I hope not, but I have come across a study stating that the anapestic beat in rock music is bad for the brain and causes muscular weakness. I cannot find a study that confirms which member of a four piece band is responsible for the beat.
You know, everyone likes to say “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”, but in this case I think we have a massive, long-running study (or collection of studies) that says rock music doesn’t do any damage we’ve been able to detect.
In brief: If rock has done damage, such damage has had plenty of time to come to light and be quantified. It hasn’t been. So the reasonable conclusion is that there is no such damage.
ETA: Searching for ‘anapestic beat evil’ on Google (no quotes) is a hoot and a half. No scientific foundations were found, of course, just a lot of good old-fashioned nuttery.
Here’s a site about the anapestic beat nuttery that doesn’t look nutty itself:
So this quack invented some nonsense back in the Seventies, long after everyone should have known better, about how a certain fascinating rhythm swaps the hemispheres of your brain around, makes your muscles go all stoner on you, and leads mice to question why learning mazes is such a great thing to do anyway, man. Some Christians picked up on it and away we go.
Dr. Diamond, meanwhile, is a holistic scammer selling the Diamond Path of Life and has a blog full of bad poetry and worse medicine:
Ah, the burning bush! Jews get all excited, but gynecologists generally prescribe antibiotics.
Ba-dum-bing!
Uh, doc, shouldn’t you be running tests or thinking or something?
See? Hoot and a half. This whole thing is nuts.
According to this classic book, Rhythm, Riots and Revolution, Beatles music will not only lead to pregnancy and the downfall of society, but worse – communism.
My mother believed every word of it, and banned non-Christian music from our house.
I especially like one reviewer’s comment of the author’s books: “his descriptions of sexual bass and drum combinations…”
This one guy came into our Bible group and started the only fight we ever had about this question. It also marks the only time I’ve yelled at someone out of anger in public. It was at one person in the group who tried to insist she’d actually done research and wrote a paper on the subject. When asked about her support, it was all about how she felt and that God had revealed it to her. I challenged her to show me where God forbade a specific type of music in the Bible.
And the idea that the anapestic beat is found more often in rock is silly. In fact, I have trouble coming up with rock that is anapestic, unless you count Queens “We will Rock You,” which is has a very atypical beat.
Very little rock music uses an anapestic beat. “Piano Man” by Billy Joel is the most obvious example. But at least 85% of rock uses a standard 4/4 beat, which is usually iambic.
At the same time, the waltz is anapestic. Is he condemning Richard Rodgers, too?
Unless the author of the article doesn’t know the definition of “anapestic.” If so, how much can you believe of the rest if he can’t get the actual terms right?
I think spontaneously pummeling the Amish or the Mennonites is abhorrent and should be treated as a hate crime.
Unless you count hearing loss in people who’ve listened to too much too loud.
Nit pick or side bar I am not sure which. But Rock music can hurt the ears and cause hearing loss. Preformers have proven it. But anything loud can do the same. Machinery or long hair music that is loud. I am not going to give a link because I really do not think I need to. So now I am going to put in my hearing aids now.
This Dr. Diamond character (whose training is in psychiatry) has co-authored a book “Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide To Cancer” which is chock full of gems:
*"The chapter “How Cancer Politics Have Kept You in the Dark Regarding Successful Alternatives” is particularly hostile, stating that “the result is that chemotherapy, radiation and surgery are the law of the land as cancer treatments for political, not therapeutic reasons.”
Product Description
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Mmm, shark cartilage, Essiac, homeopathy, “glandular extracts” - this reads like a compendium of cancer quackery.
One of the supporters of the Diamond theory of anapestic rock beat danger is Raymond Obomsawin, who also warns us of the dire peril of associating with music “concocted by the Arch-Rebel Prince Of Darkness”, “musicogenic epilepsy” and the horrific prospect of Seventh-Day Adventists waggling their torsos to a devilish beat (you couldn’t possibly make this stuff up). Obomsawin is perhaps better known as an antivaccine advocate, but he’s in great form in this sermon.
Both John Diamond and Obomsawin are splendid examples of the phenomenon of crank magnetism, where belief in one crackpot theory is generally accompanied by belief in other equally nutty ideas.
I can’t be arsed to read that diatribe, but as a counterpoint now SDA services feature plenty of rock worship music. A lot of things have changed in 100 years thankfully.
Wow, a sensible response to an absurd question. Hearing loss is a real problem – most musicians I know personally (and others I know over the internet) who do it for their whole career as their source of income use earplugs all the time. It bothers me to be helping my father shag bags of concrete for his wood-fired oven and hear my mother running the vacuum cleaner without ear-protection. They still don’t ear-protect for stuff like leaf-blowers or pressure-washers. I’m not over here that often, but it bothers me. Maybe they reason they gwine die soon anyway, but that ain’t anyways to live.
Thanks all. I feel silly for posting this question now.
I think I’ll start a new band. We’ll call ourselves The Anapests.
We’re bad for the brain. Yeah!
Rock music definitely causes muscular weakness. Just ask Henry Rollins.
That guy is a fucking pussy. “Black Flag” was just a cover-up for how weakling he was.
I think it should be pointed out that Dr. Diamond’s name is pronounced di-a-MOND.
Other side effects of the anapestic beat are the rockin’ pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu.
The diatribe was about that very point- his lament at the modern music & even gasp dancing prevalent among the SDA- who are now mimicking those demonized Pentecostals!
Going around blaming artforms for society’s ills and/or health issues is a wild goose chase and therefore bad for you/society in terms of lost productivity, unrealized potential, and an unhealthy level of misdirected angst. And I am so going to write a song about this that features a monstrous anapestic beat. 