how songs get stuck in your head

so for about a year now, ive been trying to find like a formula, to figure out how songs get stuck in your head,ive even gone as far as listening to pop and rap :mad: there seems to be no set formula at all, i was just wondering if anyone else had done reasearch on this.

No, but I wish somebody would invent a pill or something that would get rid of it. It drives me nuts.

I'd drive me nuts if I didn't alaways have a tune in my head. The only time I hate it is when I want to actually listen to it, but I don't know who it is.

intro/verse
verse
hook
chorus
verse
break/bridge
chorus
chorus


insert cliche lyrics and massively-overdubbed studio vocals, and some purposefully simplistic chordal accompaniments.

there's nothing magical about having a song stuck in your head, but in western music (as far as melodies are concerned) you can't do much better than the circle of 5ths. listen to some mozart, or schubert if you want to try and anylize them, or listen to some more contemporary bands/artists that use circular 5th melodies (muse in particular).

simplicity and repetativeness are the two keys to a catchy song. i hate to break it to you, but thats why radio rap and pop music works better than anything else in selling you an idea, phrase, brand, or style.

May be you should take a step back first and find out what type of people get music stuck in the heads more than other people. That might be the key to it.. if those people are more creative than other people.. then it may possibly be a message from their subconscious telling them that they should be doing something creative..

Who knows.. but it sounds more of a sociology thing than a psychology thing.. so you have to look at the society rather than the person.. what is music? why is music? why do certain types of music sound better than others.. plenty of questions to answer.. :)

Song writers (lyrics & music) go out of there way to make their songs remembered and so called stuck in your head, much like commericals on T.V. They use catchy repetitve lyrics and notes. They may use a familiar phase, a funny line, or an out of place word.

This is why the title of the song is repeated at least 3 times in the song and usually in the chorus and they get to chorus as soon as possible to keep your interest. The title is the first hook, the first verse contains a good hook, and the chorus is the huge hook (lyrics and tune). This is so the listener will remember the title and learn the lyrics quickly (at least the chorus) by just hearing it, and thus, it's in your head all day!

I found several ways to get a song out of my head. 1) Sing another song that is competely different from the one in you head. You may have to sing it several times. Of course, you may end up just exchanging the song in your head with another. 2) Get involved in some physical activity, such as football or you know what. This will take all your concentration and woola! The song is gone! 3) Start eating canned spinach straight from the can. This will wreck you entire thought process and you may even forget your name! There are many more ways, but I have to go.