The Catchiest Song of All Time (Proven by Science)

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Dr Rupert Till, who also plays in electronica collective the Chillage People

Okay, I doubt this dude's qualifications already.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 18 September 2005 15:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Uh, I've never heard of most of the songs on that list. Maybe Americans dislike catchiness.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 18 September 2005 16:00 (eighteen years ago) link

but what about...?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 18 September 2005 16:04 (eighteen years ago) link

For what it's worth, I nominate "Tom's Diner."

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 18 September 2005 16:07 (eighteen years ago) link

4 Non Blonde's "What's Up" should be on the list, at least for me it has been the biggest stuck-in-your-head song ever! Back when it was a hit, I remember "What's Up" once got stuck in my brains for a week or something. When I went to sleep I could hear it in my head, and when I woke up next morning I was humming to it.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 18 September 2005 16:18 (eighteen years ago) link

I'll nominate the 5678s' "Woo-hoo".

― Nick H (Nick H), Sunday, 18 September 2005 16:28 (eighteen years ago) link

Good god, spanish sure seems to get you a lot of "Catchiness Quotient"(what a shit name btw) points!

― Jibé, Sunday, 18 September 2005 16:31 (eighteen years ago) link

Till's reasoning sounds a little circular as presented by this article, as the only definition given for "catchy" appears to be Till's list of criteria for catchiness.

― Hurting (Hurting), Sunday, 18 September 2005 17:09 (eighteen years ago) link

Dr Till said: "...there is a formula operating behind the phenomena of the Big Summer Song. Our unique formula reveals the science behind why every summer our charts are invaded by these poppy records that critics hate, but the public love."

Hmmm. How many times have I heard this?

So there's the scientific proof for why catchy cheese pop is crap compared to the real music that respectable people like.

― daavid (daavid), Sunday, 18 September 2005 18:07 (eighteen years ago) link

Well yeah, it may be that it was catchy, but at that time that song was played every five minutes so how coud it not be stuck-in-your-head.

― daavid (daavid), Sunday, 18 September 2005 18:11 (eighteen years ago) link

i've only heard 3 songs off that list.

― Creez (Creez), Sunday, 18 September 2005 18:13 (eighteen years ago) link

the real answer, as everyone clearly knows yet refuses to admit is "angel is the centerfold" by J Geils band.

listen to it and TRY to not have it stuck in your head

― dsfkjhXZKVJH, Sunday, 18 September 2005 19:10 (eighteen years ago) link

It's a British list, and we American readers must remember that British people who could afford to skip Blackpool used to vacation en masse in Spain, which would prime them to designate a "spanish-y" (note the ultra-scientific term) song as Our Song Wot We Listened To On Vacation Like. If you play one of these songs to a drunken busload of Brits on the Cd player at 4 am driving home from a festival (as I have done), they will ALL sing along at top volume. it's a baffling list to Americans- our catchiness canon is totally different.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Sunday, 18 September 2005 20:25 (eighteen years ago) link

I recognize most of these songs, except for "Agadoo". How does that one go?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 18 September 2005 20:29 (eighteen years ago) link

"A-ga-do-do-do, push pineapple, shake the tree."

Something about coffee?

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 18 September 2005 20:31 (eighteen years ago) link

9. 'Paloma Blanca' – George Baker

haha, i own this! bought the lp for $1.99 in seattle!

― s/c (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 18 September 2005 20:37 (eighteen years ago) link

It's a British list, etc

Right - great point. That's why an equivalent American list would be brimming with Miami bass with its various Whoomp There It Was All Along scenarios.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 18 September 2005 20:51 (eighteen years ago) link

An Announcement from our friends in Negativland

― declan zimmerman, Sunday, 18 September 2005 21:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Wanna know the real anser? Coldplay-Fix You. Try listening to that and NOT remembering the tune. its so catchy that it really gets your toes tapping.

― Mauric, Sunday, 18 September 2005 21:39 (eighteen years ago) link

oh do ya, do ya do ya wanna.... you're lucky lucky you're so lucky!!!!

i just can't get it out of my head.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 18 September 2005 21:42 (eighteen years ago) link

distance in semi-tones between the highest and lowest notes in the chorus; number of chords

So, according to the #1, two and two.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 18 September 2005 21:45 (eighteen years ago) link

(of course I've only heard about 10 seconds of "The Ketchup Song")

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 18 September 2005 21:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Rachel Stevens's version of 'Nothing Good About This Goodbye' is rapidly moving up my personal catchiest-song-ever list.

― John Hunter, Sunday, 18 September 2005 22:10 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm really glad that Sabrina is earning some well-deserved props

― Mike O. (Mike Ouderkirk), Monday, 19 September 2005 01:08 (eighteen years ago) link

Bob MacManus - I played that -Land announcement, then set my winamp to random and got XTC's "Knuckle Down." Just thought you'd like to know.

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Monday, 19 September 2005 01:24 (eighteen years ago) link

no euro dance at all popped in my mind when i saw this thread title, i thought of various summer songs, such as "summer breeze" and "summer in the city," which have struck me as hilariously hook-to-hook-to-hook when i've heard them on the radio. also in a different way "gloria" (not the laura branigan or whatever, tho thats catchy too)

― noizem duke (noize duke), Monday, 19 September 2005 01:30 (eighteen years ago) link

I've heard "The Ketchup Song" probably 3 or 4 times in my life, and I can't recall how it goes. (I believe the beginning of the chorus resembles the intro to "Rapper's Delight." Possibly.) So in conclusion, science fucked this one up.

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Monday, 19 September 2005 02:01 (eighteen years ago) link

'Nothing Good About This Goodbye'

This song's title is so gloriously stupid it actually approaches some kind of transcendence ("oh wow there IS a "good" in "goodbye").

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Monday, 19 September 2005 02:03 (eighteen years ago) link

"The Ketchup Song" is pretty good IMO, and, this may seem ridiculous, but the verse lyrics are really not bad at all. Plus I like the silly playful vibe of the whole thing.

― daavid (daavid), Monday, 19 September 2005 02:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Bob MacManus - I played that -Land announcement, then set my winamp to random and got XTC's "Knuckle Down." Just thought you'd like to know.

I enjoy knowing that, thanks. My iPod shuffled same to Captain Beefheart "Pachuco Cadaver" the other day. The other motorists got to wonder what I was grinning about.

― declan zimmerman, Monday, 19 September 2005 02:36 (eighteen years ago) link

So, according to the #1, two and two.

-- the most mysterious regular ilxor (curtis.stephen...), September 18th, 2005.

No, not even close, but thank you for playing.

― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 19 September 2005 03:22 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost

I thought I'd just place a comment on "summer in the city," Lovin' Spoonful one, right? To me this song is so cold, empty, desolate. Maybe it's because it was actually a winter release in its time. I mean, just listen to that slight reverb on those staccato minor keys. I get gigantic chills. No doubt the song runs hot just as well. the guitar, the traffic, the jackhammer, the lyrics. I can understand why you mentioned here.

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 19 September 2005 04:25 (eighteen years ago) link

I reckon Georgy Girl wins hands down.

― Jez (Jez), Monday, 19 September 2005 06:04 (eighteen years ago) link

shaddup ya face - joe dolce ?
achy breaky heart - ?

― retroman, Monday, 19 September 2005 07:01 (eighteen years ago) link

push it

― stroganoff, Monday, 19 September 2005 07:15 (eighteen years ago) link

"Oh No, I Don't Believe It"

― avery keen-gardner (avery keen-gardner), Monday, 19 September 2005 07:57 (eighteen years ago) link

Wouldn't logic suggest that most people would've heard of more than, oh I dunno, 3 of these songs?

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Monday, 19 September 2005 13:47 (eighteen years ago) link

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/badgerphone.php

― Raffi, Monday, 19 September 2005 14:47 (eighteen years ago) link

i think it's 'word up'.

― N_RQ, Monday, 19 September 2005 14:49 (eighteen years ago) link

Word Up? Yeah. Let's sing it together.

Yaw pretty ladies, arouwnd the world, there's a beer dah dah deer and blah mah boisen girls, wave your hand in the air like you don't care, mama dassa people in psychological amair, do your dance, do your dance, do your dance uh me, mahhhhhma comma baby bla blah blah.

― PappaWheelie B.C., Monday, 19 September 2005 14:52 (eighteen years ago) link

Don't Worry Be Happy. A friend of mine used to experiment with this song on people: he would hum/whistle/sing it a little bit and try to get as many people as he could to start doing the same (without realizing it). It was usually pretty uncanny.

― regular roundups (Dave M), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:00 (eighteen years ago) link

When I saw the thread title I immediately thought of Split by Lilliput. It's stuck in my head now so I can't even remember how the ketchup song goes.

― when something smacks of something (dave225.3), Monday, 19 September 2005 15:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Although it was just a minor hit, Wax's "Building a Bridge To Your Heart" bears a lot of the elements that sort of classify catchiness.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:30 (eighteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

So someone doubts my credentials huh, well ned raggett I doubt your name!? How about three degrees in music and ten years of teaching music in universities? And not one of your bought on the internet degrees but real ones. I wrote this research by the way. The list was to point out what elements are used to propel this sort of music in the charts. In the US there is a different system. SInce the beach boys, commercial acts in the US fight for the summer no.1 in the same way that in the UK they go at the Xmas no.1 single, this is because kids are out of school and there are a lot of sales to get, a lot of people on the beach and a lot of money to be made. In the UK the music business shuts down in the summer, bands go to festivals, venues close so that they can refurbish and do technical work, and there is a power vacuum filled by one hit wonder summer singles.

So my list was not based on what I liked but what was most successful. In the US by the way the beach boys started off and stole 2 chuck berry songs, just changing the lyrics but keping the chords and melody, while Chuck was in jail over a trumped up racially motivated charge. Funny to think of the beach boys as a cynical commercial boy band, but that was before pet sounds...

Dr. Rupert Till
University of Huddersfield

― Rupert Till, Friday, 7 October 2005 09:26 (eighteen years ago) link

Start teaching at a proper university and then maybe we'll give a shit.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 7 October 2005 10:13 (eighteen years ago) link

why is it always Ned who attracts the ire of the interweb mentalists?

― zebedee (zebedee), Friday, 7 October 2005 11:18 (eighteen years ago) link

The rage of Caliban perhaps? (Sorry Ned, couldn't resist)

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 7 October 2005 11:21 (eighteen years ago) link

"oh do ya, do ya do ya wanna.... you're lucky lucky you're so lucky!!!!

i just can't get it out of my head. "

Strange jed I have found precisely the same thing this past week. It didn't happen with any previous FF song.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 7 October 2005 11:33 (eighteen years ago) link

I generally find "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You" to be the song that takes the longest time to remove from yer head after the shortest exposure to it

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 7 October 2005 11:35 (eighteen years ago) link

how is the lambchop (NOT the band) song that doesnt end not at the top of the list?

and what about the lion sleeps tonight?

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 7 October 2005 11:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Have you tried singing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 7 October 2005 11:57 (eighteen years ago) link

dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee

oh what how does the rest of it go?

― AaronK (AaronK), Friday, 7 October 2005 12:03 (eighteen years ago) link

I get stuck with Stevie Wonder "Part-time Lover" more than anything else. Or maybe Harold Faltermeyer's "Axel F".

― Confounded (Confounded), Friday, 7 October 2005 12:37 (eighteen years ago) link

How Bizarre.

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 7 October 2005 12:42 (eighteen years ago) link

How bizzare, how bizarre.

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 7 October 2005 12:44 (eighteen years ago) link

Ooh baby, it's making me crazy.

― k/l (Ken L), Friday, 7 October 2005 12:45 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm actually interested in the formula! I'd love to compare it to the KLF's.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 7 October 2005 12:53 (eighteen years ago) link

"Can't Get You Outta My Head" is the first thing that comes to mind.

― kevin says relax (daddy warbuxx), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:25 (eighteen years ago) link

All together now: "Come on and listen to me baby now oooooh... I got the hots for you. Boom boom-boom ba-ba-ba bye-bye."

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 7 October 2005 16:48 (eighteen years ago) link

"Yellow Submarine"

― veritay, Friday, 7 October 2005 19:40 (eighteen years ago) link

lock this mutha !

― blunt (blunt), Friday, 7 October 2005 20:06 (eighteen years ago) link

All together now: "Come on and listen to me baby now oooooh... I got the hots for you. Boom boom-boom ba-ba-ba bye-bye."

Dammit, now I have that AND "Ride On Time" playing simultaneously in my head.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Saturday, 8 October 2005 14:45 (eighteen years ago) link

"Dammit"?

― kit brash (kit brash), Saturday, 8 October 2005 23:40 (eighteen years ago) link

I would either "Work It" by Missy Elliott or "Take it Easy" by the Eagles.

― Chris O., Sunday, 9 October 2005 00:22 (eighteen years ago) link

"Revolution" by Spacemen 3.

― darren (darren), Sunday, 9 October 2005 09:31 (eighteen years ago) link

twelve years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jq9-5FjQb8g

― Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 26 October 2017 21:32 (six years ago) link

So someone doubts my credentials huh, well ned raggett I doubt your name!?

― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 26 October 2017 21:47 (six years ago) link

haha

― Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 26 October 2017 21:47 (six years ago) link

2005 ilx sure was... something

― clouds, Thursday, 26 October 2017 21:54 (six years ago) link

the ketchup song!

― Treeship, Monday, 30 October 2017 00:34 (six years ago) link

i had forgotten about that song until this thread was bumped recently. thank u dr. rupert till

― Treeship, Monday, 30 October 2017 00:37 (six years ago) link

Maybe not the catchiest but Zombie by Cranberries has that annoyingly catchy “inni your heayeyead” chorus that always sticks

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 30 October 2017 06:46 (six years ago) link

Speaking about Las Ketchup I saw this t-shirt a week ago and I have to get it next time I’m there:

https://m.imgur.com/a/3iBbC

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 30 October 2017 06:51 (six years ago) link

The joke might be lost in translation but in spanish ACDC sounds like Asereje.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Monday, 30 October 2017 06:53 (six years ago) link

two months pass...

depends on the day, but probably steal my sunshine

― kolakube (Ross), Sunday, 7 January 2018 20:08 (six years ago) link

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