This week I was invited to contribute to Blog on the Tracks a daily blog on Fairfax Media's website Stuff. Here is my contribution
I have often wondered why I am drawn to sad, and some would
even say depressing songs and music. I know I am not the only one as
there are so many such songs to choose from.
In fact if I am in a real funk I will reach for something with a title
like Looking Up (for the next thing that brings me down) rather than Walking
on Sunshine. The latter while a great song
would never cheer me up – I would only ever play it at a party.
Many people are drawn to Country, Soul and
the Blues and if the music is so depressing why does listening to them not lead
to rafts of suicide?
There is of course the myth around Gloomy
Sunday, the Hungarian Suicide Song – that
if you listened to the song you would commit suicide. This even spawned a movie of the same name
that became Christchurch’s longest running movie. I have never been quite sure what that tells
us about the people of Christchurch.
In this blog I am going to try and explore the phenomena I
experience, how alone I am in it and then share some of my favourite downer
songs in the hope of cheering you all up.
To get started I headed down to the local Google library and
let my fingers do the walking to some more research. Then Simon also posted a
link on Facebook so I was able to follow a new trail and get some more insights.
All of this provided some interesting reading of which to be
honest I did not understand too much. So in the spirit of 21st
Century Journalism I looked for soundbites that would explain everything. Latest Neuroscience research apparently all
points to great advances in understanding.
A bunch of Danes came up with Music
in Minor Activates Limbic Structures : A relationship with dissonance? another Japanese study concluded that Sad Music Induces Pleasant Emotions basically postulating that because we expect to hear
sad things that makes us happy.
A Study from the University of Limerick that asked pretty much the same question concluded
among other things that sad music provided a connection to what the listener
was feeling and so provided companionship at a time when it was needed.
Perhaps the folks from Limerick could just have well have written -
There was an old man feeling down
The last thing he felt like was going
to town
So be put on some blues and his
dancing shoes
and changed from a goose to a clown
(avoiding the obvious “and changed
to a smile from a frown”)
However I think I finally latched onto what my reaction was
all about in the following two studies.
First a study based on an online survey that identified amongst other things that “a high number of participants reported listening to sad music
in situations of emotional distress or when they’re feeling lonely, so it could
be a form of self-medication. And for most of the people, the engagement with
sad music in everyday life is correlated with its potential to regulate
negative moods and emotions, as well as to provide consolation,”
This study referenced another piece of research by David Huron from University of Ohio in which he identified a link in some people to sad music
and the release of prolactin a hormone
associated with enhancing pleasurable responses. Interestingly he also found
that I am not alone in my enjoyment of sad music in fact more than 2/3 of those
in the study identified with the statement that “I enjoy listening to sad
music”. The percentage is interesting
and so maybe there is a link between us Sad Music Junkies and National winning
the last election. Ten Percent of those in the study agreed with the statement
that “Sad Music was the music I most enjoy” and approximately 1/3 of the study
concluding that they really did not enjoy Sad Music”.
So there it is folks …. My
listening to music in general and sad music in particular is me satisfying my
junkie like need for prolactin injected by means of depressing music.
And now the junkie is going to become a pusher – maybe so as
I am not alone, maybe so we can share needles and you can pass on your tips for
some music you think may cheer me up even more.
So here goes it goes Sludgie’s guide to the best music to
cheer you up. It was hard to pick just a
few from the 1000’s of songs I have and I am sure you can think of plenty
others.
·
I feel I have to start with this
album. Jeff Klein's Everyone Loves A Winner. I do not think I
have anything grimmer and more likely to lift my spirits than side one of this
album from Everything is Alright (and it’s clearly not), California through
to Another Breakdown. The other day it was playing in my office (in my
continuing battle with tinitis) and a colleague came in and commented that’s
really depressing and walked out – I guess he is not one of the 66%. I suspect that when I hear all that angst
played in sequence I get the feeling "poor bastard" aren't I lucky
..........................and I feel good.
·
It does seem that while many of us
might feel better after listening to sad music it may not be the same for those
writing it. Joy Division’s Love
will Tear us Apart is a case in point and we lost Ian
Curtis not long after. About the time it
was released a friend and I both agreed over a beer that we would love to hear
Marvin Gaye sing this and not long after Marvin was gone too. While it makes me
sad to think about Ian and Marvin – listening to this makes me feel good.
·
Ryan Adams first solo album is a
great collection of songs that reflected his mood after the breakup of what
must have been a pretty intense relationship.
He wears his heart in his sleeve on Come
Pick Me Up and demonstrates the thin line
between love and hate in those times.
When I listen to this I think glad that’s not me and ……. I feel good.
·
Terry Hall from The Specials, Fun
Boy Three and The Colourfield seems a pretty glum fellow. Take is excellent example of he can deconstruct a relationship
breakdown and help me …….. feel good.
·
Paul Westerburg is one of the most
under-rated songwriters around – while he has written some great dumb rock
songs – he has also a fine collection of songs that are designed to make you
feel better by sharing his bad luck or current problems. A favourite of mine is Here
Comes A Regular.
While I wouldn’t mind a drink in that bar I feel good that I am not that regular.
·
Keep
Me in Your Heart : Warren Zevon’s last recorded song
– for such an irascible bastard he sure faced death with dignity and basically
wrote his own obituary …………… to think of
how we could face death with humour and dignity makes me feel good.
·
Not surprisingly I am a big fan of
what some call Gothic Country. Its
exponents include The Handsome Family, Sixteen Horsepower, Johnny Dowd and my
favourite Jim White. His The
Wound That Never Heals could be
the screenplay to one dark movie and listening to it certainly tells me that
life can be worse than bad and reminds me that mine is not…………… so I feel good
·
One of the saddest songs I know is
Tom Waits’ On the Nickel
where Tom pays respects to those hobos and homeless on 5th St in Los
Angeles. He seems to ponder how they got
there and he did not. He does it with dignity and respect and that makes me
feel good that that can be done.
·
The problem I had here was limiting
the selection. There are many, many more
whether they be by Leonard Cohen, more Tom Waits, – but maybe save those for a rainy day when I
need cheering up.
But finally there has to be an exception to prove the rule
·
Strange
Fruit Billy Holiday’s graphic description
of lynching in the South. While I play Billie
and this song regularly it does not lift my spirits, it makes me feel …………. ANGRY
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