Your music makes my brain itch.

More useful music research out of the USA. Professor James Kellaris, of the University of Cincinnati College of Business Administration (Business Admin? Shouldn't this guy be studying practical music business models for the digital age or something?) has discovered that songs get stuck in our heads because they create a "brain itch" that can only be scratched by repeating the tune over and over.

He puts the success of songs such as the Village People's classic 'YMCA', Los Del Rio's infuriating 'Macarena', and the Baha Men's nauseating 'Who Let The Dogs Out' down to their ability to create a "cognitive itch" - in which we have to repeat the offending melody in our minds until it's 'scratched' out of existence.

I would just like to point out that I used the phrase 'brain-itch' several months ago (in a slightly different context), over at nzmusic.com.
# |

blog main page