By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 21/03/2007
Intelligent teenagers often listen to heavy metal music to cope with the pressures associated with being talented, according to research.
The results of a study of more than 1,000 of the brightest five per cent of young people will come as relief to parents whose offspring, usually long-haired, are devotees of Iron Maiden, AC/DC and their musical descendants.
Researchers found that, far from being a sign of delinquency and poor academic ability, many adolescent "metalheads" are extremely bright and often use the music to help them deal with the stresses and strains of being gifted social outsiders.
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Stuart Cadwallader, a psychologist at the University of Warwick, will present the findings at the British Psychological Society conference in York today.
He said: "There is a perception of gifted and talented students as being into classical music and spending a lot of time reading. I think that is an inaccurate stereotype. There is literature that links heavy metal to poor academic performance and delinquency but we found a group that contradicts that.
"We are looking at a group with lower than average self-esteem that does not feel quite as well adjusted. They feel more stressed out and turn to heavy metal as a way of relieving that stress.
"Participants said they appreciated the complex and sometimes political themes of heavy metal music more than perhaps the average pop song. It has a tendency to worry adults a bit but I think it is just a cathartic thing. It does not indicate problems."
The researchers surveyed 1,057 members of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth - a body whose 120,000 student members are within the top five per cent academically in the 11-19 age range.
Asked for their favourite type of music, 39 per cent said rock, 18 per cent R&B and 14 per cent pop. Six per cent said heavy metal and a third rated it in their top five genres.
The heavy metal fans in the study had lower self-esteem and more difficulties in family relationships and friendships.
Mr Cadwallader then held an online discussion involving 19 members of the academy, 17 of whom were heavy metal fans. They spoke of listening to bands including System of a Down, Slipknot, Tool, Dragon Force, Forward Russia and In Flames when they were in a bad mood and using it to work off frustrations and anger.
One student said: "It helps me with stress. It's the general thrashiness of it. You can't really jump your anger into the floor and listen to your music at the same time with other types of music."
Mr Cadwallader added: "Perhaps gifted people experience more pressure than their peers and use the music to purge this negativity."
Dan Silver, assistant editor of the music magazine NME who has worked for Kerrang! and Metal Hammer, said: "Many themes of heavy metal are about alienation. If you have these kinds of feelings there is a lot you can get out of the music and the community of fans who are into it."
People were always so surprised when they found out I liked heavy metal. They always assumed a nerd like me was only into classical music.
Seriously though, I'm a little skeptical to their conclusion. Only six percent rated heavy metal as their favourite genre. I'm not how that correlates to "Intelligent teenagers often listen to heavy metal music to cope with the pressures associated with being talented"
The best part is the part about people using music to work off frustrations and anger. Like Rye says, if it doesn't suck so bad it's physically painful to listen to, what's the point?
I love his off-the-cuff statement though. 'Maybe this is what it is. Somehow. Purge with metal!'
Frankly, the smart people listening to classical thing is simply a product of bad 70s movies. Sure, I know smart musically-elitist people who recreationally listen to classical, but shock horror most 'smart' kids are just kids, so they listen to music kids like.
Well, perhaps it does make them feel better. It would not be implausible. Music is entertainment, and entertainment can help put your mind at ease. I guess it would depend on your musical persuasion what it is specifically that makes you feel better, but I would think, ultimately, music is supposed to make you feel better.
Music can elicit emotional responses. I hope it's true, since that means it helps them. That would be a good thing .
It's certainly believable as an outlet for angst, that's largely the draw of it in the first place. Intelligent kids get angsty too (oh man, how I understand that! ) and so yeah, metal ftw. There's still a lot of dumb metalheads, though,k can't deny that, but it's also true that at our sometimes violently anti-metal school, the metal fans were, in our year anyway, generally composed of people that were in the top set for everything and generally did better than average.
EBC|Fucking Metal|Artist|Androgynous Sexfiend|Gozer Kvltist|
Listen to my music! http://www.soundclick.com/nihilanth "America is, now, the most powerful and economically prosperous nation in the country." - Master of Ossus
You know you can be smart and not angsty and frustrated. Also, being angsty and frustrated doesn't correlate to intelligence. So... all kinds of people like metal. Smart people like all kinds of music. Whoo... who?
I bet 'angsty' subcultures being heavily metal-based/metal-friendly/metal-encouraging also has nothing to do with it.
The article is describing the study in a slightly misleading way. The study is not saying that smart teens "often" listen to heavy metal. It's simply saying that the longstanding stereotype of metalheads necessarily being stupid is incorrect.
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
Ohh jeez, this is gonna hit the metal forum circuit HARD. Then we'll see a lot more intolerable goofballs with Nietzsche hardons taking even more and more embarrasing forays into territory best left untouched by the likes of them.
Dammit, just when I was able to call myself a proud metalhead without feeling a kick in the gut, too...
Frankly, I gauge anyone as being above average intelligence if they don't listen to most of the tripe produced today. If you own at least one Queen/Pink Floyd/Beatles/Led Zep/Eagles or whatever CD, then you're redeemed. I listen to various genres myself, from classical to movie scores to metal or rock and pop.
But I cannot listen to anything in the charts today without breaking something.
Admiral Valdemar wrote:Frankly, I gauge anyone as being above average intelligence if they don't listen to most of the tripe produced today. If you own at least one Queen/Pink Floyd/Beatles/Led Zep/Eagles or whatever CD, then you're redeemed. I listen to various genres myself, from classical to movie scores to metal or rock and pop.
But I cannot listen to anything in the charts today without breaking something.
Most popular music nowadays anyway sounds so identical it's impossible to distinguish one band from another on style alone, really. It's the main reason I stick with either classic metal, or branch out into foreign bands which don't seem to suffer from this type of nonsense as badly.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
) and so yeah, metal ftw. There's still a lot of dumb metalheads, though,k can't deny that, but it's also true that at our sometimes violently anti-metal school, the metal fans were, in our year anyway, generally composed of people that were in the top set for everything and generally did better than average.
