{"id":3911,"date":"2026-08-07T02:17:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T02:17:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3911"},"modified":"2026-08-07T02:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T02:20:14","slug":"ftv-earworms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=3911","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Earworms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Back in my college days, I had a first draft of a term paper handed back to me with the comment, \u201cUsing the definition of a term for your introduction is not a good way to start a paper.\u00a0 Try it again.\u201d\u00a0 With that lesson learned, I never repeated that mistake.\u00a0 Fifty years later, I am sure this professor would make the same comment about this column, but he is no longer with us (may he rest in peace).\u00a0 None-the-less, the starting point of this <\/span>FTV<\/span><\/i> is going to be the definition of the word \u2018earworm\u2019.\u00a0 According to our friends at Wiki, an earworm \u201cis a catchy, memorable melody or snippet of music that continuously plays on an involuntary, repetitive loop in your head, even after the song has stopped.\u00a0 Derived from the German word \u2018ohrwurm\u2019, it is a completely normal cognitive phenomenon experienced by almost everyone.\u00a0 It is also sometimes referred to as \u2018stuck song syndrome\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Wiki didn\u2019t stop there and went on to describe something they called \u2018Involuntary Musical Imagery (INMI)\u2019:\u00a0 Neurologically, scientists define earworms as a form of unprompted auditory imagery, where the brain\u2019s primary auditory cortex (the area responsible for hearing) is activated simply by memory.\u201d\u00a0 Boston University adds another term \u2018Cognitive Itch\u2019 to the equation:\u00a0 “Psychologists describe earworms as a \u2018cognitive itch.\u00a0 The brain automatically replays the sound, and trying to forcibly suppress the tune often creates a mental loop that worsens it.\u201d\u00a0 Let me beat the drum one more time by telling you that the Cleveland Clinic refines the definition with:\u00a0 \u201cSong Triggers – Earworms are usually triggered by memories, emotions, or hearing a similar melody.\u00a0 They typically consist of the catchiest 15 to 30 seconds of a song, such as the \u2018hook\u2019.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So why am I making my former professor roll over in his grave by offering not just the definition of a term, but an exceptionally long definition of \u2018earworm\u2019 in this <\/span>FTV<\/span><\/i>?\u00a0 You may have already guessed where this is going, but I want readers to confront the kind of things that get stuck in our heads.\u00a0 I have always said,\u00a0 \u201cThe best way to rid yourself of an earworm is to give it to someone else,\u201d so here is your opportunity to unload yours.\u00a0 It would give me a great deal of pleasure if readers would share their \u2018favorite\u2019 (if that is the proper term – perhaps \u2018least favorite\u2019 would be better) earworms with me at <\/span>kraisanen@oasd.k12.mi.us<\/span><\/a> .\u00a0 Thank you in advance if you are worried about dumping them on me but I assure everyone that I always have music running in my brain.\u00a0 Adding a few more hooks to my collection will do me no harm or neurological damage.\u00a0 Maybe my whistling persistent tunes acts as a kind of cranial safety valve much the same way the valve on a pressure cooker or tea pot keeps them from exploding.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Let me get the ball rolling by sharing the one that I am quite sure annoyed enough people over time that I should probably feel guilty.\u00a0 It became one of those things that I unconsciously whistled all the time in my classroom or other workplace environments.\u00a0 The tune in question is the one heard on all of the <\/span>Looney Tunes <\/span><\/i>shorts.\u00a0 You know the one – can you hear it?\u00a0 I hadn\u2019t thought of it or whistled it in years but it popped into my head while cooking for Vacation Bible School at the end of June.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t even realize it until my wife gave me \u2018the look\u2019 and said, \u201cWould you please stop that!\u201d\u00a0 I have no idea what triggered the return of the <\/span>Looney Tunes<\/span><\/i> tune, but, mercifully, it went away on its own.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Not all earworms are accidental.\u00a0 When I worked as a summer dishwasher during my college years, the repetitiveness of the job at times demanded something to amuse myself.\u00a0 I had Edvard Grieg\u2019s <\/span>In the Hall of the Mountain King<\/span><\/i> stuck in my head one day.\u00a0 As with the <\/span>Looney Tunes<\/span><\/i> song, I kept trying to escape it by whistling the main theme.\u00a0 After a while, I noticed others around me humming or whistling the same musical phrase.\u00a0 My Psychology 101 class took over and I began asking people, ‘Hey, what is that you are humming?\u2019 or \u201cWhat is that song?\u201d\u00a0 Most couldn\u2019t put a name on it and to the last in person, they all said, \u201cGee, I don\u2019t know – it just\u00a0 popped into my head.\u201d\u00a0 At times I would tell them the title but never told anybody why it had suddenly \u2018popped into their head\u2019.\u00a0 I worked in the kitchen at the Huron Mountain Club for three summers and began a little ritual of implanting <\/span>In The Hall of the Mountain King<\/span><\/i> to each new summer crew.\u00a0 It is too bad that I never took another Psychology class because I had amassed enough first hand material to write a decent paper on the phenomenon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The <\/span>In the Hall of the Mountain King<\/span><\/i> earworm planting stopped when I began teaching.\u00a0 There are some jobs associated with working in a classroom that can be repetitive, but occupying one\u2019s mind while creating new lessons and experiments does not leave a lot of room for mental tomfoolery.\u00a0 The last time I remember unconsciously planting the <\/span>Mountain King<\/span><\/i> earworm was at least two decades ago.\u00a0 A sheriff\u2019s deputy was standing at the end of the long counter in the school office waiting to talk to the principal.\u00a0 I was at the other end of the counter collating and stapling a multiple page assignment pack (the grades I taught still numbered in the fifties or sixties in those days).\u00a0 In the midst of my stacking and stapling, the deputy looked over at me and inquired the name of the melody I apparently had been mindlessly whistling.\u00a0 Realizing what had crept up on me, I told him my <\/span>Hall of the Mountain King<\/span><\/i> earworm story.\u00a0 He said, \u201cI\u00a0 recognized it but couldn\u2019t put a name on it.\u201d\u00a0 When he left the principal\u2019s office and waved goodbye to the secretary a short time later, he exited the office and turned down the hall.\u00a0 Just before he got out of earshot, you can guess what he started to whistle.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When one\u2019s wife is a church organist, Sundays are always filled with music.\u00a0 She has been on the bench for 56 years and has been the head (and oftentimes the only member of) the committee that picks hymns.\u00a0 When someone comments how well the selected hymns went along with the service, she smiles and says \u2018thank you\u2019 fully knowing that the lessons matching the theme in the hymns wasn\u2019t accidental.\u00a0 Pastors appreciate when the organist\u2019s selections underscore the messages for the day.\u00a0 My memory of the Sunday morning lessons are carried forward when the hymn (or hymns) get stuck in my head.\u00a0 On the occasional Sunday that my wife can not be at a service, I am usually the one who plays the digital recordings she has made for the service.\u00a0 While my job is to point and press the right buttons at the appropriate times during the service, I like to double dose the flock with the final hymn.\u00a0 As they depart the service, I replay the last hymn.\u00a0 As I will find myself humming the final hymn for the rest of the day, maybe it will stick with them for a while as well.\u00a0 I am pretty sure God doesn\u2019t mind this kind of earworm planting.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sporting events have become great purveyors of earworms.\u00a0 Let me give a couple of examples to see if you, too, have noticed how they are planted via constant playback.\u00a0 Where have you heard Todd Rundgren\u2019s lyric \u2018<\/span>I don\u2019t want to work \/ I want to bang on the drum all day\u2019?\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Look no farther than the Green Bay Packers who blast the song whenever the green and gold score.\u00a0 <\/span>\u2018We will, we will, rock you!\u2019 <\/span><\/i>– This of course is Queen\u2019s arena rocking anthem that has been appropriated by numerous sports teams.\u00a0 Remember the band Steam?\u00a0 <\/span>\u2018Na na \/ na na\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

na na \/ hey hey, goodbye<\/span><\/i>\u2019?\u00a0 This one seems to lend itself well to baseballs exiting the stadium and one can not even count the number of teams that use it.\u00a0 Even the National Hockey League got into the action during the 2025-26 season when they adopted Triumph\u2019s 1990\u2019s hit <\/span>Lay It On the Line<\/span><\/i> as a backdrop to their playoffs.\u00a0 It was so effective that it managed to get this Canadian band to regroup and tour in 2026 after everybody knew they would never tour again.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It seems rock bands have had a hand in creating earworms for decades.\u00a0 There is no better way to get people to run out and buy a record than to get a song stuck in the public\u2019s collective minds.\u00a0 The catchier the soundbyte, the more likely it is to rock a stadium full of concert fans and to spur record sales.\u00a0 If a song really has staying power, it may even circle back years after it first became a hit.\u00a0 Noddy Holder and the band Slade are prime examples of what I am talking about.\u00a0 Two of their songs designed to elicit audience response (<\/span>Mamma Weer All Crazee Now <\/span><\/i>(1972) and <\/span>Run Runaway <\/span><\/i>(2009)) planted a lot of earworms when they were first released.\u00a0 Over the years, these two songs were covered 11 and 9 times, respectively, thus keeping the earworm potential active for much longer than a typical single release.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i>The grand-daddy of all Slade earworm inducing hits was <\/span>Cum On Feel The Noize<\/span><\/i> which charted in the top ten in many countries in 1973 (it only reached No 98 in the United States).<\/span><\/p>\n

An American heavy metal band was pushed into covering the song in 1983 but they really didn\u2019t want to do a cover.\u00a0 Quiet Riot purposely made a sloppy recording that the suits decided to put on their album anyway.\u00a0 Not only did it hit gold, it propelled their <\/span>Mental Health<\/span><\/i> album to the top of the charts (a first for a heavy metal album).\u00a0 Slade were somewhat bitter about Quiet Riot having a great deal of success with their song, and as a result shunned invitations to see the band when they performed at Royal Albert Hall.\u00a0 As drummer Frankie Banali recalled, \u201cThe record gave us a lot of success and it made Slade a lot of money, so it was all good.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span>Cum On Feel the Noize<\/span><\/i> is another song often piped into sports arenas around the world.<\/span> \u00a0Not a bad track record – there aren\u2019t that many songs that can plant a lot of earworms twice..<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Just for fun, I ran down <\/span>Reddit\u2019s Top 100 Earworms<\/span><\/i> as posted by Sean Lambert.\u00a0 Considering that some of these are \u2018generational\u2019 (as in stuck in the minds of people of certain ages), I decided to only pick out the ones with melodies or lyrics that popped into my head as soon as I read the title.\u00a0 If some of these listed here sound like I am stuck in the past, then it validates the \u2018generational\u2019 comment above.\u00a0 Here we go (and these were listed in no particular order on Reddit):\u00a0 <\/span>What\u2019s Up? <\/span><\/i>(4 Non Blonds), <\/span>Take On Me <\/span><\/i>(a-ha), <\/span>Hallelujah <\/span><\/i>(Rufus Wainwright and a host of other artists who have covered it), <\/span>Don\u2019t Stop Me Now <\/span><\/i>(Queen), <\/span>All Star <\/span><\/i>(Smash Mouth), <\/span>Never Gonna Give You Up <\/span><\/i>(Rick Astley), <\/span>Escape (The Pina Colada Song) <\/span><\/i>(Rupert Holmes), <\/span>Safety Dance<\/span><\/i> (Men Without Hats), <\/span>Sk8er Boi<\/span><\/i> (Avril Lavigne), <\/span>The Joker<\/span><\/i> (Steve Miller Band), <\/span>War Pigs <\/span><\/i>(Black Sabbath), <\/span>Rainbow Connection <\/span><\/i>(The Muppets).\u00a0 Okay, that is a dozen in and we are no where close to done – hope your brain hasn\u2019t gone into overdrive with overlapping e-worms.\u00a0 I found it odd that <\/span>Don\u2019t Worry, Be Happy<\/span><\/i> (Bobby McFerrin) didn\u2019t pop up anywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0For some reason, the next one also brings with it a visual eye-worm as it played endlessly on MTV back in the day:\u00a0 <\/span>Rock Me Amadeus <\/span><\/i>(Falco), <\/span>The Lion Sleeps Tonight <\/span><\/i>(The Tokens), <\/span>Sweet Child O\u2019 Mine <\/span><\/i>(Guns\u2019N\u2019 Roses), <\/span>Mickey <\/span><\/i>(Toni Basils, and this gets the same eye-worm warning as <\/span>Rock Me Amadeus<\/span><\/i>), <\/span>Carry On Wayward Son <\/span><\/i>(Kansas), <\/span>18 And Life <\/span><\/i>(Skid Row), <\/span>Drops of Jupiter <\/span><\/i>(Train), <\/span>Theme from Jurassic Park <\/span><\/i>(John Williams), <\/span>Space Oddity <\/span><\/i>(David Bowie), <\/span>I Believe in a Thing Called Love <\/span><\/i>(The Darkness), <\/span>Jump <\/span><\/i>(Van Halen), <\/span>The Times They Are A Changing <\/span><\/i>(Bob Dylan).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0That is two dozen down.\u00a0 Lets squeeze in a dozen more and call it good:\u00a0 <\/span>Up On Cripple Creek <\/span><\/i>(The Band), <\/span>I\u2019m Gonna Be (500 Miles) <\/span><\/i>(The Proclaimers – which just happens to be living rent free in my head right now as I just heard it on the radio while running errands this morning), <\/span>Blue (Da Ba Dee) <\/span><\/i>(Eiffel 65), <\/span>Black Betty <\/span><\/i>(Ram Jam), <\/span>Hakuna Matata <\/span><\/i>(from<\/span> The Lion King<\/span><\/i> soundtrack), <\/span>Will the Circle Be Unbroken<\/span><\/i> (The Carter Family and any group sing-a-long done closing shows in Nashville), <\/span>Karma Chameleon <\/span><\/i>(Culture Club), <\/span>Dude (Looks Like a Lady)<\/span><\/i> (Aerosmith), <\/span>The Final Countdown <\/span><\/i>(Europe), <\/span>Bohemian Rhapsody <\/span><\/i>(Queen) with a nod to <\/span>Bicycle, <\/span><\/i>another Queen song that hangs around for days after I hear it), <\/span>Roar <\/span><\/i>(Kary Perry), and finally, <\/span>Hooked On a Feeling<\/span><\/i> (Blue Swede gets the nod over BJ Thomas\u2019s version).\u00a0 Queen\u2019s hat-trick appearance on this list elevates the late Freddy Mercury into the earworm hall of fame.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Perhaps I should have put an asterisk after the \u2018finally\u2019 in the last batch because, as we have seen over the years, no decade can pass without adding more earworms to the list.\u00a0 Some are definitely more annoying than others but they usually fade away.\u00a0 Fading away is fine, but then someone mentions, say, <\/span>The Macarena <\/span><\/i>(Los Del Rio), and the whole earworm (and in this case, another MTV eye-worm) cycle begins again.\u00a0 Don\u2019t blame Los Del Rio for this one – theirs was a dance remix of a version first released in Spain by Fangoria and later copied by Los del Mar in Canada before the rest of us heard it and it infected the world. Unlike COVID, there isn\u2019t any vaccine that will stave off an earworm pandemic.\u00a0 Everybody sing together now, \u2018<\/span>Hey, Macaranea, ay!\u2019<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 This wasn’t on the REDDIT list, but it could have been as it planets both ear and eye- worms!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Back in my college days, I had a first draft of a term paper handed back to me with the comment, \u201cUsing the definition of a term for your introduction is not a good way to start a paper.\u00a0 Try it again.\u201d\u00a0 With that lesson learned, I never repeated that mistake.\u00a0 Fifty years later, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-humor","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3911"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3914,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3911\/revisions\/3914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}