Review

The representation of epilepsy in popular music

Sallie Baxendale

Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK

Received 21 August 2007; accepted 11 September 2007Available online 5 November 2007

Abstract

Much can be learned about the contemporary stereotypes associated with epilepsy by studying the representation of the disorder inpaintings, literature, and movies. Popular music is arguably the most accessible and ubiquitous of the creative art forms, touching mostof us on a daily basis. Reviewed here are the ways in which epilepsy and seizures are used in the lyrics of musicians from a wide variety of musical genres, from hip–hop to rhythm and blues. Many of the ancient associations of epilepsy with madness, horror, and lunacy can befound in these lyrics. However, the language of epilepsy has also been appropriated by some musical artists to represent a state of sexualecstasy and dance euphoria. The references to these states as ‘‘epilepsy’’ or a ‘‘seizure’’ in numerous songs suggest that this shorthand iswidely recognized within some subcultures. Although epilepsy has frequently been associated with female sexual availability in other cre-ative art forms, this novel use of the language of epilepsy represents a contemporary departure in the artistic application of epilepsy-related images and associations in the 21st century.

Keywords:

Epilepsy; Review; Popular music; Seizures; Stereotypes; Creative arts

1. Introduction

Although much has been written about the portrayal of epilepsy in many artistic and creative fields, including liter-ature[1–4], art[5–7], television[8], and the cinema[9–12], depictions in popular music are rarely studied.Popular music is arguably the most accessible and ubiq-uitous of the creative art forms, touching most of us on aninescapable, daily basis[13]. The most common themesexplored in popular music are those close to the heart of the younger generations most involved in the music indus-try, love, sex, and political ideals, and yet, chart-toppingpopular songs have been written about every aspect of life,including undersized polka dot beachwear and combineharvesters. It is not surprising, therefore, that epilepsyand seizures feature in the lyrics of numerous songs froma wide variety of musical genres.Many groups have turned to epilepsy terminology forinspiration when it comes to naming their band. Severalhave opted for ‘‘Seizure,’’ ‘‘Aura,’’ ‘‘De´ ja`Vu,’’ and ‘‘Sta-tus,’’ and a heavy metal outfit in California plumped for‘‘Epilepsy’’ itself. Related one-offs include a psychedelicrock group called ‘‘The Hippocampus Groove’’ and‘‘The Limbic System,’’ a jazz-fusion combo, althoughfew of these groups have actually been signed by recordcompanies for any appreciable length of time. Notableexceptions include ‘‘The Falling Sickness,’’ a punk rockgroup who released two albums before they disbandedin 2000. However, although epilepsy-related themes occa-sionally crop up in band nomenclature, it is the song lyr-ics these bands produce through which much can belearned about the way epilepsy is perceived in differentsubcultures.

2. Overt depictions

A number of songs have been written directly about theexperience of epilepsy and seizures. In ‘‘Ballad of Worms,’’Cage, a New York rap artist with a troubled psychiatric

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Epilepsy & Behavior 12 (2008) 165–169

past, rails against God for giving his girlfriend (previously‘‘the hottest bitch’’) meningitis.

Death waved again and each time leaves herIn a coma, for a week, to wake up to more seizures

She has seizures when he tries to feed her, when she triesto get up, and during sex,

Tried to give me a kissBefore I tasted her lips, she dislocated her hipsStarted shaking, Couldn’t feed her no medication

and thus he is ‘‘known in town as the creep that’s into zom-bies.’’ At various points during the male vocalist’s tiradeagainst her physical and mental decline, a female voice calls‘‘I’m feeling down, touch me,’’ a subtle link between sexand seizures, that is far more explicit in other songs fromthe genre, as is discussed later.Another no-holds-barred portrayal of epilepsy is givenin ‘‘Seizure’’ by Malevolent Creation, which is entirelygiven over to describing a generalized convulsion, fromthe opening,

Convulse, twisted, falling to the groundSaliva ﬂowing free, tasting, choking

to the reaction of onlookers,

Cursed by this diseaseThose around you panicOnlookers start to freeze.

The song ends with a pessimistic view of the intractabil-ity of the condition:

No cure for this pain, This is your hellGiven at birth, Symptoms take courseSeizure taking over, Consuming

. . .

Convulse

. . .

Seizures are viewed as a more positive experience in thelyrics of Dark Millennium’s ‘‘Brotherhood Sleep Back toTreasureland’’:

Oh so red the cage,the seizure is my guard and leadernever I have been in such a warmth before.

In addition to general observations on epilepsy, refer-ences to many clinical aspects of seizure disorders can befound in song lyrics, from the importance of compliancewith antiepileptic regimens,

You were ill last Saturday and two weeks before thatlittle boutYou know I need that medication for my epilepsy nowOr I run the risk of having a ﬁt, you know I can’t gowithout[The Streets’ ‘‘Get Out of My House’’]

to olfactory auras and a fortunately rare misdiagnosis of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) in NickCave’s ballad on the bizarre case of ‘‘Christina theAstonishing’’:

Christina the AstonishingLived a long time agoShe was stricken with a seizureAt the age of twenty-twoThey took her body in a coﬃnTo a tiny church in Liege.Where she sprang up from the coﬃn

. . .. . .

cried ‘‘The stink of human sinis more that I can bear.’’

For a genre so intrinsically linked to violence, it is per-haps not surprising that posttraumatic seizures occasion-ally appear in the narrative of American hip–hop artists,although the etiology of neurological lesions is clearly notartist Canibus’ strong point in ‘‘Lost at C’’:

I beat ‘em till they holla, beat ‘em til the cops comeBeatin’

. . .

til they have seizures, beat ‘em til they startscreaminlike fax machines when they start receivin

. . .

Fast enough to give your brain an aneurysm’’

The special concerns associated with epilepsy in theelderly have also been put to music, with Kanye Westbemoaning the fact that his grandmother’s heart can’t takeanesthesia because ‘‘It’ll send her body into a seizure’’ in‘‘Roses,’’ and Husker Du relaying the sad demise of hisgrandfather in ‘‘Hardly Getting Over It’’: ‘‘And grandpahad a seizure, moved into a hotel cell and died away.’’Surprising references to relatively rare epileptic syn-dromes can also be found. ‘‘Marvin’s Giddy Seizures’’ isa quirky little ditty featuring gelastic seizures in whichthe eponymous hero chants:

Yes I’m having a seizure today, hey, hey,Watch me laugh.Yes, I’m having a seizure today, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Epilepsy is used as a metaphor for all-consuming love in‘‘Epilepsy’’ by Therapy, an Irish heavy metal rock band,which simply repeats the line ‘‘this infernal love’’ for 4 min-utes, occasionally interspaced with apposite phrases like‘‘I’ve got a problem,’’ ‘‘It burns like wire,’’ ‘‘I can’t leaveyou alone,’’ and ‘‘I don’t want this.’’ With the incessantrepetition, the song cleverly mimics the rhythm of a seizureand taps into the uncontrollable aspects of epilepsy,although few but the very poetic would liken the experienceof intractable seizures to that of obsessive love.Although in films, novels, and art the presence of epi-lepsy almost always signifies an important part of the nar-rative, this is not necessarily the case in popular song lyrics.Epilepsy may just be one of many apparently randomwords, included for its scanning or rhyming qualitieswithin the verse, rather than its meaning. Thus, it is difficultto know exactly what Techn9ne are alluding to in the line‘‘gridlocked, epilepsy and lupus, Alfred Hitchcock’’ in thecontext of a song ostensibly about meeting a deadline,and ‘‘epilepsy’’ appears to be just a convenient rhyme for‘‘Pepsi’’ (after all, how many others are there?) in

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Redman’s ‘‘Merry Jane.’’ References can be lighthearted,such as Lisa Left Eye Lopez’

With them hairdo’sLook like they went through a seizure[‘‘Jenny’’]

to Agathoceles’ rather more obscure oﬀering in ‘‘EgoGenerosity’’:

Avidity is dominantVoracity is permanentSeizure means supremacyA congenital malignancy.

Although these one-oﬀs are interesting, it is in theexamination of recurrent themes within popular musiclyrics through which much can be learned aboutmodern stereotypes and stigma associated with epilepsytoday.

3. Epilepsy and madness

In the other creative arts, epilepsy is frequently associ-ated with madness, horror, and stupidity. The same is truein popular music. For the uninitiated, popular music has itsown horror subgenre called ‘‘grindcore.’’ Many of thesegroups appear to have been inspired by a medical dictio-nary when they chose their names, although as a rule, theylean toward the gastrointestinal rather than the neurologi-cal. Leading luminaries in the genre include ‘‘Gut,’’‘‘Impetigo,’’ ‘‘Sore Throat,’’ ‘‘Blood,’’ ‘‘Regurgitate,’’‘‘Discharge,’’ ‘‘Nausea,’’ not forgetting ‘‘Death’’ of course.Although it is often hard to decipher the lyrics, which tendto be screamed at full volume against instruments played(or banged) at an equally ear-splitting level, a glance atthe faux blood-splattered sleeve notes reveals that epilepsyis associated with mind-dead ‘‘zombies’’ in the pop horrorgenre, just as it is at the cinema[10]. Thus, in the suitablytitled ‘‘Scream Bloody Gore,’’ Death impressively combineboth epilepsy and neurosurgery into their horror narrativein one verse,

Controlling the minds of the bloodthirsty deadUnholy seizure slicing through your headWho will survive only time will tellDripping from your mouth comes a rancid smellLobotomised corpse shredding your ﬂesh.

while the Insane Clown Posse battle against maraudingbaseheads in ‘‘Basehead Attack,’’ dispatching some withseizures, in the process:

No eﬀect,I left him shaking on the ﬂoor with epilepsy.With Their necks severed

. . .

In a slightly more poetic treatment, Meressin, aheavy metal group, reference the ancient myths of sei-zures as demonic possession in ‘‘Howl of the ProfoundPast’’:

Full uncontrolling of myself Seizure of strangers from withinViolence of the mind in the ways of suﬀeringsSurrender to a call of the labyrinths, incarnation of fearfeelingAﬀected by magic theatre.

Horror of an altogether more real kind is explored in thelargely autobiographical ‘‘Stoney Lodge’’ by Cage, whoevokes the classic

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

imageof a sane inmate in a secure psychiatric institution. Hemomentarily ﬁnds an ally but ‘‘when she starts to

. . .

sei-zure I’m ‘a leave her.’’

4. Link to retardation

These lyrics originate from fairly niched musical genresand are unlikely to be the ambient sounds of choice inyour local shopping mall. As such, they are not likely towidely inﬂuence the public’s perception of epilepsy, evenif they could decipher the lyrics. This is not the case forthe Black Eyed Peas, a hugely successful mainstream rapband from the United States. In 2003 they released a songcalled ‘‘Lets Get Retarded’’ with the lyrics

Let’s get ill, that’s the deal

. . .. . .

Lose your mind this is the time,Ya’ll test this drill, Just and bang your spine.Bob your head like epilepsy, up inside your club or inyour Bentley.Get messy, loud and sick.Ya’ll mount past slow mo in another head trip.

The chorus included the repeated lines ‘‘Get stupid. Getretarded.’’ The song was a huge hit. It won the 2004Grammy for best rap performance by a group and wasused in a number of high-proﬁle advertising campaigns inthe United States. Although the song starts with ‘‘In thiscontext, there’s no disrespect

. . .

when I bust my rhyme,’’campaigners were quick to point out the offense that thelyrics could cause, both to people with epilepsy and tothose with learning difficulties, and the lyrics werepromptly changed for a radio edit to ‘‘Let’s get it started’’with the epilepsy line becoming ‘‘Bob your head like me,Apl. D.’’ Supporters of the original song protested that‘‘retarded’’ was acceptable slang within the hip–hop anddance culture and had nothing to do with cognitive limita-tions, and much debate continues to surround the way inwhich words are appropriated, redefined, and even rehabil-itated within these subcultures.

5. Epilepsy and sex

Although the depictions of epilepsy in other art formsgenerally reﬂect the pervasive cultural attitudes towardthe condition[1,4,6,10], a lyrical license allows musicalartists to employ the language, characteristics, and symp-toms of epilepsy as powerful metaphors for other things,

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