When I first learned that the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, under the musical direction of Alan Gilbert, would be presenting an orchestral celebration of the earworm on September 6th in Central Park I swooned in ecstacy. As a life-long proponent of “hooks” and sticky melodies I felt vindicated at last that a revered musical institution would honor this form, in all of its popular mutations, for a one night performance called “The Earworm Cycle.” Bravo!
From “The Sound of Music” to the T-Mobile mnemonic….from the amazingly wormy “Macarena” to the Farmers Insurance jingle, “The Earworm Cycle” promises to be an unforgettable evening of unforgivingly memorable melodies throughout the modern ages. I confess to being especially moist with anticipation to hear how the full orchestra will transition from a medley of McDonald’s “ba-dah-ba-ba-da’s” to Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” God help me!!
Okay I possibly made that up about the NY Philharmonic performing “The Earworm Cycle” in Central Park. That will not be happening—until they read this compelling piece in SHOOTonline and realize what a brilliant idea it is. You’re welcome, Alan Gilbert!
There was a fantastic New Yorker cartoon a few months ago captioned “Earworm Ward” depicting a medical facility with several dazed bedridden patients with caption bubbles over their heads. One read “We built this city, we built this city on rock and roll…” Earworm!
I love earworms, put another dime in the juke box baby. (Sorry) According to Wikipedia, an earworm is “a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person’s mind after it is no longer playing.”
Providing further illumination, the article notes that “the phenomenon should not be confused with palinacousis, a rare medical condition caused by damage to the temporal lobe that results in auditory hallucinations.” Thank God!
Years ago a very successful jingle composer told me that his motto was “Dare to be dumb”—another way of saying ‘KISS’ (keep it simple, stupid). But I say Why be so negative? A memorable melody—an unforgettable ‘hook’ is a thing of beauty. That’s why I’m humming “No Woman No Cry” in my head even while writing this!
Once upon a time in America the majority of advertisers believed it was important to have a strong sonic identity attached to their brands—they saw advantages to earworming their way into the public consciousness to help prevent in-one-ear-out-the-other syndrome. Some still do (We are Farmers!), but for many, it’s just “not cool.” They’d rather license something super cool, attach it to the brand and get rock star cred. To which I would love to say ‘Bullshit!’…but then I might never work in this town again. And my personal earworm would then be “Creep” and I’d have to get a job in craft services for some B-list production company and I might never hear my happy song again. That would suck.
Do you think the Broccoli family and Eon Productions believe there is any equity in the “James Bond Theme” created by Monty Norman in 1962? A pretty good bet, I’d say, ‘cause here it is, 53 years later, in the trailer for the coming Bond film “Spectre.” Can’t wait!
In our hyper competitive world of branding there’s more than one way to achieve earworm-ness. I would argue that even Taco Bell’s one-note wonder gets inside the head effectively.
So does the mere sound of the GEICO gecko’s voice, which I KNOW you can hear saying “15 minutes could save you….” right now. Don’t lie to me!
What can innocent listeners do to fight an earworm attack? Again, according to Wikipedia, “Scientists at Western Washington University found that engaging in moderately difficult tasks (such as anagrams, Sudoku puzzles, or reading a novel) was an effective way of stopping earworms and of reducing their recurrence.” Ha! I say roll with it. Feed, don’t fight, the earworm. It’ll take your mind off that dumb Sudoku puzzle you’re working on. Or that awkward fight you just had with your boy/girl friend/wife/husband/mother…. You’re welcome, again.
Here’s a closing thought (kiss me, Wiki!) I believe we can all learn from: citing an article in ZME Science that identified various factors in what makes a song catchy—including “higher number of pitches in the chorus hook; male vocalists; higher male voices with noticeable vocal effort”—the study concluded that “British rock band Queen’s 'We Are The Champions' is the catchiest song in history.” We might agree to disagree on that, but dear readers, I say embrace your earworm!
