maybe someone can explain this-music related

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Just realized the strangest thing
I was in complete overload mode this evening. Holding my ears and rocking a bit from simple noises.
I needed to complete some computer work, so I sat down, put on headphones, and found that the only music that didn't annoy me was heavy metal.
This music soothed me.
How could something so full of stimulation cure my over-stimulation? Does this make any sense to anyone?

I find that when I listen to heavy metal, it takes away a lot of my frustrations and I don't care what people think of me as much whenever I listen to it. It makes my days go by faster and it gives me more will power to do things.

machine head - aesthetics of hate. \m/

It could be that the music acts as a counter irritant. Life is overwhelming you so the annoying angry metal either expresses your feelings, or alternatively, you get angry at the music itsself so it takes your mind off the overwhelming stuff in your environment so youre able to focus on a task. Kinda like putting burning hot sauce on an itch.

was thinking that maybe it was the really strong drum beat that focused me. It's really not usually my genre of choice.

I find I can not tolerate any radio / chart music / modern pop music, with vocals in especially. It sounds like nails down the blackboard to me and totally irritates me to the point where I can't concentrate or even sleep at night, it is almost like there are separate frequencies that only I can tune into which most people are unaware of. On the other hand I can listen to loud alternative music which freaks 'normal' people out like Squarepusher, Aphex Twin type of glitch or drum and bass, my 'headache music' as someone has called it. It makes sense to me even though it can be very dark and harsh, it is acceptable to my senses whereas being forced to listen to a boy band on the radio makes me want to scream.

the strange part is that I was not tolerating regular household sounds at the time--talking, kids singing, people asking me questions, faucet running...on the verge of a meltdown. I wouldn't think that heavy metal would be useful under the circumstances! Maybe it worked liked giving stimulants (ritalin) to hyper kids works to calm them down

Well my playlist of music I usually listen to are like remixes that would be played at clubs and it relaxes me and helps me focus.

Well with most metal the structure is actually pretty organized.....so there is a lot of repetition of similar parts of the song, it's kind of hard to explain but its like the structure of it is organized in such a way it can be calming even though its a more aggressive style of music. If that makes any sense.[/quote]

that actually makes a lot of sense. thanks

Maybe it's like scratching an itch. I have read that an itch is so aggravating because it makes the nerves fire but only a little and this somehow bothers people (I can't remember the mechanics of how a small bit of nerve firing would be so irritating). When you scratch, all the nerves in that area fire a lot all at once and flood the nervous system which for some reason is less irritating.

So maybe little noises were acting like an itch- minor nerve firing- and the heavy metal acted like scratching- a flood of heavy nerve firing.

Metal harmonies are often based on power-chords, which in turn are a lot like drones used in primitive forms of music. My guess is that the drone of perfect 5ths and octaves is mellowing you out.

Same thing happens to me, actually.

Heavy metal is extremely harmonically thick and usually rhythmically intense and is extremely effective at drowning out ambient noise. The effect of high gain applied to signal from an electric guitar is to boost harmonics that are naturally weak while compressing harmonics that are naturally strong. This is why the guitars sound so thick - you can hear more harmonics.

My guess is that its harsh enough to drown out random stimulation, but itself enough to not be a distraction in itself.