Pic: Dr Müllensiefen
One in three people can name a track that they consider- “better than sex”, research reveals, with Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ scooping the number one spot for best song and Kings of Leon’s ‘Sex on Fire’ coming second.
In the study: Science Behind the Song, six out of ten people believed that music gets themselves and their date in the mood for sex. And any song from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack was also voted the best choice of music for the bedroom by both men and women.
Goldsmiths’ lecturer Dr Daniel Müllensiefen, co-director of the Music, Mind and Brain course, was commissioned by Spotify, a leading digital music service, to study the long-standing relationship between music, romance and seduction. We have made Spotify play-lists (below) so you can enjoy the music in your own bedroom.
He told EastLondonLines: “There isn’t much theory which was one of the challenging and at the same time interesting points. It was an exploratory study into what we would call functionary use of music.
“So how would people ingest music when music isn’t the main purpose of the activity, it’s more to achieve something when using music. And people are, as we know from other studies, quite intelligent in using music to achieve something. So the main purpose was basically how would people do that, do all people choose roughly the same sort of music or are they different in musical taste.”
The Science Behind the Song study revealed that 40 per cent of people say that listening to music is more arousing than other sensations such as touch, sounds and smells during sex.
Müllensiefen said: “It’s not more important than those but it is equally important and that is quite interesting because music is a much more abstract stimulus than the touch of the human body. So we think that the more simple stimuli and the more direct they are, the more arousing they are; but music has something that is cultural or aesthetic which is still equally important.
“It does make sense in the light of previous neuro-scientific findings where people have found that music can stimulate exactly the same areas that are active during other pleasurable activities, like food or sex or drug consumption for example; so it’s the same brain areas that get stimulated or can be stimulated.”
The study produced a series of play-lists which revealed the top 20 tracks for a romantic dinner, a flirt on the dance floor, songs to ‘get you in the mood’, songs to play during sex and songs that are even considered better than sex.
Müllensiefen explains that the media has a very strong impact on what people associate with romantic situations.
He said: “Most people have a good knowledge of what songs represent romance – mostly from film and TV references – and then use this music to communicate implicitly their intentions in a romantic situation. Music is a very effective for communicating romantic intentions because it has such a great impact on human emotions.”
Each play–list features movie theme songs including Ghost, Top Gun and Titanic, which conforms to the notion that our romantic choices are influenced by what is reflected in the media.
Müllensiefen said: “Bolero is number 3 of the top 20 songs to play while having sex which is quite interesting. But it is also a very famous film reference, from a film called ‘10’ which came out in 1979, where the famous sex scene used Bolero in the background. The characters in that film talk about Bolero being the ideal song for that moment. And this cultural reference or this cultural meaning has procreated into other films and other TV series and so forth.”
Songs that were named better than sex are all unique and can be considered ‘epic masterpieces’ he says.
“When listening to music we build up an expectation of how the music is going to continue. If it violates our musical expectations and takes a different turn our involuntary emotional response is highly positive and it is mainly these unexpected turning points in the music that generate strong emotional feelings.”
Marvin Gaye featured at the top of four out of the five play-lists with Let’s Get It On as the number one choice for a romantic dinner and Sexual Healing as the best song to get you in the mood.
But Müllensiefen says: “‘Let’s Get It On’ is obviously a stereotype over here. It probably has to do with usage in films and TV series of that particular song where people would pull out this song over and over again. There are definitely some idiosyncrasies with this being a British survey.So if you did it in the US or Germany you would definitely get quite a different selection of songs.”
Müllensiefen observed that the study unveiled that the best tracks for seduction in the bedroom all possess the same qualities including: a “greater dynamic range, more use of the high chest voice, more raspiness in the voice and less use of vocal vibrato.
“These specific attributes are strongly evident in the Marvin Gaye tracks, Sexual Healing and Let’s Get It On.”
Other older songs from the likes of Barry White and Elvis Presley also won the majority of the votes as opposed to current music from today’s charts. Müllensiefen explains why:
“One of the main reasons is the age of our sample. We had a mean age of about 42. I think songs that featured quite highly were songs that were popular when these people were about 15 to 25, like Dirty Dancing for example. It is a well known fact from the social psychology of music that the music that you listen to in your formative years will probably stay with you in your preference for the rest of your life.”
Surprisingly Black Laces’ ‘Agadoo’ made it to the top 20 of songs ‘better than sex’. He said: “That was an obvious joke entry, but the only one. We expected jokes because these questions were quite intimate and people react with being funny.”
Angela Watts, Vice President of global communications for Spotify, commented: “Music provides the soundtrack to the lives of Spotify users every day, wherever and whenever they are, and Spotify’s study reveals today that music plays a particularly big role when it comes to our love lives. We now know that Marvin Gaye is key to success when it comes to seducing a partner in the bedroom. And if you don’t have a partner, we can highly recommend Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which is officially ‘Better than sex’!”
The study interviewed 2000 people aged between 18 and 91 years old, with an almost equal gender split.
Click on the links below to access the full Spotify play-lists
Top 20 Songs considered ‘Better Than Sex’
Top 20 Songs for a romantic dinner
Top 20 songs to flirt on the dance floor
Top 20 tracks to get ‘in the mood’
Top 20 songs to play during sex
Top 20 songs considered ‘better than sex’:
Queen-Bohemian Rhapsody
Kings of Leon – Sex On Fire
Robbie Williams- Angels
Meatloaf- Bat Out Of Hell
Bon Jovi- Living On A Prayer
Adele- Set Fire To The Rain
Black Lace- Agadoo
Pink Floyd- Comfortably Numb
Queen- Don`t Stop Me Now
Queen- I Want To Break Free
Faithless- Insomnia
Bruno Mars- Just The Way You Are
The Killers- Mr Brightside
Celine Dion- My Heart Will Go On
Guns`N`Roses- Paradise City
Coldplay- Viva La Vida
Queen- Who Wants To Live Forever
Top 20 tracks for a romantic dinner:
Marvin Gaye- Lets Get It On
Chris Deburgh- Lady In Red
Marvin Gaye- Sexual Healing
Eric Clapton- Wonderful Tonight
Andy Williams- Moon River
Elvis Presley- Love Me Tender
Celine Dion- My Heart Will Go On
Robbie Williams- Angels
George Michael- Careless Whisper
Whitney Houston- I Will Always Love You
Adele- Someone Like You
Savage Garden- Truly Madly Deeply
Al Green- Lets Stay Together
Lionel Richie- Three Times A Lady
Spandau Ballet- True
John Denver- Annie`s Song
James Blunt- Beautiful
Ravel- Bolero
Aerosmith- Don`t Wanna Miss A Thing
John Lennon- Imagine
Top 20 tracks for to flirt on the dance floor:
Abba- Dancing Queen
lMFAO- Sexy and I know It
Chris Deburgh- Lady In Red
Dirty Dancing- Anything From The Soundtrack
Rod Stewart- Do You Think I`m Sexy
Hot Chocolate- Sexy Thing
Pussycat Dolls- Don’t Cha
Kings of Leon- Sex On Fire
Maroon 5- Moves Like Jagger
Christina Aguilera- Dirrty
Tom Jones –Sex Bomb
Justin Timberlake- Sexy Back
Arctic Monkeys- I Bet You Look Good On The Dance floor
Right Said Fred- I`m Too Sexy
Bee Gees- Night Fever
Marvin Gaye- Sexual Healing
Nelly- Hot In Here
Marvin Gaye- Let’s Get It On
Sophie Ellis Bextor- Murder On The Dance floor
Beyonce- Single Ladies
Top 20 tracks to get ‘in the mood’:
Marvin Gaye- Sexual Healing
Marvin Gaye- Let’s Get It On
Barry White- Anything
Serge Gainsbourg- Je T`aime
Ravel- Bolero
Hot Chocolate- You Sexy Thing
Boyz To Men- I`ll Make Love To You
Kings Of Leon- Sex On Fire
R Kelly- Bump & Grind
Whitney Houston- I will Always Love You
Robbie Williams- Angels
Elvis Presley- Love Me Tender
Marvin Gaye- Get It On
Donna Summer- I Feel Love
Adele- Make You Feel My Love
Andy Williams- Moon River
IMFAO- Sexy And I Know It
Adele- Someone Like You
Lionel Richie- Anything
Nine Inch Nails- Closer
Top 20 tracks to play during sex:
Dirty Dancing- Anything From The Soundtrack
Marvin Gaye- Sexual Healing
Ravel- Bolero
Barry White- Anything
Marvin Gate- Let`s Get It On
Whitney Houston- I will Always Love you
Berlin- Take My Breath Away
Serge Gainsbourg- Je T`aime
Aerosmith- Don`t Want To Miss A Thing
Ghost- Ghost
Celine Dion- Titanic
Kings Of Leon- Sex On Fire
Rodgers Hammerstein- Sounds Of Music
Celine Dionne- Titanic
Righteous Brothers- Unchained Melody
Grease- Grease
Donna Summer- I Feel Love
Boys To Men- I`ll Make Love To You
