The science behind irritating music

Catchy yet incredibly annoying, are 'earworm' pop songs a sign of great writing or jobbing hackery?We all have our own personal irritants. A friend of mine, for instance, used to blast Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz to clear her record shop of customers at closing time. But far from the skronk of experimental music, it's the everyday radio play that most gets our collective goats. What is it about harmless daytime filler that turns it into blackboard-scraping fodder?FamiliarityThis is an unfair mea...

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