Analysis of the Physiological Effects of Rock Music

(A documented research paper using the MLA Format)

 

Microscopes are useful in making observations of small objects.  However, if a microscope is not focused, the object will appear to be a blur.  When the microscope is properly focused, though, the object can then be seen clearly.   Trying to define what music is objectionable often results in a blur since everybody makes his or her own decision on this matter.  After focusing on some scientific truths, however, the boundary between objectionable music and appropriate music will be much clearer.  This argument will focus in on the scientific fact that music causes physiological effects that allow for the enjoyment of music. It will also focus on the concept that music is associated with activity. The first part of this essay will explain these two points and the latter part will apply them to show that heavy forms of rock music are violent and therefore cause violent behavior.  Then, since these heavy forms of rock music that cause violence need to be defined, we will consider what it is about the music that makes it violent.

              The fact that music causes a physiological response is something that no knowledgeable musician or psychologist would dispute.  Alan Bloom, a professor of social thought at the University of Chicago, points out in The Closing of the American Mind that the present generation of students is addicted to their music (68). Then he concludes that rock music is likely to have “an effect similar to that of drugs,” since rock music induces physiological pleasure just as a drug can (80).  Agreeing with this conclusion, Richard G. Pellegrino M. D. PhD, the president of an entertainment company called Daydream Productions, comments that a comparison can be made between people who overdose on heroin and people who listen to music (4).  In explaining how these behaviors are related, he introduces a drug called Naloxone, which counteracts the “opium high” caused by heroin.  He then explains that studies have shown that Naloxone also counteracts the “natural opioids” that produce the physiological effect that allows for the enjoyment of music.  With Naloxone operating in the body, people no longer enjoy music (4).  Pellegrino goes on to relate that the entertainment industry is in the business of changing emotions.  He states that music “is some of the most powerful stuff on earth”, and concludes by bringing out that after working with the mind for 25 years, he can’t control emotions “the way that one simple song can” (23).

In “The Musical Hormone” Dr. Norman Weinberger—the coordinator of the Music and Science Information Computer Archive at the University of California—mentions an experiment by Brownley et al where levels of physical arousal were measured in groups of runners while the groups were listening to either fast music, slow music, or no music.  The untrained runners who listened to faster music had higher levels of physiological arousal than those who listened to slow music or no music (3).  He concludes his article by stating that when people listen to music, they could actually be “self-dosing” on hormones.  He brings out that the health risks of continued musical hormone highs should be taken seriously (4).  We can conclude from Dr. Weinberger’s observations that music can cause physiological responses that increase physical arousal.  This is an important concept because it explains how certain kinds of music could increase physical arousal and promotes the frenzied activities that will be discussed later.  What do musicians say about the physiological effects of rock music?  In his “Analysis of Rock Music,” Ron Hubbard—a director, arranger, performer and composer—relates how to go about creating a “physiological impact” with rock music.  Interestingly, he mentions that it takes precise sound mixing to create this impact (1).  We can conclude from Hubbard’s article that the goal of many musicians is to create a physiological response.

To further bring this matter into focus, the concept that music provokes action should be considered.  D. E. Berlyne—The Associate Professor of Psychology at Boston University—brings out that according to the psychologist L. B. Meyer, meaningful stimulus “evokes some fraction of a response” (247).  Therefore, meaningful music encourages action.  It is only logical to believe that music encourages action since many people are moved to dance or tap their feet to music.  Also, the experiment mentioned earlier with the untrained runners supports this idea since the fast music aroused the runners, encouraging them to run harder.  Music, therefore, has the power to effect people’s actions.  Dr. Howard Hanson’s of the Eastman School of Music in the University of Rechester gives support to the idea that music has awesome powers.  He comments in the American Journal of Psychiatry that music “has powers for evil as well as for good” (qtd. in Watkins 5).  So music can promote either positive actions or negative actions.     

What kinds of activities are associated with rock music, and what kind of action does it promote?  To answer these questions, let’s take a look at the kinds of actions that are prevalent at rock concerts.  According to AWAKE! Magazine, five thousand chickens near a rock concert in Rome went crazy and piled up against a fence.  Two hundred of the chickens were killed during the chaos (29).  Humans act in a similar way at rock concerts.  Police Lt. Sam Allevato observes, “in a darkened concert everyone’s fighting and pushing” (Qtd. in Los Angeles Times 3).   To further emphasize the prevalence of rock concert violence, Paul Wertheimer—a concert safety expert who keeps track of security problems at concerts all over the world—states that rock concerts with bands like Iron Maiden are prone to violence.  He also notes that stabbings at these concerts are not surprising (Qtd. in Los Angeles Times 3).  Further, the Los Angeles Times states that the Irvine Police believe that it is “impossible to prevent fights from breaking out at high-energy concerts” (3).  Hence, heavy forms of rock music seam to promote violence.

Another common activity that has come to be associated with heavy rock music is moshing.  Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines moshing as engaging in “uninhibited often frenzied activities (as intentional collision) with others near the stage at a rock concert.”  It also says that the word was probably derived from mash and mush.  The same dictionary defines both mash and mush as having to do with reducing to a soft or spongy state through beating.  The place where people mosh during a concert is commonly referred to as a moshpit, and it is generally located near the stage. 

Moshing is of great interest to us because it is associated with both alternative music and punk rock.  Both of these styles of music have had much recent success.  Popular bands such as Nirvana, Greenday, Weezer, Creed, Smashing Pumpkins, and the Cranberries have had moshpits at their concerts.  At Smashing Pumpkins’ concerts, violence reaches far beyond the moshpit.  Steve Schafer—a moshing enthusiast—brings out that according to the Seattle Times, a seventeen-year-old girl who was attending a Smashing Pumpkins’ concert on May 12, 1996 was trampled on as the crowd made a mad dash for the stage.  He goes on to relate that she died of massive internal injuries (5).  If it weren’t for the security guards and bouncers who try to keep concerts from getting out of hand, there would probably be many more deaths at rock concerts.  Therefore, human reactions to the heavier forms of rock music are similar to the reactions of the chickens in Rome that decided to mosh.  This incident in Rome, however, was not the only time that animals reacted to rock music in this way.  Randy G. Hyatt—the Music Coordinator of the Fresno Unified School District Education Center—reported that a science fair project by a sixteen year old named David Merrill showed that mice who were exposed to heavy metal music took about six times longer to complete a maze than mice that were not exposed to any music.  Hyatt went on to relate that according to the Associated Press the experiment initially failed because the hard rock mice killed one another before they could be tested (1).  Clearly, heavy forms of rock music are associated with violent activities.

What about people who simply sit and listen to heavy music without going to concerts or engaging in frenzied activities.  Since these people are exposed to the same violent music, they are in much danger.  Berlyne mentioned a thesis by the psychologist L. B. Meyer that claimed, “emotion or affect is aroused when a tendency to respond is arrested or inhibited” (qtd. in Berlyne 247).  The American Heritage Dictionary defines “affect” as “a strong feeling having active consequences.”   As shown earlier, heavy forms of music tend to encourage frenzied responses.  According to Meyer’s thesis, then, when these responses are inhibited, this can lead to strong feelings that result in action.  How can a lack of action cause action?  When the body is exposed to violent stimulus it undergoes emotional and physiological changes that prepare it to fight its way out of a violent situation.  When the physical responses to violent stimulus are inhibited, the body will eventually no longer feel the need to react to the stimulus. Therefore, stronger stimulus is needed to causes an emotional response.  Since it takes stronger violent stimulus to have an emotional response, the effect of this process is that people are desensitized to violence.  Hence, even though a person may initially inhibit his/her response and show no reaction to violent stimulus, the stimulus could eventually cause the person to become a violent individual. 

This process of desensitization is commonly referred to as “stimulus addiction,” and it is generally applied to children who sit idly and play violent video games.  Gabriel Hatcher—an experienced educator, president and CEO of SafetyEd International, and school district administrator—describes stimulus addiction by saying that this is when stronger stimulus is needed to produce “the same emotional experience” (1).  The military knows that video games have this effect, so they use violent video games to desensitize soldiers.  David Grossman, a former Army Colonel who trained soldiers to shoot, says that video games are extremely useful in getting people to shoot someone without feeling the emotions that normally inhibit such actions (Qtd. in Blakemore 2).  Does music create similar results?  Well, according to Dr. William Sargant—Britain’s foremost expert on brainwashing—Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army and desensitized by rock music and other violent stimuli until she was assisting with bank robberies.  He explains that her nervous system was continually under so much stress that what was bad no longer seemed bad and what was good seemed bad to her (Qtd. in Newsweek 24).  How did the Symbionese Liberation Army keep her under continual stress?  Sargant relates, “Her nervous system was kept at maximum stress by the continual playing of loud rock music” (Qtd. in Newsweek 24).  This effect on Patty Hearst sounds remarkably similar to the effect of stimulus addiction.

 Can the term stimulus addiction really be applied to music?  Yes!  The strong physiological impact of music that was discussed earlier causes stimulus addition.  Remember that a physiological effect is what causes the enjoyment of music.  Therefore, when violent music is not reacted to, the body will eventually stop having the same physiological response.  This desensitizes the listener to violence, and it also makes music with stronger violent stimulus necessary to create the same enjoyment.  Many people, then, go to the store and buy CD’s with music that is even more violent.  Hence, this effect increases the sales of violent music.  Incidentally, during my research I found that I was not the first one to apply stimulus addiction to music.  Peter Donnelly—the director of the Right to Quiet Society—voiced his concern that music was causing stimulus addiction since many people are exposed to loud music on a daily basis (Qtd. in Staudacher 1).

How, though can we define violent music?  Obviously, to find what styles of music are associated with violence we must look at the kinds of behavior that music seems to promote.  There are many styles of music that simply promote dancing or other healthy activities.  Concerts with these kinds of music do not have moshpits or people who are crushed.  Music that promotes dancing is not violent because it is associated with dancing, not violence, and dancing is a healthy physical activity that eliminates the possibility of stimulus addiction.  Just what is it about the music itself that makes it violent?  Ron Hubbard explains that rock musicians often create a physiological response by producing a physiological “surge” with a repetitive “thud”  (1).  He notes that these rock musicians create this “surge” by banging on their guitars to the beat of the drums rather than using a melody to create physiological impact (1).  Therefore, we can conclude that there are two ways to create a physiological effect.  One is to use melody, and the other is to bang on amplified guitars repetitively.  It turns out that this second method, which lacks melody, creates violent stimulus.  Berlyne brings out that when music is overly repetitive it builds up excitement.  He goes on to say that this method of creating excitement with repetition has often been used to induce “mass irrational behavior” (249).  Since the methods of many rock musicians rely entirely on creating surges, their music can shock the nervous system and be interpreted by the brain as violent stimulus.  This explains why certain styles of music have promoted frenzied activities such as moshing.  This also explains how Patty Hearst’s nervous system could have been continually shocked by rock music, leading to brainwashing.  In view of what was just discussed, violent music can be defined as music that is characterized by surges that tend to promote frenzied behavior, and also by a lack of melody.

What is melody, and how can a physiological effect be created without violent surges?  Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines melody as  “a rhythmic succession of single tones organized as an aesthetic whole.”  Melody is a combination of single notes that can be remembered as one work of art by the listener, and it allows the listener to walk away humming a song.  A melody, therefore, can build arousal since the listener can remember it and build anticipation for it.  Berlyne suggests that rhythmic patterns or repeating harmonic sequences can build expectations that cause physiological effects, but he also adds that these repetitions are often accompanied by variety in other aspects of a song.  He says that a melody can be used to add variety to an underlying repeated rhythm (249).  Therefore, to cause a physiological impact without the use of violent surges, the drums can still keep the beat.  However, the bass guitar should play some sort of distinct harmonic pattern that conveys a sense of motion to the listener instead of using the hard rock technique of pounding out the tonic note.  The bass is, in effect, taking the listener on a short trip, returning and leaving again several beats later.  Dancers use this bass to guide them through their steps.  A rhythm guitar can also be used to set the chord and build expectation while a lead instrument adds variety by playing a changing melody that the listener can walk away humming.   

Some argue that the lyrics, not the music, make music violent.  It’s true that lyrics can be objectionable and influential, and violent lyrics should be avoided.  However, according to an article on music lyrics by the American Academy of Pediatrics, teenagers frequently don’t entirely understand the meaning of song lyrics.  The article mentioned a study that concluded, “Only 30 % of teenagers knew the lyrics to their favorite songs, and their comprehension varied greatly” (1).  The article additionally stated, “no studies have documented a cause-and-effect relationship between sexually explicit lyrics or violent lyrics and adverse behavioral effects” (1).  Since many people don’t even know what the lyrics are about, can we really attribute all the effects of a style of music to the lyrics?  Further, since chickens and mice that can’t understand the lyrics act violently when exposed to violent music, this indicates that the lyrics were not causing these reactions.  Finally, even if it is the lyrics that are responsible for associating a certain style of music with violence, this does not change the fact that this style of music is associated with violent behavior.  In other words, if a style of music is commonly known to have violent lyrics, people will associate the sounds of that style of music with violence.  Then, whenever that style of music is played, people will think about violence regardless of the lyrics since they have associated that style of music with violence.  Regardless of why a style of music is associated with violence, the fact remains that the music tends to stimulate violence.

Others point the finger at TV, movies, or video games as the real root of violence stimulus.

What, though, do these three sources have in common?  Music!  These forms of entertainment could not be successful without the physiological effects of music.  Valerie N. Stratton and Annette H. Zalanowshi—members of the National association of Music Therapy—related that music has been shown to “set the mood” of an individual.  They concluded that music could control how a person interprets other stimuli (40).  They also related an experiment where pleasant visual stimulus was displayed with depressing music and vice versa.  The resulting mood swings always went in the direction of the music (31).  Therefore, since musical stimulus seems to be more powerful than visual stimulus, much of the emotional effects of TV, movies, and video games can be attributed to the music.  However, it is true that TV, movies, video games, and music are all sources of violent stimulus.  This simply implies that all these sections of the entertainment industry are using violence to increase sales.  This does not mean that music or any of these other forms of entertainment have no part in promoting violence.  Rather, it means that all have a part.

 

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