““Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.”
– Hunter S. Thompson
Music is powerful, no doubt about it. I’ve never tried powering a car with it, but I’ve been on some road trips that were fueled by a mixtape. It can change your mood, your opinion, your perspective, even your life sometimes, if you hear the right sounds at the right time. Emotion, location, and song all come together just right, like you’re the character in your own movie and you can hear the soundtrack. It’s personal, one of those moments you’ll never forget.
There are some songs that transcend personal experience, and become more universal. Everyone knows what they are, and they have staying power. No one forgets these tunes. They have that “oh hey, it’s THAT song…” recognition. You’re in the car, flipping around looking for something and maybe hear just the intro, or a few notes of a chorus and you instantly know what song it is. Why do we connect with some songs like this? Is it a certain chord structure? The proper key? Maybe it’s just simple repetition, or the context we always hear the song in. Before we dig deeper into the “why,” let’s check out some examples of songs that are instantly recognizable:
"Celebration" by Kool & the Gang
Been to a wedding recently? If so you may have recognized this pretty quickly, but even if not I bet it didn’t take more than the first few notes to recognize this iconic wedding reception jam. Maybe you even thought of the last wedding you were at, or your own wedding.
Side note – if you think Kool & the Gang are only this song you must check out these masters of funk, listen to Hollywood Swinging:
"Billy Jean" by Michael Jackson
There are several songs on the “Thriller” album that could be here, but I like this one because it’s just a beat and by the time the bass line comes in you already know what it is.
"Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey
Play this on a jukebox in a college bar if you want to get the whole place singing. That piano intro is like no other, and then the guitar comes in…..
"Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana
Speaking of guitar coming in, holy crap – Dave Grohl slams the drums a couple times and then you get slammed in the face with this one. Every time I hear it I can still remember the first time I heard it.
These are just some examples off the top of my head, and it is by no means an exhaustive or even ordered list. But they all have something in common – within the first seconds of the song you know what it is. So, why is that? What makes some songs have such a strong hook right out of the gate, and why do they remain so unique and recognizable?
There’s different theories and explanations, but it’s important to remember that music is processed differently by our brains. Sound is a physical wave that interacts with our ears, brains, and bodies which is why it is such an effective means of communication. This does not happen with visual, olfactory, or sensual stimulus, only auditory … there are areas within your auditory cortex that are designed to correlate and respond with sound frequencies from the outside world. This is unique only to sound stimuli.
So when we say,”Wow that song hits me right here,” it actually is hitting us on a certain level. So we feel it and process it and internalize it differently than other information our brain receives. Think about how we communicated or told stories before there was written language, or even spoken language – songs, dance, pantomime. We’ve been programmed to interpret and internalize information in this way for a long time.
But why do some songs have that “oh yeah, it’s that one” factor others don’t? We don’t instantly recognize every song we’ve ever heard. What makes some stick and others fade? There’s a few factors at play.
Context is one. Going back to “Celebration,” by Kool & the Gang – that’s been played at so many weddings. Everyone is having a good time, maybe family and friends are there. It’s a good memory, so naturally the good memory and feelings associated with it get linked together.
Simplicity is another. All of the examples I cited above are really basic as far as song structure goes, at least in the beginning. “Happy Birthday” and “Mary Had A Little Lamb” are super basic and unforgettable. It’s part of why nursery rhymes are so powerful, they’re simple melodies. You can probably hear “Happy Birthday,” in your head without much effort, but unless you are a jazz fan or musician I doubt you can run through “Giant Steps” or “Donna Lee” from memory alone.
One final factor I’d like to draw attention to is repetition. Obviously, the more you hear a melody or song the more likely you are to be able to recognize it. The more weddings you go to, the more likely you are to be familiar with “Celebration” or “the Chicken Dance” or whatever. Several of the examples I cited above were also huge hits and got massive radio airplay. But at the same time I think there’s a bit of a chick-or-egg situation happening – are they recognizable because they were massive hits, or did they become massive hits because they were so catchy? Probably a bit of both.
There are thousands of songs and melodies and tunes floating around in our heads. Some are more easily recalled than others and that has to do with context, complexity, and repetition – but that’s not all. There’s some magic in there, an “it” factor that can’t be mapped out on a graph or accounted for on a spreadsheet. Creativity, insight, inspiration – “fuel” as Hunter Thompson called it – those are the intangibles to making something that will fuel your mental car as opposed to letting it run out of gas.
What Does This Have To Do With Marketing?
While the songs you recall have one set of emotions, many businesses and brands overlook how powerful and effective audio content and sonic branding can be. Marketers are all clamoring for brand recognition and separation from the competition, yet overlook sound regularly. As a device for getting something to stick in your brain, music, sound and jingles can be incredibly effective. As detailed above, our brains process sound on a different level, and once it sticks, it really sticks. Making that connection between music, memory and your business or brand can be a killer way to get that recognition it needs, and it’s not impossible. Start with the right context, a simple melody, and repeat.