Music that can change your mood instantly

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

The other night I was a bit of a foul temper. I had had a bit too much to drink the day before and was scared that I had made a complete arse out of myself and that everyone hated me because of it, I was just generally stressed about load of things. I just turned on my mp3 player before I went to sleep and put it on random and Hey Ya by Outkast started playing. Now this is about the only song by Outkast I know but it immediately changed my mood. One of the great things about music for me is that it can do this, completely change how you feel. When the song finished I realised that my mood had completely reversed in literally a couple of seconds and the only reason this had happened was that some sounds that had come out of my headphones. Call me a hippy but I think that's pretty amazing. So what songs can totally change your mood then, for better or for worse?

[Borboski]

I know it's childish but if I'm in an enclosed space and I hear some crap pop, are some horrendous Sting/Springsteen dad-rock, I feel utterly miserable...

[Banana Woofwoof]

Bonzos or Neil Innes instantly cheer me up, without fail.  And equally as certainly, sunny vapid pop depresses me.

[9]

Adult. works for when I want to pretend i'm a robot and stop feeling feelings.

A high volume dose of Mclusky helps when i'm stressed.

Marilyn Manson's Irresponsible Hate Anthem is my ultimate palate-cleansing fuck-the-world anthem. ('I hate the hater/I rape the rapist/let's just kill everyone and let your god sort them out')

Talking of mood swings, I adore Fischerspooner's remix of Kylie's Come into my World, but it makes me so sad that I want to instantly kill myself.

Stuff is wierd.

[pretty dead boy]

sam cooke, sam cooke sam cooke sam cooke.

sam cooke is what people say about bob marley, to me.  the two live lps, particularly live at the harlem square club are as mood changing as anything ... you're listening to someone alternate between singing and laughing and it's just joyous.

[La Tristesse Durera]

I'll usually slap on a bit of pop if I need to cheer up a bit; anything breezy with a bit of tempo. Girls Aloud records always cheer me up. It's a shame pop music is so unfairly stigmatised because for me, there's nothing like sticking on one of the Now CDs for defusing stress and loosening up. I also like older, more playful Hip Hop to put me in a good mood. And electro type stuff, like International Deejay Gigolos and things like that, always gets me perky. And if I'm in a really low state and need something to brighten up, I'll go back to the music I've had for longest in my collection, like The Prodigy, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers etc. because they always seem to trigger good feelings and I believe hearing sounds from long ago can make you remember the good times you had all that time ago, which always gives me a lift.

Some good examples of uplifting music for me:

Anything by Girls Aloud
Cheesy 90s Dance/Pop
Outkast - Hey Ya, Bombs Over Baghdad, couple of others
The new Vitalic CD is brilliant, which makes me happy.
The Prodigy Experience Album
Oasis - stuff off The Masterplan, the old singles, one that always cheers me up no end is She's Electric
The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1 - makes me want to cry with nostalgia and yet makes me feel so happy, it reminds me of sitting on a balcony in Greece one summer, sipping Mythos, when I just listened to this track constantly.
Fat Truckers - Superbike
Any kind of party mixes with loads of good songs from different genres. I've got a couple of good Soulwax ones, Lionel Vinyl did a great one. There was a good mix on this site actually, perhaps by jutl (?) - was very good, had that song about being ginger on it.
Ooh I could go on but you get the idea.

Edit: to add the one track that I cannot believe I missed off. 'At The River' by Groove Armada. This is a guaranteed spine-tingler for me, makes me want to cry, laugh, reminisce, just generally feel nice. Probably my favourite track of all time.

[dan dirty ape]

The Beatles 'Here Comes The Sun' and the Velvets 'Sunday Morning' always make me well up like a soppy twat, even if they're just on in the background.

Going over old stereo excursions ground, I'd confidentally say that 'The Boiler' by Rhoda Dakar and the Specials would change anyone's mood barring the heavily psycopathic.

[Jemble Fred]

The opening bars of 'In My Life' or 'Don't Look Back In Anger' always trigger an inescapable wistful seriousness.

The opening bars of YMCA or It's Raining Men send me running for cover in a heartbeat.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Sorry, Jemble, but Oasis songs of any kind always turn me from a cheery, happy-go-lucky individual into a seething mess of rage and despair in an instant. I find it particularly loathsome if someone puts Oasis on a pub jukebox, like someone's just shat in my pint.

[Jemble Fred]

I hate it when 'DLBIA' is put on a jukebox, or paying arbitrarily somewhere, as it's always meant too much to me to just have it as background noise. I need to stop everything, and listen.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Aye, I can understand how that could get your goat if it's just a load of boozed up old punters slobbering along to it if the song means a lot more to you personally.

On a more positive not, the opening bars to Manhoo by Cardiacs instantly make me jump up and smile broadly like a sargeant major. As does Jon Wright's quick frenzied burst of drums that announce The End of all Things.

[Jemble Fred]

Actually that's a reasonable idea for a thread. 'Music that must not be cheapened by arbitrary listening' – the kind of thing that forces you to just drop everything when it's played, and listen intently.

[Mediocre Rich]

Happy Mondays - "Step On"
The piano at the start and then the guitar, I defy anyone not to grin at 'Call the cops'.

Derrick May - "Strings of Life"
Very happy days, beautiful early evening on a Summer day.

For dancing "Ride on Time" by Black Box makes me make a fool of myself. A sadly largely forgotten dance floor classic.

[Labian Quest]

I'm not particularly a reggae fan, but I've just got the first UB40  album (Signing off) and it does seem to slow down your brain rhythms or something in quite a relaxing way.

[Leila]

Any Stevie Wonder track turns me into a ball of joy.

[Jemble Fred]

Any Stevie Wonder track turns me into a ball of joy.

Agreed. But his version of 'We Can Work It Out' gets the biggest 'WOW' form me. Still the only Beatles cover I've ever heard which is marginally better than the original. And I'm afraid to say I've heard thousands of 'em...

[Partridge's Love Child]

There's surely no one alive who doesn't feel at least a little bit better after hearing Love In An Elevator by Aerosmith, Crazy Crazy Nights by Kiss, Fiesta by The Pogues and Superstition by Stevie Wonder.  Not all played at the same time of course, that's just silliness.

[Rats]

Beethoven's Ninth

[All Surrogate]

The Smiths - Suffer Little Children

Given the subject matter, it's hardly surprising it's so affecting.  It makes me feel a mixture of revulsion for everybody, for myself, and a hatred of that woman and that man, a real desire to string them up.  And then of course, I feel the revulsion for myself all the stronger ...

I try not to listen to it; 'I Don't Owe You Anything' is where 'The Smiths' ends.

[The Culture Bunker]

Stick on a bit of 60's soul music and my mood changes, my fingers and toes will start counting time and I'll probably want to dance.

British Sea Power, being, like me, from Cumbria, can often get me nostalgic for the fells and lakes.

[Utter Shit]

Any kind of funky club music can get me going. Funky house in particular can just make me joyful in an instant, especially the piano-heavy tracks.

[Deadman97]

I don't know about a mood changer, but the acoustic version of Deftones' "Be Quiet and Drive" can take me from undefined melancholy to weeping wreck in seconds. It's a sadness accelerator, an unhappiness catalyst, a bad-time enzyme. And it's fantastic.

[swinny]

Another vote for Don' t Look Back in Anger...I remember it came on the TV a few years back, and I hadn't heard it "properly" in ages...my depressed mood turned to one of a big smiling idiot over the course of the song. I'm not sure why, its not my favourite Oasis song by any stretch of the imagination, but it definately has "something".

Remember also in the first few weeks of uni, wasn't entirely sure if it was all for me, me and a new found mate popped along to the union for the Indie night. We were sat about idly discussing music type stuff, and I said "If The Only One I Know comes on, I'm dancing"...and sure enough, it soon did - and all my doubts dissapeared with it and I had 4 great years. So always remember that little moment when I hear that song (or Charlatans in general) and have a little smile.

[Harold Lloyd's Safety Net]

There's surely no one alive who doesn't feel at least a little bit better after hearing Love In An Elevator by Aerosmith, Crazy Crazy Nights by Kiss, Fiesta by The Pogues and Superstition by Stevie Wonder.  Not all played at the same time of course, that's just silliness.

I don't know Fiesta by the Pogues, but a big resounding 'yes!' from me for the others listed.

[Neville Chamberlain]

I don't know Fiesta by the Pogues...

You'll know it if you heard it!

[Lee]

I've said this before, but whenever I hear In Between Days by The Cure, I always feel a genuine sense of joy and being uplifted. Nothing to do with the lyrics, that's just the impact the music has on me.

[Harold Lloyd's Safety Net]

I've said this before, but whenever I hear In Between Days by The Cure, I always feel a genuine sense of joy and being uplifted. Nothing to do with the lyrics, that's just the impact the music has on me.

Agreed.  Puts a smile on my face the instant I hear it.  

So how does Fiesta by the Pogues go then?  Someone care to hum it?

[Derek Trucks]

Dance to the Music - Sly & the Family Stone - I could have lost my home, my money & all my friends but I'll still sing the "im gonna add some bottom" bit with a huge grin.

[Rats]

come on you rambling boys of pleasure and ladies of easy leisure. We must say adios until we see Almeria once again, diddle ur dur duh duh, duuur duuur dur, diddle ur dur duh duh, duuur duuur dur, diddle ur dur duh duh, duuur duuur dur, durdle ur dur dur dur dur dur dur dur.

[Harold Lloyd's Safety Net]

come on you rambling boys of pleasure and ladies of easy leisure. We must say adios until we see Almeria once again, diddle ur dur duh duh, duuur duuur dur, diddle ur dur duh duh, duuur duuur dur, diddle ur dur duh duh, duuur duuur dur, durdle ur dur dur dur dur dur dur dur.

Thanks for clearing that up for me, Rats!