This article by Kate Quinn and Matt Sweeney has been published by Mad in America. It begins:
“Heavy metal music comes with a bit of a reputation. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, there were many media reports that teenagers who listened to metal music might turn to devil worship, drugs, crime and suicide. There were also a number of court cases brought in the USA regarding subliminal messaging in heavy metal, based on the idea that if you played it backwards there were satanic and anti-social slogans, and that these could be subliminally implanted into vulnerable young minds even by playing the records forwards. Bands and record companies defended suits related to young people who had taken their own lives, and heavy metal was also implicated as influential in crimes against others.
Therefore, historically, psychologists and therapists have spoken, testified even, against heavy metal music and its influence on mental health and behaviour. Some of the empirical research on metal goes back to this time in our culture, with a number of correlational studies pointing out links between listening to heavy metal, suicide and ‘delinquency’ …”
You can read more from here.
