Does heavy metal rock music encourage violence in teenagers - Essay Example

Introduction One of the most popular genres of music among the teenagers is the hard metal music. Musicians such as Marilyn Manson and Ozzy Osbournehave had an eternal appeal towards adolescents though out generations. However a long-standing debate surrounding hard metal music is whether it gives a boost to the violent nature in their teenage listeners. The acts of violence range from aggressive behavior to commit suicide. Dr. Paul King conducted in a Memphis hospital among disturbed teenagers.

The age of his patients ranged from thirteen to seventeen years and they were admitted to the hospital for treatment of their drug dependency. Among the two hundred patients interviewed 60% responded that heavy metal music were their primary choice of music. A high proportion of these patients were involved in a number of violent activities including aggression, thefts, and high sexual behavior (Victor, 163). This demonstrated a correlation between violent activity and listening to heavy metal music.

The paper shall try to analyze the causes of this reaction. Cause-Effect Analysis The thumping beats of the heavy metal genre have found popularity in the adolescents extensively. A lot of times the young people especially in their teenage suffer from a low self-esteem. These are the formative years of a man and for the first time they experience an interaction with the world. Their ambitions and self-expectations are high and they have to face a lot of peer pressures. Most of the adolescents in this age do not know how to deal with this.

As a result they often suffer from low confidence or a rage towards the world. Their minds are also easily impressionable. In this situation these people often identify with the loudness of the heavy metal music. They find their role models in band like Slipknot or Megadeath. Teenagers often spend a large amount time listening to music. Estimates suggest that the average teenager spends 40 hours of the week listening to music. However this identification and consequent long hours of exposure to the aggressive forms of music can soon have a snowball effect.

Secondly, the lyrical content of such music has a wide range of subjects. This can sometimes pertain to drug and alcohol addiction. Many of the times the lifestyles of the musicians are imitated by the teenagers because they think it is stylish. There is often a reference to suicide as the method of freedom from the troubles of life. Most of the hard metal songs are released with music videos, which are highly graphic in nature. Another feature of these songs and the videos is a focus on sex and the sexual practices.

Often sadistic, masochistic, incestuous practices or sexually aggressive behavior towards women are glorified in these videos. Thirdly, sexually explicit lyrics in songs like Nine Inch Nail are very common. Marilyn Manson in his songs have promoted violence towards women and advocated suicide. Instead of promoting love and the beauties these music often depicts the dark and satanic as objects of worship. The adolescents at an impressionable age quickly pick them up. The two finger devil symbols had become very popular among the adolescents (Hodge, 268).

Several of the musicians also resort to on stage antics that find appeal from these teenagers. These teenagers often do not know how to separate the music from the promoted lifestyle or the lyrics. Moreover at this age the adolescent people are more vulnerable to the things they see and hear. They are often curious about the practices and experiment with them. Every time they see an act of aggression by their favorite musician they try to copy them. At this age the young adults does have serious understanding of the depth of sexual offense.

Therefore sexual misconduct towards women or sexually explicit behavior becomes common. The gendered nature of the content in the songs also affects the young adults. Studies have shown that exposure to songs that shows violence towards women and does gender stereotyping has created a bias in the men about rape myths. They are more likely to accept facts that the woman has purposefully dressed provocatively to attract attention. In a study some of the men after watching a song of Michael Jackson stalking a girl responded that women needed aggressive persuasion to please them.

It was also seen that for young women more exposure to heavy metal music reduced their perception of violence and violation (The influence of Music and Music Videos; Heavy Metal and Violence: Is there a connection?). Conclusion The above discussion has therefore considered a number of instances of preference for rock music and aggressive behavior. The paper has also brought up the cause behind the attraction of a teenager towards this genre of music and the subsequent change in his attitude and behavior.

Therefore we can conclude that hard metal music enhances the aggression and tendency for violence in a teenager. References 1. “Heavy Metal and Violence: Is there a connection?“ CBS42, December 26, 2011, May 27, 2011, from: http://www.cbs42.com/content/special/story/Heavy-Metal-and-Violence-Is-There-a-Connection/die2UQ13FEqdXa5sri6KHw.cspx 2. Hodge, Ted. Vision of a Mental Patient, Dorrance Publishing, 2010. 3. The influence of Music and Music Videos, American Academy of Child & Adoloscent Psychiatry, September 2008, May 27, 2011, from: http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/the_influence_of_music_and_music_videos 4.

Victor, Jeffrey S. Satanic Panic: the creation of contemporary legend, Chicage, Open Court Publishing, 1993.