Scientific Reason You Make a ‘Stank Face’ at Wicked Guitar Riffs

Why, if something as a guitar riff can be so enjoyable, do we make what’s known as the “stank face” in response to hearing something so initially impactful and impressive? As it turns out, on top of the many theories about the history of the “stank face,” there’s also a bit of science behind it.

Recently, Guitar World spoke to British music academic Milton Mermikides in their attempt to find varying points of expertise on the subject of the guitar “stank face” and ended up discovering there is some science to it.

Why Do We Respond With “Stank Face” to Certain Music?

We’ve all been there, listening to music when all of a sudden an unexpected note catches us off guard, heightening our senses and causing a physical reaction, sometimes in the form of a nasty facial expression while attempting to comprehend what we just heard.

“‘Stank face’ is perhaps just a modern term for a long-documented musical experience which falls somewhere between deep visceral pleasure and a sort of physical engagement, irritation or even repulsion – an ecstatic ‘pleasurable pain,” explained Mermikides.

“It relies on music’s unique ability to trigger a host of physical and emotional responses in the listener. These include our response to dissonance, such as the roughness of a sound – a scrunchy chord, an angular melody or a syncopated rhythm,” he continued.

“When coupled with the dopamine release from satisfying predictions and bodily engagement, these can produce ‘cross-modal’ responses. It’s as if the music is so rich, flavorsome and satisfying it bleeds into our other senses. Not only do we hear it, we can almost taste and smell it – hence the characteristic facial and bodily responses,” Mermikides concluded.

READ MORE: 13 of the Most Bizarre Guitars of All-Time

What Else We Learned About “Stank Face”

The Guitar World article goes further in depth on the “stank face,” with the guitarists of Periphery revealing that they use it as a non-verbal form of communication when playing off of each other. It can also be a show of appreciation, and YouTube star Nik Nocturnal explained that the heaviness causing a “stank face” isn’t always relegated to the guitar, with other instrumentation playing into the presentation that catches the listener’s attention.