Why Donkey Kong's Stickerbush Symphony Triggers Instant Nostalgia

What makes music FEEL nostalgic?

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[CharlesCornellStudios]

What are some songs that have made you feel nostalgia even though you've never heard it? I'm absolutely fascinated by this idea. Do you think it's inherent in the music or just triggering our own memories? Is it possible to feel nostalgia for something we have no experience with? Would that make it something fundamentally different from nostalgia? I HAVE TO KNOW PLEASE HELP.

[friedpicklezzz]

It’s not just nostalgia. It’s also melancholy. There’s also sadness of time that passed. That feeling is incredibly strong and to me music cuts right into that emotion.

[Peepimus]

That song’s truly the *_checkpoint_* of our times…!

[Scruffytuba]

Stickerbush Symphony is one of the greatest video game songs of all time. It evokes memories in me that make me wanna cry, but its a happy cry.

Like a "you had a great childhood" cry.

[Johnny__Silver]

I’m 50yo and first heard Stickerbush Symphony about 5 years ago. This, Aquatic Ambience, music from Undertale, Outer Wilds, Florence, Ori, Gris, Hollow Knight, Final Fantasy, Xenoblade, Stardew Valley… so much more… incredible music that brings tears to my eyes. Love your take on this. Great vid.

[TheSinlessAssassin]

This song really DOES take me back to my childhood because it's the very first song I became conscious of actually loving. I paused the game for what felt like an hour to just sit there and listen instead of playing the level right away. It was one of the most serene moments in my life, probably the first of few truly zen moments where I felt at peace and everything was perfect. I was in the moment and dialed in.

[NiDeCo]

Stickerbush Symphony is something F-ing magical.

I can still remember playing DKC2 being almost a teenager and getting through almost all of the game, just enjoying my time playing Diddy and Dixie Kong... to then start up the level called Bramble Scramble, thinking "Ok, next level", to then be hit by this masterpiece.
It felt like doing the ice bucket challenge, but the icy water was a warm blanket. It stopped me dead in my tracks having walked left for like a second, making me literally put down my controller after a few seconds staring slack-jawed at the screen, taking in all the harmonies and sounds Stickerbush Symphony threw at me.

It might be one of the most beautiful moments of my life.

[earthboundmother]

Stickerbrush Symphony is easily one of the best pieces of music ever written. Chills EVERY time

[ximilixaca]

And NOW I'm crying profusely at work, this is my alltime favorite song. THANK YOU

[AOpsyche]

i think FM synthesis, in general, is really nostalgia inducing for a lot of people. it has a timbral quality that reminds us of both video game music, and pop from the early 80's through the 90's, which is why it is commonly used in "nostalgic" genres like vaprowave.

[plebcrabslayer]

There might also be an element of _saudade_ to this. That's a combination of a sadness for what you had and no longer have (usually a lived experience with someone who is no longer alive), mixed with not just happiness [for having had those experiences with that person], but also punctuated with the realization that you'll never again experience those feelings [with that person].

I don't know if any of the branches of the study of human history will ever be able to explain what exactly are the elements of both music and our brain chemistry that make it so that music (out of all other branches of art) tugs the most at our heartstrings, but I doubt that we'll ever stop trying to solve this most profound, intriguing and exclusively human puzzle!

[captainthunderbolt]

There is a lot of elegant melancholy to be found in the soundtracks of DKC 1 and 2 - and the feeling of melancholy is like a single half-step away from nostalgia already.

Of course, that feeling is like ten times stronger for those of us who can tie the music to our childhoods.

[britty]

Im so glad you covered this song! It felt nostalgic in the 90s too! Its always been my favorite in the game. Such a classic

[firebert]

Amazing timing, I had this SAME experience with Stickerbrush Symphony just two days ago, and have been listening to it over and over and over since then.

[mr.floofles]

Internet checkpoint song! For the uninitiated, there was a video on youtube a while ago with a japanese(?) title that was recommended to a lot of people, and it became the “internet checkpoint”. Nintendo eventually took it down (of course), and since it has been reuploaded by others. I miss the original, but i’m glad that there’s new videos keeping up the memory.

[noonehere]

Smashing Pumpkins' 1979 is nostalgia encapsulated in music, making me feel nostalgic about something that I don't even know what.

[Jedi]

My wife and I both grew up liking different things. She LOVED (and still loves) Pokémon and Legend of Zelda games. I was more into Star Wars and old-school Disney movies and MGM musicals. I also played loads of Nintendo, but not a whole lot of Legend of Zelda or Pokémon.

We have a playlist that we compiled and play whenever we have a chill day at home or cooking dinner together, and it's full of orchestral renditions of our childhoods.

Like I said, I didn't play a whole lot of Pokémon or Legend of Zelda - but any time selections from those games come on, I'm transported to when I would sit in my room and play Super Mario 64, or when I would take summer trips to Disneyland with my family.

Nostalgia is a hell of a thing.

[Mrsleepy]

Why do I feel like Minecraft have this feeling as well

[Galantron]

Honestly, I feel nostalgia whenever I hear boards of canada. I feel like they've mastered the art of making you remember times that never existed through music.

[DaneBryantFrazier]

14:40 The normal piano sounds like a normal piano.
The mellow version sounds like distant echoes of the past.