March 21, 2007
Geeks love Metal
Well, DUH. Especially if by "metal" you mean bands like Queen:
Researchers questioned more than 1,000 members of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, whose members rank among the brightest five percent of youngsters in Britain.Interesting, no?
"There is a perception of gifted and talented students as being into classical music and spending a lot of time reading.
"I think that is an inaccurate stereotype," Stuart Cadwallader, a University of Warwick psychologist who is presenting the findings to the British Psychological Society Wednesday, told the Daily Telegraph.
"We are looking at a group with lower than average self-esteem that does not feel quite as well adjusted.
"They feel more stressed out and turn to heavy metal as a way of relieving that stress."
Cadwallader added that heavy metal fans often appreciate the "complex and sometimes political themes" of the music.
"It has a tendency to worry adults a bit but I think it's just a cathartic thing," he said.
"It does not indicate problems."
Many of heavy metal's biggest stars are closet geeks -- Brian May, guitarist with Queen, is currently finishing a doctorate in astrophysics, while Iron Maiden star Bruce Dickinson is a history graduate, international fencer and qualified commercial pilot.
Posted by caltechgirl at March 21, 2007 03:43 PM | TrackBack
I'd be more apt to believe this if they used a larger sample size and from other schools.
Posted by: Contagion at March 21, 2007 04:55 PMThis doesn't surprise me at all. My smartest friends, and I know some REALLY frickin' scary smart people, all listen to the hard stuff. It is a good release.
Posted by: Bou at March 21, 2007 07:08 PMI wouldn't exactly classify Queen as metal. But then again, practically all musical category labelling like that is pretentious bullshit.
Posted by: Dave J at March 21, 2007 09:05 PMUP THE IRONS!
Posted by: jimmyb at March 22, 2007 02:25 AMI am a stereotypical nerd, geek, etc., in that I do love to read and listen to symphony. I love the peace of the music, without the clutter of words. Hey, I have enough voices in my head without being bombarded by the ones blaring from my radio.
Posted by: Thomas Warlock at March 22, 2007 07:41 PMNerds have made many useful contributions to society. Some noted nerds include the Talking Heads' David Byrne, physicist Steven Hawking, and Supreme Court Justice David Souter.
Awwww - not Souter!
Posted by: Nightfly at March 23, 2007 12:57 AMHello. My name is Dogette and I'm a Geek. My favorite music has always been "metal" or hard rock or whatever they're calling the more intense stuff this week.
Posted by: dogette at March 23, 2007 07:10 AMThe fact is, aside from a handful scary guys like Pete Steele from Type O Negative, most metal musicians are former AV and/or band geeks in high school, and tend to be short and skinny. I ran with a metal crowd, and none of us were athletes, nor were we burners or delinquents. We were the kids who skipped dances and listened to the brand new Iron Maiden album while drinking a couple of Dad's beers.
BTW, I'm 41 and still a rabid metalhead. SLAYER!
Posted by: PaleoMedic at March 23, 2007 10:58 AMBack in the day, we geeks listened to RUSH! (Hell, yeah!)
Brian May is one of my favorite guitarists.
I'm such a geek to this day, I can go from Sarah Brightman to Cradle of Filth without flinching.
That might be a sign of mental illness, but I'll ignore it and hope it goes away :)
Posted by: Brian the sailor at March 24, 2007 08:14 AM
