I have never been one to take a liking to country music, but a few times in my life time I have found myself in a situation where I am singing along to the latest Keith Urban song. Though country music can be catchy and make you want to dance, do they really give you a happy mood like you believe? Everyone has their opinion on music, and if you don’t like the same music they do, it’s automatically considered to be “the devil’s music” or make you disobey your parents, friends, and the rest of your family and people around you in some way. If you were to guess the most common music to make you have gloom side effects, what genre would you pick? Punk? Rock? Heavy Metal?
Research shows that Country music may be a big part of suicide. Steven Stack and Jim Gundlach explain after they further investigated the topic, “49 metropolitan areas show that the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the white suicide rate”. This tells us that the more a radio station encourages the Country genre, the amount of suicide becomes larger. From this information, one could prove that Country music maybe a leading cause of suicide.
The music as a whole is depressing but if you focus on the lyrics of Country you will find them to be seemingly harmless. Antonia 
Monacelli, author of the article Music Makes You Kill Yourself, adds to the evidence, “Country’s penchant for songs about cheating spouses, financial problems, and alcohol abuse, are thought to foster a suicidal state”. The passage suggests that the lyrics about things from a day to day basis for some families can create suicidal thoughts and, or actions. With this in mind, one could speculate that Country isn’t as happy as people make it out to be.
Lastly, Country gives off an impotent mood because of this mood they say it’s okay to deal with these problems by doing things that can potentially make it worse. Country Music Can Make You Suicidal is a more recent article, written anonymously, that states this in more detail, “Lyrics often portray drinking as a normal and necessary method of dealing with life’s problems” then continues, “Field research on drinking behavior has linked exposure to country music to increased levels of consumption of alcohol”. This evidence is telling us that the Country genre is encouraging drinking behavior. Concluding that because of this type of music, it is alright to drink, letting out feelings that can cause depressed and suicidal actions.
Whoever would’ve thought that one of the most cheerful kinds of music could put you in the worst state of mind through their lyrics. It’s not all about the dancey music in the background, it’s also the words and emotions your mind takes in while listening to a certain song. Before you call Metal, Hardcore, or Rap music bad influences on society, think about how Country music can have such an impact on one person.
Extra Thinking
1. If country music can make you suicidal, do you think other genres of music can make you have different emotions?
2. Do you believe that these statistics are accurate? Have you ever been in a situation where you felt country music suddenly made you feel upset?
3. Does this change your views on country music? Will you still listen to it on a daily basis? Or mix up your music takes every now and then?
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This argument was a very shocking, but also interesting topic. I listen to country music on a regular basis and I have never had any suicidal thoughts. Although, country music does have a lot of sad, depressing songs sometimes, I still don’t think it can make someone suicidal. What was surprising to me was that 49 metropolitan areas had shown that when more country music was played, the suicide rate was higher. These results and this article haven’t made me change my opinion on country music because I never thought that country music could cause people to kill themselves. I disagree with this article completely, although, I can see why others would think that this is true and it had a lot of facts of why people could become suicidal.
Here’s some articles that explain their different views:
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1992-11-27/features/1992332099_1_country-music-suicide-rates-gundlach
http://comp.uark.edu/~ches/CountryMusic_Suicide.pdf
When you think about it, this theory isn’t all that surprising. Decades ago, country music was all about the rough patches in life. Mix that in with the target audience of isolated, small town people, and it could have damage. However, this reminded me of a song I had only heard about a couple of months ago:
http://mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=28525
It’s called Gloomy Sunday, better known as the Hungarian Suicide Song. Rumor has it that it has been linked to over 19 suicides because of the lyrics when it was played during the 30’s and 40’s. It all goes to show that music can have a dramatic effect on your mind, even to the point of death. This was a really creative topic, and someone should expand on it later!
I think that this blog is very out of line in context. It is very stereotypical towards country music listeners. In my opinion, country music is usually an uplifting type of genre to listen too, and is almost always about love and partying. Which is a part of life, right? Saying it leads to suicide is a little too extreme. In fact, this blog almost seems like a joke to me. Although I strongly disagree with your opinion, it looks like you put a lot of thought and effort into this blog, which is a great thing for your readers that agree with you.
One song that relates to the non-suicidal opinion of this topic would be “It’s a Great Day to be Alive” by Travis Tritt. The lyrics are very uplifting and specifically say that it is great to be alive (as you can see below):
“And it’s a great day to be alive. I know the sun’s still shinin when I close my eyes. There’s some hard times in the neigborhood, but why can’t every day be just this good?”
As you can see, not all country music songs are depressing to the point where a person would commit suicide, but you as the author also have an understandable opinion because not every country music song is upbeat like Travis Tritt’s. All in all, country music can be taken more way than one, and the outcomes of listeners have endless possibilities to them.
http://981thehawk.com/top-10-country-songs-thatll-change-your-mood/
I found this topic, very shocking. I listen to country music on a daily basis and haven’t felt suicidal because of the song. I believe other genres of music can take a toll on your feelings or emotions, but never would’ve thought country music makes you suicidal. Yes, some songs make it sound like drinking and partying is alright, but its just a song. I did some research on other music, and its sad that heavy metal makes you suicide also, so why only blame country music?
http://backwardmessages.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/study-heavy-metal-makes-you-suicidal-after-all/
I understand all the numbers and statistics, but it seems unlikely that country music can lead to depression and suicide. Their are different genres that have more gloomy songs. Country focuses on mostly heartbreak, drinking and other not so happy topics, but most genres have the same topics. For example, rock focuses on violence, revenge, drinking, etc. Overall, I found this article engaging, because I listen to a lot of country.
This article says almost the same thing:
http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2007/12/05/country-music-and-suicide/
I find this argument very interesting. I listen to country music probably every single day and I have never felt that it could possibly make someone suicidal. Sure, some songs have lyrics about drinking alcohol, but other genres of music do too. Many pop, rock, and rap songs nowadays seem to only be about parties and alcohol. Personally, that’s why I like country music so much more than those other genres. Country music, to me, talks about parties and alcohol way less than pop or rap. It doesn’t make sense to me that it would cause suicidal thoughts more than other genres of music. I do understand, though, your point partially. Country music to some may seem like its for down in the dumps. But, I think that’s actually more realistic than other genres. For example, rap music only seems to have alcohol, drugs, and parties in it. That’s not what life’s all about. Life is about what makes you who you are. And, what seems to shape us the most are the problems we go through in life. That’s what country music is about. Facing problems that occur. I can see how someone may view this as bad, though.
Here’s a website I found about other people’s views on this topic:
http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2007/12/05/country-music-and-suicide/
I have spent most of my life growing up listening to country music and loving it. Country music makes me happy. This article comes surprising to me. Most all country songs are positive and are a reminder of summer. Some songs that are country can be about breakups but I don’t think they are sad and would lead to suicide. I find it hard to believe that people have committed suicide over this because country is far more positive than rap or pop music. If you listen to Keith Urban or Luke Bryan a lot of their songs are about relationships and love. If you look at the lyrics in the song they aren’t very depressing or sad they are usually upbeat but still talking about the break up. It definitely depends on how you take the lyrics. I think country music has changed my outlook on life to be positive and I completely disagree with this article or research.
http://spydersden.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/country-music-can-lead-to-suicide/
I found this article interesting because I listen to a lot of country music and have never felt anywhere near suicidal. I kind of disagree with statistics because it is how you interpret the lyrics that makes the song what it is. I understand there are songs that are bluntly saying what the song is about, there are also ones that are feelings and almost confusing so that is where people take the song and make it there own in their mind. Sure country music talks about drinking, crimes, divorce, etc. but we shouldn’t be blaming country music for it. It is the persons choice if they choose to listen to that genre and what they choose to do with their life. But I do see your point.
Here’s a website with further information
http://comp.uark.edu/~ches/CountryMusic_Suicide.pdf
I listen to country all the time, so does my family. No body in my family that listens to country music has been suicidal, that I know of anyway. Country music is all about drinking at the lake and having fun. Red Solo Cup by Toby Keith is about having a party and drinking out of a Red Solo Cup. But Luke Bryan wrote a song call Someone else is Calling You Baby, its about a heart break, I think a lot of people could relate to this, I can. I don’t think I will be able to listen to Country the same again. Here are some links I used:
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=ba6850bb-e672-46c8-838d-c096d0817022%40sessionmgr4005&vid=13&hid=4114
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXCp8fgFGC4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yTo73qYo48
This was a very interesting topic. I agree that society thinks rap, hardcore, raggae, etc is a bad inluence. People always tell me that this music is bad and will make me a bad child. But have they ever thought about country? In country they talk about drinking, killing, break ups, crime, and alot of other stuff too. But people think it’s okay because the music sounds up beat. Like this music is so up beat it can’t be bad right? Yeah right. I found another good website that talks about music and suicide.
http://revolutionhellcowboy.deviantart.com/journal/Answer-to-the-music-with-highest-suicide-rate-poll-225864507
After reading this I was competely in shock. I would have never guessed listing to music and Country Music at that would have any links to sucide or suciadal thoughts and actions. I can understand how Country music could be linked to increased drinking, but I have never heard of it being linked to sucide. I listen to all sorts of music, country being one of the main ones and I have never seen it or experinced it in this way. It completely shocks me to hear this.
Here is a website where I found further information about this topic
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1992-11-27/features/1992332099_1_country-music-suicide-rates-gundlach