Is it normal for music to have such an impact on me?

Of course it is natural, why do you think so many films have soundtracks. Hollywood learned a long time ago that the right sound track could make or break a movie.

I’d say it’s pretty normal, I’m in the same boat and I know a few other people who are. I’ve noticed that some people are more affected by it than others, but it’s pretty much ingrained in most people. If you’re interested, the book “This Is Your Brain On Music” has a lot on the subject.

The way I see it—some songs are ‘triggers.’ We create the connction between an emotion or experience and the song sometime in our past, so when the song comes back, it becomes a trigger—a bullet-train-hotline to that experience or emotion. Sometimes we don’t even remember why the song’s a trigger—but it is.

The first thing addicts do in rehab is to identify their triggers… a couple recovering addicts I knew said certain songs were triggers for them because they’d play the song while doing their addiction, so any time they heard the song, it would cause them to have intense cravings. I’m figuring—if that’s true for addicts, I’m sure it’s also true for non-addicts—that songs can be triggers for certain emotions.

Redacted.

Music has great power—that much is true. I’d say the desire to self-harm is not normal. @itsjustcruel, I’m very worried about you (in a motherly way). Your posts make me think you’re quite young. Are your parents aware of your tendancy to self-harm and/or are you seeing a professional to work on that behavior???

In addition, you might be what’s known as an HSP, or highly sensitive person. Take a look at this test to see if it rings true for you.

Otherwise, you’ve gotten some great answers above!

I listened to this song and it did absolutely nothing for me. I did like the drummer on this session.

Music is made up of different vibrations (energy). Some claim that we are made up of a certain vibration too. So is heaven, dimensions, your soul, etc. Think of the blades of a fan..just because we can’t see the individual blades when it’s on high, doesnt mean they dont exist.

I get like that too…I think it’s just we’re more sensitive to the vibrational changes in the music, in the way they combine the sounds.

Just a theory.

Music does this for me as well. Sometimes I need to be very careful to get the right music on to fix my attitude, mood, or circumstance.
The right song at the right time is incredible. I think I wrote about that in one of my first questions.
Found it!

It is for me.

I think it is normal for music to have powerful effects on people, but again, it’s functioning as a trigger for emotional and behavior patterns…

Recently I’ve been getting into Scriabin (and it’s a pity he didn’t write that much music), but his Poem of Ectsasy and other pieces strike me as what I can only describe as “transcendental” (some call it “synesthetic”...his music is often accompanied by pictures of the universe on YouTube) and listening to the music is almost like doing a drug…hard to explain, but his music doesn’t make me feel happy or sad, it’s just powerful ineffable emotion. The Poem of Ecstasy, especially, you can tell by the title what it’s supposed to represent.

Ofcourse its normal. Some songs mark us. Just like anything else can.

I could name you atleast five different songs that remind me of a specific moment in time, and with who i shared those moments with.

Music is an emtional trigger.

Think about it, when you go clubbing, you are pretty much in a box, with a dj, with a bounch of people you dont know. But you’re all there for the same reason – for the music and to dance. Its quite sereal if you think about it.

Music makes me go wild! I love it, i understand it, i feel it! and whatever you are feeling, its all normal :)