I wouldn’t redo my junior high years again for all the money in the world. It was a hard, emotionally bruising season, one that inflicted some deep wounds upon my tender adolescent psyche. I wasn’t one of the popular kids. Nor was I particularly unpopular. Just somewhere in limbo between those two extremes, occasionally receiving the barbed jabs of the cool kids and probably administering a few of my own to those lower on the social totem pole.
My primary refuge during those years—and many that followed, actually—was music. The world of music offered solace to my bruised self-esteem, an outlet for all those pent up emotions. And as it turned out, my music of choice was, more often than not, hard rock and metal. Def Leppard. The Scorpions. Judas Priest. Mötley Crüe. Whitesnake. Quiet Riot.
Ah, yes, Quiet Riot.
My first concert, at the tender age of 14, was Quiet Riot at the Iowa State Fair. I can only imagine that something about the wholesome nature of the fair in general was what convinced my parents it was OK for my best friend, Joe, and I to go. And so there we were, banging our heads with all the other metalheads.
One of Quiet Riot’s biggest hits back in the day was “Metal Health,” on which (now deceased) lead singer Kevin DuBrow shrieks, “Bang your heads! Metal health will drive you mad!” And, as it turns out nearly 30 years later, a group of scientists have actually discovered that perhaps the late Mr. DuBrow was closer to the truth than he might have realized.
Researchers in Great Britain recently sought to come up with a psychological portrait for those who are drawn to heavy metal. University of Westminster psychologist Viren Swami focused on heavier stuff than the bands I grew up with, namely contemporary metalcore and thrash. Music, they reported, that tends to be characterized by “heavy guitar riffs, double-bass drumming, breakdowns (slow, intense passages that are conducive to moshing), and overall loudness,” not to mention vocals full of “shouting, shrieking and growling.”
On the positive side of their assessment, Swami and his team found that metal aficionados exhibit an “openness to experience.” He also noted that those who exhibit such openness are often “drawn to forms of music that are intense, engaging and challenging, of which heavy metal is but one example.”
Perhaps less flattering, however, was Swami’s assertion that metal fans “were also more likely to have lower self-esteem.” The scientists theorize that metal “allows for a purge of negative feelings” and cathartically “helps boost self-worth.” Other correlations between appreciation for metal and listeners’ attitudes included a higher-than-average need for uniqueness and a lower-than-average affinity for religiosity. About the latter, Swami said, “It is possible that this association is driven by underlying attitudes toward authority, which may include religious authorities.”
Summarizing his team’s findings, Swami said, “Heavy metal fans may have [psychological] profiles that distinguish them from fans of other musical genres. … [But] rather than stereotyping fans as deviant, antisocial or violent, it may be more fruitful to understand the psychological needs that contemporary heavy metal fills for some individuals.”
Though Swami’s research doesn’t paint a particularly flattering picture of metalheads, I can’t say it’s terribly surprising. And I’d also say that I’ve used metal to try to purge stuff in my own heart in exactly the way he’s described.
That said, I would also suggest that popular music in general—and not just loud, aggressive metal—has a hugely emotional and at times cathartic component to it. Music, perhaps more so than any other entertainment medium, invites a kind of bond and identification with both its lyrics and the artists who write them. Some of the most searingly critical letters we get here at Plugged In come when we’re critical of someone’s favorite band or song.
To be critical of music (or a musician) someone loves dearly is almost perceived as a criticism of them, personally. That kind of deep identification is something we just don’t see as frequently or intensely when it comes to our critiques of movies, television or even video games, generally speaking.
So … lest metalheads feel that this study is picking on their peculiarities and insecurities, I think all of us who identify deeply with a particular band or song, artist or genre would do well to consider how we, too, are interacting emotionally with the music that connects with us most deeply. I certainly would have done well to think twice about the kinds of songs I was filling my head and heart with back in the ’80s. Because our musical interests and preferences—and the intensity with which we connect with certain music—may say more about us than we realize.
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