Dr. Patrick Porter on the worst Christmas songs

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, all right, all right, I'm gonna throw up, I'm stop.
Oh my gosh. All right, McKenzie, I gotta ask you,

(00:20):
when it comes to Christmas tunes, where do you put
that one? One of your favors or one of your worst?
Top five worst, best best.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
My boyfriend and I were cooking in the kitchen playing
that song last night.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
I really do like that song.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I love the Chipmunks, so I grew up and I
love the chip bets.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Give me any chipmunk singing and I love it. Joining
us not to talk about why McKenzie's losing her mind,
Doctor Patrick Porter is here, PhD in brain health. Doctor,
welcome in, Thanks for being.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Here, Hey, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
So where does Alvin in these Irritable Chipmunks lamb done
your list?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Well, I don't know if they actually did that one
in the study, but you can look at the beats
per me and I think it has a little bit
of rhythm. You know. They're talking about how Christmas music
distracts the brain and can cause accidents because you're listening
to them when you're driving, and I think that that
might be one that I think people who love or
hate you know, So you know, do you like that

(01:17):
whining voice and you go for it.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Well, according to the list that your people sent over
to me, that was at number one, number one worst,
number one, number one worst song. Elmo and Patsy came
in at number two. New Song The Christmas Shoes Remember
that one, number three, routing out the top ten worst songs.
Jessica and Ashley Simpson, The Little Drummer Boy, New Kids

(01:41):
on the Block, Funky Funky Christmas Dominic, The Donkey, Oh
My Gosh Awful, Pussycat Dolls, Santa Baby, Yeah, the Killers,
Don't shoot me, Santa, I have never even heard of
that one. Neil Diamond, Cherry Cherry Christmas and in sink
I never knew the meaning of Christmas. So what's the
factors in our brains that to make it a good
one or a bad one? What did you find on

(02:03):
your study?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Well, what we find is that the brain likes to recruit,
likes patterns, so recruits them. They call them beats per minute.
So most songs, like if you look at classical broke music,
it's it's ten cycle music. This is harmonizes the brain
and causes you have more focus and more concentration when
you have these songs like Elvin and the Chipmunks and
these other songs that are the beat is too high

(02:24):
for the brain and it starts to create anxiety and stress,
which some people interpret as you know, anticipation or excitement,
you know some people. And that's what's distracting, is that
beta brain wave that happens. So we're looking at how
how the beats permit it, like how does the how
does the drummer, how does how does all the orchestra,

(02:44):
how does all the music play? And then how do
the words come into tune with all of that? And
a lot of Christmas music is really out of tune
really for our brain. But it caused people like it
because they they're usually easy to remember, and you know,
we have pleasant memories or bad memories about them, and
that causes confusion in the brain.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow. So you just don't really know. It just happens
to you. You're like, Wow, that's irritating for some reason.
You know. I got to tell you there are some
songs you know that I've kind of had enough of,
you know, and I do after a new drive on
a music station here in town on Magic ninety six
where we play Christmas music, every year, and there's a
few songs that come out and be like, Okay, I've
heard that forty five million times. You know, John Lennon's imagined,

(03:28):
not imagine, but to you know, War Christmas is one
of those songs like Okay, wow, that one really gets
me and the chipmunks forget about it. I'm just crazy
about it. All I Want for Christmas by Mariah Carey
is another song. It's the number one most requested song
that we get and one of the most popular songs,
but in that it is also you know, on the

(03:50):
top ten list, is one of the most annoying Christmas songs.
Do you understand why maybe that this is so bad?

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Well, again, it's it's because our brain functions best in
a state of alpha and beta, a mix of those
two brain waves, and that means we have intuitive information
and we can react to situations. But when we play
these music, what happens in the brain is it actually
begins to recreate scenarios. And you know, we don't want

(04:17):
to be daydreaming when we're driving. But when these songs
come on, memories are associated with these songs, like I'm
sure you have high school songs that when they play.
You remember people you hung out with and maybe girls
you dated. You know, things that happened during those times
that you didn't think about before that song came on.
Because songs are very powerful for us. They move our
brain and they actually change our we like to say,

(04:40):
change our frequency, almost like changing the dial on or
radio station.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
You know, you can be feeling bad and you put
on a good song. All of a sudden, you're feeling
good again.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, I hear everybody. Music is That's why I'm in
this business. Really, I started music and moved over to talk.
But absolutely music is impactful on all of us. Thank
you so much for the insight this one. I appreciate it.