History Main / MindControlMusic

* The plot of ''Anime/GenocidalOrgan'' involves the hunt for a linguistics expert who's discovered a [[LanguageEqualsThought language of genocide]] and is using it as a HatePlague. It's implied at one point that this can be spread via music, and the protagonist has to kill a fellow soldier when he's affected.

* In ''Literature/TheMermaidSummer'', the mermaid's song can control anyone into doing anything. She punishes Eric for his scepticism by [[ScepticismFailure forcing him to crash his fishing boat, almost drowning him and his crew]]. Later, when Anna won't give the mermaid her comb, she forces Anna to walk to the shore and almost drown herself as a threat. [[spoiler:In the end, she uses her voice to make Eric come home to his family.]]

* One Bronze Age ComicBook/{{Superman}} story pits him against a mad scientist using a machine to use music to mind control kids at a rock concert.
* Likewise, ComicBook/SpiderMan infamously once fought the disco-themed Hypno-Hustler, often held up as one of the goofiest villains ever.
* In "[[http://glenweldon.tumblr.com/post/53601829035/clark-kent-goes-to-woodstock-part-the-first The Pied Piper of Steel]]" (''Action'' 398, March 1971), Clark's first television assignment is to cover a Woodstock-like rock concert, where he observes that "the kids" mindlessly obey whatever the lyrics say. The "hypnotic power of rock" was an actual concern of MoralGuardians at the time. In the story, it turns out to be a MadScientist with a Fiendish Machine.
* In ''ComicBook/BillyBatsonAndTheMagicOfShazam,'' a villain named Axe has a guitar that can hypnotize people. He gets a whole crowd of adults and [[{{Sidekick}} Mary]] under his spell, forcing [[KidHero Billy]], who temporarily has to avoid [[HenshinHero turning into]] [[SuperPoweredAlterEgo Captain Marvel]], to figure out how to stop him alone.

* ''Film/BlackPantherWakandaForever'':[[spoiler:The Talocans utilize "sonic hypnosis", vocalizing in such a way to place humans in their control and forcing them to commit suicide by jumping into the sea.]]

** One (lost) episode of the First Doctor serial "The Celestial Toymaker" has Dodo and Steven come to a dance floor, with the supposed prize of the TARDIS and possible escape waiting on the other side of the room. But as soon as they come into contact with the dance floor, music starts to play and they find their feet magically compelled to dance. Steven and Dodo must find a way to overcome the magic power of the music long enough to make it to the other side of the floor and their chance at escape.
** [[PresidentEvil Harold Saxon]][=/=]TheMaster uses a downplayed example in "The Sound of Drums". He uses a worldwide network of satellites to project the four-tick drumbeat he hears onto the population, with their subconscious absorbing the rhythm and the messages that come with it, telling them to "Vote Saxon", and "Believe in Me". The Doctor explains that anything more powerful would be questioned, but something so subtle would go unnoticed by most.
* An episode of ''Series/GetSmart'' had Max and 99 fighting "The Groovy Guru" (played by [[Series/FTroop Larry Storch]]), who was producing music with subliminal messages aimed to get kids to overthrow the government and authorities. While the kids were supposed to be affected by subliminal mind control signals, the lyrics weren't too subtle, either.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In season 7, the First Evil brainwashes [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire reformed vampire]] Spike into killing humans again; the trigger is the folk song "Early One Morning."
* One episode of ''Series/WonderWoman'' featured a flute-playing rock star who could control his female fans with his music.
* Similarly, the villain Glitter Rock uses mind-control music in one episode of ''Series/ElectraWomanAndDynaGirl''.

* ''Series/AdamAdamantLives'': The villains in "Sing a Song of Danger" plan to use a subliminal message embedded in records to cause fans to rob banks and deliver the money to them through fan clubs. They use another album to try to compel Adam to murder Georgina.
* A story arc on ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' involves the BigBad using music to brainwash children into becoming ChildSoldiers. [[spoiler:And one of them shoots Gibbs.]]
* ''Series/WarOfTheWorlds1988'': This is the EvilPlan in "Choir of Angels", though only one person is the specific target -- a scientist working on the serum that will make the Martians immune to Earth's bacteria. Harrison inadvertently listens to the music and becomes affected, [[FantasticDrug leading to a painful withdrawal.]]
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' has a downplayed example with Emma, a deaf woman whose main power of "enhanced synesthesia" allows her to see sound waves as bright, flowing colors. A secondary power, though, gives her the ability to naturally draw others to her while she plays her cello. It's not exactly mind control, in that people aren't being robbed of their free will--they simply gather around to listen. Regardless, it's still [[LethalHarmlessPowers incredibly dangerous]] when combined with the villainous Samuel Sullivan's [[DishingOutDirt terrakinesis]]--he grows stronger as more individuals with enhanced abilities gather around him, so his EvilPlan in Season Five is to use Emma's "siren song" to bring thousands of people to the carnival he runs, which would supercharge his power to unstoppable levels.
* A first-season episode of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' features Gnasty Gnome, whose evil accordion playing hypnotizes anyone who hears it. He uses it to ensnare some teenage girls at the Rec Center and lure them into a cave as his prisoners. Thankfully, a Deaf girl named Melissa is immune to the spell because she [[DisabilityImmunity can't hear the music]] and serves as a HeroicBystander by running to get help, allowing the Rangers to save the day.
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in "Music of the Spheres," an episode of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995.'' Teenagers hear a radio transmission from outer space as "perfect music" that puts them into a blissful trance, unable to stop listening. When the music starts changing their physiology, adults think it's an alien attack--but the ending reveals that the transformation was designed to protect Earthlings during an upcoming solar flare. The pleasurable sound was simply a way to keep the listeners happily engaged.

* How the tikis mind control the animals in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns''. The Kongs are unaffected.

* There is a Swedish folktale about the village of Hårga where [[TheDevil]] is disguised as a musician appears and plays a song on his fiddle that is so captivating that everyone just keeps on dancing to its tune. The dancing crowd is then led out by the fiddler to the top of Mount Hårga where they keep on dancing until everyone drops dead and the peak of the mountain is flattened.

* There is a Swedish folktale about the village of Hårga where the [[{{Satan}} Devil]] is disguised as a musician appears and plays a song on his fiddle that is so captivating that everyone just keeps on dancing to its tune. The dancing crowd is then led out by the fiddler to the top of Mount Hårga where they keep on dancing until everyone drops dead and the peak of the mountain is flattened.

* ''TabletopGame/TheUnofficialHollowKnightRPG'': The Enthrall spell typically works through [[HypnoticEyes eye contact]], but spending a point of Essence allows the spell to be cast through song instead. This allows the spell to affect creatures who use senses other than vision, increases the spell's range, and (if the caster is actually good at singing) makes the effect harder to resist.

* ''TabletopGame/TheUnofficialHollowKnightRPG'': The Enthrall spell typically works through [[HypnoticEyes eye contact]], but spending a point of Essence allows the spell to be cast through song instead. This allows the spell to affect creatures who use senses other than vision such as scent or tremorsense, increases the spell's range, and (if the caster is actually good at singing) makes the effect harder to resist.

* ''TabletopGame/TheUnofficialHollowKnightRPG'': The Enthrall spell typically works through [[HypnoticEyes eye contact]], but spending a point of Essence allows the spell to be cast through song instead. This allows the spell to affect creatures who use senses other than vision such as scent or tremorsense, increases the spell's range and, if the caster is actually good at singing, makes the effect harder to resist.

** The singing and music of bards can charm (control) other creatures.

* In ''Film/{{Zoolander}}'', the MusicalTrigger for Derick's brainwashing to kick in and have him assassinate the Prime Minister of Malaysia was a remix of the song "Relax" by Music/FrankieGoesToHollywood (the justification being that the villain was ThePeteBest of the group), which they also played while brainwashing him.
* In the Japanese horror film ''Film/SuicideCircle'', it's implied a popular music group may be subliminally responsible for all the suicides.
* In ''Film/HocusPocus'' the witches keep the adults from stopping them using the song "I Put A Spell On You". The youngest later uses her own siren-like singing to lure children to the witches' house.
* The movie ''Film/JosieAndThePussycats'' features a plot to build subliminal messages into the music of manufactured pop bands.

* The song "Gloomy Sunday" is used as a suicide trigger in the film ''Film/TheKovakBox''.
* [[MindControlDevice The Genie]] in ''Film/PrettyCoolToo'' works by emitting a special noise that forces anyone who hears it to obey any command they hear, but it can also contain commands in itself.

* In ''Film/DangerDiva'', Devi is able to both energize and soothe the masses with her voice, letting them power the corporate machines with brainwaves.

* ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' plays with this. Calamari Inkantation isn't explicitly regarded as mind control or hypnosis, with characters just noting that the melody has mysterious properties. Nevertheless, its ability to move the heart of the listener and make them respective to new ways of thinking means it effectively serves as a counter to the lifetime of military propaganda that Octolings are victim to by their government, leading to many of them leaving the underground domes in favor of the surface after the events of the first two games.

This is the [[OurSirensAreDifferent Sirens']] preferred hunting method, and indeed pops up a lot in mythology. The EvilDiva also has a good chance of utilizing her music to enslave her fans. A SnakeCharmer often uses this kind of music as well. May involve SubliminalSeduction. Subtrope of MagicMusic. Inverted by TheMusicMeister who uses MindControl to make music (although the TropeNamer did both). Compare InvoluntaryDance.

** ''Anime/MacrossPlus'' has [[AIIsACrapShoot Virtual Idol]] Sharon Apple paralyze an entire world with her hit single, 'Information High'. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMczRJh_OeI Listening to it]], you can kinda' feel how it might work. It's strangely hypnotic, especially when combined with her lightshow.

* In one story of ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'', the titular hero is rummaging through the various old treasures found within the skull cave and comes across a small flute. Out of plain curiosity he starts playing it only for him to after a while hear people shouting behind him causing him to turn around and realize that all of the children from a nearby outdoors school are following him. Some quick research later he finds that the flute is the very same as the one that belonged to ''Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin''. The rest of the story then shifts to the past telling the story of how the flute came into the family's possession and all the mind controlling chaos the flute caused.

** One (lost) episode of First Doctor serial "The Celestial Toymaker", has Dodo and Steven come to a dance floor, with the supposed prize of the TARDIS and possible escape waiting on the other side of the room. But as soon as they come into contact with the dance floor, music starts to play and they find their feet magically compelled to dance. Steven and Dodo must find a way to overcome the magic power of the music long enough to make it to the other side of the floor and their chance at escape.

** The song in "Go Kindergarten" convinces the audience to do all sorts of weird things, including things which shouldn't even be possible, like making their butts drink helium and speak in a high-pitched voice.

* There is a Swedish folktale about the village of Hårga where the [[{{Satan}} Devil]] is disguised as a musician appears and plays a song on his fiddle that is so captivating that everyone just keeps on dancing to its tune. The dancing crowd is then lead out by the fiddler to the top of Mount Hårga where they keep on dancing until everyone drops dead and the peak of the mountain is flattened.

* ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'': Some productions play Death's attempt at coaxing Sisi to kiss him in "Elisabeth, mach auf" as this. Both characters lean in close for a kiss, then Sisi breaks the spell at the very last moment and snap at Death to GetOut because she's still too young to die. The Toho production goes a step further and give Death this ability outright; at multiple scenes Sisi and Rudolf resist the CompellingVoice, with varying levels of success.

* The BigBad of the ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' series is DJ Octavio, the leader of the Octarians who is also [[FreakyElectronicMusic a DJ]]. He uses his electronic music to brainwash and control the Octarians that serve under him.
** The same series also features [[spoiler: an ''inversion'']] in the EarWorm known as [[spoiler:Calamari Inkantation, which is the signature song of the [[IdolSinger Squid Sisters]]. It's somehow able to override the brainwashing effects of Octavio's music: even top-ranking Octarian engineer Marina Ida performed a HeelFaceTurn after hearing it]], as shown in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'''s Sunken Scrolls and the Octo Expansion's chat logs.

* One episode of the first season of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' features a villain named MC Pee Pants who releases a rap song called "I Want Candy" that causes anyone who hears it to crave sweets non-stop. It turns out that this is a ploy to raise people's blood sugar to insanely high levels, allowing MC Pee Pants to use it to power a drill and release demons from Hell, who would in turn run a global diet pill pyramid scheme. And all of this is ''expressly spelled out in the lyrics.''

* The plot of ''Project Itoh: Genocidal Organ'' involves the hunt for a linguistics expert who's discovered a [[LanguageEqualsThought language of genocide]] and is using it as a HatePlague. It's implied at one point that this can be spread via music, and the protagonist has to kill a fellow soldier when he's affected.

** The villainous Fiddler is a master hypnotist who can focus his abilities through his violin. His successors are Virtuoso of the ''Comicbook/SuicideSquad'' and ''Comicbook/{{Hawkman}}'' enemy Thrasher (who uses an electric guitar).

* One Bronze Age [[Comicbook/{{Superman}} Superman]] story pits him against a mad scientist using a machine to use music to mind control kids at a rock concert.
* Likewise, Comicbook/SpiderMan infamously once fought the disco-themed Hypno-Hustler, often held up as one of the goofiest villains ever.

* In ''Comicbook/BillyBatsonAndTheMagicOfShazam,'' a villain named Axe has a guitar that can hypnotize people. He gets a whole crowd of adults and [[{{Sidekick}} Mary]] under his spell, forcing [[KidHero Billy]], who temporarily has to avoid [[HenshinHero turning into]] [[SuperPoweredAlterEgo Captain Marvel]], to figure out how to stop him alone.

* Series/DoctorWho

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* Used by Dr. Wily in ''WesternAnimation/MegaMan''.

* The ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Bravestarr}} Bravestarr]]'' episode that served as a PoorlyDisguisedPilot for the never-produced ''Sherlock Holmes In the 23rd Century'' [[note]]Not to be confused with Creator/DIC's ''WesternAnimation/SherlockHolmesInTheTwentySecondCentury''[[/note]] involved Moriarty using a kidnapped alien child with hypnotic singing powers to try to take over the world with a rock concert.

This is the [[OurSirensAreDifferent Sirens']] preferred hunting method, and indeed pops up a lot in mythology. The EvilDiva also has a good chance of utilizing her music to enslave her fans. A SnakeCharmer often uses this kind of music as well. May involve SubliminalSeduction. Subtrope of MagicMusic. Inverted by TheMusicMeister who uses MindControl to make music (although the TropeNamer did both).

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In season 7, the First Evil brainwashes [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire reformed vampire]] Spike into killing humans again; the trigger is the folksong "Early One Morning."

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}}'' episode "Whalesong", Doc Terror hires frustrated composer Madame Arpeggio to create a phony whalesong that hypnotizes the peaceful creatures and commands them to destroy all humans.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Centurions}]'' episode "Whalesong", Doc Terror hires frustrated composer Madame Arpeggio to create a phony whalesong that hypnotizes the peaceful creatures and commands them to destroy all humans.

* There was a ''WesternAnimation/ChipNDaleRescueRangers'' episode in which the villainess controlled a swarm of bees via ([[StylisticSuck awful]]) rock music.