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Does anyone else have music playing in their head all the time?

182 replies

WoIsMe · 26/01/2024 15:57

I was chatting to a friend just now and I mentioned in passing that the music in my head was particularly loud today. She was really taken aback and told me that this isn't normal. It's got me wondering how many other people constantly have music playing in their head, apart from when there's external music playing. It's usually something I've listened to recently but random songs do pop in occasionally as well. I just had Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth which I don't think I've heard for years. Music is just always there in the background and it's complete songs or sometimes albums; it isn't like earworms where you get 20 seconds of something annoying playing over and over again. It also isn't mistakable for externally-played music so it isn't a condition such as MES where you get auditory hallucinations.

I know my DH has exactly the same thing and I'm pretty sure my dad did as well because he was always walking around singing random stuff like Gilbert and Sullivan songs but he never listened to anything like that. Does anyone else experience something similar or is it as unusual as my friend says?

OP posts:
OldTinHat · 26/01/2024 15:58

Me! Along with multiple conversations with myself.

I was diagnosed with ADHD last year...

DramaLlamadodah · 26/01/2024 16:00

Yes I call it my internal soundtrack. It’s not constant but not far off… I wake up with a tune in my head and that’s it for the day mostly. I know when I’m not well as I don’t wake up with a song.

zurala · 26/01/2024 16:02

No, I don't have that. I've never met anyone who said they did, either.

MirandaWest · 26/01/2024 16:02

I have music in my head nearly all the time. I hadn’t realised that other people didn’t until recently

TigerRag · 26/01/2024 16:02

Yes!

I thought everyone did / it was normal. Over the 2 years (ish) I've been on here, I've pretty much been told it isn't! (There have been other threads on this)

WolfFoxHare · 26/01/2024 16:04

Yes! All the time. I don’t even listen to music much, probably because I can listen to anything I want instantly and constantly.

NuffSaidSam · 26/01/2024 16:04

I don't. I didn't know this was a thing! Is it enjoyable or do you long for peace and quiet?

WhenWereYouUnderMe · 26/01/2024 16:04

Yes, all the time. Constantly. I get really hung up on a band or a song and rinse it to death, obsessing over it for months on the way.

Fortyin24 · 26/01/2024 16:05

Yes! I’m glad it’s not just me, DH doesn’t get what I’m talking about

LazJaz · 26/01/2024 16:06

Constantly! It can be very distracting! Wonder if it’s an ADHD thing?

Terfosaurus · 26/01/2024 16:07

Yes. It can be very off putting when reading a book while the cast of Matilda sing "sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty" on repeat.

TeaAndStrumpets · 26/01/2024 16:07

I seem to have a large archive of 1960s pop songs in my brain, from when I listened to the radio all the time. I don't "hear" them as such, but one will pop into my head every so often and it is like I'm imagining I'm listening, if that makes sense? Ditto plenty of hymns! My Dad used to hum songs from the movies of his youth, so I could totally imagine G & S going round on a little loop!

OneMoreTime23 · 26/01/2024 16:08

OldTinHat · 26/01/2024 15:58

Me! Along with multiple conversations with myself.

I was diagnosed with ADHD last year...

Same.

simbobs · 26/01/2024 16:08

Me, too. I noticed when I was out walking earlier that there was no music today, but then heard someone calling their dog's name and that put a song with that word in it on my internal turntable. I'm sure it has got worse as I have got older. I assume that it is something to do with adhd, which my DC have, but as it hadn't been invented when I was younger I had always considered myself perfectly normal. I have lots of conversations with myself, too, sometimes even out loud.

Roomba · 26/01/2024 16:08

I experience this. If not music, it's internal conversation or monologues going round in my brain.

Just asked and my 18yo son also has this. We both have ADHD so I wondered whether that may be related. But my 11yo piped up that he has exactly the same and he doesn't have ADHD.

Apparently some people have no "internal monologue" at all, which confuses me. But not as much as people who can't "picture" things in their mind's eye - I can't even imagine how that works!

Heartfullofcheese · 26/01/2024 16:08

Yup. Constantly. I honestly thought everyone did.

WoIsMe · 26/01/2024 16:09

NuffSaidSam · 26/01/2024 16:04

I don't. I didn't know this was a thing! Is it enjoyable or do you long for peace and quiet?

No I love it; I wouldn't be happy if it went away. The only downside is that sometimes I hum along with the music and don't realise I'm doing it which can be annoying for other people if it's very quiet. And one time I listened to a new album rather too many times over the course of a week and then had trouble sleeping because I could hear it all the time. But I was okay after I stopped listening to that album on repeat! I listen to a lot of music generally and I play several instruments so I have a very musical life overall.

OP posts:
TookTheBook · 26/01/2024 16:09

Yes I do

Surely it's relatively normal as people talk about songs being an earworm and songs getting stuck in your head, plus people often whistle or sing to themselves.

TellingBone · 26/01/2024 16:09

All the time. And if I haven't got an earworm of a particular song on repeat my brain makes up tunes and rhythms of its own. I thought everybody had this. 😃

BertieBotts · 26/01/2024 16:09

Yes I always have, as far back as I can remember.

I also have diagnosed ADHD. Had no idea. I got diagnosed because I was struggling with various aspects of organisation, time management and motivation. I have never been remotely hyperactive.

Needmorelego · 26/01/2024 16:10

Music, catch phrases from films/tv, advert jingles, a running commentary, conversations with myself, daydreaming.....my brain never shuts up 😂

Itsmychristmasdress · 26/01/2024 16:11

I have found my people. I also have ru ning internal monologue. I long for silence sometimes it can be quite exhausting

Knickersinatwist36 · 26/01/2024 16:11

Always, always, always, and I don't know what a quiet brain would be like! (Also ADHD)

WoIsMe · 26/01/2024 16:13

Wow there's a lot of people with ADHD on this thread that experience it. I wonder whether there's a link? I don't have ADHD but I do have lifelong hearing loss so I can see how it could be a way for the brain to stimulate itself when it is understimulated. My DS1 has ADHD and is autistic and one of his stims is humming. It stops when he takes his methylphenidate.

OP posts:
Alconleigh · 26/01/2024 16:16

I thought everyone had an internal jukebox? Mine has decided to play George Ezra this afternoon. Cheers mate........

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