History Main / MusicSoothesTheSavageBeast

* In ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'', the only way to pacify the Puppet is by winding up a music box that plays the refrain from "Grandfather's Clock".
** The Puppet and the music box both make a return in ''VideoGame/UltimateCustomNight'', operating in much the same way as in Five Nights at Freddy's 2. There's also [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys Chica]], who doesn't care if the box is wound or not, but will grow bored with the selected music and hunt you down if you don't change it in time - or if [[BerserkButton you change it when she isn't bored]] - and [[VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator Lefty]], who's drawn to your office by noise and heat, but can be returned to a neutral state by a new mechanic called Global Music Box [[ResourcesManagementGameplay at the expense of more power being drained]].

Original quote this title originates from is, "Music has Charms to soothe a savage Breast." The phrase was coined by the Playwright/Poet William Congreve in ''The Mourning Bride'', 1697. [[note]] The quote is used contemporarily still, just cf. the intro of the album [[Music/TheOffspring "Smash".]] [[/note]]

-->By the way, the original line's "breast" doesn't mean [[GagBoobs those breasts]] but [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower the other breast]].

* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3193 Slick tries it on Cerebus.]]

* In ''The Last Days'', the band formed by the main characters has the ability to bring out the giant worms lurking under the surface of New York City, allowing them to be killed.

* In ''[[Film/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji II]]'', Hiromasa's flute playing helps stop the [[spoiler:possessed Susa]] in his tracks on more than one occasion.

* In ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'', the only way to pacify the Marionette is by winding up a music box that plays the refrain from "Grandfather's Clock".
** The Marionette and the music box both make a return in ''VideoGame/UltimateCustomNight'', operating in much the same way as in Five Nights at Freddy's 2. There's also [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys Chica]], who doesn't care if the box is wound or not, but will grow bored with the selected music and hunt you down if you don't change it in time - or if [[BerserkButton you change it when she isn't bored]] - and [[VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator Lefty]], who's drawn to your office by noise and heat, but can be returned to a neutral state by a new mechanic called Global Music Box [[ResourcesManagementGameplay at the expense of more power being drained.]]

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E2TheCurseOfPeladon The Curse of Peladon]]", The Doctor sings a Venusian lullaby to soothe the monster terrorizing the kingdom.

** Taken to the extreme in ''Series/UltramanMax'' when DASH accidentally unleashes a monster called IF whose ResurrectiveImmortality and PowerCopying-based AdaptiveAbility makes it completely undefeatable. The thing that ultimately stops it though? [[spoiler:A little girl playing her piccolo, transforming the creature into from an engine of destruction a living orchestra.]] It's one of the most beautiful moments in the franchise's history.

See also MagicMusic, MindControlMusic and ThePowerOfRock. Compare MonstersFavoritePettingSpot which uses petting instead of music.

* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': In order to make sure that Vermithor (the second biggest living dragon of Westeros) can be claimed by someone from the Black faction, Daemon Targaryen goes into the caves of the beast and approaches it singing a song in High Valyrian.

* While not to the degree it does in fiction, this ''is'' true in real life. Cows and bulls are drawn to soothing music and it makes them much calmer and less aggressive, and the cows even produce more milk. So much so that an entire sub-genre exists on Youtube of musicians playing music for these animals.

* According to Stephanie Grisham's book ''I'll Take Your Questions Now'', one of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump's aides, nicknamed his "Music Man", would play his favorite show tunes (including "Memory" from ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'') for him when he was on the brink of a meltdown.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', a pair of angry badgermoles turn out to be tamable with the sound of a guitar, discovered when Sokka accidentally steps on it.
* On ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' with Paul Reubens vs. George Michael, a hungry tiger is unleshed and Paul Reubens talks George Michael into invoking this trope. It works and the tiger falls asleep ... that is until Paul Reubens utters the secret word of the day, [[Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse and you can guess what happens next.]]
* The plot of the Creator/TexAvery-directed ''WesternAnimation/ChillyWilly'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfRockabyePoint" concerns a polar bear trying to get fish from a fishing boat, getting the AngryGuardDog off his back by putting him to sleep with a lullaby, while Chilly sabotages him at every turn.

* In the episode "Song of Celice" of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', the eponymous song is the only thing that keeps a monstrous creature asleep in the caverns deep beneath a city. Since her song unfortunately can soothe/hypnotize anything, it causes her to become the target of Skeletor and Evil-Lyn, who use her to enchant the Sorceress. As a result, the B plot of the episode revolves around He-Man finding a way to deal with the beast when he no longer has any means to soothe it.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Bumi calms a dark spirit by playing the flute. However, it doesn't work with all dark spirits.

** The ''Series/UltramanAce'' choju can be pacified by the music from a piccolo-like alien instrument, played by a good Alien Orion lady who decided to ally with the humans. This unfortunately doesn't last as the good alien is quickly killed by her superior over her HeelFaceTurn.

** Merry, the Queen of Years, has to sing to keep [[EldritchAbomination the old god]] "Grandfather" peaceful in "{[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E7TheRingsOfAkhaten The Rings of Akhaten]]".

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': the move Sing makes the target fall asleep if it is accurate. The Pokémon Lullaby from the Poké Gear works by decreasing the chance of RandomEncounters.
** Inverted with the Poke Flute and Blue Flute, which awaken sleeping Pokemon.

* ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'': Piccolo can be used to put the Underchomp to sleep, making the boss battle incredibly easy.
** This concept may have originated in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', where the music box power-up puts Hammer Bros., piranha plants and other wandering mini bosses on the map to sleep.
* In ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'', the flute you obtain from the Palace on the Sea is required to get past the River Devil in Eastern Hyrule.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'', the music box can be used during the Father Gascoigne boss fight to temporarily subdue him.

* "Music tames the savage beast..." is written on the back of the cover of ''Videogame/GitarooMan''.
* In ''Videogame/JablessAdventure'', the dreaded [[UndergroundMonkey SCUBA]] {{bear|sAreBadNews}} is said to be invincible and chases after Jables. However, after evading the bear and receiving a strawberry from the lady in the house, Jables is suddenly inspired to sing the ''WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake'' theme song. This song calms the bear, which makes it safe to swim back past him.
* Romeo's Ballad from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'' inflicts Stop on enemies.
* This plays a key role in breaking the "spiral of death" in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. This particular incarnation of Sin will briefly become calm when it hears the Hymn of the Fayth [[spoiler:since its own Fayth Jecht always loved that song.]] In the final push to defeat Sin, [[spoiler:people from all across Spira sing the Hymn, distracting Sin long enough for the party and their airship to attack.]]
* In ''VideoGame/ArTonelicoMelodyOfElemia'', EXEC_HARMONIOUS/. is capable of calming those who hear it and making them happy; EXEC_HARMONIOUS_FUSION/. is a variation with similar effects. Both songs are used against bosses for whom such a soothing effect would be beneficial.
* In ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'', the only way to pacify the Marionette is by winding up a music box that plays the refrain from "Grandfather's Clock".

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', bards can use their songs of power to calm down beasts. The young bard Arcturius uses his songs several times to to this effect such as when he pacifies the panicking kitsune [[MysteriousWaif Haruko]].

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

** In the sequel series, ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Bumi calms a dark spirit by playing the flute. However, it doesn't work with all dark spirits.

*** This carries over to an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TazMania''.

* The plot of the Creator/TexAvery-directed ''WesternAnimation/ChillyWilly'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfRockabyePoint" concerns a polar bear trying to get fish from a fishing boat, getting the AngryGuardDog off his back by putting him to sleep with a lullaby, while Chilly sabotages him at every turn.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon "Down Beat Bear", the titular bear ends up at Tom's house and Tom tries to call the authorities, but every time the bear hears music he starts to dance with Tom. It's also played with; they make it clear from the beginning that the bear is a trained circus bear and completely harmless.

* Francis X. Bushlad discovers he has this ability in the ''WesternAnimation/TazMania'' episode "The Pied Piper of Taz-Mania".
* On ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' with Paul Reubens vs. George Michael, a hungry tiger is unleshed and Paul Reubens talks George Michael into invoking this trope. It works and the tiger falls asleep ... that is until Paul Reubens utters the secret word of the day, [[Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse and you can guess what happens next.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' has an episode where the two deal with a vicious jackal--that turns into a friendly, refined animal when Cow sings. It's only temporary, as Chicken discovers when Cow steps out, but luckily, [[HollywoodToneDeaf his attempt at singing scares the jackal away]].

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'', the Smurflings meet a monster that calls itself "Beastie" who loves their music and follows them everywhere as they play it. Eventually, however, Grandpa Smurf does some research and finds out that Beastie is the ''literal'' Savage Beast that inspired the phrase, meaning the Smurflings don't know until it's almost too late that ''without'' the music, it will fly into uncontrollable rage.
* In the episode "Song of Celice" of ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'', the eponymous song is the only thing that keeps a monstrous creature asleep in the caverns deep beneath a city. Since her song unfortunately can soothe/hypnotize anything, it causes her to become the target of Skeletor and Evil-Lyn, who use her to enchant the Sorceress. As a result, the B plot of the episode revolves around He-Man finding a way to deal with the beast when he no longer has any means to soothe it.
* ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends'': In ''Big World! Big Adventures!'', when Thomas is cornered by a vicious-looking elephant when taking a long line of trucks to Dar es Salaam, the trucks sing a Swahili lullaby to get the elephant off the track and fall asleep.
* In ''[[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Noah's Ark (1959)]]'', the animals start fighting each other after being cramped inside the Ark for too long. Naamah calls out this trope by name, inspiring Noah and his sons to form a band to play music. Soon the animals stop their fighting and start dancing.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Jellyfish Jam", the jellyfish calm down thanks to the funky beat of Gary's eyes clacking. Inverted by Squidward's clarinet-playing, which just drives them berserk.

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* ''Manga/ViolinistOfHameln'': Since it's a series with MagicMusic, music can tame the savage beast and then some.
* In ''Manga/TodaysCerberus'', Cerberus falls asleep when she hears good music, just like in the original Orpheus myth.

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Inverted in a ''[[ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse Donald Duck Comic]]'', "ComicBook/TheCallOfCRusso", where Donald encounters an EldritchAbomination-type monster which dreams about the world so long as it remains dormant. Because its tastes are so alien, a beautiful singing voice will actually annoy it to the point of waking up and cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, but it finds a truly awful singing voice soothing and sleep-inducing.

[[folder: Fan Works ]]

* Hobbes stops the Clawracks in ''Fanfic/RetroChill'' by singing "The Best Song Ever" (an actual song by Chris Rice).

* In ''Fanfic/TheBridge'', the Sirens normally trigger a HatePlague with their singing. However, when Aria Blaze was being attacked by Kaizer Ghidorah, she subconsciously managed to sing a song that calmed him down. Even she has no idea how she did that. [[spoiler:It is revealed that she sung a song her mother Hymnia used as a lullaby, which draws on ThePowerOfLove.]]
* ''[[Fanfic/TheHeartTrilogy Heart of Ashes]]'': When Smaug's body first tries to turn itself back from [[HumanityEnsues human]] to dragon, he's locked in a [[PainfulTransformation painful]] [[BodyHorror half-state]] and driven animalistic. His LoveInterest Kathryn manages to calm him enough by using her melodic singing voice he has always loved and then magically help his body to fully complete the transformation through [[PsychicLink their bond]].

[[folder: Films -- Animated ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Moana}}'': At the climax, Moana manages to [[spoiler:return Te Fiti's stolen heart to her and transform her back from the terrible lava monster she's become. This process involves Moana singing directly to the goddess about who she truly is.]]

[[folder: Films -- Live-Action ]]

* The Monster in ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'' can be attracted to and lulled by music.
* In ''Film/BringingUpBaby'', the tame leopard Baby can be subdued by singing "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby"

* ''Film/TheStoryOfTheWeepingCamel'': A camel mare refuses to nurse her newborn colt, which is a big problem for her Mongolian nomadic shepherd owners, as the colt will starve to death, and camels are an expensive asset. After bottle-feeding the colt fails, the family decides they have to perform a "hoos" ceremony. They bring a musician, who plays music on his ''morin khuur'', a stringed instrument resembling a fiddle. One of the women sings to the mare. It works, as afterwards the mare stands still and lets the colt nurse.
* Inverted in ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' short "Idle Roomers", which features a WolfMan who is relatively tame until he hears music. The stooges, mistakenly believing in this trope, decide to play music when confronted by him, activating the Wolf Man's BerserkButton.

* ''Film/DanceOfTheDead'' (2008): The zombies are entranced once the band starts playing music, making it easier for the group to escape.
* The killer in ''Film/TheHillsRunRed'' is shown to be momentarily calmed when the nursery rhyme "Hush, Little Baby" is sang to him. When another character attempts to repeat the process later, she realizes that she doesn't know the lyrics. [[spoiler:The killer then mocks her for it, indicating that it wouldn't have worked for her in the first place]].
* ''Film/UltramanCosmosTheFirstContact'': When Psycho Baltan, being driven into retaliating, attacks Earth at the end of the film, the SRC managed to pacify the alien by playing soothing, gentle music through loudspeakers mounted on their airplanes, together with the citizens of Tokyo singing a lullaby together. That actually works, and Baltan stops its rampage, slowly dropping off to sleep... but then the resident [[TheMillstone millstone]] Commander Shigemura orders a drone attack on the sleeping alien.
* ''Film/WhiteGod'': Lili calms down the rampaging pound dogs led by her former dog Hagen by playing ''Tannhauser'' on her trumpet. Hagen had previously heard her practice the song while living with her.
* In ''Film/TheOutlawsIsComing'', Curly Joe has a hunting horn that can attract any animal to him if he plays the right tune. Of course, he can never remember which tune attracts which animal, and so has to resort to trial and error every time he uses it: resulting in such errors as summoning a flock of chickens and a pack of dogs into the magazine office while attempting to lure a skunk out of its cage.

* In ''Film/ArmyOfFrankensteins'', Ginny is trapped is a balloon with an enraged FrankensteinMonster bearing down on her. Thinking she is about to die, she starts singing a hymn and this calms the monster down.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In [[Creator/JRRTolkien J.R.R. Tolkien's]] ''[[Literature/TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth The Lay of Leithian]]'', when Beren and Lúthien [[VoluntaryShapeshifting shapeshift]] into Morgoth's lair, Lúthien sings a song so beautiful that Morgoth and his entire court fall into a deep sleep. Morgoth is so deeply asleep that Beren is able to carve out a coveted Silmaril from Morgoth's massive crown.

* In ''[[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire A Clash of Kings]]'', [[KnightInSourArmor Sandor Clegane]] a.k.a. The Hound hides in [[PrincessClassic Sansa Stark]]'s room, drunk and badly wounded mentally and physically. When she comes in, he holds a knife to her throat and threatens to kill her unless she sings. She sings such a sweet song of mercy and peace that he cries. Apparently her song lulls the beast inside him to sleep and touches something human in him, possibly preventing him from raping and/or killing her.

* ''Flood'' by Creator/AndrewVachss. [[PrivateDetective Burke]] and [[ActionGirl Flood]] go to meet a snuff-film producer called Goldor with the intention of getting information from him. Things go wrong and Flood kills Goldor. After Burke has finished destroying the evidence and creating an alibi, he enters the AbandonedWarehouse where he's staying to find Flood doing a martial arts kata, recreating the kicks that killed Goldor again and again. In order to end her HeroicBSOD, Burke plays "Angel Baby" by Rosie and the Originals on his car's cassette player and invites Flood to dance.
* Here and there in ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}'' characters can get dinosaurs they've met to relax and like them better by psychically projecting music.
* Inuit throat-singing calms the monster in ''Literature/TheTerror'', but as the spirit-governors who communicate with the creature have their tongues removed, the monster has to literally breathe down their throat. NervesOfSteel is a job requirement.

** In "The Lazarus Experiment", the Doctor plays a modified organ to defeat the MonsterOfTheWeek.
** In "A Christmas Carol", [[Music/KatherineJenkins Abigail's]] singing calms both the storm and the flying sharks inside it, letting the spaceship land safely. The Doctor tries to provide a {{Technobabble}} explanation for it, but young Kazran insists the fish just like it. Given that fish keep biting the Doctor for talking (and as such, making it harder to hear Abigail), Kazran is probably right.
** In "The Curse of Peladon," The Doctor sings a Venusian lullaby to soothe the monster terrorizing the kingdom.
** Merry, the Queen of Years, has to sing to keep [[EldritchAbomination the old god]] [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E7TheRingsOfAkhaten "Grandfather"]] peaceful.

* ''Series/{{Pixelface}}'': In "Bored to Undeath", the gang are able to tame the zombies that escape from Claireparker's game by using Kiki's dance training program and a personal stereo playing Michael Jackson's "Thriller".

* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': In one episode, a North Korean soldier was wheeled into the O.R. only to reveal he had a live grenade under his arm. Hawkeye and the rest of the staff ended up singing "Hush Little Baby" to calm him down long enough for someone to find the grenade pin. Lampshaded at one point:
-->'''Hawkeye''': What do you want me to do, sing to him?\\
'''B.J.''': Music hath charms, Hawk.
* ''Series/TheGoodies'': In "The New Office", the Goodies are attacked by dinosaur-like construction equipment. They are eventually cornered at the door to their office by a looming throng of lethal construction equipment. However Bill has a bright idea just in time and he quickly ducks inside the office and re-emerges with a saxophone, trumpet and drum. Working on the 'music soothes the savage beast' theory, the Goodies play a jazzy conga rhythm, which lures the machines to initially follow them in a conga line and then to continue over the edge of a cliff to crash heavily to their doom in a quarry below.
* ''Series/TheStoryteller'': In "Fearnot," the titular character is a fearless fool whose only skill is in playing the violin. This skill saves him from a terrible sea monster whose only goal in life is drowning people; enchanted by the music, the monster leaves his pond and goes in search of Ireland, where the song came from. Much to the joy of everyone who lived near the pond.

[[folder: Music]]

[[folder: Mythology and Religion ]]

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''Film/TheOutlawsIsComing'', Curly Joe has a hunting horn that can attract any animal to him if he plays the right. Of course, he can never remember which tune attracts which animal, and so has to resort to trial and error every time he uses it: resulting in such errors and summoning a flock of chickens and a pack of dogs into the magazine office while attempting to lure a skunk out of its cage.

** While they're hardly "savage" beasts, playing Epona's Song for the cows in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'' makes them outright say the music makes them feel happier and they want to produce extra milk, which Link can keep if he has a bottle to store it in. As the Real Life header points out, this is TruthInTelevision (well, minus the "talking cow" part).