Research Report

[rgmb]

Hi, I’m a first year student at Birmingham City University studying Media and Communications (Music Industries) and would really appreciate some help on a research report I am currently doing. I am looking at the representation of rock and metal music in the media and how this representation differs between popular media (tabloid newspapers, the news, popular music websites/magazines) and specialist media (music magazines/websites that specifically focus on rock and metal music.) I am interested in hearing the opinions from fans of a range of genres of music as to whether they feel it is appropriate for rock and metal music to be publicised as widely as other genres of music and why it is often negatively portrayed in the media. Here are some articles that emphasise the difference in representation: Is Marilyn Manson to Blame for the Columbine Killings?) Why no child is safe from the sinister cult of emo | Mail Online Girl, 13, hangs herself after becoming obsessed with Emo 'suicide cult' rock band | Mail Online Kerrang! Police To Record Attacks On Goths, Emos & Punks As Hate Crimes Why Do Metal Bands Always Get Blamed For Violence In America? | The latest music blogs, free MP3s, best new bands, music videos, movie trailers and news analysis Please let me know any thoughts you have on: · Why the different forms of media portray this type of music so differently? · The Daily Mail articles suggest that listening to this type of music is dangerous and can be linked to suicide rates – should a specific genre of music really be blamed for this? · If you agree with The Daily Mail articles, should this genre of music not be publicised in the media? Where do you draw the line of how widely it should be publicised? Just to let you know that I will be referencing everyone anonymously in my research report (person a, person b ect.) and it is strictly for educational purposes – no-one will read the report except me and my tutor. If you are happy to help me out and share your opinion please do so below or in a private message if you would prefer! Thanks for your help

[FatherAlabaster]

Not really sure what you're after. I don't think the music people listen to is responsible for their behavior. I don't think the arts or print media criticizing them should be censored. I also don't think a survey or poll of public opinion about an oversimplified view of one facet of a complex behavioral, social, and potentially medical issue (adolescent depression) is likely to yield any useful data.

[Iceni]

Wow, the Daily Mail is just as crap as all the Mock The Week comedians say it is. 80% pathos, 15% tenuous claims, 4% fact and 1% anything even remotely resembling statistical research. They provided absolutely no indication of the research done.To control for other factors they'd have to do an absolutely titanic regression and even if the result is significant the R-squared might not be particularly high. If they ran a correlation they could get statistically significant results but even then a correlation coefficient of less than 0.3 is weak. I would like to see these studies that they vaguely reference, because as it stands now they could just be making stuff up. Controversy sticks with people. Nobody's going to remember Hansi Kusch or Kaisa Jouhki talking about how important JRR Tolkein's literature was in helping them write songs. An interview with a guitar nerd like Frederik Thordenthal or an introspective poet like Michael Akerfelt won't get a lot of attention. But connect one band to a Bible-burning or a kid committing suicide and suddenly you have the eyes of the nation. That's why Akercocke, a band most people have probably never heard of, managed to get an interview on Irish TV- because people were scared of their highly sexualized anti-religious lyrics. Metal is portrayed this way out of laziness more than anything else. I doubt journalists have much of an incentive to look for the 90% of metalheads who are perfectly well-adjusted if a bit foul-tempered at times and anti-clerical - especially considering that most of the viewing public can't be arsed with them either.

[rgmb]

Hi, thank you both for your replies! Father Alabaster - I'm basically looking for a range of opinions from people with interests in different genres of music on whether they think metal music does impact people in the way some media outlets claim it does. I'm not actually looking into causes for adolescent depression. I'm looking at whether people think it's justified that a certain type of music is being blamed for these issues and comparing the responses from fans of metal music and responses from fans of other genres (eg. pop, indie, dance, R&B ect.). Sorry if I didn't make that clear but hopefully that makes it more understandable. Iceni - I completely agree with you about the Daily Mail! And thanks for your comments on controversy and the examples you gave - I'll definitely look them up!