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Tuesday, December 06, 2016

Happiness 911

I was listening to a podcast a while back that talked about using music when you need to feel happier. The two hosts went on to talk about several of the songs that perked them up and I thought this was a super cool idea. Their only rule was that Happy by Pharrell could not be one of the songs--I guess because it's too obvious.

This is kind of a cool exercise. I'm very aware that music and mood go together. On a Friday afternoon, when I'm driving home from work, I don't want dark, heavy music because it doesn't fit how I'm feeling. I want light, happy, upbeat songs. In movies, the score is very important to driving tension and mood. Maybe it's just me, but I'm usually not consciously aware of music in movies very often, but when I pick up the soundtracks later (I like instrumental music sometimes when I write), I'll notice how very fitting each song is to the corresponding movie scene.

So my happy songs, the ones I play when I need a pick-me-up:

Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
Goody Two Shoes - Adam Ant
Knock on Wood - Amii Stewart
Rebel Yell - Billy Idol

There are more, but they're not coming immediately to mind.

I have a lot of 80s songs on my list and that's because--overall--80s music is happy music IMO. Even the songs that are slower and supposed to be ballads feel happier to me than a lot of the music that came out later. And this is actually one of the reasons why I still listen to so much music from that decade--I want music that makes me happy. The titles listed above are simply the songs that make me happier than my usual mix.