Picture this, a huge mass of jumping, sweating and
trembling people; trashing about and mindlessly swaying everywhere; lights
flashing and people shouting. This all seems to be very violent, angry and
negative from the point of view of a bystander. It's not every day that one
sees groups of people trashing huge venues just for the fun of it and
voluntarily jumping into pits of people who will punch you in your nose- not
that they mean to, but it happens- while trying to get the best view of the
stage. This behaviour is almost primitive, it may seems very inhuman, like no
'civilized' person would do this. This senseless primitive behaviour is
actually not that of hooligans and vandals. It is the act of head bangers,
metal lovers and rock fans. It's not violent, it's a safe way to let off
steam. It is a concert, it's an appreciation of music. These people are happy
and care free. Almost childlike joy; even the dance moves are the same.
Why is that? Well, maybe it's because you just don't have time to think about
your worries when banging your head.
Yet you've definitely heard it a million times from
the mouths of your mothers, grannies and conservative newspapers. Metal makes
you angry; teens who listen to metal are aggressive and won't find a job, it's
too loud and abysmal. The image that is fed to the general public about metal
listeners is a negative one. One doesn't seem to get a break from all the hate
and misinformation there is. Yes, the music can be at times loud and profoundly
angry, but that doesn't mean once you listen to it you want to kill goats and
sacrifice to Satan. Music does affect you but it doesn't brainwash you. If
music truly were to blame for violence, shouldn't rap- filled with a lot of
violent imagery- be the one to look out for? Rap lyrics often are far more
relatable than metal lyrics. The first tells a story about a street gang that
kills with guns and the latter tells about magical satanic sacrifices done with
sacred knives. It would be more probable that a teen would sway more to the
easier option of using guns, if an influence would indeed be taken from music.
Metal fans are also thought to be mean and angry. This couldn't be farther from
the truth. As a group we know what it feels like to be looked down upon. We
know what hate feels like, so we don't want to spread it. You might see a huge
man dressed all in black and looking grim, but in reality that man is most
likely the cuddliest and happy person there is. If you just open your own eyes
and don't look through those media tinted glasses, you will see that we're not
scary. We're lovely.
Finland is seen as the land of metal. This is very
much true and all throughout the year there are metal festivals everywhere.
These festivals always catch the eye of the media. When one is announced, it
will most certainly be followed up with an extensive amount of articles saying
how the world will end due to a couple of metal heads wanting to swing their
heads around. No metal festival is left without its time in the spotlight from
this negative condescending media. Doors are locked by parents fearing for
their children. All together it's not a warm and accepting welcome and all that
hate and fear are totally misplaced. Throughout the history of metal festivals
in Finland, they have been the calmest and best behaved out of all the others,
especially compared to pop festivals. In ‘weekend festival’ the biggest pop
festival in Finland, police had to bring in reinforcement to hold people down,
rape cases shot through the roof and the E.R was filled to the brim. All the
while the biggest metal festival 'Tuska', was praised by the police for good
behaviour. Which one sounds like the one parents should be worried about their
children going to?
Metal listeners are thought to be different than
the rest of the masses, but I doubt that anyone would think that would affect
their stress levels. Stress seems to be a problem we all struggle with. Or is
it? A new study by Maya Tamir and Brett Ford, researchers from The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, shows what all of us fans of metal have already know
our whole life. Metal reduces stress. In this study 175 people were asked to
role-play a scene where they either confronted another person or agreed with
them. Before they role-played, they had the choice to listen to music to get to
the right mood. The subjects were also tested for mental health and asked
questions about their emotions, happiness and feeling of social support. The
study found that us who don't try to run away from negative feelings and even
indulge in them via music, are the happiest. Metal listeners get their anger
out in that session of mindless flouncing about and head trashing, so we don't
need to yell at our neighbour for letting their dog out on our lawns. Also
another study in Finland shows that because of the speed and difficulty of the
music, the mind has to concentrate on the music and it leaves no room for
worry. So flinging your head back and forth doesn't get rid of those precious
brain cells the media is so worried about, but it does dispose your mind of
those angry and worrisome thoughts.
Another particular malaise of modern life, like
stress, is that of negativity. Much like stress, unhappy feelings and not so
pleasant thoughts are a thing that every one of us has to deal with at least
ones in our life time. Most of us start getting them as teenagers. That is the
time when you start thinking about your place in the world and how you fit in.
This is where metal can help. Even though the outward image of metal is very
scary and deliberately unpleasant, the core of the music is about finding your
place and a way to make sense of this chaotic society, into which you don't
fit, whereas pop music is all about changing for others. For many young adults,
metal is a way to vent out and let go of the reality for just one moment. A lot
of studies try to convince that metal makes you depressed and do this by
showing statistics of the depressed people who listen to metal. This is true, a
lot of metal listeners are depressed, but metal isn't the cause, it's the cure.
Ivan Moody, the singer of Five Finger Death Punch, tells stories about times
when teens and adults alike have come to thank him. This music has stopped them
from doing something that can't be undone. Metal doesn't drag you into depression,
it helps you to get back up and fight.
Even with
proof against, there is people assuming metal is dangerous. It’s disruptive and
loud, because no other genre can be, right? Metal has authority and this scares
people. A large group that strives to unconformity and have authority can make
the ground shake, so being concerned is understandable. We metal heads might
have a plan of world domination, or maybe not. The core of metal is about being
yourself, it’s about accepting who you are. It’s warm and welcoming, just
wrapped a bit differently. Leading a stress-free life and being who you truly
are is important. It makes you happy and being happy from just listening to a
bit of angry music, doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me.
Finding
Happiness in angry music
·
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/09/finding-happiness-in-angry-music/279341/
Metal music
can be good for you
·
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/07/26/why-aggressive-metal-can-be-healthy-music-therapy/
Metal music
and mental health in France
·
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19521752
The
psychological effects of heavy metal music
·
http://psuc53.wordpress.com/2012/03/11/the-psychological-effects-of-heavy-metal-music-2/
Metal makes
you happy!
·
http://www.metalinjection.net/latest-news/metal-science/metal-makes-happy
Science:
Listening to metal makes you happy
·
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/entertainment/science_listening_to_metal_makes_you_happy.html
Heavy metal
‘a comfort for the bright child’
·
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/3352230/Heavy-metal-a-comfort-for-the-bright-child.html
Tuska
open-air festival behaved over expectations
·
http://www.iltasanomat.fi/viihde/art-1288403478815.html
·
http://www.tuska-festival.fi/historia_2
Weekend goes
wild
·
http://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/a1408089954296
·
http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/a1345260537684
Word count;
1297
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