Once again, I do not know if a post similar to this has been done before, because, once again, I had no clue what to search for. But here it is, in all of it's confused glory:

When I listen to music, I see things. Not just straightforward pictures or hallucinations, but...I picture things, just as when I read books. I imagine that others do such similar things when they listen to music. Thus, this thread is about what you see when listening to any specific song. I shall start:

When I listen to The Three Shadows pt. 2 by The Bauhaus I imagine a tall man resembling Dream walking down a deserted old western town, and finally stopping at a bar. He does not enter, he does not stand; nothing happens, and the music carries the image away.

Now, what do you see when you listen to any specific song? By that, I mean that this thread is not reserved for The Three Shadows pt. 2 imagery, but I suppose that would be welcome too. :p Or, do you see nothing at all, and rather feel things? I would love alternative viewpoints on the perception of music, I just happen to be a visual person, thus I wish for this thread to be mostly image-oriented.

So go! And listen to music! And then...come back!

Good thread idea there.

When listening to "Like tears in Rain" by Covenant, I can clearly visualise myself walking at night through the ruins of a (nuclear) bombed city. The only light comes from the full moon and the shining stars, in all their glory, and the streets are covered in a thick layer of soot, rubble and cremated human remains. Every building has been scorched black. I stand alone at a crossroads staring at the mountains upon the horizon, in anticipation of a dawn that never comes. An icy wind blows through the streets, the only sound to be heard in this place.

Pretty much every song I listen to is like that, either a full scene, like from a movie, being in a situation, or just random images.

Actually listening to the Trinity album by Yelworc, I get this constant image like a scene from the movie What Dreams May Come, the scene where he gets on this elevator through the many layers of hell, seeing multiple images of horrible things, people being tortered, mutilated, mutated, and doing horrible things to each other, demons chasing people down dark corridors, and wandering through hallways of echoing moans, screams, inhuman growls, sobbing, and hysterical laughter. reaching a doorway with a huge sigil surrounded by script, and on the other side lay deeper levels of Hell, and even more frightening visions.
That whole album is like a mix of What Dreams May Come and Hellraiser.

Blume, by Einstürzende Neubauten - overplayed, yes, but wonderful images spring to mind.

I see a dark-eyed girl, lying in the grass at the foot of a great, gnarled, leafless tree. As the rain falls down upon her, the sky soars past at ungodly speeds, like clouds on a windy day, only much faster; in tune with this, flowers grow and bloom rapidly around her, until the entire hill the tree crowns is covered in a carpet of dazzling colours... upon which point the girl rises and begins to slowly dance through the blooms, collapsing again at the foot of the tree as the song ends.

I react to different music in different ways. For me there are basically three types of music: songs that I associate with special times, places, or people; songs that I associate with certain activities I do on a (semi) regular basis, and songs that I associate with certain feelings or vague daydreamish thoughts.

Some songs conjure up precise images; everytime I hear these songs or groups, I can clearly visualize something. Rock Lobster by the B-52s reminds me of a trip my friends and I took to Key Largo in 11th grade, Depeche Mode reminds me of Harajuku, and Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants is one of my college roommate's song.

Then there's the soundtrack to my life. Certain songs don't really give me clear visual images, but they do remind me of certain activities, and those are the songs I listen to or sing while I work (or don't work). I have studying music (Mussorgsky), housework music (my parents old folk-rock albums), arguing music (Never Mind the Bollocks, the list goes on.

Most music just makes me feel a certain way ("annoyed" comes to mind). Music can bring me up or down without really causing me to think about anything in particular. I usually daydream to neutral music, every now and then I think of something good to a certain song and it becomes a memory song.

If its dancy ebm type stuff, I usually end up visualizing someone dancing to the music. though often its more of just a human shape, rather than a specific person. Just more of visualizing the dance moves (which I can't do myself, too much of a klutz), but for some songs, I'll visualize the video if I've seen it. Or even just odd lights and shape, such as made by some Winamp/XMMS type plugins.

Though, some songs do have specific images.

Covenant - We Want Revolution, though, I often visualize riots and such
For Call The Ships To Port, by the same band, its often images of a city, with the people on the docks calling for the ships.
VNV Nation - Honour, I imagine a nearly empty field, in the rain, with a military awards ceremony at one end, as after an apocalypse, with most of those attending wearing rags/fatigues.
Bella Morte - Angels And Faith leaves me with an image of a house in the woods, with it snowing outside, and a deathly pale woman/angel outside.
Bella Morte - First Light, while not giving me visuals, per se, brings more of emotions to me. Longing, love, trust, etc. The only visual it really brings to me is dala's face.
Some of the spacesynth songs i've been listening to, such as Dreamtime - Rise Of The Biodreads, reminds me of Mega Man X music, and thus, gives me visuals of Mega Man X games
Dust Rhinos - Jedi Drinking Test brings to mind images of Obi-wan drinking in a bar. same with Luke
Kamelot - The Spell brings to mind images of a wizard in a tower casting spells,
Project Pitchfork - Timekiller, brings to mind the books of Raymond E Feist, namely, the ones that take place on Kelewan. I was reading the series while heavily listening to the song, and it now is linked in my mind. Its also one that I sometimes visualize dance moves for.
Sixpence None The Richer - Kiss Me brings to mind images of daladus. plain and simple Same with Specimen - Hex, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Lovers. as does T.O.Y. - Dream With Me.
Cruxshadows - Insomnia, brings to mind images of a room, with the walls fading away, to visions of an apocalyptic night. dead trees around, odd glows far off, etc.
Random other songs bring other images, but I'm just too lazy to list other stuff.

Switchblade Symphony- Fear : Gives me the same visions everytime. Late night rides in a car and cool breezes, I also think of walking under the moonlight feeling very alive and calm.

Ataraxia - Preghiera: I think of Francesca Nicoli (lead singer) in a white gown standing on a high wall of a castle singing this song to a village below as the sun is setting.

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead : I think of the opening scene of 'The Hunger' and then scenes from 'Dracula' (starring Lugosi of course) as if edited perfectly with the music.

Camerata Mediolanense - La Verita Nascosta: I think of 'Dracula' ( Bram's Novel) I read the book whilst I listened to this song on repeat.

Camerata Mediolanense - La Madre Cattiva: This one gives me thoughts of 'The Monk' by Matthew Lewis.

Faith and the Muse - Mercyground: Thoughts of the Autumn season and walking through a forest, the ground is covered with fallen leaves in my visions with this song.

L'Ame Immortelle - In The Heart Of Europe: I always think of Sonja walking through streets in Europe passing by buildings that have been bombed and bodies lying around. The atmosphere is always foggy and very grey as well.

Love and Rockets - Holiday on the Moon: This song puts a smile on my face everytime. I picture Daniel Ash sitting and telling his fellow band mates he has an idea to vacation on the moon, then thanking the president for passage to the moon and as he is floating away in the rocket he tells the president that he couldn't really say that he wishes he was there but waves and says thank you all the same sir. Daniel singing as he floats towards the moon, with David J and Kevin sitting on the wings singing and playing their instruments. When they get to the moon I think of them jumping around doing flips while floating, then breaking for tea but the tea floats out of their cups as they look up and watch it float then the song ends.

If my thoughts are occupied when a song is playing, it will usually set the mood. I tend to think of many bands playing and singing their songs live on stage as well.

[- Soul -]

Hopefully not too OT - but from the opposite perspective as a songwriter I agree with centurion - almost every song I write has an associated imaginary movie running through my head. It's interesting to me how much of a combination of music and lyrics create the image in the listeners head and if one sometimes destroys the other. With my songs, both lyrics and music are moulded at the same time so hopefully they don't counteract each other too much - I just write what I see.

Indeed, I just thought of some more just now....

Ulver`s album Perdition City reminds me of the movie Dark City, especially the beginning track reminding me of waking up in a dark room in the middle of a futuristic city with no idea how you got there and the feeling of something invisible hunting you through these streets.....

Most of Haujobb`s discography reminds me of ultramodern Japan, or more like multiple dark city scenes from countless anime movies, riding the Tokyo subway at night and emerging on the streets seeing nothing but endless skyscrapers and city lights.

Two songs from Bauhaus, "Spy in the Cab" and "Hollow Hills" remind me of David Lynch movies. Especially Spy.... gives me the feeling of driving alone on an empty dark highway in the middle of the night. Most of Bauhaus` darker stuff makes me feel that way.

Fields of the Nephilim`s material, especially the songs on Elizium, remind me of Stephen King stories, such as The Stand or the Dark Tower series.

Most of Skinny Puppy`s songs make me feel like I`m in some H.R. Giger esque nightmare world with futuristic monsters of every description lurking around every corner and people being mutilated by machines.

Diva Destruction make me feel as if I`ve just entered a gothic dance club.

every Diary of Dreams song reminds me of a climax scene from a different movie.....

Listening to Marilyn My Bitterness by The Cruxshadows I picture a lonely man who broke up with a girl but still loves her and it torments him all the time.

The best 'imagery' album for me is 'Damnation and a Day' by Cradle of Filth. During the first few tracks I can really imagine Satan as a 100ft high demon, gathering his forces of the demonic, dashing across the burning wreck of Eden and smashing into the armies of God. It's the ultimate story of good Vs evil (except Star Wars) and it helps me summon into my mind everything I can think of that connects with good and evil.

I love layin in the dark with my headphones on, listening to it...

I see different things for songs depending on my mood or what I'm thinking about at the time, but only one song has completely consistent imagery with me: "Tonight" performed by Nina Gordon.

This song is on a mix CD I listen to while writing and working on the Draelynkhar novel, and though it isn't goth or really related to the subject matter in any way, it has become the unofficial theme song for the novel (it was just added as mood music). As such, whenever I hear it, scenes from the novel appear to me, much like a movie trailer (and always with the ending of the black screen with the just title "Draelynkhar").



Edited By scarlettdraelynkhar on 1117398138

Closer by NIN.

This may not be a very precise image, but I see green, yellow and red lines strobing on a black screen. This is intermitte by a zig-zaging green line, a bit like a heart rate monitor.

Ruiner(Version) by NIN.

I see a blonde woman/girl dressed in black walking through a nightclub (not a goth club or anything). She notices Death watching her and runs out the street. She runs through the streets. She's in London, but its got a distinctly Gotham city feel to it. the streets are cobbled.