"The Effect of Country Music on Suicide"

[gman552]

Here's a link to an abstract of the winning entry for the 2004 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine:

"The Effect of Country Music on Suicide"

"... We contend that the themes found in country music foster a suicidal mood among people already at risk of suicide and that it is thereby associated with a high suicide rate..."

Masters of the obvious

[Andy the Aussie]

Some of my work collegues have threatened suicide should I continue playing country music in the office and car.......there may just be something in that....

[xcpd69]

Yeah, but if you play a C&W song backwards, you sober up, get out of prison, get your job and your pickup back, plus your wife and girlfriend BOTH come back.

Therefore no need to kill yourself.

[W.E.G.]

The Effect of Country Music on Suicide
STEVEN STACK, Wayne State University JIM GUNDLACH, Auburn University

Abstract
This article assesses the link between country music and metropolitan suicide rates. Country music is hypothesized to nurture a suicidal mood through its concerns with problems common in the suicidal population, such as marital discord, alcohol abuse, and alienation from work. The results of a multiple regression analysis of 49 metropolitan areas show that the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the white suicide rate. The effect is independent of divorce, southernness (whoooaaaaaaa...wait a cotton pickin' minute - is he speaking pejoratively of "southernness???" He can just kiss my southern whitebread ass! Now, back to your regularly-scheduled program - ), poverty, and gun availability. The existence of a country music subculture is thought to reinforce the link between country music and suicide. Our model explains 51% of the variance in urban white suicide rates.

Sociological work on the relationship between art and society has been largely restricted to speculative, sociohistorical theories that are often mutually opposed. Some theorists see art as creating social structure ( Adorno 1973), while Sorokin ( 1937 ) suggests that society and art are manifested in cyclical autonomous spheres; and still others contend that art is a reflection of social structure ( Albrecht 1954). Little empirical work has been done on the impact of music on social problems. While some research has linked music to criminal behavior ( Singer, Levine & Jou 1990), the relationship between music and suicide remains largely unexplored. Music is not mentioned in reviews of the literature on suicide ( Lester 1983; Stack 1982, 1990b); instead, the impact of art on suicide has been largely restricted to analyses of television movies and soap operas (for a review, see Stack 1990b).

In this article, we explore the link between a particular form of popular music (country music) and metropolitan suicide rates. We contend that the themes found in country music foster a suicidal mood among people already at risk of suicide and that it is thereby associated with a high suicide rate. The effect is buttressed by the country subculture and a link between this subculture and a racial status related to an increased suicide risk.

____________________ © The University of North Carolina Press Social Forces, September 1992 71(1):211-218

[ThunderGod]

Does being forced to listen to C&W make me suicidal?

No.

Homicidal?

Yep.

[Stranger]

I think "Weird Al" Yankovich had a good song that sums this up.

'Good Enough For Now"

Oh, I couldn't live a single day without you
Actually, on second thought, well, I suppose I could
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is, honey, you're the greatest
Well, at any rate, I guess you're...pretty good
Now, it seems to me I'm relatively lucky
I know I probably couldn't ask for too much more
I honestly can say you're an above-average lady
You're almost just what I've been looking for
You're sort of everything I've ever wanted
You're not perfect, but I love you anyhow
You're the woman that I've always dreamed of
Well, not really...but you're good enough for now
You're pretty close to what I've always hoped for
That's why my love for you is fairly strong
And I swear I'm never gonna leave you, darlin'
At least 'til something better comes along
'Cause you're sort of everything I've ever wanted
You're not perfect, but I love you anyhow
You're the woman that I've always dreamed of
Well, not really...but you're good enough for now
No, not really...but you're good enough for now

All played to a nice country melody.

[gman552]

Originally posted by Stranger
I think "Weird Al" Yankovich had a good song that sums this up...

Here are the other 2004 winners:

The 2004 Ig Nobel Prize Winners

[Temp]

Spent my only two dollars on my favorite horse
It lost by a nose and I cried
The boss says come winter we'll all be laid off
Oh these days, I barely gets by

Damn,..... every George Jones album oughtta come with a prescription for Zoloft.

[Snakeshot]

"The results of a multiple regression analysis of 49 metropolitan areas"

Well there's your problem.....

['TUDE]

There's a tear in my beer...............

[Arby]

Originally posted by gary.jeter
The Effect of Country Music on Suicide
STEVEN STACK, Wayne State University JIM GUNDLACH, Auburn University
.................................................. .................................................. ........................
____________________ © The University of North Carolina Press Social Forces, September 1992 71(1):211-218

If the co-author Jim Gundlach received his Phd from UT Austin in the 70s, I know that guy!

It's interesting that the article was published 12 years ago. Country music has changed a lot since then. It has become more homogenized and more indistinguishable from straight pop music.

Gone are the days when it really had a message, like:

"The only ring I ever gave her, was the one I left around the tub."

and

"I drink so much, I'm gonna start wearin' a label."

Hell, there's hardly even a fake twang left in most of the songs.

[Stoney]

I've always liked
"I've got tears in my ears from laying on my back in my bed crying over you" and "throw another log on the fire and tell again why your leaving me"

[Gunga Din]

Hmmmm.......

Ig Nobel.....Ignobel.....Ignoble.....ignoble

I posit an enterprising put-on.

[vmtz]

I was drunk the day my Momma got out of prison.

Vince

[ER]

"Country DJ`s all think I`m an Outlaw....They never come to see me in these dives..."

Kinda makes me wanna get out the Jack Black and a case of ammo.........