Why Is The Tune Of Jingle Bells So Addictive?

[TBRS1]

The psycho-musical answer is that it uses simple and highly predictable patterns of notes.

"Simplicity" makes the pattern clear, and "highly predictable" provides a sense of mental satisfaction as unconscious predictions as to "what will happen next" pan out.

These two things also make it extremely annoying to people who have a preference for complex music that surprises.


Also, it's usually played in the key of "C" - the happy key, and uses the Ionian mode - the jolly mode.

 

[MROSS]

Honestly, I find a lot of Christmas Music to be obnoxiously catchy - not just Jingle Bells.

LINK: Why is holiday music catchy?

 

[AGXStarseed]

LINK: Why is holiday music catchy?

Even Goku (or rather the "TeamFourStar" version of Goku) considers Christmas music to be "Obnoxiously Catchy".

 

[velociraptor]

Does anyone else come up with alternative versions (sometimes sung aloud and others just cycling in your head)?

Yeah, Enter Sandman. Sorry, not a fan of any X-mas music.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

No CD player. This is more my style of Christmas music lol :

You are probably one of the people who like the song, Vincent the Christmas Virus.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

Drummer Boy can sit on repeat in my head at times.

OUCH! The song that gets stuck in my head is Good King Wenceslas. I thought that Drummer Boy is like getting caught on the It's a Small World ride for hours at WDW.

 

[FayetheADHDsquirrel]

I LOVE the Drummer Boy (both the little Christmas story video and the song that derived from it).

 

[velociraptor]

I LOVE the Drummer Boy

I think the guy who made this was like 15 or 16 at the time and he got his younger sister to run the camera. It's a good version.

 

[AGXStarseed]

I LOVE the Drummer Boy (both the little Christmas story video and the song that derived from it).

I'm always reminded of when Christopher Lee did his own Heavy Metal cover of it; I honestly didn't know how to react when I first listened to it.