticky.

Strategies people report using to rid themselves of stuck tunes involved trying to listen to something else, distracting themselves with another activity, and trying to erase the repetition of one song snippet by singing the song all the way through.

"If they can't remember the lyrics, sometimes it helps for them to sing through the entire song, and then it will go away," Kellaris said.

Kellaris said he has also heard a "folkloric" recommendation of chewing on cinnamon sticks to rid the brain of a sticky song.

"Some people swear that will unstick a stuck tune," he said.

Usually when a song gets stuck in my head, it's one I like. The only time I can think of when a song really plagued me to the point of near insanity was several months ago when that wretched Nick Carter song, "Help Me," got stuck in my head for nearly two days straight. My sister is a big fan and she'd played it over and over again. Thankfully, it's an utterly forgettable song, so I can hardly even think of what it sounds like now.

I write the song down. It goes away most of the time.

I have tons of Eminem songs stuck in my head and I hate those songs.

Yup & Yup for me too! [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

for the past two days i have had eric clapton's "tears in heaven" stuck in my head and i don't even know any of the words to it!!!

Neurotic tendencies? Enjoy and listen to music often? Gee, I swear this is about me! That's why I always have songs stuck in my head. It's because I have mental problems and I like to listen to music!

Originally Posted By SF4-EVER:


And new research shows that people most frequently plagued by this phenomenon are those with slightly neurotic tendencies, and people who enjoy and listen to music often.

<font size="2" face="Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif">Yup & yup!

But I don't really consider it a "torture;" a gift, morelike. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

The Ketchup Song refused to go for atleast 2 days.The song is sort of okay.

Hmm if you ever needed reinforcement that music majors are slightly off kilter, this article applies to myself and all of my music buddies. hehe we're all neurotic.

The other morning I was rudely awoken by Whining Huston's horrific "And DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE will always love YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!! !!!!!! Will always love YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" on my clock radio!!

Needless to say, the rest of my day was completely shot to hell!! [img]graemlins/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

Originally Posted By dav-here:
The other morning I was rudely awoken by Whining Huston's horrific "And DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE will always love YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!! !!!!!! Will always love YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" on my clock radio!!

Needless to say, the rest of my day was completely shot to hell!! [img]graemlins/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif">Is your alarm still in one piece, because I don't think I could allow my clock to survive that sort of morning greeting!

This article describes me, too! I get snippets of songs stuck in my head, for, not hours, but all day! It's evil. Over and over I hear "Backstreet's back, alright! Backstreet's back, alright! Backstreet's back, alright!" And I detest the Backstreet Boys. And while I love The Night Before, and it's one of my alltime fave Fabs' songs, it's not fun to just hear "makes me wanna CRY!...makes me wanna CRY!... makes me wanna CRY!" See, there's your proof that I'm clinically insane. What's really creepy, is waking up with a song in your head, from a dream. I woke up once thinking "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to..." and I'd had a friend over that night, who swears I was singing it in my sleep.

Originally Posted By unapplebonked:
This article describes me, too! I get snippets of songs stuck in my head, for, not hours, but all day! It's evil. Over and over I hear "Backstreet's back, alright! Backstreet's back, alright! Backstreet's back, alright!" And I detest the Backstreet Boys. And while I love The Night Before, and it's one of my alltime fave Fabs' songs, it's not fun to just hear "makes me wanna CRY!...makes me wanna CRY!... makes me wanna CRY!" See, there's your proof that I'm clinically insane. What's really creepy, is waking up with a song in your head, from a dream. I woke up once thinking "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to..." and I'd had a friend over that night, who swears I was singing it in my sleep.

<font size="2" face="Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif">[img]graemlins/laugh1.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh2.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/laugh4.gif[/img] LOLOL!!!!!!

[size="1"][ Mar 02, 2003, 05:13 PM: Message Edited By: Darkaardvark ][/size]

This article is so funny!

A few years ago, (maybe last year, I am not too sure...)I had this Madonna song in my head called "Music".

I hate this song. I am not even a Madonna fan!! Everytime I had a spare moment in my head, this song would come into. "Music, Makes the People..." or something like that, and that would go over, and over in my head!! Even when I was trying to sleep, it wouldn't go away!!

Eventually it did, but it tortured me for about a month before it stopped....

Right now I have Evanescence's "Haunted" stuck in my head. Though I like that song so i cant complain.

I can relate to that, I Want To Tell You! I remember when Madonna's Misic came out. It got stuck in my head also. I heard it in my head everywhere I went. And like you I also hated that song! It's a CONSPIRACY! [img]graemlins/scream3.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/scream3.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/scream3.gif[/img]

I've gone to sleep with a song in my head many times, and woken up with it still there. Or, I'll have dreams and there will be songs in them, which is cool!

I have "I Hear a Symphony" by the Supremes in my head right now - it's a good one though, so that's alright that it's stuck in my head!

[size="1"][ Mar 02, 2003, 10:26 PM: Message Edited By: Sexy_Sadie ][/size]

Here's what you can do so you never ever hear that song when you wake again (shudder). [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Reset you alarm to the actual alarm or change the radio station to a station you know won't play that song. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
-Kristi

Originally Posted By dav-here:
The other morning I was rudely awoken by Whining Huston's horrific "And DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE will always love YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!! !!!!!! Will always love YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" on my clock radio!!

Needless to say, the rest of my day was completely shot to hell!! [img]graemlins/images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif">I would have thrown the radio across the room! I woke up to a crummy one a couple weeks ago...I had the oldies station set on there and they were playing some dumb disco song. Just what I need to hear at 6:30am--yuck.