Did anyone else get a vague sense of terror at the possibility of their heads exploding as they read through the list of songs-likely-to-become-earworms, worrying that reading the title would start each song playing in their head, one-by-one, until nothing could be perceived or contemplated over the roaring cacophony of 25 songs now all simultaneously stuck?
I didn't get all 25 at once, but I could come up with the melody to the the ones I did know immediately. How does the mind do that? It amazes me that I have some kind of mp3 player in my head that can recall parts of a song I haven't heard in years just by seeing the title.
Exactly. I got nothing out of this article. I did not even get a song stuck in my head. It does not answer the question the title poses, and it does not even acknowledge that it is unable to answer it. In addition, it does not contribute anything useful (or anything at all for that matter) to the subject in terms of expanding the knowledge of the way the mind works.
See also Greg Egan's short story "Beyond the Whistle Test", in which a team of neuroscientists invent a song that, when heard once, remains stuck in your head for the remainder of your life.
... and in case Kashmir gets stuck in your head, use a metacure such as Bach's intro for Johannus Passion :)
Seriously though, I think we use music to reconstruct emotions, mostly (but not necessarily) positive ones. In fact we use every possibility to reconstruct emotions, e.g. scents, views, someone's voice, but music seems to be the simplest "hook" that works on its own, without the help of external stimulus, like with scents for example.
In all seriousness, I have had good success with this technique. Remember what song was an earworm for you before (call this earworm A), then when you get earworm B stuck in your head, start deliberately hummming A. A will often displace B, but it's still worn out and it'll go away again pretty quickly, leaving nothing behind. Two applications may be necessary. I used to have a near continuous soundtrack to my life (though fortunately it was never that annoying to me) and this got it under control.
If a song can get stuck in your head, you have some musical talent. (In the same way, if you can cook something yummy for a friend or family member, you have some culinary talent.)
Yes. We didn't always have radios and iPods. In much of the 1800's almost every American household had a musician of some kind. Back then, if you wanted food, someone had to make it from scratch. If you wanted music, someone had to sing it or play it.
I can't remember a time when I have not had a song stuck in my head - I go from one song to another every few days and have done for as long as I can remember (today, Whiter Shade Of Pale is just starting to leave after nearly a week of being firmly lodged in my brain, and I'm now moving on to Magic Carpet Ride).
It's not unpleasant for me though - the article makes it sound like it might be for other people?
