Post Traumatic Soundtrack Disorder: When Perfectly Innocent Songs Go Creepy

09/26/2012 12:00 pm by

Post Traumatic Soundtrack Disorder: When Perfectly Innocent Songs Go Creepy

I recently fell into the black hole that is TV Tropes (don’t click! don’t click that link! YOU STILL HAVE STUFF YOU GOTTA DO TODAY) and somehow ended up reading through several hundred examples of “Soundtrack Dissonance.” You know, like when a nice cheerful upbeat song plays during a scene where folks are getttin’ disemboweled and stuff. Think Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Halloween, etc.

The thing is, I’ve had several songs positively RUINED FOREVER for me, and none of them made that list, because they all happened on television. Creepy, creepy television. Here are the songs I can no longer listen to without getting a mild to moderate case of the heebie jeebies, and one song I simply cannot listen to at all, ever.

SONG: “Beyond the Sea”

RUINED BY: Lost

Remember way, way back to the early episodes of Lost when we had no idea what was going on and everything — EVERYTHING — was ominous and creepy and mysteriously threatening? Perfect time for a little campfire singalong, then!

SONG: “Make Your Own Kind of Music”

RUINED BY: Lost, again

Wait, why is there food? And electricity? Who is this dude? What in Sam Hill is going on and what is he injecting into his arm and *record scratch* HOLY SHIT HE’S IN THE HATCH THERE’S A PERSON IN THE HATCH HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT.

SONG: “Tonight You Belong To Me”

RUINED BY: American Horror Story

I couldn’t find a video of the actual scene, but if you’ve seen it I’m guessing it’s not necessary. Just try to get through the first verse without looking under your desk for rogue Infantata zombie demons.

 SONG: “Que Sera Sera”

RUINED BY: American Horror Story, again

Okay, I might be jumping the gun here, since this song (so far) has only appeared in the season two promos, but if you’ve spent any time watching the mind-bending fucked-upped-ness that are the American Horror Story Asylum teasers, trailers and promos, you’ll understand. This song already creeps me the fuck out and I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH ALL THOSE BUCKETS YET.

SONG: “Wonderful, Wonderful”

RUINED BY: The X-Files

Yep. This episode (“Home”, natch) pretty much scarred me for life. It pretty much scarred the WORLD for life. And this poor innocent song will never, ever recover.

I’m sure there are others. What songs make the hairs on the back of your neck go up and unsettled?

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About Amy Corbett Storch

Amy blogs at amalah.com, and can be found on Twitter @amalah. She is Team Zombie, though sometimes she is known to side with the Plants.

Filed Under: Best Of MamaPop, Horror, LOMGST!, Music, Popular, Sci Fi, Top 10(ish) List, Trailers, TV, Video Tagged With: , ,


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  • http://twitter.com/observacious Kim Z Dale

    I can’t believe you reminded me about the “Home” episode of X-Files. I’m going to be creeped out all day by the memory.

    Not so much a song as a sing-song is the “1,2, Freddy’s coming for you…” from A Nightmare on Elm Street. I’m not sure what the original words were, but my son has a Winnie-the-Pooh book that uses the same format, “1,2, Pooh’s looking for you…” My husband insists on reading it with the same tone and cadence as the Nightmare on Elm Street rhyme. The boy has no idea what’s going on, but it freaks me out.

    • http://www.amalah.com Amalah

      GAH. I would have to leave the ROOM during that particular story time.

    • Snarky_Amber

      Your husband is an evil, evil man. When he starts getting your son to sing along with him, you better RUN.

  • http://twitter.com/hpstrawberries Hannah

    GAAAAA “HOME” GAAAAA. I’d had that memory all nicely repressed.

    • lisa

      Oh, and the one from that Millennium episode “A Room With No View”? Love is Blue? ::Shudder::

  • ErinTDN

    “I’m a Little Teapot”. Yup, the cutesie song we all learned as babies has been forever ruined by the Stephen King miniseries ‘Storm of the Century’.

  • SuzyQuzey

    I had pretty much blocked that “Home” expisode of X-Files out of my mind entirely. So, “thanks” for the memories. Gah.

  • http://www.amalah.com Amalah

    Everybody else here repressed “Home,” I’d repressed this one. Oh my God, the stupid hokey pokey song.

  • Guest

    This is a movie one but every time I hear that “American Girl” song by Tom Petty I think of the girl driving home and singing it right before she’s kidnapped by the “It puts the lotion on its skin” guy.

    The TV one that gets me is “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You” It plays repeatedly in the Buffy episode of the same name. It’s the one in season 2 where people in the school keep getting possessed by the spirits in the school of a young man who shot his teacher because she tried to end their relationship, It may not be terrifying but it’s creepy watching people get possessed over and over until finally it’s Buffy and Angel and you realize they’ve switched roles and she’s the scorned lover and not the teacher. Their dialogue is heartbreaking given how they were in love and now he’s all evil.

  • http://twitter.com/redheadedwitch Siobhan

    This is a movie one but every time I hear that “American Girl” song by Tom Petty I think of the girl driving home and singing it right before she’s kidnapped by the “It puts the lotion on its skin” guy.
    The TV one that gets me is “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You” It plays repeatedly in the Buffy episode of the same name. It’s the one in season 2 where people in the school keep getting possessed by the spirits in the school of a young man who shot his teacher because she tried to end their relationship, It may not be terrifying but it’s creepy watching people get possessed over and over until finally it’s Buffy and Angel and you realize they’ve switched roles and she’s the scorned lover and not the teacher. Their dialogue is heartbreaking given how they were in love and now he’s all evil.

    • Snarky_Amber

      I think you mean “I Only Have Eyes For You”.

  • http://twitter.com/redheadedwitch Siobhan

    Oh and has anyone see the AHS promo with the nun in the field carrying two buckets? They appear to be holding newborn babies and she just tosses one out into the field like it’s trash. Freaky as hell.

    • http://snotw.blogspot.com Rachael1013

      So… I am getting divorced which means I live alone now. I watched one promo for this season of AHS and am not sure I can watch it anymore! Last year it started out scary then I felt like it got more mild or just creepy, but this looks SCARY. I can’t watch that crap alone in my house at night!

      • Laurinda P

        {{HUGS}}

  • http://snotw.blogspot.com Rachael1013

    “Beyond the Sea” was actually totally creepy for me before Lost because of The X-Files and the episode (of the same name) in which Scully’s Dad died and that creepy ass guy in prison sung that song to her.

  • http://www.thebeautyfromchaos.blogspot.com/ jill (mrschaos)

    I can’t be friends with any of you. OMG MAKE IT STOP.