Okay, I've come across this a lot in my life. I'm just wondering what your guys' opinions are on it... The following paragraph contains spoilers from Cirque du Freak, by Darren Shan. I wrapped the whole thing in "SPOILER" tags to be safe: Spoiler When I was reading the Cirque du Freak series, I found myself listening to a lot of Live, Creed, and Evanescence -- three bands who all pride themselves in making meaningful music. So, when I got to the part in the middle of the series when Mr. Crepsley dies, I was listening to Evanescence's song, Tourniquet. After that, and on-going today, whenever I hear that song, (or think about it in any way), I think about the unfortunate end of Mr. Crepsley. What do you think about this? Does it happen to you? Here's an explanation, if you need it: You experience a strong emotion while reading a book or other form of text. During the time that you are experiencing this emotion, there is a song playing on the radio, on your headphones, through your computer, etc. At a time when you are no longer feeling the strong emotion, you turn on the music and it happens to be the song that was on while you were having that strong feeling. You feel it again, maybe a little weaker, but you remember all too well why you felt it in the first place and the cause of that emotion comes back like a tidal wave, strengthening that emotion. From then on, every time you hear that song, your mind brings back that emotion, and it never gets weaker. Or at least, not at first. This will go on for years to come. Sound familiar? Then please, enlighten me on what I don't know about it. I'm curious to know more about the way people's minds and hearts work.(LMAO, like Ansem the Wise and Xehanort -- which one will i end up like, I wonder?) Any help is appreciated! - Ol'Sephy
I can't say i'm a big reader but I know what you mean but the association with music. The few books I do read with happiness I listen to most of my music during it and yeah the association to the book appears in my mind, no matter where I am. But I can't say it's only books. If I hear music from films or games i've esperienced (like hearing a KH song play on my MP3) and I start thinking about what the music is associated to characters and their story (like hearing 'Dearly Beloved' I think of Sora and Kairi, and their time together) and the such. I also do this thing, which i'm not sure if alot of other people do, but when I hear music I like, I start making a music video or story from that music in my head, imagining everything. But yeah, there are associations I have between hearing music and doing other stuff, for sure.
This happens to me constantly while listening to old bands. Musical/emotional association is common for me. For example, when I was 10-11, my mom would play a lot of Linkin Park in her house through the stereo's she had. I played tons of Pokemon and read childrens books at times when she was playing Linkin Park. Therefore every time I listen to Linkin Park I think of Pokemon Gold/Silver, and how fun it was in that house, etc. Another example is the crappy Twilight books. I used to listen to Nickelback (almost equally as horrible) while reading Twilight in high school (at time I did like NB a lot). I associated any song meanings and the sounds projected from Nickelback to the way I felt while reading Twilight. Incidentally and ironically, the songs are mostly about prostitutes, whores, money, love, etc... some of which make it funny to read Twilight while listening to them. It isn't an amazing thing and sometimes if the associated object/event/thing is tarnished to your integrity, the music will die a little bit as well. That happened to me with (+44) and Three Days Grace. I disliked portions of my past and those were some of my more commonly listened to bands at the time I had a rough time in my life. Now I dislike the bands quite a bit, even though I know they sound really well.
Classical Conditioning. Your mind associates a stimuli with something due to them being paired together, usually right after each other/same time, so when you experience one event, you remember the other/react in the same way you reacted to the other. But yeah, this happens to me all the time. The first time I heard Rascall Flatts' "What Hurts the Most" was during a mock wreck at my school, to show kids the dangers of drunk driving. They were sharing stories of loved ones dying due to car accidents (not necessarily drunk driving) and they were talking about a kid I knew, whose showing I went to, while the song played. I didn't know him that well, but we talked a few times, and to date, he's the only dead body I've seen. I got home that day and just started bawling. I couldn't tell why, since I didn't know him that well. Now I can't even listen to that song without getting really sad. If that song's playing, I change it.
Thanks for the info! Holy shit, dude. That's crazy. I've never seen a dead body, but I can imagine that it would be kinda traumatic... But you totally nailed what I meant. I'm kinda glad that my experience doesn't include that level of sadness. Actually, I usually crave strong emotions, but that sounds horrible. Hopefully you can deal with the trauma. Good luck with that, man.
