Negative Effects Of Heavy Metal Music

This reference shows how music lays a foundation of teenage values beyond school or parental teaching. A musical artist can influence a young mind by the chosen lyrics with greater effectiveness than formal education. Music can control or enhance moods. A good mood can get better or a bad mood can be worked through with the choice of music. A bad mood can also be enhanced by lyrics about suicide or violent behavior. Teens can also use music to gain information about the adult world, to withdraw from social contact, facilitate friendships and social settings, or to help them create a personal identity. (O'Toole, 1997)

Like many musical genre before rap, some people believe that rap music influenced teenagers in a negative way that could lead to violence. Some criminals have blamed movies, books, and music as inspiration for their crimes. However, one cannot solely rely on these sources as the main reason for any act whether good or bad. “Millions of heavy metal and gangsta rap fans spend hours with their chosen music genres and never threaten others or themselves. Moreover, most researchers concerned with the causes of suicide and violence point to a broad array of risk factors unrelated to popular culture (e.g., depression, access to guns, substance abuse, etc.) that seem to be precursors of such

Yet with all the wonderful things that music can do for human beings, could it possibly be responsible for them committing suicide, or murder? In this paper I am going to explore the chaos that occurred in the 80’s and 90’s when heavy metal music faced accusations that the music and lyrical content was driving adolescent and young adults to commit suicide and murder. I will argue that it is not the music or the lyrics that result in such violent behaviors; rather, individuals with underlying psychological issues such as depression, or anger disorders tend to be more attracted to heavy metal music.

“Numerous studies indicate that a preference for heavy metal music may be a significant marker for alienation, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, suicide risk, sex-role stereotyping, or risk-taking behaviors during adolescence” (http://www.aap.org/policy/01219.html). This statement, and others like it, has been used as a hypothesis as to why the students opened fire killing 13 and wounding 23 at Columbine. The explicit lyrics have been thought to motivate teenagers into committing acts of violence. Take, for example, the lyrics from a band named Drowning Pool, “Push me again, this is the end, skin against skin, blood and bone, you're all by yourself, but you're not alone, you wanted in, now you're here, driven by hate consumed by fear, let the bodies hit the floor” (http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/drowningpool/bodies.html). This song is titled Bodies and speaks out about committing murder because of alienation. All teenagers feel these feelings at some point while they are growing up. While most teenagers can look to someone or something to get them through this difficult time, some find release in music. If they are exposed to these types of lyrics, without any rationality, the teenagers can find themselves in

Inappropriate music will get the better of us and we might get excited and swear outloud. This will bring an outburst of rebellious youth. Kids will get emotional depending on the music they are listening too.

Now a days, we are used to shocking lyrics and eye catching looks. It seems that every artist now is fighting to be so different that everyone is drawn to them. It was not always like this. In the late nineties and early two-thousands, most artists tried to fit in with the other blonde, processed pop stars that the industry was spitting out. When there was an artist who was not always happy and did sing about PG rated topics, they were blamed for what was wrong with the world, especially teenagers. In his article ‘I’d Sell You Suicide: Pop Music and Moral Panic in the Age of Marilyn Manson”, Robert Wright delves into and debunks claims that rock music, especially that of Marilyn Manson, is a main cause for teenage suicide.

First of all, it is a stress reliever for many individuals in our society today. Contrary to popular belief, students can suffer from depression, get maximum levels of stress, and can have anxiety attacks. Music is a coping method during these times, it can bring them back to earth and allow them to breathe steadily. For example, if someone is having an anxiety attack and keep thinking of a certain thing, music will make their mind focus on the lyrics or beat. This will then, in turn, get their mind off of the issues going on inside their head. However, certain songs may only work on certain people, and certain songs might worsen the previously

Thesis: Music such as Rap and Rock-n-Roll have a negative impact in the youth in our society, the music promotes violence, sexism, and vulgar language.

The corruptness of music today seems to be linked to the crude language and aggression found particularly in hip-hop and rap music. Some rap artists use vulgar language in their lyrics that are easily adoptable by teens (Holden). Not only have certain lyrics influenced the way teens speak but also their actions. An article on Headliners.org stated that “lyrics in the music are too violent and are to blame for many problems.” The problems range anywhere from suicide and aggression towards women to underage drinking and drug use. Lyrics are not only to blame, but also what people see in artists’ music videos can affect what they do (Doaks). The urge to emulate these rap musicians has escalated quickly causing a spike in rebellious tendencies among teens.

“Nothing is more singular about this generation than its addiction to music” (Bloom 68). While every person in the world knows this to be true, no one stops to consider whether the music society listens to is actually good for the mind. What people don’t realize is that music affects people’s morals, culture, education, laws, and the way society thinks. Music has proved to be helpful, but no one focuses on that aspect of it anymore. The people that music affects the most only care if they can dance to it.

“Heavy metal music has been a source of criticism ever since its’ birth in the late nineteen eighties” (Coss). Many people criticize this type of music because there is anger shown in the lyrics. Although the lyrics can be controversial at times, there is no evidence saying that heavy metal music causes violence. “Its’ controversial lyrics and harsh sounds have made it the target of much blame for psychological and behavioral problems in teenagers” (Coss). Parents of teenagers now and in past decades have worried about their kids listening to this kind of music. Most parents do not want their kids to listen to this kind of music; they are afraid that the music will lead to devastating effects in society. Another reason why parents do not like heavy metal music is that the music is extremely loud and ear shattering. Most people over

In life, music affects everything many people look at all the different stories of teenagers committing violent acts and have begun to wonder can violent songs make teens violent? With all the violent acts that music glorifies as of recently many psychologists and parents alike have begun to wonder why certain types of music cause their children and teenagers to become so violent. Because of the questions that violent songs raise and why teenagers have started to gravitate towards violent songs more than ever before. Some factors that could be reasons as to why violent songs have such a powerful effect on teenagers could be that: teenagers learn violence from their surroundings, teenagers can have a history of violence, and violent songs give teens a place to vent their frustrations at,

Music has more of an influence on the people in the twenty-first century than it ever has before. Teens, especially, are surrounded by some sort of it in everything they are around or do. Many disagree on how music impacts one’s mental state and behavior; however, all agree that the impact depends on how the listener feels before and how they allow it to influence them.

In the study completed by Fiona Malpass, David Havard, Karis Benford, Ana Costescu, Angeliki Sofitiki, and Donna Taylor of the University of Westminster, results show personality outcome of heavy metal listening to be “…stronger composite preference for the heavy metal tracks was associated with higher Openness to Experience, more negative attitudes toward authority, lower self-esteem, greater need for uniqueness, and lower religiosity” (377). They also state that “In addition, men showed a significantly stronger preference for the tracks than women. These results are discussed in terms of the psychological needs that contemporary heavy metal fills for some individuals” (377). This shows that music can also effect personality differently based upon gender. Further research was completed just on women with the genre of heavy metal by Milton Becknell, Michael Firmin, Chi-En Hwang, David Fleetwood, Kristie Tate, and Gregory Schwab who are college student researchers from Cedarville University, Cedarville, OH. They state that “More recent research, however, suggests that Arnett's position is more representative of females than males (Lacourse, Claes, & Villeneuve, 2001). The general assumption is that heavy metal music listeners release or unload their pent-up frustrations into the loud and intense sounds which they

Media takes all forms of shapes, from video games to music it influences people daily because we are always surrounded by it. Music especially impacts individuals because in a lot of ways it can say what we want to say in times when we as individuals cannot say it. In those times we lean on music to help us understand the hardship we are going through, or as a mechanism to face our feelings or to block them out. Interpersonal violence which is defined as an individual using power over another in the form of violence whether that be emotional, physical, or sexual. With the many forms of interpersonal violence it’s apparent that it has been expressed in the form of music for quite a while, and sometimes not always in a preventative way. By