Migraine and Music

Artificial Migraine Poster. © 2004 Dennis (see here)

Artificial Migraine

"Here is... thee one, thee only Artifical Migraine." (Tracie Stanton, Zigkiss) [more]

The Coral

Song "Migraine" from CD "Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker" (2004) [more]

Claude Debussy

When he was writting Pelléas e Melisande, Debussy made strange musical dreams, he was then suffering from migraine headaches: "pendant cette dernière crise [qui a duré 8 jours], j'ai eu les cauchemars les plus remarquables: j’ai assisté à une répétition de Pelléas où tout à coup Golaud se transformait en huissier et adaptait les termes de son assignation aux formules musicales qui caractérisent ce personnage" (Claude Debussy, July 23, 1898).

(Esther Lardreau, Email to Klaus Podoll, August 14, 2005)

DJ Signify

Song "Migraine" from CD "Sleep No More" (2004) [more]

Edith Frost, This is me, Marker drawing, circa 1991. © 1991 Edith Frost (see here)

Edith Frost

"I'm a singer-songwriter -- never had the occasion to mention SS [Scintillating Scotoma] in a song as far as I can remember. But then a lot of the songs are a bit disjointed and surreal, and I guess I do tend to mention lights and stars and things a lot, for no particular reason. Hmmm..."

(Artist's website, July 17, 2003)

Alwa Glebe/Lennart Lessmann, still from video Ende, 2007 (see here)

Alwa Glebe

"Please find enclosed a link to a visual and muscial representation of the migraine from which I suffered at that time."

(Alwa Glebe, Email to Klaus Podoll, May 5, 2007)

"Basically I handle the migraine in two different ways, on the one hand to cope with the pain and finding intuitive insight (during an attack, that's how I sang for example 'Irrlichter', the title track of my second album, which noone really knew yet) or - on the other hand - to reflect on the gone through torture, where I put the migraines into a much larger context, not only seen as an isolated disease. Oh well, how Nietzsche reflects on pain is known to you and I do not need to add anything to it. I would not completely share his heroic version but I am certain that pain can by all means be turned into a stimulating and knowledge bringing experience."

(Alwa Glebe, Email to Klaus Podoll, May 9, 2007)

Charles Gounod (1818-1893)

In a letter to a friend dated 1882, the French composer wrote: "I have a terrible migraine... I cannot see you any longer - impossible to go to your house... a thousand regrets to you". [more]

Mike Lane

"I am just finishing my new CD, to be called 'Five Acts to Follow'. It is a kind of 'concept album', in that it features five different bands - all of which are really just me! One of these 'bands' is called Migraine Tambien. I picked the name because it sounds like 'My Green Tambourine', which was the name of a hit song back in 1968. (I know this is all very strange!)"

(Mike Lane, Email to Klaus Podoll, November 19, 2004)

Aksak Maboul, LP (top) and CD covers (bottom) from "Onze Danses Pour Combattre La Migraine", 1977/2004. © 1977/2004 Cra/Cram (ZYX) (see here and here)

Aksak Maboul

LP "Onze Danses Pour Combattre La Migraine" (1977)/CD (2004) [more]

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)

"Mahler's migraine surely did not influence history. There is also no proof that it influenced his compositions." (Haan and Ferrari, 2000)

Marilyn Manson, Head hurts, 2002. © 2002 Marilyn Manson (see here)

Marilyn Manson

"A postcard from the migraine fields
So we will now return our efforts to the melolagnia at hand. DRUMS!!!
(Doctor's orders.)
From the migraine fields,
MM"

(Marilyn Manson, Journal, May 25, 2002)

Mental Anguish

"My Q-Cut Mix.. A bit of trip hop.. Uses Q-Cut Loops & Mental Anguish loops & a few from Electroearwigs December 04 uploads to the loop artists private ftp.. Some of the Mental Anguish loops are from the upcoming TG Loop Subscription Service we are working on... Track is titled 'Migraine' as my good friend Q-Cut suffers at times from some severe migraines..This track is for the Q-CUT...."

(Mental Anguish, The Tapegerm Collective, January 15, 2005)

Migraine, Little Luxury, 1994 (see here)

Migraine (see here)

The Migraines

"'Amazingly, the name [The Migraines] ties into spirituality,' Shawn said. 'That definitely was part of a God's plan.'" (John DeGroff, The Migraines) [more]

Nurse With Wound, Chance Meeting of a Defective Tape Machine and Migraine, United Durtro/Anomalous Records, 2003. © 2003 United Durtro/Anomalous Records (see here)

Nurse With Wound

CD "Chance Meeting of a Defective Tape Machine and Migraine" (2003) [more]

Patron Saints, Primitive Grinderoso for Your Migraine, 1995 (see here)

Patron Saints

CD "Primitive Grinderoso for Your Migraine" (1995) [more]

Hendrik Elings, Elvis, oil on canvas (70 cm x 70 cm), undated. © 2005 Hendrik Elings - To see more paintings from Hendrik Elings's series of portraits of famous migraine sufferers, on show at the Bonifatius Headache Clinic in Dokkum (The Netherlands), click here.

Elvis Presley

"Elvis Presley's private struggle with intractable migraines revealed"

(Terri Miller Burchfield, April 19, 1999) [more]

Brad Preston

"Migraine-induced Madness" (2004) - "Composition and keyboards by ... Brad Preston (who wrote this while suffering from a severe headache)."

(Norman Feaster, Whole Note(TM) - The OnLine Guitar Community, September 8, 2004)

Puddle of Mudd

Song "Migraine" from CD "Abrasive" (2001) - "No pain no gain migraine..." [more]

Sacrifice Isaac, Migraine, 1998. © 1998 Slipdisc Records (see here)

Sacrifice Isaac

"Influenced by the top alterna-metal bands of the past few years (Jane's Addiction and Tool), along with the angry post-hardcore of Quicksand, Kansas City's Sacrifice Isaac rage with the best of them. On their second release, Migraine (the follow-up to 1995's debut Tough Row to How), Sacrifice Isaac shows that they are more straightforward in their musical approach than the above-mentioned bands, which is a plus since the group writes compelling rock. Instead of padding the songs with long, exploratory passages (like Tool does), their straight-to-the-point compositions stick in your head right away."

(Greg Prato, All Music Guide, 1998)

Jeff Salem, The migraine headache, undated. © 2007 Jeff Salem (see here)

Jeff Salem

"To create the migraine effectively, play letter (A) with the left hand, right hand play numbers 1-4 simultaneously with letter (A)." (Jeff Salem, THE MIGRAINE HEADACHE) [more]

The Schøyen Collection MS 2401, Oslo and London (see here)

The Schøyen Collection MS 2401

The manuscript in Neo Sumerian on clay, Babylonia, 2000-1800 BC, describes the ritual of the priests' dialogue with the Gods concerning incantations against migraine, drawing on mythological sources. [more]

Slipknot

Song "Skin Ticket" from CD "Iowa" (2001) [more]

Lidell Simpson

"Lidell Simpson, Composer; Ridgeland, Mississippi

The Sound of Silence II

I have profound sensorioneural nerve deafness since birth. I did not start wearing hearing aids until I was 5. I have vision to sound, touch to sound synesthesia which are the most prominent form. I also have to a lesser degree, smell to sound, taste to sound, body motion to sound synesthesia. In effect, just about all of my sensory perception has a sound counterpart. Even emotions gets translated to sound. And not so infrequently, certain techno music caused me to see blue blobs projected and certain sounds of music also get translated into sense of touch.

After a well received presensation of Dancing Lights as my first installment of my series of original works of The Sound of Silence I present my second and third installments in the series. This is my representation of what I called Neurochill Trance. The music empasised the vision/touch to sound synesthesia shown on an another level. I have for years had suffered debilitating migraines which was finally halted Ketamine. The first track is called Migraine showing what the migraines and resulting seizure I would get sounded like. The second track titled Mindwarp echoed the enhancement of my synesthesia under the influence of Ketamine. It opened a new sense of meditative ambient music."

(The 6th Annual National Conference of the American Synesthesia Association, Inc., University of South Florida St. Petersburg, January 26-28, 2007)

Troubled Hubble

Song "Migraine" from CD "Broken Airplanes" (2001) and "Penturbia" (2002) - "I've been a migraine sufferer for 10 years and basically the song is a release for me. It refers to my mother a lot, who is also a clinical headache sufferer. . 'i saw my mom floored, on her knees begging lord oh lord / take away this pain from me / i saw my mom floored, on her knees begging lord oh lord / can you help me please.'"

(Chris Otepka from Troubled Hubble, Email to Klaus Podoll, October 11, 2004) [more]

Jeff Tweedy

"If the album has a unifying theme, it's the casual descent of beauty into chaos; a number of songs start quietly and end in complete disorder-a form of musical entropy-perhaps inspired by Tweedy's lifelong battle with unpredictable migraine headaches."

(Akiva Gottlieb, Wilco - A Ghost Is Born, Stylus Magazine, June 21, 2004)

Various Artists, Migraine for my electro head, 2005. © 2005 Wanda Records (see here)

Visual Aura

"Visual Aura includes lead vocalist Erik Hustad, guitarists Zach Stivrins and Ryan Gartner, drummer Brunken Justin and Jerod Also on bass... Visual Aura is a medical term for colorful, flashing zigzag patterns that blind areas of one’s field of vision. Symptoms usually last less than 60 minutes. Gartner suffers from classic migraines, which can cause visual aura. Stivrins and Gartner describe Visual Aura’s music as 'energetic.' They said fans describe them as somewhere between Pink Floyd and thrash metal."

(Bri Hodge, Heavy Frequency Magazine - Visual Aura, 2006)

Paddy Walsh

"Hi Edith, nice site, I came to it by looking up Scintillating Scotomas. I've been having them since I was 12. Anyhow, just wanted to let you know that from my research, they are very predominant in people with artistic tendencies. I was the front man for Montreal' ska band the Kingpins for 5 years and have been singing/writing for most of my life. I also had an episode during a show in front of 1000 people. Very freaky experience. The only other person I know who has them is a friend of mine who happens to have been a painter/artist all his life. Maybe we creative types are just hard wired that way. Look at it as a badge of honor. CHEERS! Paddy, Montreal Canada."

(Paddy Walsh, Edith Frost's Homepage, August 1, 2005)

References

Debussy C. Correspondance. Hermann, Paris 1993, p. 136 (lettre du 23 juillet 1898, à Georges Hartmann).
Haan J, Ferrari MD. Mahler's migraine. Cephalalgia 2000; 20: 254.

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