The U.S. weekend magazine polled over 60,000 teens about their music listening habits. 79% said they listen to music while they do their chores, 73% while they are on the computer, and 72% while they do their homework. As you can see, most kids listen to their favorite music a lot!
Have you ever heard parents or even other people say, “That rock and rap music just has a bad influence on teens. It only promotes drugs and violence?” To all those nay-sayers, music does neither for the most part. What music does is determine social groups based on preferences and personality.
According to the book “The Emerging Generation”, the average teen consumes an average of 6 hours of music a day! I personally fill up my 6 hours with loads of heavy metal, a genre that has been the source of a lot of criticism since its birth in the late ‘80s. Its explicit lyrics have caused a lot of controversy about its affects on teens. A lot of people that listen to heavy metal say that it helps them solve problems and let out their anger, but people that don’t listen to it say that it is only screaming without a purpose.
In the same way rappers who love their rhythm and rockers who love their riffs, I believe that heavy metal has just as much of a point as any other kinds of music. Your preferences just depend on your personality.
-John Robertson
