Brown Note: Difference between revisions

Compare [[Words Can Break My Bones]], some of which have similar effects given by single words, written or spoken, and are by magic. See also [[Weapons Grade Vocabulary]] if its simply straight words, spoken or read. Contrast with [[Gale Force Sound]], where the sound has a physical effect, not a psychological one, and [[Incessant Music Madness]], where repetitive music drives a person to distraction. If you aren't affected right off the bat, perhaps [[You Cannot Grasp the True Form]] or [[You Are Already Dead]].

== Anime & Manga ==

** One antagonist/vessel for Lucy planned a massive concert with such songs.

** More accurately, it only affects "barcoders", killers who are {{spoiler|created by a shadowy government agency seeking to produce the ultimate corps of "sleeper" assassins}}; and "activates" them or transfers/replicates the control personality (based on musician-turned-terrorist Lucy Monostone) between them. The concert was intended to active them en masse.

* ''[[Hunter X Hunter]]'' briefly mentions the Sonata of Darkness, said to have been written by [[Satan]] himself and includes parts for different instruments. Just listening to a few notes of the flute solo was enough to horribly deform the Music Hunter Melody ([[Cursed With Awesome|it also gave her music based powers though]]). Her friend that actually ''played'' it died horribly.

* In [[Shotaro Ishinomori]]'s manga, [[Tokusatsu]] and anime series ''[[Kikaider]]'', the [[Big Bad]] Professor Gill has a flute that allows him to control his robotic creations. The flute affects Jiro/Kikaider as well: because of his [[Pinocchio Syndrome|incomplete conscience circuit]], the flute's sound causes him physical pain and also sends him into a [[Brainwashed]] [[Unstoppable Rage|rage]]. Only after he [[Henshin Hero|transforms]] into his "Kikaider" form does the flute not affect him.

** In that same event, [[Superman (Comic Book)|Superman]] destroyed Darkseid by creating a sound that disrupted his energy form.

* An old ''[[Casper the Friendly Ghost]]'' comic had a story about a scarecrow so un-scary that the Ghostly Trio gave it the scariest face in existence: a photo of the Ogre of the Black Pool. It was so scary it even scared ghosts! In fact, the only thing it couldn't scare was a sweet little old lady who painted over the scarecrow's face with a friendly one when it came to life and went berserk. (Those old Harvey comics could get ''weird''.)

* [[The DCU|DCU]] villain Johnny Sorrow's face instantly kills anyone who sees it.

** Ditto for the face of Dinu from the the [[Marvel Universe|Marvel]] comic ''Inhumans''.

* ''[[Monty Python and The Holy Grail]]'' has the Knights who say Ni!. [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|Like their name makes clear]], they utter the word "Ni!" in a very screechy high pitched voice to hurt passing travelers and scare them into doing their bidding. {{spoiler|Its later revealed the word "it" serves as a [[Brown Note]] against the Knights themselves.}}

** "Ni!" works whether it's the Knights saying it or someone else, as when King Arthur is [[It Makes Sense in Context|harassing that old woman to find a shrubberer]].

** Which is itself likely a call back to ''[[Attack of the Killer Tomatoes]]'', where the title tomatoes are pacified by a song called "Puberty Love". The last tomato, wearing earmuffs, was defeated by {{spoiler|showing it a copy of the sheet music.}}

* The ''[[James Bond (Film)|James Bond]]'' film ''[[Live and Let Die (Film)|Live and Let Die]]'' opens with an assassination carried out through sound piped through a diplomat's translation earpiece.

** Almost everything in Lovecraft's stories is described as being just a little bit harmful to sanity. He must have been fascinated by the idea of things so horrifying and/or alien they're inherently upsetting. Besides of all the [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] and other [[Ultimate Evil|Ultimate Evils]] you really don't want [[Take Our Word for It|to look at too closely]], there are things such as Pickman's paintings, of which the tamer ones caused an uproar when displayed, while the ones he didn't show everyone were enough to make a jaded and prepared onlooker scream in terror.

** Played utterly straight in the story ''Out of the Aeons'' (co-written with Hazel Heald). The [[Eldritch Abomination]] featured there is so horrible and/or accursed that not just its appearance, but even any sufficiently-accurate ''image'' thereof will cause a human onlooker to soon afterwards grow stiff and be transformed into their own mummy -- {{spoiler|while their brain remains alive and [[And I Must Scream|helplessly trapped inside their skull]]}}.

* ''[[The Dragon Below]]'' trilogy has a [[Eldritch Abomination|Daelkyr]] whose telepathic voice gives sane people horrendous headaches and insane people orgasms.

* The plot of Neal Stephenson's ''[[Snow Crash]]'' revolves around the titular Snow Crash virus which ''resets'' a person to speaking and understanding only ancient Sumerian, which is described as a programming language for human beings. It allows people to be programmed directly, but leaves them gibbering crazy people spouting glossolalia until then, and shows up in the form of a bitmap image. All hackers are vulnerable, because they can understand the embedded binary code in this bitmap, which causes their unconscious to be able to pick up and mentally "run" the virus. Any [[Hackers]] who sees the bitmap, whether in cyberspace or in real life, becomes infected with the virus and instantly turns into a wandering bag-lady (or, erm... bag-lord?).

** The "Total Perspective Vortex" (a machine that displays a map of the entire universe with a tiny beyond microscopic dot pointing out where you are) causes anyone run through it to feel so insignificant that they go mad (except Zaphod, and that was under special circumstances).

* The [[Father Brown]] story "The Blast of the Book" has a book that supposedly causes anyone who tries to read it to vanish into thin air and never be seen again. {{spoiler|It's actually all just an elaborate practical joke.}} [[Robert Anton Wilson]] brazenly plagiarizes this in [[Masks Of The Illuminati]]

* The [[Fritz Leiber]] short story "Rump-Titty-Titty-Tum-TAH-Tee" is about the discovery of a waltz rhythm that causes anyone who hears it to become maniacally obsessed with it, listen for other examples of it, and recreate it at every opportunity.

* The [[Chuck Palahniuk]] novel ''[[Lullaby]]'' is about a poem which kills anyone to whom it is recited. Or even those toward whom it is '''[[Paranoia Fuel|thought.]]'''

* MTV's ''FurTV'' features an episode where Fat Ed's Heavy Metal band Stinkhole discovers the literal [[Brown Note]]. Many innocents shit themselves to death listening to the song.

* On ''[[Supernatural (TV)|Supernatural]]'', seeing Castiel's true face (and presumably the true faces of all other angels) causes one's eyes to burn out of their sockets, as seen [[Nightmare Fuel|memorably]] in the fourth season premiere, and his true voice causes windows to shatter and ears to bleed. In vessel form, however, they can be heard and seen normally.

* ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' contains tons of objects that are capable of this, without even going into the really dangerous things in [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|The Dark Vault]], like Sylvia Plath's typewriter, which sucks the will to live out of a person just by looking at it. In fact, all of the artifacts in the Dark Vault are activated by some human sense.

** Other artifacts include a song that causes a state of euphoric bliss in anyone who hears it, leaving them helpless, a bell that makes people laugh until they asphyxiate, another bell (owned by Ivan Pavlov) that makes a person drool excessively for 24 hours, and Lizzy Borden's Compact, causing whoever looks into the mirror to want to kill the person they love.

== Music ==

* Comedy example: the ("[[Refrain From Assuming|Push the Tempo]]") Ya Mama music video has a music that causes peoples to [[Dance Sensation|dance uncontrollably]]. Can be seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGpkNPbSa2Q here].

** The closeup has him repeating "God help me, I'll tell you." and it's implied that he's actually saying it during the shot of Radiohead looking out the mirror. I can read lips. Trust me on this one.

* [[Rhapsody of Fire]] has seven of these in the tales their music tells. There are seven black books, written with the blood of slain angels, which contain methods with which to summon the evil god Kron back from the hell the good gods banished him to. Finding the last one, the greatest of them all which could end the world, was the subject of two of their CDs, ''The Dark Secret'' and ''Triumph or Agony''. It is said that the first six were found and now are kept locked away in magic towers, protected by heaven itself (although that wouldn't necessarily be a hindrance for the dark powers that be).

** The main points about these creatures ''are'' basically the same: they are small and can easily hide and sneak about and pop up anywhere, they are [[Made of Evil|pure evil]], they must come into this world by unnatural means (often by a '''rooster''' laying an egg), and to meet their gaze is to drop dead on the spot. Or to turn into stone. Or they kill/petrify you just by ''looking at them''. Or by touching you or breathing on you. [[Walking Wasteland|Or they leave a path of desolation ("creating a desert") wherever they walk]]. Or... it may be easier at this point to say that the [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]] trope is very old, and has much to do with the wildly exaggerated dangerousness of poisonous snakes.

** One other thing about basilisks must be mentioned, though, because it's just wicked awesome: these motherf--ers are so deadly that ''even trying to stab them transmits their Brown Note to you''. As Lucan wrote, "What though the Moor the Basilisk hath slain, and pinned him lifeless to the sandy plain, up through the spear the subtle venom flies; the hand imbibes it, and the victor dies."<ref>([[Seinfeld|Of course]], [[Mondegreen|we all know]] [[Completely Missing the Point|they were really called the Moops.]])</ref>

* The Sirens are like an auditory version of the Gorgons, as they lure sailors to their death with their song.

* The Catoblepas is a hideously ugly oxlike creature who, likewise, either kills you or turns you into stone if it meets your gaze. Sometimes just looking at it will have the same effects. This monster is also sometimes called a Gorgon. Fortunately, most versions subscribing to the "gaze" version of events go on to add that the catoblepas finds [[Weaksauce Weakness|its head incredibly heavy to hold up]], and is thus not much of a threat to anyone who isn't lying on the ground.

** An article in ''[[Dragon]] Magazine'', the late official magazine of the game, described a sage who delved into the study of the Lords of the Nine, the nine arch-devils who rule the Nine Hells of Baator. He went missing; all that turned up of him were a few spots of blood on his floor. It's speculated that either he [[Speak of the Devil|attracted the attention of the devils]], who spirited him away; or that that the sheer evil of the tomes he was reading caused him to spontaneously implode.

*** Note that this is also similar to the legend of Faust, who gave rise to the term "[[Deal With the Devil|Faustian bargain]]" and was ultimately found splattered all over the floor...and the walls...and the ceiling.

** In ''D&D'', it's possible to place spell traps on objects, which are triggered by looking at, or reading them.

*** [[Order of the Stick|"I prepared Explosive Runes this morning."]]

== Video Games ==

* For a real life example, the early copies of ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue (Video Game)|Pokémon Red and Blue]]'' (and, in Japan, Green) have the original Lavender Town music. While they didn't cause suicides like some legends say, they did play a rhythmic 8-bit beat at levels only children, some teens and adults, and animals can hear. [[Yes but What Does It Do|Side effects]] include headaches, stuffy nose, stomach aches, and your dog getting gas.It is exaggerated in [[Creepypasta]] where it causes seizurs and insanity.

* Demonica in ''[[Stretch Panic]]'', a horror movie fanatic who was mystically transformed into a monster so horrifying that seeing her is fatal.

* The Winter Windster in ''[[Wario World (Video Game)|Wario World]]'' has an attack where its eyes turn red. The only way to avoid it is to keep Wario facing away from it while it flies around you. Fail to do so and it flies into Wario's mouth and inflates him like a balloon, then proceeds to hover him toward the [[Spikes of Doom|spikes]].

** Playing the game in hard mode lets the player actually see this happening. In any other mode, [[Take Our Word for It|the game cuts away to another scene for a few seconds]], then back to the main character, who is now mysteriously alone and completely unscathed.

** In fact, the basic premise of most of this game could be considered a [[Brown Note]]. Singing or playing certain sequences of notes (called "drafts") can have a wide variety of effects on reality, from the innocuous (Dyeing) to the beneficial (Healing) to the [[Nightmare Fuel|horrific]] (Unmaking).

** It's also implied that all magic in that game is some sound- "Oh Admonishing Melody,...".

** The seventh fonon which allows fonist such as Tear to use healing spells is the fonon for sound and can cause healing, most magic and a hyperresonance which can teleport people into new locations and destroy countries.

* In the world of ''[[The Demented Cartoon Movie]]'', saying the word "Blah" sometimes causes your head to pop off of your neck, although the exact rules regarding this are inconsistent. Saying or producing a recording of the word "Zeekyboogydoog" causes a nuclear explosion at the location the sound originated from. Saying the word "Gleegsnagzip" causes [[Earthshattering Kaboom|the entire planet to explode]]. And saying "Kamikaze Watermelon" cues a visit from Fooby, the Kamikaze Watermelon.

** "(Fanfare plays) Wheeee! (splat)"

* According to the ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' cartoon "Fall Float Parade", Strong Sad goes into an unexplained trance whenever he hears the phrase "covered bridges". At least until Strong Bad starts hitting him with nunchucks.

** In this same series, there's the Creepy Painting Strong Mad keeps in his closet, which depicts a gargoyle-like creature named Rocoulm who says "Come on in here!" and causes anyone who hears those words to get "the jibblies."

== Web Comics ==

* For a one-shot gag in ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]'', [http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=597 here], Fuzzy creates a [[Brown Note]] video to psychologically break Sid, another character. It might have worked if Sid hadn't run away.

** This happened about the time the authors were transitioning from a loosely connected series of jokes to a more comprehensive narrative, so the clichés Largo was built on were ramped up overnight to Cloudcuckoolander status to help lead into his plot arcs. It's later mentioned that he's always been this way. In addition, [[Author Avatar|the "other" Largo]] was becoming less influential on the comic's creation by that point -- if he had not already been completely forced out -- which meant it was also the point where the Largo character was being written by the other author/artist, who had vastly different tastes in humour and writing style.

* ''[[Starslip Crisis]]'' has the sculpture known as "The Spine of the Cosmos". Looking at it by itself is harmless, but when its artistic context is described to the viewer, they are either granted ultimate understanding of the universe or driven insane -- either way, becoming a mindless zombie. The insectoid aliens known as Cirbozoids are the only intelligent species immune to this, due to their inability to understand art.

** Also, Cirbozoids can kill people by crying.

{{quote| Edge: "Who wrote this note, [[HP Lovecraft]]?"}}

* In ''[http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com/2008/06/27/page-74/ Jayden and Crusader]'', the character Third can apparently utter proofs of the non-existence of God so powerful Priests have heart attacks because of the conflict of their profession and the utter logic of the proof. We are of course not told what this proof is.

{{quote| '''Cloud:''' The bad man with the sword is taking over my mind again!}}

* ''Ubersoft'' employes were once shown only the shadow of a new Apple product, since it's beauty drove a small percentage of the population insane when they looked directly at it. When asking how big a percentage, the answer was approximately the same small percentage of the population that had been allowed to look at it directly.

* ''[[Necessary Monsters]]'': Jonathon tells the man on the safehouse front desk ''something'' that causes him to pull his own skull apart.

* In ''[[Poharex]]'', Eperok uses "The Call", a high-frequency sound(which he refers to as magic), to force any dinosaur that hears it to come and aid him in battle. He only used it once in order to distract Leay, allowing Poharex to get the upper hand.

* Art in ''[[Sequential Art (Webcomic)|Sequential Art]]'', aspiring to the full [[Mad Artist]] glory, "[http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=665 created an image that combines all known fetishes]".

* The Doom Bell of [[Girl Genius]] painfully knocks out all those who hear it for the first time.

** Agatha on the other hand, only seems mildly surprised.

* [[Super Mario Bros Super Show]] episode "Stars In Their Eyes" established that certain sounds could disrupt 'Moonman' Koopa's technology. In order to save the Marios from being blown up by Koopa's spaceship, the quirks- an alien race Koopa enslaved- use their double-snouts to toot a kazoo-version of the Zelda theme.

{{quote| '''Koopa:''' You call that ''music?'' Stop that racket!}}

* Not to be confused with the real-life [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_noise "Brown noise,"] which is completely harmless.

* The movie ''[[Avatar (Film)|Avatar]]'' seems to be getting a reputation for this. Several people walked out with motion sickness from watching it in 3D, [http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html others suffered depression and even suicidal thoughts,] and one man even died, [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583351,00.html apparently from over-excitement.] <ref> [[MST3K Mantra|It's just a movie, you really should relax.]]</ref>

** Toxicity is relative; any toxin on earth is only deadly in sufficient quantities, and the quantities needed to ''smell it'' are often (but not always) miniscule enough to avoid injury. This is how [[Scarily Competent Tracker|Scarily Competent Trackers]] get away with trying to identify suspicious substances by "tasting" them.

* Regarding the [[Beach Boys]], one of the things that made Brian Wilson reluctant to finish ''"Smile"'' was a fear that he had created a [[Brown Note]] entirely by ''accident''. He and his musicians had recorded [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._O<!-- 27Leary27s_Cow_%28song%29 a very creepy instrumental called either]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LI-KazTKw8 "Fire" or "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"]]; to get the atmosphere in the studio right, they had worn toy fireman's helmets and lit a firepot to emit smoke. The very night of the recording session, a building down the street caught fire and burned to the ground; someone later mentioned to Brian that an unusual number of fires were breaking out in Los Angeles [[LongHotSummer that summer]]. The coincidence struck Brian as extremely creepy, and he became hesitant about working on the album. -->

** Also spoofed in ''[[Drawn Together]]'', where Ling-Ling (himself a parody of Pikachu) proudly exclaims his motivation for participating in the show as thus: "I come to destroy all! And give children seizure!"

** What sucks the most is that the real culprit was '''Ash's Pikachu'''. The ''Pokémon'' mascot himself caused serious health problems to all his loyal fans when he zapped those virus missiles. Because of Pikachu, Porygon has never been in the anime again (except for [[Poké Rap]] reruns, and its evolutions have never had any air time).

** Also spoofed in ''[[South Park]]'', in the episode "Chinpokomon," which spoofs the Pokemon fad. At one point, the boys are watching an episode of this show, and Kenny has a seizure.

** It should be noted that it only affected children who had a history of seizures. If a person without them watches the scene, all it does it make your eyes water.

** Also reading about yawning. Having stopped yet?

** Slowpoke used Yawn! *player yawns*

* Due to the nature of work with Thermodynamics being pessimistic, statistical mechanics is infamous for the number of famous suicides among the scientific founders. One text book has this as the opening paragraph.

{{quote| Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the same work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics. [[Tome of Eldritch Lore|Perhaps it will be wise to approach the subject cautiously]].}}

[[Category:Bathroom Tropes]]

[[Category:Brown Note]]