I get earworms a lot. This is not due to poor hygiene, because earworms aren’t actually worms. An earworm is simply a song that gets stuck in your head for hours or even days on end. I suspect that I spend more days with an earworm than without one.

Earworms are apparently not an uncommon thing, but they have not been studied very much. (Both unfortunately and sadly.)

This article at The Straight Dope posits a few different reasons for earworms:

One theory is that earworms are a form of mild musical hallucination (normally a rare experience), the distinction being that with an earworm you (a) usually aren’t on drugs or suffering from schizophrenia and thus (b) are fully aware there’s no actual music being played outside of your skull. Another theory is that earworms are a side effect of your brain trying to consolidate memories, akin to what happens in REM sleep. Yet another possibility is pondered by neurologist Oliver Sacks in his book Musicophilia: earworms might simply be a consequence of our being surrounded by music in our lives whether we want to be or not.

It could just also be that you like music (I do) and if you’re under a lot of stress (I am), then this is how your brain tries to cope with that stress. I have zero proof of that other than my own existence, but as I have no need to explain anyone’s earworms other than my own, it works for me. As if I really needed an explanation for my earworms. I happen to enjoy having music flowing through my brain more or less constantly, and the fact that I don’t have to pay for a Spotify subscription makes me even happier.

Anyway, here are some earworms I’ve lived with in 2025:

“MMMBop” — Hanson

This song was stuck in my head for two weeks this past summer.

Yes, I know I was not the target demographic for this song. I was a man pushing thirty when this song came out, not a twelve-year-old girl, and this song (as well as the band itself) got a lot of disrespect from most adults at the time. 

But it’s not a bad song. It’s a catchy, happy melody. But if you listen to the lyrics, it also has a lot to say about the nature of relationships:

You have so many relationships in this life
Only one or two will last
You go through all the pain and strife
Then you turn your back and they’re gone so fast
….
So hold on the ones who really care
In the end they’ll be the only ones there
And when you get old and start losing your hair
Tell me who will still care
Can you tell me who will still care?

That’s not terribly deep or revealing to someone who has a mortgage, but it must seem terribly profound to the tween set—something that allows them to feel both connected and aware. And while I can’t claim these are great lyrics, they’re not a bad reminder of what life is actually like. Of course, this is bubble-gum pop, so we also get lyrics like this:

Mmmbop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du bop, ba duba dop
Ba du
Yeah

Well, yeah.

What makes me sad about this, though, is the discovery that the three members of Hanson are basically right-wing nut jobs. They were described as “deeply religious” back when they were a thing, but that has apparently morphed into a lot of what’s currently wrong with this country. I’m just going to file this under “Information I Wish I Did Not Know But Now I Am Stuck With”.

“Superstar” — The Carpenters

This song floats around in my brain quite often, especially on the weekends. (Why the weekend? I have no idea.)

There are lots of great women singers out there, but for me Karen Carpenter will always be at the top of the list. 

For a long time when I was growing up, you simply couldn’t admit to being a fan of The Carpenters because after her death in 1983 they became relegated as a cheesy 1970s bubble-gum act. (If you are sensing a theme in my earworms, I assure you there isn’t one; please keep reading.) I find that terribly sad because both Karen and her brother Richard were/are remarkably talented musicians. 

Here they are in 1968 as the “Dick Carpenter Trio”:

Eight years later and here she is being a one-person percussion section:

Like it? Here’s more… (Okay, here’s more whether you like it or not.)

The Carpenters didn’t write the song (that credit goes to Bonnie Bramlett and Leon Russell) but the lyrics are particularly suited to Karen Carpenter’s voice:

Long ago, and, oh, so far away
I fell in love with you before the second show
Your guitar, it sounds so sweet and clear
But you’re not really here, it’s just the radio

Don’t you remember, you told me you loved me, baby?
You said you’d be coming back this way again, baby
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby
I love you, I really do

Loneliness is such a sad affair
And I can hardly wait to be with you again
What to say to make you come again?
Come back to me again 
And play your sad guitar

It’s such a great song that a group like Sonic Youth was also able to put their own unique, haunting spin on it:

I love that their video plays homage to The Carpenters. This version of the song never gets stuck in my head, alas. I would not mind if it did. It’s that heavy chord that comes down just after the words “It’s just the radio” that does it for me. It’s there in the version by The Carpenters, but Sonic Youth really makes the most of it.

“Lovefool” — The Cardigans

Oh man, when your significant other tells you “Dear I fear we’re facing a problem” it’s not a good sign. 

I have to say that these lyrics do resonate with me:

Love me, love me
Say that you love me
Fool me, fool me
Go on and fool me
Love me, love me
Pretend that you love me
Leave me, leave me
Just say that you need me

So I cry and I beg for you to
Love me, love me
Say that you love me
Leave me, leave me
Just say that you need me
I can’t care ’bout anything but you

But that’s not why this song gets stuck in my brain. I have no idea why it gets stuck in my brain. It’s just a pretty song and even though the lyrics are depressing (they hit a little too close to home for me and I suspect they hit a little too close to home for a lot of people, which is why this song was so popular), it’s that first line that I hear over and over in my head. 

Do I mind? The fact that I’ve been able to move on from the “we’re facing a problem” part of my life (it’s taken a while, but I’ve managed it) helps me to not mind. I just like the song. Hearing it over and over again inside my head? I’m okay with that.

“Pretty Fly For a White Guy” — The Offspring

Why does this song get stuck in my head? I have no idea. But sometimes I’ll hear someone say “give it” as “give it another chance” or “give it a little more time” and all of sudden my brain starts playing “Give it to me baby! Uh-huh, uh-huh!” and we’re off to the races.

And if I have to count things—such as how many teaspoons of baking powder to put in something—I have to be careful, because if I count “one, two, three” to the same beat as this song, they quickly become “uno dos tres quatro cinco cinco seis” and suddenly I’ve not put three or four teaspoons in there, but seven. I may not join the mile-high club, but my biscuits probably will thanks to all that baking powder. Thank you, my neurodivergent brain. Is it ADD? Is it Asperger’s? Is it live or is it Memorex?

And for some odd reason (I guess it’s the lighting) Dexter in that video always reminds me of this kid from Malcolm in the Middle:

Even though this song came out in 1998, it describes a lot of people who seek fame and fortune on social media:

You know, it’s kinda hard just to get along today
Our subject isn’t cool, but he fakes it anyway
He may not have a clue and he may not have style
But everything he lacks, well, he makes up in denial

That also describes a particular “fake news” politician fairly well, as does this verse:

So if you don’t rate, just overcompensate
At least that you’ll know you can always go on Ricki Lake
The world needs wannabes, ah
Hey, hey, do that brand new thing!

Yep, the world is full of wannabes now, and we have a weird tendency to worship them. Odd.

Again, a great description of everyone on social media who aspires to be an influencer:

Friends say he’s tryin’ too hard and he’s not quite hip
But in his own mind, he’s the, he’s the dopest trip

The great thing is that The Offspring still tour with The Pretty Fly Guy. Here they are in LA in 2025:

At least they are having fun with it, right?

To be fair, Dexter (who holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology, so that’s Dr. Dexter to you) wasn’t trying to poke fun at anybody in particular:

While we’re talking about The Offspring, I should also mention that the bass line (not the entire song, just the bass line) from “Self Esteem” sometimes gets stuck in my head. I’ll hear something that vibrates at the same frequency as that bass line, or has the same beat, and suddenly that song is stuck in my head for days. Because I like to share, you can have it stuck in your head too:

“It’s the End of the World” by R.E.M.

It’s not always music that sets me off. I don’t have to hear a particular beat or tone to suddenly get a song stuck in my head for days. Any time I hear somebody say “That’s great” I suddenly have this song stuck in my head for days:

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve had to bite my tongue when someone says “That’s great” so that I wouldn’t say “It starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes and aeroplanes, and Lenny Bruce is not afraid” I would be a very wealthy person.

It’s a weird video (apparently the dog just showed up and the director decided to keep that footage—yay dogs!) but it seems to fit the themes of the lyrics.

Coda

This video pretty much lives in my head rent-free. There is a metric fuck-ton of talent on this stage.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.