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What songs or artists calm you when you feel upset?
Neil Young is always my best friend when I'm a bit blue. It feels like musical hugs to me. The sound of the harmonica lets me have a little weep and feel better afterwards.

Funny stuff - They might be giants, some XTC, things like that.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea ... id=8172940

One particular song can lift me up like no other. Queen's 'Don't Try So Hard'.

Just about any song from Sara Lovell's first 2 CDs Solo and Calling, particularly "Heart of the Wound" (from Solo). If I'm feeling particularly bad, I put that in and it makes me feel a little better.

Some others...

Heart and Shoulder-Heather Nova
Music to My Ears-Jenny Bruce (reminds me of my friend)
True Colors-Eva Cassidy
Cliffs of Dover-Eric Johnson

I'm not fully awake yet...if I think of others I'll post them later.

King Crimson: Epitaph is very relaxing for me Muse Falling Down is good too

Smile (Not to sure who it's originally by)
Hummingbird & Covered In Rain - John Mayer
Canon in D - Pachelbel
One Sweet Day - Boyz II men(Faet. Mariah Carey) & Water Runs Dry & The Colour of Love - Boyz II Men
Crazy - K-Ci & JoJo
May It Be & Only Time - Enya
The Rattlin' Bog - The Irish Descendants
River of Dreams, Piano Man & Always A Woman - Billy Joel
You Are Not Alone * Will You Be There? - Michael Jackson
Tiny Dancer, Mona Lisas and Madhatters, and Rocket Man - Elton John & Don't go Breakin' My Heart - Elton John (Feat. Kiki Dee) as well as the acoustic duet of Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me with George Michael
If You Were Gay and The Internet Is For Porn - Jeffery Marx and Mark Lopez
Golden Slumbers & Sun King - The Beatles
Fallen Angel and Sherry - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
Angel's Lullabye - Reba McIntyre
More Than A Woman and How Deep Is Your Love - The Bee Gees
Shadow Dancing and I Just Wanna Be Your Everything - Andy Gibb
The Sound Of & At Seventeen - Jann Arden
Blue, Can't Fight the Moonlight & But I Do(Love You) - LeAnne Rimes
River - Joni Mitchell
Standing Still, Hands and Foolish Games - Jewel
Face IN The Crown - Peter James Fox
Comfortably Numb & Shine On You Crayz Diamond (Pt. I-IV) - Pink Floyd
I Ain t Goin' Down & I Ain't No Quitter - Shania Twain
Raining Like Magic - Raffi
A Dream Worth Keeping - Sheena Easton
and I could go on and on and on and on and..... well you get the picture

Most of The Orb's music is very friendly and the samples are very playful.

Take Little Fluffy Clouds for instance.

EDIT: I mis-read the question.

Any kind of music calms me down, as long as it's music.

Last edited by Alternative on 17 Jul 2009, 2:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Korn's first album used to calm me down quite well. Soundgarden's Superunknown album could also do the trick, as could Pantera's Cowboys from Hell album. Anything aggressive and angry always makes me feel better.

Some of Within Temptation's sadder songs also make me feel better.

Wow do you use some sort of reverse psychology method to help you calm down?! Lol, j/k. I do find it odd, however, that angry, menacing bands help to calm you down. Bands like that would probably make me want to go apes**t on somebody, and unless you live in Bizarro World I don't think that going apes**t on someone would be considered "calm". R.E.M.'s music really calms me down. Well most of it does, anyway. I like to listen to bands that are melodic but quirky because they calm me down but they also aren't SO calmed down that they bore me, lol.

Crockett's Theme by Jan Hammer. I love that song.

"Eldorado" by ELO, calms me right down every time ...

Pink Floyd always chills me out.

Hawaiian.
Either with lyrics or instrumentals.
Don't understand the language, and somehow that helps it work better on songs that are not instrumentals.

Often works for me to start out with some other music of a "mood" close to the one I'm in then migrate into calmer stuff.

I can definitely relate to that.

One of my favorite CD's when I'm upset is "The Height of Callousness" by a band called Spineshank (Especially "transparent"). Also, "Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes" by AFI works, as well as most songs by The Unseen.

I think the calming effect of aggressive, angry music has to do with the fact that fMRI's have shown that when we hear music or watch movies, the human brain generally fires in the same patterns as it would if we were actually doing the things that we are hearing and/or watching.

In other words, if you listen to aggressive, screaming music, the neurons in your brain fire in the same pattern they would if you were actually screaming. This, of course, can be incredibly cathartic, allowing you to release the aggression you feel, which leaves a feeling of calm.

Hmmm....well I guess ultimately it depends on the person listening to the music as to whether or not certain music calms them down. It's true - louder, more aggressive music DOES tend to give off the same effect as if the listener were actually screaming. And for me, if I do that, I just get angrier, and the more that builds up, the more I'm basically like the Incredible Hulk, lol What's more cathartic for me is crying - sorry if that sounds "sissy" or "wimpy" to some of you, but that actually does make me feel better after awhile. Maybe that's why sad songs tend to calm me down, 'cuz it makes me feel like there's someone out there saying, "Don't worry, I've felt the same way you do now".