LIST: Queen, Abba and the Beach Boys best feel-good music science says

[Ryan Goble]

From the Sydney Morning Herald...

A Dutch neuroscientist has come up with a formula to determine what makes a song uplifting and in the process he's identified the ultimate feel-good track of all-time.

Dr Jacob Jolij from the University of Groningen looked at the key, melody and lyrics of 126 tracks, then took feedback from music fans before coming up with a lists of the best feel-good song of the last 50 years and a winner for each of the past five decades.

Dr Jolij's research unsurprisingly found the overall winner was anthem specialist Queen, although the song he picked might raise eyebrows: Don't Stop Me Now.

Best feel-good songs of the last 50 years

1 - Don't Stop Me Now, Queen

2 - Dancing Queen, Abba

3 - Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys

4 - Uptown Girl, Billy Joel

5 - Eye of the Tiger, Survivor

6 - I'm a Believer, The Monkeys

7 - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Cyndi Lauper

8 - Livin' on a Prayer, Jon Bon Jovi

9 - I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor

10 - Walking on Sunshine, Katrina The Waves

Best feelgood songs from each decade

2010s - Happy, Pharrell Williams

2000s - Dancing in the Moonlight, Toploader

1990s - Let Me Entertain You, Robbie Williams

1980s - Uptown Girl, Billy Joel

1970s - Don't Stop Me Now, Queen

1960s - Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys

Full article HERE.

[John Broughton]

Am I imagining things or is there a bit of an ethnic bias in this ranking?! Who were the "fans" in Holland, how was the sample selected, and how diverse is the population of the low countries anyway?

And howcome the Dutch dont seem to feel good about their own feelgouda music?

Still, contentious claims like this could be good fodder for classroom discussion, fer shure.

Note that Queen, especially Bohemian Rhapsody, came in tops for fetal dancing in a recent study of intrauterine DJing, via the 'Babypod.'