Educational level/career choice and musical taste

[echorider]

Hi folks, I recently attended a university lecture where the lecturer put up a list of different musical groups. The list was divided between females and males. On the left side of the board, in this order from top to bottom were listed: Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Aha, and Europe. On the right side were David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, and WASP/Motley Crue. The lecturer then informed us that this study found a correlation between the amount of education the people they questioned had, and which bands they preferred to listen to. The left side was the breakdown of female preferences and the right side were male, with David Bowie and Beatles at the top of the educational scale and Europe, WASP at the low education or working class level.

To put it simply, I think this is a load of crap. I also get the feeling that study was a bit dated. But I do know that a lot of people prefer harder music while at the same time being well-educated and successful. I'd like to debunk his theory. Please help me out here and post about what kind of education you've had and/or what you do for a living. I'd especially like to hear from the other ladies on this board.

I'll start by saying that i've had 2.5 years previous university schooling and am now taking teaching courses.

PS, I'm putting this message on other music boards so I can reach a broader public.

 

[polarity]

The problem is that a person's level of education is less related to intelligence than to other factors such as class. Correlation doesn't demonstrate a cause-effect relationship. That said, I do believe that there is a cause-effect relationship between musical taste and intelligence (not really as simple as this though; ideological factors are also involved, plus the possibility of differing symbolic interpretations), and, although that study may not demonstrate it particularly well, I doubt that many intelligent people would listen to WASP or Motley Crue .

 

[skeptik]

Motley Crue I agree with, but certainly not WASP.

 

[AsModEe]

This is pretty stupid. I listen only to metal and I plan on doing high level studies. I have the notes to become a doctor, but it's not really my thing. I would rather become an engineer instead. I have to make my choice in 3 months.

 

[creepindeath66]

i'm studying electrical engineering!

 

[crimsonfloyd]

It's probably a combination of various things. Culture, idealology, intelligence, life experiences, mindsite and so forth all have an effect on the music one likes. The main mistake in this study is assuming that those who are uneducated are less intelligent. One of the smartest people I know is a mechanic who never graduated highschool. But even at a uniersity I have few people as smart as him. Conversly I have met many people here who come off as smart but are really nothing other then the product of an good eduacation. But anyways I think lifestyle has a lot to do with it. Remember that music is a sonic expersion of a feeling, experience, thought etc. If someone is a construction worker they're gonna be more likley to relate to the 9-5 sound of rock and roll, it's within the charicter of their life. A fourteen year old girl is gonna be more likley to be drawn towards the psuedo romantic sounds of bubble gum pop as she is begining to have pseduo romantic feelings. Anyways we can go on like this forever with endless exapmles, and for every general example there is the construction worker who likes Tori Amos or the fourteen year old girl who listens to Emperor but my point is there are many factors that add up to create someones musical taste.

 

[speed]

First of all, the sample of musical groups is such that any sort of study like this means nothing; there is not enough variation. I suppose WASP and Motley Crue are supposed to represent hard rock and heavy metal? but come on, these two groups hardly represent universal tastes of hard rock and heavy metal fans. And almost everyone likes the beatles, or a few of their songs.

I am completing a grad degree, and from my experience heavy metal fans are generally on the extremes, they are either some of the smartest people or some of the stupidest inbred trash around. Or in the case of Opeth and Dream Theater fans, some of the most pretentious pseudo-intellectual idiots around.

 

[skeptik]

heavy metal fans are generally on the extremes, they are either some of the smartest people or some of the stupidest inbred trash around.

This is most definitely true.

 

[MasterOLightning]

To answer the question originally posed, I'm a freshman at Northwestern University, which is one of the top 10-15 schools in the country. I'm studying journalism. Northwestern's journalism school is generally regarded as the best in the country. I'm a white male of lower middle class background if that is also useful.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Props nigga.

 

[the alumnus]

well, any survey is only as good as its methodology. what sort of sampling was done? what ages were sampled? income levels? was it restricted to certain geographic regions. these sorts of numbers games can be extremely misleading; without doing the proper research into the numbers one can extrapolate misleading or erronious conclusions.

 

[Christie_fell]

I = female. And this list is a load of crap. I listen mostly to metal among other styles of music, as most of us do. Unfortunately, I am but a senior in high school (so I can't inform you of my career and such), and I prefer not to talk about GPAs or anything of the sort simply because high school grades are complete shit, but for the sake of this topic, I'm in National Honor Society, several clubs, a year-round sport and 4 AP classes, all of which I am exceeding a 94 percent. I hope to study Civil Engineering. There.

Most metalheads I've come into contact with are either dumb as fucking meat or brilliant.

 

[Melodeath]

I'm 16, so I don't have a career.
But I'm a junior in high school and taking two AP courses. I have all A's and a B+ in one of the AP classes. A B+ is an A in any other county than the one I live in.
I just got accepted into National Honors Society too.

I listen to all forms of metal. \m/

 

[The Grimace]

...Europe, WASP at the low education or working class level.

Europe and Wasp fans are stupid? Surely you fucking jest.

 

[Cythraul]

I'm so sick of the "metalheads are glue-sniffing retards" stereotype. I got that kind of shit all the time in high school and you know what, I was smarter than all of those people. Granted, I have run into some fine examples of said stereotype but those types are definitely not in the majority, from my experience. As for my career, I don't have one yet but I'm transferring to the University of Arizona next year. I'm not decided on a major yet but I'm sort of leaning towards anthropology or physics, so put that in your pipe and smoke it.

 

[echorider]

Crimson Floyd: I agree. I think it's easy enough to find a sampling of anybody if you look in the right place. Personally I don't believe musical taste has any correlation whatsoever whether or not people seek higher education.

speed and alumnus: Unfortunately I haven't got the details of his study, but I intend to find out. What annoyed me most is that he presented this at a serious lecture regarding the difference in which studies students pursued after they left high school, and what kind of background they come from... children of researchers and doctors for example compared to the kids of people in other careers like business or industry.

Although he never actually said that that people who prefer WASP or Europe over Beatles or Bowie were less intelligent, it's not hard to see the implication. Plus if I were to question say, 300 18-year-olds this year about what kind of music they like, then question them six years later, the answers might be totally different.

Thanks for the input folks.

 

[Life Sucks]

That is a crock of shit. I know of many very smart or educated metal heads. I myself am working towards a masters degree too.

 

[Post_Scriptum]

You're being stereotyped as "glue-sniffing" morons because a few metalheads are "glue-sniffing" morons. I think I've met one intelligent metalhead in my whole life (I don't consider myself being a metalhead). They're either fucking unintelligent or pseudo-intellectuals only listening to NSBM.

 

[Freanan]

You also have to see that the kind of Metal that at the moment flourishes in the Underground is not the same as the kind of "Metal" that was mainstream in the 80s.
So it is not that strange that on this board or in metal in general there are mainly intellectuals or also pseudo-intellectuals, while in the past the people who listened to the metal-like stuff were working-class people.

In general i would say, the music one listens to and the cultural things one enjoys might be correlated somehow, but they cannot be used to determine to which social class one belongs in the end - there are too many factors.
Even if there were not more factors the hints that are given by the musical preferences of people can be totally wrong - you never know if someone listens to Burzum because he is a retard and wants to be evil, because he is a pseudo-intellectual neonazi, or because he is a normal and intelligent person who is inspired by the music.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Oh for your little survey I'm a 19 year old male percieved as white (despite being half moroccan) from a lower class upbringing attending the University of California Santa Cruz. I am majoring in Philosophy.