Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ is chosen as the “The Top Feel Good Song”

19 September 2015 – Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ is chosen as the “The Top Feel Good Song” of the last 50 years

From the brilliant mind of Freddie. This is probably one of his best (in my opinion) It’s empowering, a joyous call to arms for fellow partygoers around the world. Now, 44 years later, this song still has the ability to lift moods and fill the dance floor.

Dr Jacob Jolij (a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Groningen in Holland) has studied pop/rock songs from the last fifty years and confirmed the impact ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ has on listeners with an equation that shows it is the top feel-good song due to its combination of a relatively fast tempo, positive lyrics and the perfect musical key, producing a happy feeling.

Dr Jolij said: ‘A feel good song is very personal. Music is intimately linked with memory and emotion, and these associations strongly determine whether a song will put you in a good mood or not.’

‘However, there are some key criteria for composers to consider when creating feel good songs – namely lyrical theme, musical key, and tempo. Holiday-themed lyrics naturally remind us of happy times, while a major third musical key sounds happy to our ears and something we associate with confidence. A high tempo of 150 beats per minute also subconsciously triggers a sense of energy. Combine these three ingredients together and you have the formula for the perfect “feel-good” song.’

He has now developed a formula that assesses how ‘feel good’ a song can be, allowing him to produce a top ten of the most feel good songs from the past fifty years.

The equation: 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 = 𝟔𝟎 + (𝟎.𝟎𝟎𝟏𝟔𝟓 * 𝐁𝐏𝐌 – 𝟏𝟐𝟎)^𝟐 + (𝟒.𝟑𝟕𝟔 * 𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫) + 𝟎.𝟕𝟖 * 𝐧𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 – (𝐌𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 * 𝐧𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬)

Here’s the top ten:

1. Queen, “Don’t Stop Me Now”

2. ABBA, “Dancing Queen”

3. Beach Boys, “Good Vibrations”

4. Billy Joel, “Uptown Girl”

5. Survivor, “Eye of the Tiger”

6. The Monkees, “I’m a Believer”

7. Cyndi Lauper, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”

8. Bon Jovi, “Livin’ on a Prayer”

9. Gloria Gaynor, “I Will Survive”

10. Katrina & the Waves, “Walking on Sunshine”

‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ has grown in stature with time and has been popularised not only by consistent airplay, but by its use in advertisements, television programmes and films, and through cover versions. It has not only become one of the band’s most treasured cuts, but one of the most popular songs of its entire era!

Brian May shared his thoughts on this song when he spoke with Absolute Radio in 2011:

“I thought it was a lot of fun, but I did have an undercurrent feeling of, ‘aren’t we talking about danger here,’ because we were worried about Freddie at this point. Lyrically it represented something that was happening to Freddie which we kind of thought was threatening him, and probably it was in a sense. That feeling lingers, but having said that, it’s full of joy and optimism. It has become almost the most successful Queen track as regards to what people play in their car or at their weddings. It’s become a massive, massive track and an anthem to people who want to be hedonistic. It was kind of a stroke of genius from Freddie.”

The video clip https://youtu.be/HgzGwKwLmgM