Metal and independent thinking

Daily Disclaimer:

If the epitome of metal to you is Iron Maiden and nothing heavier than this is listenable, skip this one. You'd look at this text like a dog being shown a card trick. Just kidding, go on.

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I hate statistics. Mostly because there's a significant gap between required amount of critical thinking to interpret them and the actual intelligence of people doing it. Still, a friend of mine once told me that there's been a study about correlation between music preferences and intelligence and guess what. People listening to metal are apparently, allegedly more intelligent STATISTICALLY than your average rocker or popper (my word for pop music fans, but also THIS). Ha! You listen to metal, right? You feel better now? Don't get excited just yet.

So, why is that? Why would we be so awesome, you ask? Isn't it obvious, we're outcasts, living on the edge! I started listening to metal when I was around 12 years old. I remember having a Judas Priest and Overkill cassettes from my cousin and played the shit out of them. Mostly of Painkiller, actually, since Overkill bothered me greatly. I listened to Metallica and System of a Down too. And when I was 14, my girlfriend introduced me to Slipknot, my first extreme metal band. Yep, whatever we might think of Slipknot now, they were pretty extreme back in the day. Then I realized Slipknot sucked, I discovered Opeth and my whole life changed. So, anyway, you may think that my music tastes made me an outcast but that's not true. I was one long before all that. And you know what the life of outcast taught me? Always think for yourself, don't follow the crowd, be yourself. Also: don't look'em in the eye, run before they form a circle, hide in the bushes.

According to the study, people listening to metal, and especially to the more underground forms of metal, are statistically more intelligent. I was stumped when I heard that. First of all, most of my intelligent friends (friends that were better at the sciences than me, for instance), didn't listen to metal. The only subject I was really good at was Polish (it's my native language) and history (kind of). I was writing high rated essays, basically. So apparently, from an educational standpoint, I wasn't especially intelligent. Just your average alienated kid that can't play football and hangs out with other alienated kids but they don't form any real group or subculture... although today we could easily be classified as nerds due to our fascination with tabletop rpgs. Whatever the actual level of my intelligence may be, assuming it can be accurately measured by those silly IQ tests, I think the word "intelligence" should be replaced with "independent thinking" in this particular case. We, people of both sexes listening to metal, often are independent thinkers. We listen to music that is harsh, raw, music that most people consider to be an obnoxious noise. We don't follow their judgement, though. We judge by our own standards. And that's the point: why do we consider an ugly, obnoxious noise to be enjoyable or even... beautiful?

Good question. I'll try to answer it in the next installment of BDSM. For now, that is all. Almost. Before you go... recent studies have shown that all kids are intelligent and everyone is born with a talent. Don't believe those who try to tell you otherwise. What education (and stupid parents) makes us loose, is the ability to think for ourselves. So, if you're young, don't let the education ruin you! If you're old and listen to some sick music, don't worry, you're fine.