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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:
BertieBotts · 26/01/2024 16:16

I enjoy it too. Happily, ADHD medication doesn't make it go away at least for me! Some people report that it makes their brain quiet, that would feel very strange and empty to me!

I think when people talk about "earworms" they are referring to the fact that it's annoying to have a song stuck in your head at all. Which I can't relate to, but I can relate to having a particularly irritating song stuck.

For the rest of you, do you find it influences the kind of music you enjoy or don't enjoy? There are certain music hooks which seem to be much more likely to endlessly loop (e.g. Palchabel's Canon in D) and certain music styles which are very repetitive (Dubstep, R&B) which I find frustrating if they get stuck in my head. Also certain pop songs with a phrase which keeps repeating endlessly. DH was really into listening to a million covers of Empire State of Mind and I'd just get "New York, New York, New York, New York" stuck in my head forever and it drove me mad.

I can normally drive a song out by playing my own music so if something is annoying me then I do this.

Scutterbug · 26/01/2024 16:16

Yes I do. No ADHD but multiple MH issues if that makes a difference. I get psychosis.

Passthepickle · 26/01/2024 16:16

Oh all the time and chats. Couldn't imagine it otherwise. I wouldn’t like to have a music or chat free brain.

BertieBotts · 26/01/2024 16:17

If your son is your biological son, there's something like a 75% chance that either you or his father has ADHD, if he has it.

InMySpareTime · 26/01/2024 16:17

Yes, and sometimes several clashing songs at once. I always wake up with a new song, which sort of sets my mood for the day.
The Wii lobby music is my basic soundtrack backing, and I can bring it forward when I need to feel calm, and my motivation music is usually the Tetris music.
Other songs just jump in there based on random things I see or hear, or the beat of something nearby.

Throwawayaccountonaccountofthis · 26/01/2024 16:20

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?

Sometimes it’s awful. Especially when it’s the same song stuck on a loop. Mostly it’s part of songs, really random ones, they just burst into my brain -sometimes part way through one that’s already playing!
I long for quiet. If it’s not song then it’s incessant chatter.

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

Ilovemyshed · 26/01/2024 16:20

Sometimes, but not always. I often have something as a bit of an ear worm and sometimes if I cannot sleep, I have one that goes round and round until I do drop off.

thomasinacat · 26/01/2024 16:23

Yep, often get same tune on repeat loop for few days, or snatches of songs or ad jingles. Certain words or items always trigger song phrases relating to that word. Every time I open the bathroom cabinet I hear the start of the Beatles song 'Hey Bulldog' because we have Bulldog shower gel in there. If someone says 'Barcelona' I hear Freddie and Montserrat (sp?). When the electrician was here whenever he mentioned the transformer, I heard the 'robots in disguise' jingle....

WhenWereYouUnderMe · 26/01/2024 16:27

I also get it with words or phrases- if I hear certain phrases that sticks with me until some song bumps it out.

DopamineChaser · 26/01/2024 16:35

Me! Undiagnosed ADHD. Currently trying to get DD diagnosed then will look into it for myself! My life is one big song on loop. Even at bedtime. It's distracting!

Andthereyougo · 26/01/2024 16:41

Yes, go to sleep with a song in my head, Wake up with a song in my head. Life would be bloody miserable without it. Today it’s an Olly Murs medley.

( no adhd in case anyone’s looking at the stats)

WhenWereYouUnderMe · 26/01/2024 16:42

Olly Murs!! That's just evil.

BouleDeSuif · 26/01/2024 16:45

Yes. Constantly. Today it's Malaguena Salerosa.
I have constant, never ending noise in my head.

Music, poetry (today it's "promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep", just that, over and over) conversations that I've had or I've heard or that I've invented; bits of films, TV programmes, news stories, from now all the way back to the 80s.

Lines from books. Scenes from books. Historical events.

It never stops. I've got tinnitus too. It's fucking noisy in here.

SiliconHeaven · 26/01/2024 16:48

Yes, I am another one who has it, I didn't know it wasn't everyone!
Mine can be completely random or picked up from something I have heard. Currently it is All of Me by John Legend :)

SleepingStandingUp · 26/01/2024 16:53

It isn't music 24/7 altho there's always random bits jumping in, so there's a lot but Def tons of imaginary scenarios running themselves in my head, conversations I wish I'd had to totally fantasy ones about the man I meet in the bookshop if DH ever cheats on me etc., along with intrusive thoughts about stuff happening to me, him, the kids.

I don't think when people say no it's silent in my head, it's actually silent I just think they categorise some of that noise as just normal so discount it. It would be so strange to have a totally silent head when you're brain is constantly thinking stuff. Where would those thoughts be?

EBearhug · 26/01/2024 16:55

Yes. It's just one of many strands of thoughts running through my head, most of which are just running in the background. There's always some music, but I'm not always fully conscious if it, and might have to tune in to know what's actually playing. Currently it's Smetana's Ma Vlast, which is an improvement on All Things Bright and Beautiful (triggered by a funeral.) Been a bit low on pop & rock lately, but that's probably the most common fare.

I need to write a letter, too, because that keeps going round in my head, and it's probably not going till I've got it on paper.

Wednesdaysotherchild · 26/01/2024 16:56

OldTinHat · 26/01/2024 15:58

Me! Along with multiple conversations with myself.

I was diagnosed with ADHD last year...

This!

Jujuonthatbeat · 26/01/2024 16:59

You know ADHD is hereditary right? Usually through the maternal line...?

LynnImnotdrivingaminimetro · 26/01/2024 16:59

Yep! Today it’s you don’t know what it’s like, to love somebody the way I love you. No reason at all don’t remember listing to it by choice ever.. But it’s on repeat. ALL DAY LONG in my head.

NotInvisible · 26/01/2024 17:00

I do :) It's a combination of Madonna and my favourite tracks from Smooth Chill radio, lol

Kirstykitty · 26/01/2024 17:00

I have ADHD and always have a snippet of a song going round and round in my head

DewinDwl · 26/01/2024 17:02

Yes, it's Beethoven right now, it was Blondie this morning.

Sometimes it carries on in my sleep...

FortunataTagnips · 26/01/2024 17:06

Always. Undiagnosed ADHD (my daughter is diagnosed).
Plus words and phrases and little conversations.

Wherearewe2001 · 26/01/2024 17:07

Yes, diagnosed with ADHD last year.

Neurodiversity is highly hereditary. If your son is ND, you probably are too. It presents a lot differently in girls and women.

SplendidUtterly · 26/01/2024 17:08

No music but i do have conversations with myself in my head.
Apparently some people have neither music or an inner monologue....how boring must that be!

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