# Heavy Metal! It's for smart People! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383 "2007-05-16T23:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Captain\_Socks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a8b319/32.png) [@Captain\_Socks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Socks)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/1 "2007-05-16T23:20:23Z")
According to this study [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/03/21/nmetal21.xml](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/03/21/nmetal21.xml) many gifted children, including myself, consider themselves metalheads. But I’m really a classic rocker, meaning I am also a traditional metalhead. I listen to bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and Van Halen. No death metal for me! But yeah, I’ve known this all along. And I’m not sullen or “socially alienated” either. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/2 "2007-05-16T23:26:28Z")
As a metalhead married to a metalhead musician (OK, so he cut his hair actually just _today_, does he still have shred cred?), I am of course not surprised. My Latin teacher even said once, “The metal kids are always more on the ball.” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/3 "2007-05-16T23:36:29Z")
It’s all the head-banging. Gets the brain all fizzy. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/4 "2007-05-16T23:39:28Z")
“It’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/5 "2007-05-17T00:05:32Z")
What about that study that showed that rats who listened to classical music ran mazes better than rats who listened to metal? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/6 "2007-05-17T00:10:30Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Socks] I listen to bands like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin and Van Halen. [/QUOTE] That’s a pretty wide swath, dude. ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/7 "2007-05-17T00:12:59Z")
Those findings are consistent with [my personal experience](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/search.php?searchid=2549059) (even though he DID drag me to concerts by Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth) (I actually knew some of the lyrics to that last one). I wish my husband would post here more often. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/8 "2007-05-17T00:15:25Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] What about that study that showed that rats who listened to classical music ran mazes better than rats who listened to metal? [/QUOTE] What about it? ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/9 "2007-05-17T00:16:55Z")
I suspect the metal-head rats just jumped the hell outta the box. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/10 "2007-05-17T00:17:37Z")
What I really find funny is that despite the loudly-professed opinions of certain kids my age in high school, I’ve seen no evidnece whatsoever that people who listen to Echo and the Bunnymen have any intellectual superiority. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/11 "2007-05-17T00:37:09Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] What about that study that showed that rats who listened to classical music ran mazes better than rats who listened to metal? [/QUOTE] Are you a rat? ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/12 "2007-05-17T00:52:41Z")
If you include AC/DC, then how many teenagers mostly listen to heavy metal? A vast majority. Therefore, a vast majority of smart teenage kids would be expected to listen to the same kind of thing, no? A similar study would find that dumb kids listened to Black Sabbath to help cope with the pressures of being dumb (glue-sniffing induced or not, like most of my metal friends). Average kids might listen to metal to deal with the pressures of one day having to live in a suburb. A better question is how many kinds of music categories can the vast majority of teenagers name. Chances are, you’ll get country, rap, heavy metal or classic rock, maybe emo, then the intellectual stuff kids hate like jazz and classical. Now break it down into how many of these categories the kids actually listen to and you’ll hear how they listen to “everything except for rap and country” or they just listen to rap. Everything, of course, is what is on the radio and classic rock, which doesn’t sound as cool as heavy metal. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/13 "2007-05-17T02:31:28Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] What about that study that showed that rats who listened to classical music ran mazes better than rats who listened to metal? [/QUOTE] The metalhead rats were all “Why the fuck should I run this fucking maze for the fucking man!?” ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/14 "2007-05-17T02:55:07Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] What about that study that showed that rats who listened to classical music ran mazes better than rats who listened to metal? [/QUOTE] Did they play any Ratt? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/15 "2007-05-17T12:58:51Z")
I am inclined to think that, rather than metal, per se, it is more about actively listening to music, period. There is something to be said for having a music that you obsess about as a kid. The music I am sure does good things for your brain and you can fantasize about being in the band and getting away from your awful high school existence, etc. Not that I have any firsthand experience with this at all… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/16 "2007-05-17T14:04:33Z")
I think watching a few episodes of _The Osbournes_ is all that’s needed to disprove the OP’s theory. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/17 "2007-05-17T14:26:29Z")
Metal is more oriented towards instrumentation and composition than singing or dancing. A lot of it uses unusual time signatures, more challenging explorations of dissonance and more complex arrangements. It has some of the same qualities as jazz in what it requires from the listener. It requires a more abstract and cerebral sensibility than listening to pop. It aways appealed to me for that reason. Metal heads get tagged with a dumb image, but playing that music actually requires a decent grasp of theory (even if it’s only intuitive). Vocal oriented pop is too simple, too surfacy, too musically shallow to engage me. Pop country is the worst of all. I’d bet that pop country has the dumbest fans of all. It’s the most insubstantial music out there. This article is no surprise to me. Most every serious metal guitarist I ever jammed with was pretty bright (drummers are a different matter). ---
**Author:** ![mr.jp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/48db29/32.png) [@mr.jp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr.jp)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/18 "2007-05-17T14:51:29Z")
I dont see how that study says anything good about listening to heavy metal. > [@](#): > > 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. Only 6% have metal as their favorite genre? Compared to how many non-gifted children? Why is this data considered positive for heavy metal? ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/19 "2007-05-17T14:56:58Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] I think watching a few episodes of _The Osbournes_ is all that’s needed to disprove the OP’s theory. [/QUOTE] True, if your into metal **and** you have been doing drugs for 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2007, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383/20 "2007-05-17T14:58:58Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] What about that study that showed that rats who listened to classical music ran mazes better than rats who listened to metal? [/QUOTE] I don’t know about that one, but I seem to remember a study that showed that plants in a greenhouse that played metal grew faster and stronger than plants in other greenhouses classical playing in the background. They also had one that played a man talking, another that played a woman talking, and one with near silence. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heavy-metal-its-for-smart-people/404383.md?page=2)