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Belknap Died Whilst Vance Lived For Around 3 Years In Serious Pain Before ...

Belknap died whilst Vance lived for around 3 years in serious pain before dying. It was alleged that the lyrics had caused these two ‘normal' boys to commit suicide. However, after a 17 day trial where more than 40 witnesses were called it was ruled that the band had not intentionally put any subliminal messages that would have been the cause of the suicides. Whilst it may be easy to associate their deaths with the music, it is clear that the music was not a direct cause of their violence. Instead, child abuse, psychological problems and substance abuse were eventually seen as more likely candidates for the tragic incident. This is a case that shows the metal music was not responsible for their violence, but rather they were drawn to the music because of their feelings of violence.
This is a view shared by Arnett, who surmised that although male heavy metal fans were more reckless than non-metal fans, it was more the fact that the reckless males were drawn to the music than that the music was the cause of their recklessness. So, rather than music being the cause of the problems, it is in fact the similarity of the feelings in the music that draw people of this nature towards it.
This is further supported by Roberts et al, who points out that while those who are perhaps troubled or at risk gravitate towards metal music; there are many metal music fans who simply listen to the music. If you look at it one way, there are millions of metal fans who do not take drugs, are not overly violent and who are not depressed or behaving badly. However, many of those who are depressed and troubled listen to heavy metal music, because it gives them the support they need and identifies with their feelings of isolation and frustration. That is to say, the music is not the cause of their troubles, but rather something that troubled people identify with.
However, there are many studies that go even further and show that no causal connection between listening to metal music and levels of violence or aggression. For instance, a study conducted in 2000 looked at the relationship between heavy metal music and aggression levels. Two groups of sixteen students were each given an aggression levels survey to complete, one whilst listening to no music and the other listened to the song ‘Jerk Off' by Tool. It was hypothesised that there would be higher aggression levels shown in the participants listening to the metal music. However, the results showed no statistical difference between the two groups, with pretty similar results in both survey groups. Although the researcher here was looking and hoping for a causal relationship between metal music and aggression, one could not be found. Although the sample size was small, this is a positive result for the idea that metal does not promote violence.

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