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They Feel More Stressed Out And Turn To Heavy Metal As A Way Of Relieving ...

They feel more stressed out and turn to heavy metal as a way of relieving that stress.
Participants said they appreciated the complex and sometimes political themes of heavy metal music more than perhaps the average pop song. It has a tendency to worry adults a bit but I think it is just a cathartic thing. It does not indicate problems."
Many of these students named bands such as Dragonforce, Slipknot, System of a Down and In Flames as bands they listen to on a regular basis. This study, rather than showing metal as something that causes violence and leads to problems in youth society, shows it as something that relieves stress in some of the brightest and most able children. This is surely a positive message about metal music rather than the usually portrayed negative image.
Political influences
Another reason why metal is often seen as a negative influence has nothing to do with the nature of the music itself, but rather its anti-establishment views. As in all other eras, the music that goes against the grain of society and establishment will be seen by many as destructive, violent and dangerous. Just as the music of Elvis Presley and other 50's and 60's rock n' roll artists was seen as against the establishment and having a negative impact on youth, so metal has the same problems today. Although metal music is clearly more aggressive in its sound and far more explicit in its lyrics, this is simply because of the increasingly explicit nature of society. Metal music is the anti-establishment music of today, and is no more harmful than the music of any other era. Punk music such as the Sex Pistols was seen as being aggressive and completely against all good values in the 1970's and 1980's, but as seen nothing truly bad has come of this. Now it is the time of metal to be attacked as a negative influence on youth, mainly by religious groups and those with political power.
Again, this is because metal music does not hold back in its content, whether that content is about love, hate, anger or pain. The music tells the truth, or at least the youth of today believe that. Whilst the music now is far more aggressive than it has ever been, this does not mean it will lead to increased amounts of aggression in its listeners. There has always been violence no matter what the type of music, and there will continue to be in the future. Blaming tragic incidents of violence on a musical genre is extremely dangerous, because it glosses over the real issues such as erosion of the traditional family unit and the increasing alienation felt by children in society. As another form of music comes along in the future, the attention will shift from metal onto something else. It is only when the critics of metal as a cause of violence begin to see the facts that metal will no longer be at the centre of such controversy.

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