Listening to the same song... OCD?

Post Reply New Topic

I listen to certain albums repeatedly. I mainly listen whilst commuting to and from work, shopping or going to my mums on the train. I like to listen in sequence to the whole album in order and it is comforting to know that when a certain song plays I will probably be at a certain point in the journey. It is an important part of my routine, almost like a map. The music I enjoy is very calming and stimulating for me to listen to over and over, but on the flipside I have lots of issues with music. Songs and vocals can very easily get stuck in my head and can stay their for weeks bugging me. I repeat the same few lines over and over in my head. I find pop songs extremely irritating. I can't listen to much music or radio. There are very few artists that I can tolerate. It has to be ambient/drone/or chilled IDM.

Last edited by chiastic_slide on 26 May 2012, 3:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've been told I have it but that is not why I do it. I suppose they make it the same because we do our obsessions to keep us calm or do our routines to keep us calm and we can't just stop obsessing over our interests. Now the definitions seems to be changing.

I often will listen to the same song for hours or days, sometimes even weeks. It's not like I listen only to that song for days - I will have to occasionally listen to songs for or from one of the bands I'm in, to prepare for practice, and I also will listen to other music when I am playing or practicing something else, or when teaching private bass or guitar lessons. I consider that different though, because it is special interest and work related.

I also will often listen to a song over and over, and sing along with it, and also play it myself over and over. I often will make my own version or versions of the song that differ from the original in various ways (I prefer doing my own rendition of covers to trying to carbon copy the original). I came up with my favorite rendition of John Coltrane's "Naima" during one of these "song binges" where I listen to a song over and over again.

I don't know if it's OCD - simply because I don't need to listen to it a certain number or anything, or until it "feels right" to stop like it does with my compulsive movements (that is, for both the number and the "feeling right" to stop). I don't even know if that stuff is OCD, I just know it seems OCD like, and they were much worse and much more numerous when I was younger. One of the key differences between that stuff and the repeat music listening, is that when I listen to the music I -want- to do it, but when I'm doing the compulsive stuff I always wish I didn't have to do that stuff - it can get tiring - when I'm doing it I'm thinking about not wanting to do it but needing to anyway.

Yes, I'll play the same song over and over and over for hours. I also tend to go back to listening to the same artists or the same albums repeatedly; only four artists are represented in my top 25 most played list in iTunes.

...I'll do that (and considering my circumstances- )...........

That is me!! I always figured it was the Auditory Processing issue (but then again that kind of goes with ASD oftentimes so...)!

If you want to track someone via cell phone, I think you should choose SpyToApp. It is a monitoring software is very effective, and is free to use again. I'm using this software, I feel very excited with what it brings. It's like solving a burden in my life.

Old thread I know. Listening to the same song over and over is not OCD. Unless it's giving you distress and you want to strop but can't because the compulsion to do it so strong, then maybe it is.


I do listen to the same song over and over when it's my favorite and then I move on to the next song. Then I go through periods when I don't listen to anything. But I would never do it around anyone because this is something I am private about and I use headphones if someone is in the room or pause the song until the person leaves if they are only getting something.

I can do the same song over and over 24/7 for weeks. It's a stim for me. It's like a security blanket. Very calming and soothing.

I do it too. It's not an OCD thing if it doesn't bring negative feelings. I enjoy this kind of repetitiveness.

Unless you have other symptoms and listening to the same song over and over is causing distress in any way shape or form; no, listening to the same song over and over is NOT a sign of OCD.

I seriously doubt anyone on the internet actually knows what OCD is.

I've done this ever since I got hold of a record player, forty-odd years ago. I don't have OCD, I understand that Aspies do this. I don't do it so much now because I listen to music less, and differently. Having said that I go through spells of watching classical guitarists play the same pieces over and over, usually on You Tube. I can get a real "high" out of it, drug and alcohol free

When I was 15yo, my mother said that when I turn 40, she's going to tie me to a chair and make me listen to "Sherry" a thousand times over. This was in the years before headphones; if one was listening, then all were listening. The day came - on my 40th birthday I told Mom we could go ahead with 1,000 Sherrys, I'd still like it.

I remember well what I felt as a teenager - a tremendous need and pull to hear Sherry again. I can't analyze it better than that. It's a sense of not having felt the song truly. Not enough, need more, more, more.

The other songs I will listen to for hours and hours and hours are All My Loving and Good Vibrations. And Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto. There's a snippet of opera that owns me - Tra Voi Belle (sp?).

I don't think it's OCD. The predominant emotion is happiness, perhaps freedom. Stimming, maybe? Stimming is more a calming influence, whereas listening to a song thousands of times is filling a need of some sort. You've made me very curious about this.

I listen to songs over and over again all the time. My family knows that it is my "thing" to do. I think it's an Aspie trait not related to OCD.

My best friend once asked me how i still can stand a song after hearing it over and over and over again. Normal people seem to dislike a song after hearing it 2-3 times on repeat. Not for me, sometimes i listen to the same song literally all day long. I wouldnt say its OCD because its not a thing i "must" do to reduce anxiety or pain, but its a positive thing. i LIKE hearing a specific song over and over again. I dont know why but when i found a tune that i like i just want to hear it again. And again. And again. Its just the way i am...

Peace
TK

Hngh, yes. I have had the somg 'Stronger than You' from Steven Universe stuck in my head for the past two days.

I think I've listened to every cover on Youtube.