Topic: Mood Music (Read 5576 times)

Will · « **on:** 15 Jul 2009, 08:17 »

A quick question based on a curiousity I just had...

Pretty much all of us here listen to music on a damn near constant basis. Most of us have a selection of artists that we not only enjoy, but that have connected with us on a deeper emotional level. I know that I have a tendency to go to music for solace when I am in certain moods - sad, depressed, angry, usually all the so-called "negative" emotions.

My question to you folks is this: How many of you have a certain playlist or collection of songs/artists/records that you turn to whenever you are in a particular mental state? Do you match that mood with the music (sad songs when feeling depressed, etc.) or do you try to counteract it with music that has the opposite feel?

evilbobthebob · « **Reply #1 on:** 15 Jul 2009, 08:53 »

I usually listen to different genres depending on how I'm feeling. If I'm angry or frustrated, for example, I listen to some metal or hardcore, something very angry and fast. If I'm feeling depressed, I turn to softer stuff. I find that the music helps to release all the emotion, so after listening to a lot of Shai Hulud I don't feel quite so pissed off as I was before. I generally turn to my favourite bands when I'm in a really focused mood (that's not the word though...I mean a mood where you know exactly how you feel and it's really strong...).

And I have an entire playlist of songs that remind me of one girl

Cernunnos · « **Reply #2 on:** 15 Jul 2009, 09:21 »

I think most of us listen to different music based on our moods. I know i do. Especially since it's possible to find good music in any genre if you look hard enough, and I don't determine whether or not i like something by what genre it is, I have a lot of choices. I might as well choose what kind of music I listen to based on my emotional state, since i can't make myself specialise otherwise. I can't really listen to music when angry, though. No matter how cathartic it might be to another person, I would just get angry at the music somehow. It feels like an interruption, for whatever reason. Otherwise, I definitely alter my music choices based on the setting, both social and internal. To me, it's more important that the music have the right intensity level than it be "happy" or "Sad" or "angry" to fit the occasion.

Will · « **Reply #3 on:** 15 Jul 2009, 10:39 »

Yeah, I percieve most of the folks on this forum to be the type of listeners that would tie their emotions to the music they choose; not too many "radio background noise" people post here. I'm more intrigued by the difference in strategy; I tend to pick music that complements my various emotional states - at the moment, I am dealing with a particularly brutal day of depression with heavy doses of A silver Mt. Zion - rather than attempting to alter my own menta presence with music.

I guess it's a matter of "Music as participatory therapy" vs. "Music as medicine"

Dimmukane · « **Reply #4 on:** 15 Jul 2009, 11:02 »

I tend to visualize what I'm listening to, at least for the stuff I really like. So sometimes I'm listening to the music for the accompanying image and not the mood. But when I am listening to music for the mood, I do the complementary thing as well.

Be My Head · « **Reply #5 on:** 15 Jul 2009, 11:37 »

I listen to Romantic and Impressionist music when I'm feeling melancholy, as well as some modern movie score composers (Hisaishi!!). I generally blast some metal or hardcore punk when I'm in an energetic or angry mood.

When I'm feeling average I listen to everything else really. I couldn't tie any certain mood to a specific kind of music. Let's just say, heavy = mad/energetic, Soft = sad, Epic/poppy = happy.

Some music I listen to purely for the experience and it has little emotion tied to it, like Aphex Twin or Toru Takemitsu.

Mr. Doctor · « **Reply #6 on:** 15 Jul 2009, 11:44 »

From the beginning I thought that I listened to my music depending on my mood...

But after a while I realized that it was bullshit... Because it happens really often that I'm hearing a really really depressing song and I feel happy.
So yeah... I don't hearing music depending on my mood. I just hear whatever style depending if I want to listen to it or not. I can listen to grindcore and then switch to Björk in just a couple of minutes.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #7 on:** 15 Jul 2009, 19:51 »

When I'm feeling really upset and feeling close to have a psychotic breakdown I have a playlist of really upbeat happy music that helps to pull me out of it sometimes.

I have a playlist called "In Waking We Grow, In Dreaming We Thrive" which is a strange mix of music that should be played without any lights on in the dark. Iron & Wine, classical music, Karl Sanders...

rynne · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 Jul 2009, 17:36 »

Quote from: Will on 15 Jul 2009, 10:39

I'm more intrigued by the difference in strategy; I tend to pick music that complements my various emotional states

I do both, honestly. Sometimes if I'm feeling sad I'll put on something ridiculously mopey (*cough*Smiths*cough*) or other times I'll put on something a bit more light.

There are some extremes where I'll have to be in just about the absolute opposite mood from the record to balance out the whole thing; for example, I can only really listen to Merzbow in moments when I'm completely calm and content, otherwise it's way too annoying to even consider listening to.

Avec · « **Reply #9 on:** 16 Jul 2009, 18:19 »

The responses above have been strictly on bitter or unhappy moods. Belle & Sebastian generally puts a smile on my face regardless of circumstance as I can often relate to the lyrics anyway, that brings me to ask what music just makes you happy?

Dimmukane · « **Reply #10 on:** 16 Jul 2009, 18:30 »

Right now I'm pretty sad. So I'm listening to this on repeat, pretty much. If I wanted to be happy, I'd listen to Black Moth Super Rainbow or Art Brut, or something like that. Also, Gregor Samsa.

2HourHiatus · « **Reply #11 on:** 16 Jul 2009, 21:09 »

Definitely have to say that Okkervil River is the top band that I listen to when I'm sad, just to enhance the mood.

But happy music would have to be Boards of Canada, later Flaming Lips albums, or Animal Collective. Maybe that style of psychedelic music in general does it for me.

scarred · « **Reply #12 on:** 17 Jul 2009, 01:00 »

There's more where this came from, but these are the cornerstones to my morose / contemplative / ponderous / self-deprecating playlist.

Are You Really Naked Under There? - Manchester Orchestra
To Build A Home - Cinematic Orchestra
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
Watching the Streetlights Glow - Forest City Lovers
Home - Radical Face
Shuffle Your Feet - Marla Hansen
To Be Alone With You - Sufjan Stevens
Chicago - Sufjan Stevens
Badges and Badges - Andy Hull
To Have A Crush - Cassettes Won't Listen
Freeze and Explode - Cassettes Won't Listen
Black Swan - Thom Yorke
Such Great Heights - Iron & Wine (this one's a guilty pleasure)

Will · « **Reply #13 on:** 17 Jul 2009, 11:07 »

Not to turn this into a blog-type thread, but I was reaching pretty disgusting levels of awful mental conditions yesterday, to the point that doing something fatally stupid was becoming quite tempting, so I threw on Converge's "You Fail Me" and basically renewed my defiance and resolve to stick around. So while it didn't make me "happy" per se, that definitely elevated my mood in a positive manner.

I've found that I like to listen to really atmospheric rock, along the lines of Dredg of the Deftones when I am in a pleasant mood, and that stuff makes me happier.

Good hardcore records - American Nightmare's "Background Music," Modern Life Is War's "Witness", Defeater's "Travels," stuff like that - makes me happy. It's angry sounding music, but if makes me happy.

De_El · « **Reply #14 on:** 17 Jul 2009, 11:28 »

I listen to The Boatman's Call a lot when I'm lonely. Also: I find myself playing a lot of Bohren und der Club of Gore on days after I've been out all night, not necessarily hung over, but feeling a certain comedowniness and I'm just not sure what to do with myself.

MrBlu · « **Reply #15 on:** 17 Jul 2009, 11:37 »

Nujabes tends to do it for me when I'm feeling moody.

Avec · « **Reply #16 on:** 17 Jul 2009, 12:49 »

I tend to listen to Nujabes when writing; Second Collection has pushed me to write some good papers.

Touch Me Im Sick · « **Reply #17 on:** 17 Jul 2009, 13:20 »

Secondhand Daylight by Magazine has been my moping soundtrack for a good bit.

spoon_of_grimbo · « **Reply #18 on:** 17 Jul 2009, 17:20 »

i seem to associate particular albums to all kinds of weird stuff... like weather for one - there's certain albums that seem to be twice as enjoyable when it's particularly sunny or rainy. when i'm feeling down, it's a toss up between something cheery, something ridiculously pissed-off or something downbeat. all seem to help, or at least not make it worse.

also, i've got a few albums which, purely by chance, have been playing when i've met up with certain friends (one in particular, the typical "friend-who-you-kinda-wish-was-more-than-a-friend"), and they always remind me of that/those person(s), even the lyrics.

skydivingninja · « **Reply #19 on:** 19 Jul 2009, 19:07 »

Yeah, playing music that matches my mood is a past time of mine. For example: playing Blackfield while depressed will make you nigh-suicidal. When I'm in a better mood, I'll put on something heavy, upbeat, or both, as long as I can rock out to it and I have to gag myself to make sure I don't sing along in public. I try playing more "happy" music when I'm depressed but I'm never in the mood for it, so it never works. When I'm angry I put on some good old-fashioned angry metal.

Some good bands when I'm in a sadder sort of mood:
Blackfield
Sigur Ros
The Moody Blues
Pink Floyd
Coheed & Cambria-Good Apollo yadda yadda yadda Vol. 1. This one's for girl trouble/anger.
Porcupine Tree

Happier:
Boston
Rush
Styx
Spinal Tap
Guns n Roses
Coheed & Cambria
Maiden
Meat Loaf

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Author Topic: Mood Music (Read 5576 times)

Zingoleb