This is not an area of legitimate disagreement. There is an objective definition of gratuity, and the use of extreme violence in "Stardust City Rag," however much you may not have liked it or felt it made no sense, does not meet that definition. No, it is not. It is gore for the sake of establishing the emotional stakes of Seven's conflict with Bajayzl. Again: You don't have to like it, or think it's an effective execution of its artistic goal, or think it makes sense as a plot device. There are all sorts of legitimate critiques you could make. But it objectively is not gratuitous.
"Art Should Comfort the Disturbed and Disturb the Comfortable" - Dr. Cesar A. Cruz, Harvard U. Art that makes us uncomfortable can make us smarter, more empathetic citizens. (Well, that would certainly explain the upset from some quarters.)
Let's not lose sight of the fact that this is basic TV entertainment, calling it "art" is a little bit of an overstatement. Plus, I once saw (against my will) the badly wounded victim of a car crash and it disturbed me, very much. "Sometimes things are disturbing because they are disturbing" - Me (undisclosed diploma and credits in an unnamed university)
You know, I'd completely forgotten about the Discovery episode that invoked the "eye scream" trope (when Control took "possession" of Leland) until it suddenly came back to me last night. (The scene seems to have inexplicably escaped the notice of TVTropes, an omission I just now corrected myself.) I had to think of more pleasant things (like, say, the possibility of dying of COVID-19) for quite a while before I could get back to sleep.
Hmm. When I'm traveling by sleeping car, I normally listen to a CD of Smetana's Má Vlast (the entire cycle, performed as a suite) in hopes of actually getting some sleep. Not the least bit boring, but very, very relaxing (especially the most famous of the tone poems, The Moldau). Maybe I should try that at home, when I'm having trouble getting to sleep.
Not as relaxing as the Smetana. Nor should it be; it is, after all, dance music. And I'm ignoring its use in Kubrick's 2001.
(Off Topic) - I find her music much more invigorating and stirring than relaxing. Probably because so much of it calls to the Old Blood.
Ah, yes, the Khachaturian tends to get lost among the Johann Strauss, the Richard Strauss, and the György Ligeti. Hard to believe that it comes from the same ballet that gave us the Sabre Dance. Although it strikes me as too sad and too dissonant for bedtime music.
Although it's a nice evoking of something moving through the immensity of space... Ligeti's is a requiem.
When it comes to music, he must be one of Devo's biggest fans. Or Fad Gadget... or The Cramps... there's quite a list of soothing agitator avant garde and outre bands out there...