Gifted Children Find Heavy Metal Comforting

An anonymous reader writes "The Daily Telegraph is reporting that intelligent teenagers often listen to heavy metal music to cope with the pressures associated with being talented, according to research. Researchers found that, far from being a sign of delinquency and poor academic ability, many adolescent "metalheads" are extremely bright and often use the music to help them deal with the stresses and strains of being gifted social outsiders."

Punk

Part of me wants to respond in an incredibly cynical manner to this as most "intelligent teenagers" are smart enough to be aware of much of the bullshit associated with growing up and being aware of wider sociopolitical, environmental and other issues and they need a release for the anger. Other cynical parts of me want to say they are also smart enough to be able to recognize the top 40 drivel that is being disseminated by the recording industry.

However, stepping back from the cynicism, I would note that this was always my experience with the punk scene. Specifically, most people I knew in the scene were incredibly talented, highly intelligent and for the most part more articulate than average. I always wondered how it was that we seemed to find one another, self assemble and take part in a scene that was a retreat of sorts from lives and upbringings that were in most cases not "Leave it to Beaver" or "The Cosby Show" type lives.

Re:Punk

Other cynical parts of me want to say they are also smart enough to be able to recognize the top 40 drivel that is being disseminated by the recording industry.

Really? Isn't most head bangin' heavy metal disseminated by the recording industry?

Re:Punk

Really? Isn't most head bangin' heavy metal disseminated by the recording industry?

Perhaps you are revealing just how aware you are.... ;-)

Seriously though, there is *lots* of very good music out there including metal and punk that does not come through the big RIAA dominated scene. If you will note, that is why I invoked punk.

Re:Punk

Congratulations! Your post makes it clear that you are officially "too cool for the hype" and thereby qualifies you for hipster status. Just let us know where you want the certificate sent.

Re:Punk

Really? Isn't most head bangin' heavy metal disseminated by the recording industry?

Nope. Actually, there's a truckload of metal out there that is completely dissociated from the current Top 40 music scene. In many ways, the realm of Top 40 radio hits has been on a dying path for some years. It still persists because it was a convenient way to find good music before the dawn of the digital age, and there will always be those among the masses too lazy to find what suits them best. Top 40 music is consistently available for those people looking for catchy tunes, but I believe you will find a much richer world of music if you look deeper into the lists of independent artists and bands out there. That feeling of discovering a new group with fresh sounds is unsurpassed by the record industry's efforts to pump out "Top Hits" every month.

If you think a record label and great music are exclusively hand-in-hand, then you are short-changing yourself in the world of music that exists today. You can find just about any genre that will blow your ears away from the lyrical depth, passion, and creative quality not found in the work of artists signed by the RIAA. Independent labels are unbound by the chains of corporate earnings and contract clauses that each record label artist must sign upon entering the business. That kind of unbridled freedom to make music is exciting in the mind of this audiophile. That's not to say that the RIAA doesn't have some great bands signed up, but the worldwide music scene has grown larger than the industry itself. You no longer need them to bring you good music when it's already sitting out there.

RTFA, baby.

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.

  6% - Heavy Metal
14% - Pop

More of them listed the Britney Spears genre than the Angus Young genre.

I'd say there might be some flaws in this "study". :)

Re:RTFA, baby.

... any study that does not indicate a significant penetration of hip hop is biased.

The story is from England. They have hip hip, but no hip hop.

On a different tack, how does the genera spread compare with the general population within this age group? Are gifted English students more likely to listen to heavy metal than average kids? Or is this study aimed at consoling parents?

Re:RTFA, baby.

Pfft. Mozart wasn't metal. For a real metal musician from the era, look to Niccolò Paganini. "It was common for him to arrive at a concert in a black coach drawn by black horses. Paganini himself would wear black." [brick.net] and "Paganini's technique was outstanding and unusual, but it was his satanic bearing which caused great crowds to attend his concerts." Finally, because "Paganini had refused the final sacrament, he could not be buried. His remains were kept in a basement for five years"

Mozart was more rock star than metal.

Re:RTFA, baby.

paganini was also a savvy businessman. The whole 'black clothes' thing started after someone declared that his prowess on the violin must mean he was in league with the devil. That sold tickets, and paginini went out of his way to encourage that image, because he knew it attracted crowds.
He was also a womaniser, always lusting after rich influential peoples wives and daughetrs. As i recall it was some sexually transmitted disease that finally finished him off.
He used to play free gigs in graveyards to the poor as well, that probably helped his 'metal' image.

Re:Punk

A lot of punks are very intelligent people (in a very warped way geeks are punks in many ways, we tend to over lap and have a usually left wing mentality), but you have to remember punk as we it should be is rather dead. Punk got too mainstream to the point where it became pop music and all it stood for became "lets do drugs and break stuff!" in the current climate. These "neo punks" are little more than teeny boppers dressed up as something else, still looking for something to call their own and a scene where "no one cares what you are (cough how it used to be cough)" is the obvious place to settle.

As for heavy metal being related to gifted children.. Hmm no. Because music is a personal thing and people will tend to enjoy what they are exposed to at a young age and leaves a lasting impression. So right now rap, girl bands, heavy metal (the pointless screaming type) and punk would be popular with children (0-12ish) in most cases. Where as back in my day (born 86) we had more dance music and retro stuff from the 70s and 80s still hanging around. Which would be very similar to my taste in music now.

Plus children are fickle, if we gave them the entire catalog of music they would have a new favourite band/style every other day.

Re:Punk

Heavy metal and punk both have two characteristics that could easily appeal to gifted kids. There is a rejection of the mainstream average(you-don't-understand-me) and an inclusion in a brotherhood of "different-but-better". This misunderstood elite is obviously going to appeal to kids that are bored in class and frequently ostricized because of thier intelligence. Why do you think "news for nerds" is a source of pride for /.ers ?

Re:Punk

in a very warped way geeks are punks in many ways, we tend to over lap and have a usually left wing mentality

I think this may reflect you reading your own political position into punk/geek culture more than anything else. Geeks and Punks share a kind of anti-authoritarianism that doesn't map well into the (mostly bullshit) left-right political spectrum. Geek libertarianism and Punk DIY-anarchism fit parts of the left and parts of the right. Matching the left, they care about solidarity, anti-corporatism, and socio-cultural liberty. Matching the right, they care about negative freedoms (small, limited government as opposed to the nanny state) and "rugged individualism."

Re:Punk

Meh.

Linking music tastes and intelligence is really, really, wrong. What kind of music you like depends on so many factors, mostly environmental but... anyway.

Let's take a look at the article:

Mr Cadwallader then held an online discussion involving 19 members of the academy, 17 of whom were heavy metal fans.

Translation: Some psychologist asked some kids what kind of music they liked and they answered heavy metal. Oh and they also weren't complete idiots.
Since the sample was so big (almost 20 people!), obviously all "gifted" (definition?) children must listen to heavy metal. But since most of heavy metal is crap, he couldn't help but wonder why did these kids listen to this kind of crap.

One student said: "It helps me with stress. It's the general thrashiness of it. You can't really jump your anger into the floor and listen to your music at the same time with other types of music."

Ah! That makes sense, because smart people worry about society and stuff. The psychologist thought that his findings were so great he had to share them with the rest of the world, but he needed some statistics, so on his way home he asked some more kids about what kind of music they liked so he can make useless statistics that help make a research look all that much more professional:

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.

Okay so he found that from a group of supposedly smart kids (although I'm not sure that academia equals intelligence), SIX percent really likes bands like tool, slipknot and system of a down (which are very popular bands anyway) and about one third said "tool? they're cool, I used to listen to aenima a lot". Did that miniscule percentage surprise him that much that he had to go and tell the world?

Re:Rap on the other hand...

Yup that is what I remember. It wasn't even a racial thing. Don't get me wrong, racial slurs were tossed around like candy but in the small town I lived in most of the youth hadn't even met someone of another race. All the 'rapper' kids were just wiggers and we laughed at them.

Then there were the preps. They dressed like the wiggers (because that Nike and sports stuff was expensive and the preps had to flaunt money) and usually listened to rap/hip-hop/etc but at least they didn't usually come up to you and call you G or tell you they were a blood or crypt.

I remember at a small gathering one time a so called blood was bragging about his brotherhood and status. A friend shaped a 'B' out of a wire hanger and branded him with it. Convinced him that it would show his loyalty. The following day he spread it around town that so and so was his bitch and he had branded him to prove it. The kid showed his 'B' all over town and it was a good month before he found out why everyone thought it was so funny.

Gifted find *eating* heavy metal comforting

If you are having trouble being gifted, try eating heavy metals rather than listening to heavy metal. That way you won't be gifted very long.

It's so true.

Let's see... I'm 41, have loved metal since I was 14 (Motorhead is the greatest band EVAR) and am the smartest guy on slashdot...
The evidence is overwhelming.

Re:It's so true.

You forgot the heavy metal umlaut! [wikipedia.org]

Re:It's so true.

IS that why you repeat something other people have said to try and grab Karma?

Here, let me repeat something that someone else has said. "Go fsck yourself....." :-)

In all honesty though, I've been around Slashdot for a while now (since '97 or '98) and am not remotely concerned about making cheap karma grabs.

Re:It's so true.

My college roommate and I figured that Vivaldi was the lead headbanger of the baroque period.

Heavy Metal

Yeah, I love listening to mercury

Re:Heavy Metal

[smartass]Freddie and Queen ain't Heavy Metal.[/smartass]

Yep.

It's entirely true. I first dug into Metallica and Black Sabbath when I was about 13, and I find myself hooked on Dream Theater, Shadow Gallery, and Symphony X now.

Hard rock, progressive rock, and heavy metal all usually talk about social and political issues in a manner that is both musical and lyrical, and it's a lot easier to dig into and associate with than the lamenting dorks that populate alternative and indie rock nowadays.

So if you want to find some smart kids...

Look for the ones with AC/DC and Metallica shirts. Also look for signs of Aspberger's syndrome in their interaction with hippie teachers, redneck neighbors, Daria...

Re:So if you want to find some smart kids...

You said assburger, huh-huh-huhu-huh...

Uh, wrong. Headline is misleading..

From the article:

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.
So no, not 'many adolescent metalheads', but a few happen to be gifted, compared to the rest who listen to other types of music.

Also from the article:

The heavy metal fans in the study had lower self-esteem and more difficulties in family relationships and friendships.

So, if anything, one could hypothesize that gifted teenages that listen to heavy metal are more likely to have shitty self-esteem and quite possibly being perceived as asshats by family and friends, and listened to heavy metal as a way to 'cope' with the anger.

Just you wait until they start playing those tracks backwards....

Damn kids

In my day, we made do Elton John and DEVO. And we LIKED it.

Re:Damn kids

You had musicians. Luxury!

In my day, there was just a village idiot guy banging two rocks together.

Damn kids!

Re:Damn kids

In my day, there was just a village idiot guy banging two rocks together.

The village idiot and a couple of rocks? Luxury!

In my day we had Yoko Ono, five cats, a chainsaw, and tube of K-Y Jelly.

possible explanation

I suppose some of it might be that gifted children could have a degree of asperger's syndrome and aren't as able to relate to the oh-baby-baby emotive style of typical pop music.

Or the simpler explanation...

Maybe they just like the music? I'm a member of the International Baccalaureate program and few of my peers have similar tastes in music. I waste my life listening to video game soundtracks, a few other members like classical, one likes techno. And for every smart kid who listens to heavy metal, there's fifty moronic ones that do the same. Only six percent of intelligent students like it and they act like its a massive majority.

Resist the Crowd Mentality

If you show keenness or interest in a subject at school, you are already likely to be treated as an outsider. You don't have to be a genius to be an outcast. I think the pressure to conform to the "hive mind" at school is the thing that really holds children back.

Bruce Dickenson's School for the Gifted

You've not experienced The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner until you've read it in the original Iron Maiden.

Gifted children aren't a monoculture.

This article basically makes no sense.

Gifted children: is there a single type of gifted children? Gifted in what? You can be very gifted in certain areas and suck in other areas.

Also, it's funny that the fellow Slashdot commenters which listen to heavy metal read this as "you listen to heavy metal, so this confirms you're gifted". I don't blame anyone for putting on his rose glasses though. It's only natural.

For the record, gifted children are not a monoculture. There are some gifted children who listen to heavy metal to deal with stress of being a teenager. Nice. There are also gifted children who don't listen to heavy metal, and heavy metal listeners that aren't gifted.

You're walking away from this article slightly less mentally gifted. Slashdot, you suck.

That's because it's not cool anymore.

I know for absolute certain that the kids in *my* highschool that listened to heavy metal were most certainly not the best and the brightest. But that was back when bands like Metallica and Megadeth were at the top of the music charts, and Jerry Falwell and Tipper Gore were trying to make a political career out of the genre.

I think that this article is more like "nerdy kids listen to music that isn't cool."

Academic ability?

Did anyone else roll their eyes at academic ability? I admit Britain might be different but I can't say as I've ever seen anything that convinces me academic ability makes someone smart or that lack of it makes them dumb. In fact I've always considered excessive willingness to engage in a system that amounts to government funded daycare as a sign that the other person might lack intelligence.

Marilyn Manson

As a side note, I've seen a couple interviews with Marilyn Manson and he comes across as surprisingly intelligent and well-spoken, even while still wearing the freaky makeup.

Re:Marilyn Manson

"As a side note, I've seen a couple interviews with Marilyn Manson and he comes across as surprisingly intelligent and well-spoken, even while still wearing the freaky makeup."

Florence Henderson (the mother in The Brady Bunch) said almost the exact same thing after meeting Marilyn Manson on Bill Maher's former show, Politically Incorrect. She was doing an interview and was asked how she felt about the incongruity of the two of them participating in a round table discussion, and she replied that she thoroughly enjoyed talking with him. She said that she was struck by how intelligent and articulate he was, and that she found him to be extremely charming.

Re:Also..

Consider that some heavy metal is very intellegent music. Sure, when most people hear "heavy metal" they think Slipknot, Korn, Marilyn Manson and the ilk, but I can get into some Iron Maiden (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is singularly the greatest metal song ever, and not only for it's music), Metallica (80's era) has some great political meaning, and Tool is fun to listen to and try to contemplate the possible meanings of the song. Or am I the only gifted nerd who thinks so?

The beauty of metal, especially after it's "death" in the early 90s is that it's been reborn and many new sub genres are born. Everything from Symphonic Metal to Melodic Death to Progressive to Doom to Gothic to whatever!

Some lesser known but very talented bands:

Therion [wikipedia.org] - Sopranos, tenors, baritones, lot of classical instruments. Pure genius. Theli, Vovin, Secret of the Runes are great albums. Their live shows are also very interesting, they usually travel with about 5-6 opera singers.

The Gathering [wikipedia.org] - One of the first gothic metal bands (now more gothic/atmospheric rock). Mandylion, if_then_else, How to measure a planet, are all very good. Due to some experimental guitar work, their style has been labeled sometimes "shoe gazing".

Tiamat [wikipedia.org] - Pink Floyd meets Gothic Metal. Wildhoney is among the best gothic metal albums. Awesome albums are also Prey and A deeper kind of slumber. Another band that evolved from extreme metal to some weird psychedelic gothic style.

Agalloch [wikipedia.org] - Atmospheric, lot of doom/dark ambiance. Every record from this band is worth it's weight in gold. I do have a soft spot for Ashes against the grain.

Nightwish [wikipedia.org] - One of the bands who defines the Symphonic Metal sub genre. Lot of uplifting melodies, great shows. Once, Century Child and Oceanborn are really good.

Katatonia [wikipedia.org] - Everything from doom metal to gothic rock. They started as some extreme metal band and evolved into some weird dark/doom rock/metal mix. Viva Emptiness and The Great Cold Distance are great.

Symphony X [wikipedia.org] - Progressive Metal at it's best. Jazz and classical influences. Albums like The Diving Wings of Tragedy and V are their best.

Iced Earth [wikipedia.org] - How Metallica should have evolved. The Gettysburg 1863 trilogy is a pure masterpiece of symphonic metal. The rest of their work is more classical thrash with Iron Maidenesque melodies and gallops. Something Wicked and Dark Saga are very strong albums.

Opeth [wikipedia.org] - Progressive Death Metal, extreme on some albums and some dark haunting lullabies on some others. Orchid, Damnation and Deliverance are my favorites.

Ayreon [wikipedia.org] - One composer, Arjen Lucassen, almost every album is a concept album. Invites various singers to sing for him. Style is mostly progressive rock/metal.

Tristania [wikipedia.org] - Probably the most beautiful female voice in the metal world (hopefully the future Nightwish singer). Ashes and World of Glass are amazing gothic metal albums.

Labels are bad news

As soon as you label a kid as being gifted, you stop treating them as a kid. Poor behavior: "Oh, that's just gifted kids for you". Don't want to take out the trash: "He really shouldn't be wasting his talents". There seems to be a complete obsession with labelling people to get status or to excuse behavior. Worst is when the kids are told that they are gifted: they soon learn to use this as a manipulative tool: "I need to do $FUN_ACTIVITY to expand my experiences. $CHORE crushes me".

Most kids are gifted one way or another, some academically, some otherwise. Just most kids don't experience the environments that bring the best out of the kids.

My experience was just the opposite...

...when I got my 'gifted' label. It was all about "Why the HELL are you smoking dope and making strangled cat sounds with the guitar when you are flunking out of high school? You're GIFTED...it shoud be EASY for you! Now do your goddam homework!"

Re:My experience was just the opposite...

Same here, I certainly never got to use it as an excuse. I think I would have had my ass kicked if I had.

In my experience kids who use labels to manipulate their parents only do so because they are allowed to, the parents tend to be push-overs.

Gifted label used to control

'Gifted Child Industry' Preys on Parents' Insecurities
http://www.alternet.org/story/42644/?comments=view &cID=259124&pID=259049 [alternet.org]

The "Gifted and Talented" Fraud
http://borntoexplore.org/unschool/gifted.htm [borntoexplore.org]
"The truth is that "gifted and talented" programs are fast-track indoctrination courses, not real academics."

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/15c.htm [johntaylorgatto.com]
"I could regale you with mountains of statistics to illustrate the damage schools cause. I could bring before your attention a line of case studies to illustrate the mutilation of specific individuals--even those who have been apparently privileged as its "gifted and talented." What would that prove? You've heard those stories, read these figures before until you went numb from the assault on common sense. School can't be that bad, you say. You survived, didn't you? Or did you? Review what you learned there. Has it made a crucial difference for good in your life? Don't answer. I know it hasn't. You surrendered twelve years of your life because you had no choice. You paid your dues, I paid mine. But who collected those dues?"

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/prologu e_print.html [johntaylorgatto.com]
"In 30 years of teaching kids rich and poor I almost never met a learning disabled child; hardly ever met a gifted and talented one either. Like all school categories, these are sacred myths, created by human imagination. They derive from questionable values we never examine because they preserve the temple of schooling."

"Old-fashioned dumbness used to be simple ignorance; now it is transformed from ignorance into permanent mathematical categories of relative stupidity like "gifted and talented," "mainstream," "special ed." Categories in which learning is rationed for the good of a system of order. Dumb people are no longer merely ignorant. Now they are indoctrinated, their minds conditioned with substantial doses of commercially prepared disinformation dispensed for tranquilizing purposes. Jacques Ellul, whose book Propaganda is a reflection on the phenomenon, warned us that prosperous children are more susceptible than others to the effects of schooling because they are promised more lifelong comfort and security for yielding wholly: Critical judgment disappears altogether, for in no way can there ever be collective critical judgment....The individual can no longer judge for himself because he inescapably relates his thoughts to the entire complex of values and prejudices established by propaganda. With regard to political situations, he is given ready-made value judgments invested with the power of the truth by...the word of experts."

Re:Gifted label used to control

These sound like the ravings of crazy ass libertarians.

"The truth is that "gifted and talented" programs are fast-track indoctrination courses, not real academics."

I've never been in a "GATE"/Gifted and Talented program, but later on in the academic career, most high school honors and Advanced Placement classes do offer advanced academics to students who are either willing to work hard or have the aptitude to finish the coursework.

"I could regale you with mountains of statistics to illustrate the damage schools cause. I could bring before your attention a line of case studies to illustrate the mutilation of specific individuals--even those who have been apparently privileged as its "gifted and talented." What would that prove? You've heard those stories, read these figures before until you went numb from the assault on common sense. School can't be that bad, you say. You survived, didn't you? Or did you? Review what you learned there. Has it made a crucial difference for good in your life? Don't answer. I know it hasn't. You surrendered twelve years of your life because you had no choice. You paid your dues, I paid mine. But who collected those dues?"

School isn't bad. I can answer "Has it made a crucial difference for good in your life" easily. First, how to code efficiently and cleanly in C++(I was learning on my own and it lead me to some... bad ...habits). Second, it made me appreciate things I never would have. Math, literature and sciences. Bad schooling is the problem.

Re:Gifted label used to control

I'm posting AC because I'm trying to be brutally honest, not go on an ego trip.

I was one of those kids who was labeled as "gifted" fairly early on in my education. My school didn't have a tag program until 6th grade due to budgetary constraints. I can't speak for every school in the country, but your descriptions don't match my experience and they largely seem the product of philosophical / political beliefs.

- My tag program was comprised entirely of real academics. In the 6th grade we did high school chemistry, some astronomy and physics, learned about stock trading, wrote research papers on 20th century history, read some difficult books, started a debate team, and so forth.
- My experience in high school people was like pretty much any experience with other people. One or two teachers were brilliant, most were just getting by, a few were misleading, and one was downright malicious. Sure, my school didn't seem to be able to provide for me very well, but it was due to a lack of resources, not any kind of malice or conspiracy.
- No matter what you want to believe, some people's brains just work faster than others. One of my best friends in high school was also in the tag program. I did my homework during class, never studied a night in my life, blew away standardized tests without preparing, and spent my nights hacking on linux. She was doing the same work, getting pretty much the same grades, but studying 6+ hours a night to keep it up. Some people couldn't have kept up if they studied 8 hours a night, 7 days a week.

That last link goes into a lot of conspiracy theory bullshit about how the idea of varying intelligence amongst people is an artificial concept, which it coyly blames on some great conspiracy between the Rockefellers, Dewey, Rousseau, blah blah blah. Frankly, a lot of the links you've posted seem politically or philosophically motivated.

Bottom line:
- Some people are smarter than others. These categories are not the product of propaganda, conspiracy, or a bunch of fat rich white men smoking cigars and drafting up a "system of order."
- Teachers get paid shit so many of them are there because the hours are good, or because the competition is not exactly fierce, or because they are genuinely benevolent, caring individuals. At the end of the day, though, I believe far more of them give a shit than most people believe; I suppose it's more comforting to think that you're dealing with a conspiracy or institutionalized malice than to confront the fact that most of what we encounter in life is the product of people doing the best they can under the circumstances.

...shit.

Pretend that was posted AC.

Re:Labels are bad news

Oh please! Can't we get an article about gifted children or aspergers or something like that without someone making a stupid lowest common denominator post like this? Yes. I'm sure the things you have stated in your post happen. It is stupid, it shouldn't happen, but it does. The problem is, it has nothing to do with the article. Do you really find it so hard to believe that there are smart kids who find life stressful because they don't fit in, so they listen to heavy metal music?

There really are people out there who think that kids who are called "gifted" are just spoiled brats, and that people with asperger syndrome are just shy and need to get out more. Simply because some spoiled brats get called gifted or because some nerds falsely claim to have aspergers. Posts like yours just add to that, without bringing anything useful. Just the same obvious "damn I'm such a rebel for pointing this out" obvious boilerplate post.

P.S. The title for your post is "Labels are bad news". Believe it or not, all words are labels. Do you think words are bad? Just because using a single word like "gifted" doesn't perfectly describe something as complex as a person? This whole anti-label thing is idiotic. Just speak in complete sentences and you fill find that words/labels work to convey a point of view, even if they don't carry enough meaning one at a time. Imagine that!

Re:Heavy metal as a detox?

For me, Heavy Metal is a way to sooth my anger. The angrier the music (NIN, SoAD, Slipknot, etc.) the quicker I come down from being pissed off. And hey, it's cheaper than therapy :-D

Re:Heavy metal as a detox?

That's funny, I thought we were talking about heavy metal.

Not quite heavy metal...

We should remember that today's kids aren't necessarily listening to Iron Maiden and early Metallica. Today when people mention "metal", kids just think of teen angst nu-metal bands like Slipknot and Mudvayne. Actual heavy metal is an entirely different subculture (and a much more varied and informed one, IMHO), and the music tends to be much more complex. One listen to a band such as Opeth or Emperor serves as a good demonstration of this point.

But the parent is right about heavy metal soothing anger. I can't manage to stay angry after a few minutes of listening to death metal. Ironically, it's often the most calming music I have.

Re:Heavy metal as a detox?

I find that Rammstein is among the best "stress-relief" music available, because my German is not nearly so good as my English, so I am not distracted by the (sometimes kind of stupid) lyrics. Eisbrecher (essentially Rammstein without the synthesizer) is also nice.

I've also noticed that the Mozart Effect [wikipedia.org] can apply to certain non-mozart music, as well. It seems to be based on the idea of a 60 Hz beat (now I'm doubting that, since Wikipedia didn't mention it. Someone else back me up?), which most of Mozart's stuff provides. Rob Zombie's "Never Gonna Stop Me" features a baseline that follows this pretty exactly.