Can anyone ID this?

[james_davis_nicoll]

Querier figures the sources was analog or a similar periodical.

"There was one story from that time period that I’ve read just once, but never forgotten and – naturally - I cannot remember the author or title. In the story, a researcher is doing computer analysis of the world’s most popular music to find common elements in the hopes of producing a perfect piece of music. The story ends with the researcher dying of malnutrition in rapture, unable to remove the headphones while listening to the end result - a perfect piece of music."

Comments

[redbird]

That sounds vaguely familiar; I don't think it was actually Ted Sturgeon, but I thought of his name.

[davidgoldfarb]

What's "that time period"? Could help.

[(Anonymous)]

You don't mean "The Ultimate Melody" by Clarke? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ultimate_Melody

[(Anonymous)]

A couple of the details are slightly different, but I'm guessing that the requester is looking for Arthur C. Clarke's "The Ultimate Melody" (one of the Tales from the White Hart).

[jbwoodford]

If it's the Clarke story the anonymous posters above have referenced, it ends with the revelation that gur fpvragvfg'f nffvfgnag, jub ragrerq gur ebbz juvyr gur gvghyne zhfvp jnf cynlvat, fheivirq hafpngurq orpnhfr ur jnf gbar-qrns.

(Yes, rot-13-ing a spoiler for a story from the middle of last century is overkill. Someone might not have read it.)

(Though if you haven't read any of the Tales from the White Hart, keep in mind that the Sexism Fairy has paid them an extended visit.)

V

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I think I remember that, but I don't remember it being Clarke (or anyone else). My initial guess was Sturgeon also.

[(Anonymous)]

There's also "Beyond the Whistle Test" by Greg Egan. The music doesn't paralyze you, it just causes an extremely distracting and persistent earworm. Including in pilots landing planes...

[(Anonymous)]

Which takes us to Gingerbread Left by Kuttner - the song that destroyed the Third Reich.

[(Anonymous)]

Which takes us to Gingerbread Left by Kuttner - the song that destroyed the Third Reich.

[ba_munronoe]

And nearly wipes out human civilization, in a little speculative followup by James himself. After all, if you can come up with a Gingerbread Left for Germans, no doubt you could come up with something for English, Russian, Chinese...

[chrysostom]

And Python's Funniest Joke In the World, which won World War II.

[davidgoldfarb]

In a similar vein was Fritz Leiber's "Rump-titty-titty-tum-TAH-tee", which was a hellishly infective rhythm designed by the Devil to infect the world. In the end he has to release an antidote rhythm because "...it was starting to catch on Down Here!"

[(Anonymous)]

The Tvtropes page on the subject https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarWorm

[ethelmay]

I'm also reminded of "God Is an Iron," by Spider Robinson.