History Main / SoundtrackDissonance

A subtrope of MoodDissonance. Compare IronicNurseryTune (where a character is singing their favorite lullaby or nursery song), CreepyChildrenSinging (if it involves young children singing nursery rhymes in the background) and LyricalDissonance (when the ''lyrics'' don't match with the music). Contrast IsntItIronic.

In film school this trope is called [[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/counterpoint Counterpoint]]. On the Internet, it has become a meme called [[http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/while-i-play-unfitting-music Unfitting Music]].

->"For there was light music. An orchestra of 'young and pretty girls all dressed in white blouses and navy-blue skirts'...had been formed from among the inmates. While the selections was being made for the gas chambers this unique ensemble played gay tunes from ''The Merry Widow'' and ''Tales of Hoffmann''. Nothing solemn and somber from Beethoven. The death-marches at Auschwitz were sprightly and merry tunes, straight out Viennese and Parisian operetta."

* SoundtrackDissonance/{{Film}}

!!Examples: Specific Songs

!!Examples: Media

!!Other Media examples

->''"For there was light music. An orchestra of 'young and pretty girls all dressed in white blouses and navy-blue skirts'...had been formed from among the inmates. While the selections was being made for the gas chambers this unique ensemble played gay tunes from ''The Merry Widow'' and ''Tales of Hoffmann''. Nothing solemn and somber from Beethoven. The death-marches at Auschwitz were sprightly and merry tunes, straight out Viennese and Parisian operetta."''

Of course, it can work both ways as well. Inappropriate music can be often played for laughs; a sombre, portentous and important-sounding piece of music played over something utterly trivial happening on screen can increase the laughter. A light and cheery pop song or sweet love ballad playing over an otherwise tense scene can be played for laughter, especially if the tension comes from something absurd that the characters are otherwise treating entirely seriously. In addition, peppy music can be also played over a scene featuring otherwise horrific events as a form of BlackComedy, often giving the impression that the work itself is uncaring and nonchalant towards the suffering of the characters present, and it can make the scene in question [[CrossesTheLineTwice hilarious in an especially horrible way]] if done right. But if you use "SoundtrackDissonance/YaketySax", be warned...

If a character is singing their favourite lullaby or nursery song, it's an IronicNurseryTune, if it involves young children singing nursery rhymes in the background it's CreepyChildrenSinging.

A common sister trope is using dramatic music to mundane events (MundaneMadeAwesome)

A subtrope of MoodDissonance. Compare LyricalDissonance, when the ''lyrics'' don't match with the music. Contrast IsntItIronic.

Of course, it can work both ways as well. Inappropriate music can be often played for laughs; a sombre, portentous and important-sounding piece of music played over something utterly trivial happening on screen can increase the laughter. Similarly, a light and cheery pop song or sweet love ballad playing over an otherwise tense scene can be played for laughter, especially if the tension comes from something absurd that the characters are otherwise treating entirely seriously; in addition, these can be also played over a scene with otherwise horrific events unfolding at the moment as a form of BlackComedy, as if the work itself is uncaring and nonchalant towards the suffering of the characters present. But if you use "SoundtrackDissonance/YaketySax", be warned...

Of course, it can work both ways as well. Inappropriate music can be often played for laughs; a sombre, portentous and important-sounding piece of music played over something utterly trivial happening on screen can increase the laughter. Similarly, a light and cheery pop song or sweet love ballad playing over an otherwise tense scene can be played for laughter, especially if the tension comes from something absurd that the characters are otherwise treating entirely seriously; in addition, these can be also played for BlackComedy, lending a nonchalant, almost [[ComedicSociopathy sociopathic]] tone to a scene with otherwise horrific events unfolding on-screen. But if you use "SoundtrackDissonance/YaketySax", be warned...

Of course, it can work both ways as well. Inappropriate music can be often played for laughs; a sombre, portentous and important-sounding piece of music played over something utterly trivial happening on screen can increase the laughter. Similarly, a light and cheery pop song or sweet love ballad playing over an otherwise tense scene can be played for laughter, especially if the tension comes from something absurd that the characters are otherwise treating entirely seriously; in addition, these can be also played for BlackComedy over an otherwise violent or horrific event, ensuring it CrossesTheLineTwice. But if you use "SoundtrackDissonance/YaketySax", be warned...

Of course, it can work both ways as well. Inappropriate music can be often played for laughs; a sombre, portentous and important-sounding piece of music played over something utterly trivial happening on screen can increase the laughter. Similarly, a light and cheery pop song or sweet love ballad playing over an otherwise tense scene can be played for laughter, especially if the tension comes from something absurd that the characters are otherwise treating entirely seriously, as well as BlackComedy if it plays over violent or horrific events with a helping of ComedicSociopathy. But if you use "SoundtrackDissonance/YaketySax", be warned...

Of course, it can work both ways as well. Inappropriate music can be often played for laughs; a sombre, portentous and important-sounding piece of music played over something utterly trivial happening on screen can increase the laughter. Similarly, a light and cheery pop song or sweet love ballad playing over an otherwise tense scene can be played for laughter, especially if the tension comes from something absurd that the characters are otherwise treating entirely seriously. But if you use "SoundtrackDissonance/YaketySax", be warned...

But wait. What if you overlay the horrific carnage with beautiful music? Then, you're not indulging your audience's bloodlust, you're making a deep philosophical point about the duality of human nature. What says, "Mankind is both glorious and murderous" better than a faceless mook getting shot in the head at close range while Schubert's [[Disney/{{Fantasia}} "Ave Maria"]] plays in the background?

The ''Ode To Joy'' choral in the fourth movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 is especially cursed to suffer from Soundtrack Dissonance due to its notorious use in [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Third Reich]] propaganda, hence modern usage is just as often due to this association (or to the most well-known work to use it for SoundtrackDissonance, ''Film/AClockworkOrange'') as it is its original intent.[[labelnote:More]]Probably much less so in Europe itself, since the tune (without lyrics) is as close to being [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthem_of_Europe European anthem]] as it could get.[[/labelnote]] To be absolutely clear, Friedrich von Schiller's original lyrics were about the equality of all humankind in the eyes of God: ''Joy, the bright spark of the gods/the daughter of Elysium ... All men now are brothers/beneath your gentle wing''. The tune also has lyrics written as the hymn "Joyful, joyful": ''Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee/God of Glory, Lord of Love''.

A subtrope of MoodDissonance. Compare LyricalDissonance, when the ''lyrics'' don't match with the music. Contrast IsntItIronic and SuspiciouslyAproposMusic.

* SoundtrackDissonance/{{Musical}}

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/PopTeamEpic https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/x3_1.jpg]]]]

A subtrope of MoodDissonance. Compare LyricalDissonance. Contrast IsntItIronic and SuspiciouslyAproposMusic.

A common sister trope is is using dramatic music to mundane events (MundaneMadeAwesome)

The entire process has been streamlined by the ability of some video game consoles to replace a game's soundtrack with anything the player cares to play. Try setting the most violent, obscene parts of ''GearsOfWar'' to [[StandardSnippet "Yakety Sax"]] sometime; your parents will search your mattress for drugs, but [[ComedicSociopathy you'll be enriched by the experience.]] Unless, you know, you actually have drugs stashed in your mattress. Speaking of video games, some video game developers have developed and implemented systems to try and avert this as much as possible; for more info see VariableMix.

The entire process has been streamlined by the ability of some video game consoles to replace a game's soundtrack with anything the player cares to play. Try setting the most violent, obscene parts of ''GearsOfWar'' to [[StandardSnippet "Yakety Sax"]] sometime; your parents will search your mattress for drugs, but [[ComedicSociopathy you'll be enriched by the experience.]] Unless, you know, you actually have drugs stashed in your mattress.

But wait. What if you overlay the horrific carnage with beautiful music? Then, you're not indulging your audience's bloodlust, you're making a deep philosophical point about the duality of human nature. What says, "Mankind is both glorious and murderous" better than a faceless mook getting shot in the head at close range while Schubert's [[StandardSnippet "Ave Maria"]] plays in the background?

->''For there was light music. An orchestra of "young and pretty girls all dressed in white blouses and navy-blue skirts"...had been formed from among the inmates. While the selections was being made for the gas chambers this unique ensemble played gay tunes from ''The Merry Widow'' and ''Tales of Hoffmann''. Nothing solemn and somber from Beethoven. The death-marches at Auschwitz were sprightly and merry tunes, straight out Viennese and Parisian operetta.''