Cognitive itch in a phonological loop

Oh, that bloody irritating song!

The Germans call this problem an «Ohrwurm», from which some have borrowed and translated into the English: “Earworm”. Not a particularly pleasant image if you consider a bug crawling in your ear, but the description is somewhat apt.

I'm quite susceptible to this cognitive itch, and unfortunately the network guy at work likes reminding me of equally irritating songs like Popcorn (damn you Gershon Kingsley, but I first discovered this song some time in 1986, playing Trollie Wallie on my beloved Amstrad CPC 464) or Hirokazu Tanaka's (田中宏和) Birabuto Kingdom (World 1) theme from Super Mario Brothers.

In fact, I think I have problems with a lot of computer game music in general. This in itself is strange, because I'm really not an avid gamer. Perhaps it stems from my enjoyment of simplistic arcade-style games that has driven these songs deep into my subconscious, destined to forever resurface in my prefrontal cortex like an acid-flashback in the form of untiring phonological loops.

Normally I'm alright, until I get reminded of a particular song. It's becoming more difficult to ignore, though, because the generation that grew up with these computer games — my generation — are now appearing in the music industry and creating remixes of game songs; and I'm not talking about Power-Pill's (Aphex Twin) Pac-Man, nor even Andrew Lloyd Webber's Eurodance version of Korobeiniki, under the alias Doctor Spin.

The most famous example recently could be Lazy Jones, with a part of David Wittaker's infectious score being taken and used in Zombie Nation's Kernkraft 400: Instantly recognisable for people in the know.

I'm finding this is a growing problem with some artists more blatant than others, such as Banana Inc's cover of the title theme to LucasArts' classic Monkey Island, with the same name (although I haven't decided if I like Press Play On Tape's rendition better).

More eclectic games like Wizball, with possibly some of Martin Galway's best music of the time, have had their echoes in the electronica world. Speaking of Martin Galway, Arkanoid's theme music has even been reused in the form of Pimp! Code's We Are the Best. Both games I played excessively on my Amstrad PC1512, probably only because they came with the machine!

There we go; the Tetris song has gone now.

Bloody Arkanoid.