It is often assumed that the style and genre of music to which you listen has a clear effect on your life and how you are perceived by others. Many may believe that an individual who listens to #MarilynManson or Judas Priest or Black Sabbath are being sent subliminal messages instructing them to commit murder or other horrific acts.
My tastes and their presumed meanings
I believe that such preconceptions are not only false but ridiculous. If you know me personally or have ever read my blog you will know that, though I do have a varied taste, my musical preference is rock, heavy metal, and grunge.
Therefore, it may be the case that others assume me to be a depressed, angry, and violent individual since the Music that I favour is loud, fast, and violent itself. This type of Prejudice and stereotype is often found among older members of society and they are usually people who have never given heavy metal or grunge a fair chance to change them. They are stubborn. They have opinions. They are not open for discussion. Therefore, I thought it would be both fun and interesting to look at some studies and view some statistics in order to shatter the myth that music, particularly heavy metal, has any effect on how a person behaves. I will be referring to news stories in order to broaden my analysis.
Findings
The examples that I used of Marilyn Manson, Judas Priest, and Black Sabbath were among the most popular bands to blame for negative effects of individuals the caused real harm to people. Marilyn Manson's music was targeted for encouraging the atrocities that took place at the Columbine massacre. His guilt was deemed so strong that he appeared in Michael Moore's film "Bowling for Columbine" to discuss his opinion for all the world to witness.
Despite America's understandable desire to find a guilty party for this unprovoked attack on high school children, there is much evidence that heavy metal fans are very laid back individuals and are also the group with the most in common with fans of classical music and some of the members of society with the highest average IQ.
This was found by a study carried out by Adrian North of the Hariot-Watt University and published in the Guardian newspaper in 2008.
Therefore, If the fans of heavy metal are among the calmest and most intellectual in society, how is it that we have been labelled with the title of angry and violent. This is a judgment issue and a prejudice which has no grounding other than ignorance.
