Does listening to SAD songs make u HAPPIER?

Thread: DB Module 7, Q2
Post: DB Module 7, Q2
Author: Alfred Rose III


Posted Date: February 16, 2008 6:35 AM
Last Modified Date: February 17, 2008 6:09 PM
Status: Published

2. In one study, students who listened to a sad song became more depressed than those who listened to a happy song. Yet the sad-song students reported "enjoying" their musical experience more that the happy-song students. What might be going on here?

Basically, certain stimuli will invite all types of music—whether one is diagnosed with having euthymia or dysthymia, students (or anyone) who might feel, depressed, unwanted, lonely, rebellious, or simply going through normal puberty, will relate easier to sad music, rather than to happy music—directly relating emotionally to a sad song and a sad situation the listener might be going through. The enjoyment of listening to sad music can release bottled/hidden emotions/feelings; furthermore, these sad tunes might become therapeutic, perhaps even going further by stating that these sad listeners are formulating their sad minds into a self-medicated personal serenity—although most people might say that listening to sad music only invites further depression to the listener.

While listening to sad music while experiencing such feelings of depression, loneliness, worthlessness, etc., the listener can connect more so with the artist, identifying with all the lyrics. Sad-song listeners become “in-tune” with sad songs and can directly relate to “pain” the people in the sad songs are going through.

Happy-song students, most likely, are always listening to happy songs and the enjoyment of listening to the same music all the time does not stimulate the listener. There is really not a whole lot more the listener can feel by listening to the same old mundane happy tunes. The listener’s serotonin and endorphins probably being bounced around in the happy listener’s head, hormones rising to their maximum and then crashing, just like someone using cocaine for three days straight, causing the listener (or addict) to feel sad while listening (snorting, shooting) to too many happy songs (8-balls). A listener of constant happy music might end up despairing their moods, emotions, and feelings, causing an imbalance of chemical activity and invoking neurotransmitter havoc, simply because they want that euphoric feeling just like the people in their happy songs (that initial euphoric feeling an addict gets when shooting/snorting that first gram of cocaine).

Al Rose

Works Cited

Greer, S. (2003). [A Research Paper for PSY 440 (Perception)]; Stephen F. Austin State University: The Effects of Music on Pain Perception. Retrieved on February 16, 2008 from web site http://hubel.sfasu.edu/courseinfo/SL03/ ... erapy2.htm

I listen to all sorts of music......from happy to sad to mad songs. But yeah, there are definitely times where I only want to listen to sad songs......in fact many of my favorite songs have a more depressing tune/theme to them. There is something more deeper about sad songs.....probably the way they can trigger repressed emotions in a artistic and yet blissful way.

I dont pay much attention to songs lyrics (unless of course they are so horrible that they annoy me and i can tell that they blow), so half the songs i listen too i dont even know what the lyrics are about.
And i realy dont prefer to listen to a sad or happy or any other song at any moment (lyricalwise), considering i would most likely not even know what song is sad or happy.
However i do notice that song melodies (Melodies are the parts of songs i enjoy and care about) can/do feel more sad, happy, exciting, angry etc then others.

I also kind of sometimes just make up my own lyrics; my subconsience sings them along in my head. I guess this is at least party because i dont pay attention to lyrics.

I listened to "Evanescence" a lot when feeling depressed. I felt I really related to her lyrics.