Mood music test has Take That top of men's charts

Men may not realise it, but songs by Brit winners Take That put them in a good mood.

Ask an average male to name the music that makes them happy and the boy band is low on their list. However, the way their body reacts to the sound of the band tells a different story, according to tests conducted for a mood-boosting campaign by drinks company Tropicana.

A lab experiment saw men and women wired to monitors which recorded physical and mental responses to 30 pieces of music from pop to classical.

The effect of the songs on their heart rate, pulse, skin and brain activity are key indicators of mood swings and research found Take That's hit Greatest Day lifted moods the most.

Among women it was clearly the top song. However, it was second among men to Jump by Van Halen.

However, this was different from what men and women say when asked to name the music that they find the most uplifting.

Out of the 30 songs played, men rated Greatest Day a mere 29th in the list, which suggests they like Take That a lot more than they care to admit.

The top five songs which improved mood the most were Greatest Day, followed by Led Zeppelin's classic Stairway to Heaven, Abba's Dancing Queen, Finally by Ce Ce Peniston, and Jump by Van Halen.

However, when asked to name the five songs they believed improved their mood the most, Sixties' hit You Really Got Me by The Kinks came first.

Dr David Lewis Hodgson of Mindlab International Laboratory, at the Sussex Innovation Centre, Brighton, conducted the research.

"The differences between men's subjective and physical responses clearly show that preconceptions about music tracks do not always relate to their enjoyment," he said.