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Editorials

METAL MAKES MY EYES RAIN

 Friday, October 21st, 2011 at 12:30pm by

Guys, I don’t mean to bore you with my own personal shit about which you probably care little (if at all), but I have had some serious struggles with depression in my life. After hitting rock bottom last month, I finally decide to seek the treatment I need, and after many, many consultations with various members of the psychiatric field, it was determined that the source of my depression was that MetalSucks readers keep e-mailing us to sing the praises of terrible tech-death-core bands. The doctors prescribed a steady regiment of Xanax and new music by Cynic, and I’ve been feeling much better ever since.

Of course, my shrinks just might be quacks, because now a lady named Dr. Katrina McFerran at The University of Melbourne says that young people at risk for depression are more likely to listen to metal in the first place.

Dr. McFerran interviewed 50 kids between the ages of 13 and 18 and also did a national survey of 1,000 people. These were her conclusions:

“Most young people listen to a range of music in positive ways; to block out crowds, to lift their mood or to give them energy when exercising, but young people at risk of depression are more likely to be listening to music, particularly heavy metal music, in a negative way.

Examples of this are when someone listens to the same song or album of heavy metal music over and over again and doesn’t listen to anything else. They do this to isolate themselves or escape from reality.

If this behavior continues over a period of time then it might indicate that this young person is suffering from depression or anxiety, and at worst, might suggest suicidal tendencies.”

Dr. McFerran apparently did not take into account that each and every one of her subjects lives in a penal colony infested with giant hopping rats.

But in all seriousness…

First of all, yeah no shit a lot of metal fans are dealing with some very negative emotions. That’s part of the appeal of metal — it can be an outlet for those negative emotions. The best metal, in my opinion, generally offers some kind of catharsis. I’m obviously not between the ages of 13 and 18 anymore, but when I was, I certainly used metal for this purpose quite a bit. And, hey, guess what? I still do! If something stressful or downright shitty is going on in my life, I go right to metal. (You could even say that I use metal to — gasp! — “lift my mood.”) Is this really a negative use of the music? Would it better if I didn’t have that outlet? I tell ya what, Katrina — come live with me for a month, during which time I will listen to no metal whatsoever, and see how pleasant I am to be around. I’ve been told I’m not that pleasant when I’m actually in a GOOD mood, so I’m sure removing the music I live for from the equation should calm me right the fuck down.

And second of all, on what is the assertion that metal fans “listens to the same song or album of heavy metal music over and over again” is a means “yo isolate themselves or escape from reality” based? Isn’t it possible that they’re just listening to it over and over and over and over again because they, y’know, love it? Ins’t it possible that the only real thought going through their mind is “Wow, that is a great riff and it makes me feel really good to listen to it?”

(Also worth noting is the fact that, seriously, few types of music are better for “blocking out crowds” or working out than metal. It’s loud and high-energy. Do you know how helpful it is to have Jamey Jasta literally yelling “PERSEVERANCE!” in my ear when I’m on the treadmill? In fact, Invisible Oranges did a whole series of posts on the best metal to use for work outs.)

Maybe I’m taking this whole study way too personally (Which would be so unlike me, right?), but it strikes me as total bullshit, and yet another example of the mainstream attempting to categorize metal fans as somehow overly-damaged goods. OF COURSE some metal fans are depressed. So was the girl I dated who loved Interpol. Isn’t is just possible that a certain percentage of ALL people, no matter what kind of music they listen to, are emotional issues?

What do you folks think?

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

  • http://www.facebook.com/patrick.ohare1 Patrick O’Hare

    I think she had metal confused with emo. A similar study was done at my university and they claimed that My Chemical Romance and many similar bands were metal. I think that the most depressing music would actually be country. Country music is now, “I’m going to get drunk and drive off a cliff in my pickup truck because of my cheatin’ wife/cousin/girlfriend, etc”

  • not a psychiatrist

    Depression is an across-the-board issue…. does not matter what music you listen to. To try to pigeonhole based on one’s musical interests is about as limiting as trying to link mass murderers to the music they listen to.
    That said…. some metal music can have more introspective and meaningful lyrics than the average top-40, rap, or country music song.  So there’s that.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jakelentz Jake Lentz

    I’d be interested in reading her study, if only to find further reason to criticize her research methodology. The sample sizes for her survey groups carry no statistical significance or reliability, even for a place like Australia. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/FlannelBastard Dylan Jones

    I hate these people because they just try to pideonhole us metal heads as depressed fucks going nowhwere in life, when in fact I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.  I’m doing fine in college, I have a someone who I love, and I have a great outlook on life, all the while listening to Wormrot, Death, Kvelertak, Dark Castle etc.
    Studies, blugh.

    • http://www.facebook.com/FlannelBastard Dylan Jones

      So my ladyfriend dumped me.  THAT SUCKS, but it takes more than that to bring me down.  Hail Metal.

  • Justin Foley

    The press release headline suggests a causal relationship at work, but it’s not clear if that’s what McFerran found.  I’ll reserve judgment until I can actually get a sense of what she was studying.  

    Full disclosure, though: the headline sounds like bullshit.= Justin

  • gauche

    “yo isolate themselves…” i can’t imagine why you’d be depressed. in the words of another McFarren, don’t worry, be happy.

  • http://twitter.com/Meemperor Matt P

    “Examples of this are when someone listens to the same song or album of
    heavy metal music over and over again and doesn’t listen to anything
    else. They do this to isolate themselves or escape from reality.”

    I will admit I do this on the regular when depressed. Recently it has usually been Nachmystium. Although it’s usually 2 albums.

  • Charlie Brown

    The guy at the end of the video is wearing a sweet pgh pirate hat. I dig the fuck out of that pirate hat.

  • http://twitter.com/elericruiz Eric ruiz

    some young people are weird and like to isolate themselves, fucking ground breaking

  • http://metalstate.wordpress.com/ Atleastimhousebroken

    That ST video speaks volumes.

  • hybridofsteel

    I’ve been listing to metal since before I was 13 and I can confidentiality say that I have never suffered from depression (besides the ups and downs that everyone goes through). I’ve always wondered what makes metal so attractive to me, considering im a pretty light hearted, cheerful, friendly and optimistic person. I love the good in life. Reading this article made me realize that maybe I use metal to channel negative emotions away from me. If u didn’t have metal i would probably be a depressed, pessimistic asshole.

    • Anonymous

      Bingo! Same here dude, I go out everyday laughing my ass off and having a great time. But I’m a human being with an entire range of emotion. Metal is an outlet.

      • KRANG

        Nope, sorry. A Doctor told me you guys are depressed as fuck. You guys are probably happy and laughing at the death and destruction in the world. 

        • hybridofsteel

          Well in that case…. *slits wrists*

  • Betha_91

    “Dr. McFerran apparently did not take into account that each and every one of her subjects lives in a penal colony infested with giant hopping rats.”
    So lol.

  • http://www.facebook.com/keegan.still Keegan Lavern Still

    As a college student who is both a metalhead and a psychology major, I think that what Dr. Mc Ferran was trying to say that teens and young adults who listen to metal usually TEND to have more bouts and issues with depression and anxiety than people who don’t, not that they have some kind of inherent predisposition to mood disorders BECAUSE of listening to metal.

    I first saw this study on a Blabbermouth article, and as usual, they fucked the headline to make it seem as though she was saying that metalheads are more prone to mental illness. How her conclusion was phrased didn’t help that, either. It also doesn’t look like her study goes into much depth or breadth, either; there could be several other variables that could be at work like familiy/medical history, genetics or just plain shitty everyday life that could be account for teens wanting to use music to isolate themselves or to fuel their suicidal ideations, as Mc Ferran claims.

    Just to sum this up, I really don’t think that Dr. Mc Ferran has anything against metal, just the usual ignorance of what metal really does for teens (troubled and not), but how the study was phrased and how Blabbermouth may have portrayed her study really didn’t help her case.

    Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a paper to write about the influence of western classical music in metal to write.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1818773972 Cj Coronado

      What is breadth?

      • http://www.facebook.com/keegan.still Keegan Lavern Still

        The range or scope of something. In this case, the breadth of the study was only 50 teens interviewed and the national survey of only 1,000 people. Even for a relatively small place like Austrailia, like Jake Lentz said, that is not much for any kind of serious scientific substance.

  • neuronic

    Let’s keep in mind that there is no mention about what qualifies as “metal” in this case. These are 13- to 18-year-olds that we’re talking about. They think As I Lay Dying play death metal. They think Bullet For My Valentine play hardcore. They think Dragonforce play thrash. Of course they’re depressed.

  • KRANG

    She interviewed 50 kids and surveyed 1000? Kinda slim pickings there I’d say. As for my opinion on the matter, metal is a genre that takes some effort to be into. It’s not top 40, where it just easily falls into your lap. Going along with that, people listen to music for many different reasons.

    I think there are MANY young kids who listen to “heavy” music for the sense of rebelliousness it gives them “OMG, its so heavy and angry, that breakdown and those screams…”, I think these are also a lot of the kids who listen to it for a sense of community, and are probably the ones most likely to go with the trends in metal and music in general (nu-metal to metal-core-to death-core-to djent-dubstep). I think these people are mainly who this study is talking about.

    Then there are the people who listen to metal for the actual music, how intricate and complex it can be and the range of emotions it can bring up. Heavy metal music is such a wide term, there is a big difference between a 15 year old who listens to Suicide Silence and someone who listens to Opeth but to someone like this Dr. its all “heavy metal” Those are just two random examples but hopefully you get my point.

    So having said that, she could have done this study on just about any type of fucking music and had the same results. There is some really dark, depressing music out there that isn’t metal in the least bit (Elliot Smith?).

    In conclusion she sounds like a fucking bitch who interviews 50 people then acts like she knows something after.

    • Blckndsky

      It’s just so logical, being a smurf…what’s the point in living…if you don’t have a dick?

      • Steven

        You’re such a fuck-ass. (;

  • Anonymous

    Dr. McFerran is wrong…she couldn’t be more wrong, if her name was ms. wrong, and she was the mayor of wrongsville.

    Someone gave this person a PhD, hilarious.

    • gauche

      you suck at commas.

  • Blckndsky

    This study actually gives shape to the mainstream culture, itself.  From an outside view, metal is dark, scary, and dangerous.  It seems to me that any analysis, no matter how scientific or “unbiased” it is, comes to the conclusion that we’re all scared little children inside and we envelope ourselves in a dark, spiky clad exterior so as to ward off any relief from our insecurities which we perceive as our truest strengths (and they see as our greatest hindrances.)  Truth be told, just as you said, we find comfort in something that is different, something that is beautiful in a way that only us few can appreciate, and it’s that exclusiveness that makes metal so special. 
             I hate tomatoes.  I fucking hate them.  My wife loves them and can’t understand why I literally gag when I taste a chunk of tomato in my dinner.  There’s just something about it that disgusts me and I can’t enjoy them.  “You know how you can’t stand metal and you can’t understand what I despise about Lady Gaga?  It’s kind of like that” is how I’ve put it to her in the past.  Same thing.

  • Beowulf

    I agree, i listen to metal all the time, no matter what mood im in. If I’m feeling kinda down, it feels kinda awesome listening to some metal that pumps me up!! Sure some metal listeners can be depressed, but to me it seems like a stereotype. I think you can listen to metal no matter what mood you’re in.

  • hybridofsteel

    What I want to know is why is she focusing on teens? Interview some adults and see what the fuck happens.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=9391234 Ryan Sean Heron

    fuck that. crank up some black label society, pound 30 beers and learn to be a fun loving redneck. stop being such a jew

  • Omar

    I really think you misinterpreted her study, and I’m sure thousands of parents across the country will too.  She’s in no uncertain terms suggesting that heavy metal and depression have a corollary relationship, not a causal one.  I think that’s a pretty fair statement, heavy metal is a violent and brutal form of music.  It’s not for everyone either, most metal isn’t a very positive type of music…nor is it supposed to be, metal is supposed to be brutal and punishing.

    Look at the typical crowd at a metal concert and honestly tell me that most of those kids don’t have some serious shit that they’re dealing with.  Here’s a (far from inclusive) list of t-shirt statements that I’ve seen at metal concerts:

    Jesus is a Cunt
    Fucked over by God
    I kill people
    School Shootings Rule

    You’re not going to see these shirts at a Death Cab for Cutie concert, a Katy Perry concert, or an Avicii show.  Honestly you’re telling me the people wearing those shirts, particularly the last one, aren’t going through some rough shit?  Metal fans frequently mosh at concerts, metal fans (myself included) think beating the shit out of each other is fun.  How does that NOT suggest that there’s some aggression there? 

    That’s in no way a negative statement about metal, metal’s always attracted it’s fair share of outcasts and oddities.  That’s what makes metal awesome, it’s an inclusive party that lets everyone in no matter what their story is.  Do you really think that a positive beacon of energy could have written “Master of Puppets,” “Fucking Hostile,” “Angel of Death,” or “Sabbath Bloody Sabbath?”  Listen to guys like Tony Iommi, James Hetfield, Dave Mustaine, Corey Taylor, and Kerry King talk about the influences of their songs…pretty negative shit.  That’s probably what gives them their audience, their fans are likely angry, pissed off, depressed, confused, misunderstood, or a grab bag of all of them.  That IS NOT SAYING ANYTHING BAD WHATSOEVER ABOUT METAL OR THEIR FANS.  

    Look, there’s some people that go through some fucked up shit inside of them…doesn’t make them bad people…just means that they’re feeling some pretty rough stuff inside of them.  Why the fuck would they WANT to listen to something like “Learn to Fly” or “Been Caught Stealing?”  I mean, wouldn’t it make sense that people would flock to stuff that’s a bit darker?  I mean, thousands of fans wrote to Metallica and told them that “Fade to Black” helped them through some emotions. 

    Look, every genre of music probably has it’s fans that are depressed…but if you’re saying that depression and mental health issues are much more common in the heavy metal community, I don’t see how a.) anyone can disagree or b.) that’s a bad thing about metal or their fans.  Do you honestly think that songs about partying, drinking, and getting laid are just as likely to have depressed fans as songs about hell, killing people, monsters, and addiction?  Really?  This Godless Endeavor is just as positive of an album as “Chicken and Beer,” really?  Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse’s music is just as likely to appeal to the kid that’s going through some rough shit as Daft Punk’s? Seriously?  

    After beating that point to death, I think the real issue here is the implied judgment. Is the fact that a person is depressed or suffers from a mental health issue make them a bad person?  I don’t think so, and anyone that does is an extremely judgmental and harsh prick.  Does the fact that those people tend to listen to heavy metal say something bad about heavy metal? I don’t think so.  Nor do I think this woman implied it, certainly there’s behavior that goes along with heavy metal (or dark music in general) that can be a warning sign…but I hardly see how appealing to depressed individuals makes heavy metal bad.

    • Melek larayedh

      Thank you

  • Nold

    Dr McFerran : “If listening doesn’t make them feel good about themselves, this should ring alarm bells.”
    So, that means she thinks music should only exist with the aim of cheering people up, should only convey positivity and light up their mood.
    Now that’s a complete misunderstanding of the artistic nature of music. It ain’t no anti-depressant, it’s art.Of course when I listen to some Diapsiquir, Pensées Nocturnes, Celtic Frost or Gris, I don’t expect it to lift my mood. I sometimes do want to experience the filth, depression and negativity associated with that kind of music, along with the more subtle emotions.

  • Fred_Durst

    Suicidal for life.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Lindsey-Prks/501882185 Lindsey Prks

    holy shit, Im a metalhead and a psyche major, too.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8YuYidpVwo

  • http://twitter.com/ZoinksDotTV Zoinks!

    I think Suicidal kinda sucks without Rocky.

  • Schamehorn

    I listen to metal because It makes
    My cock hard.

  • jaded

    The University of Melbourne is for pretentious wankers, hipsters, and pretentious hipster wankers. (And I’m not just saying that because of this woman, I know too many asshole students from that uni).

    I’ve also known a lot of people who’ve had various degrees of depression, and metal fans weren’t over-represented in that group. Also, how exactly does one listen to music in a negative way? Have I been using my ears wrong this whole time?

  • http://www.ppsmil.com power point

    If you compare this study with the University of Warwick study from a few years back of adolescents who listen to metal which found a statistically significant proportion of them scored higher on aptitude and intelligence tests compared with their peers and knowing that intelligence is positively correlated with depression it doesn’t take a giant leap to see where this study is coming from.

    The Warwick study also found a positive correlation for depression, which it concluded stemmed from various forms of social isolation related to intelligence and metal listening habits.

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3352230/Heavy-metal-a-comfort-for-the-bright-child.html

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000193275862 Tyler Steele

    “Examples of this are when someone listens to the same song or album of
    heavy metal music over and over again and doesn’t listen to anything
    else.”

    And the radio doesn’t play the same shit over and over again…

    • paganheart

      Maybe that’s why listening to mainstream radio makes me want to slit my wrists….

  • metal ruined my child

    “Examples of this are when someone listens to the same song or album of heavy metal music over and over again and doesn’t listen to anything else. They do this to isolate themselves or escape from reality.”

    How many college girls do you know that listen to the same top 40 songs over and over and over? If listening to metal on repeat is negative, is that not? All pop radio does is repeat the same songs over and over. I don’t think that is negative by any means, its just boring.  Our genre of choice happens to be more musically interesting than other people’s. Doesn’t justify a repeated listen by itself?

    The Dr’s findings seem ignorant and guided by opinions she has already created.

  • iPlaySpector

    I loled at the tech-deathcore joke. Seriously, I listen to metal when I’m happy, its just music notes, if you choose to perceive it to be negative – that’s how you’ll apply it to your life.

  • Mitch K.

    You guys should spell check more thoroughly lol

  • Sandblast

    There may actually be truth to this study. Metal can lead to mental illness. In fact James Hetfield now believes he is a table.

    Lol, In all seriousness, I don’t care about this study. I know I’m not depressed and I know listening to Megadeth or Warbringer isn’t gonna take my mood down. Just another person trying to see how metal fans are, and completely missing the mark.

  • http://twitter.com/kndrgrtnhzngrtl the khr guy

    they’re not supposed to get it.

    please understand this.

    normal society is NOT SUPPOSED TO GET IT

    stop wishing they’d get it