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Jonah Sievers

Lisa Cook

English 1101.505

November 21, 2021

Lyrical Violence: A Conditional Argument

There is a common belief regarding popular music with explicit themes being harmful to

general society and being able to cause psychological harm and aggressive outward behavior.

The logic behind this position is that teenagers who are still mentally developing are thought to

be desensitized to the actions mentioned in these songs, such as sex, substance use, and violence.

While I do not deny that there is a somewhat glamorized portrayal of these topics in popular

culture, I believe that the lyrics that adolescents are subjected to have much less of an effect on

their outcome in the future than other external causes. Music with explicit lyrics has minimal

psychological effects on listeners, as songs' melodies outweigh the cognitive impact and

aggressively-toned music can be an outlet for anger.

The argument against topically violent lyrics rests primarily on the assumption that lyrics

can cause any sort of impact on humans’ psychologies. The only way for songs’ contents to have

any substantial effect on society is if they have an effect on listeners individually. An article of

the American Psychological Association’s journal Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain

details research from the University of Wuerzburg where an “online experiment was conducted

to compare the influence of prosocial versus neutral song lyrics on aggression level” (Böhm

279). The sequence of this study was to have a first pilot trial “conducted to identify a prosocial

and a neutral song, and music professionals and music students rated pairs of songs (by the same
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artist) that were comparable” in order to classify what songs were antisocial in order to

determine their direct effects on the variable groups (Böhm 279).

After the experiment was fully completed, the researchers analyzed the data and

concluded “that while listening to prosocial lyrics decreases aggressive thoughts, there is no

effect on aggressive feelings” (Böhm 279). This excerpt from the article abstract is slightly

confusing in its word choice of ‘thoughts’ and ‘feelings.’ However, I understand this as

referencing the registration of violent ideas when referring to thoughts, and the compelling

emotion of aggressive anger when referring to feelings. The researchers themselves hypothesize

that a “possible explanation is that the upbeat melodies and harmonies present in both the

positive and neutral songs overshadowed any effect that lyrics had on feelings” (Böhm 279).

If the conclusion reached in the University of Wuerzburg study is true, that neutral

melodies and harmonies outweigh the tone of the lyrics emotionally, then the same should apply

to lyrically violent songs. Emotionally, listeners are less affected by the tonal contents of lyrics.

Therefore, a song with lyrics that have themes of violence and substance use should not incite

the same behavior either. Also, in the situation where listeners aren’t fully focused on their

music, such as playing it in the background is a recognized term known as “Passive Listening,”

which has been proven to lessen the effects of psychological registration of musical contents.

Passive listening has been proven to decrease the regular amount of activity in the prefrontal and

cingulate cortexes of the brain, which registers thoughts and dictates emotionally-influenced

behavior (Bravo 46-66). Passive listeners compose approximately 86% of music demographics, a

figure which may have increased and is currently increasing with the rise of streaming (Ralph
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664). This means that a growing majority of music listeners are not fully receiving the already

minimal mental impact that lyrics have. The fear of widespread societal aggression due to

younger generations being exposed to more violence in popular songs is irrational with these

conclusions considered.

Those in opposition to explicit lyrics have argued that there is a correlation between

aggressive individuals who listen to violent-toned music. In an article by the Sun-Sentinel, the

author Megan O’Matz details an incident where a convicted school shooter Nikolas Cruz

allegedly was a devoted listener to the song “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People. The song

in reference lyrically tells the fictional story of a character named Robert who performs a school

shooting with a gun he finds in a closet. Nikolas’ brother, Zachary Cruz, testifies that he would

sing the song while pretending to pull the trigger and walking around their house (O’Matz 1).

This example of an extremely dangerous person supports a logical assumption that people who

are violent will listen to violently-themed music.

However, there are several external factors outside of an individuals’ choice of music that

likely lead to this behavior. In the same story, evidence that Nikolas Cruz was suffering from

autism, depression, attention deficit disorder, and several other mental impairments was reported

after the genocide at Parkland (O’Matz 1). While it is reasonable to conclude people who agree

with and consider committing acts of violence will often entertain these thoughts with aggressive

lyrics, this is a case of correlation and not causation. People who listen to the song “Pumped Up

Kicks” will not be automatically compelled to fire at school students in the same way that Cruz
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did. The lyrics themselves do not directly cause violent thoughts, but instead, people who already

think that way will be drawn to those songs.

Even in instances where people with aggressive tendencies frequently listen to violent

lyrics, they are not always at risk of destructive actions. In the research article “Extreme Metal

Music and Anger Processing,” a study from the University of Queensland is described where

participants were asked to listen to either heavy metal rock music or neutral-toned music and

then given a questionnaire about their emotional state afterward. The experiment revealed an

unprecedented revelation about the mental effects of hostile instrumentation and lyrics, the

volunteers who listened to heavy metal rock music were more frequently in an optimal or

improved anger state after listening. The article author states in the conclusion that “This study

found that extreme music fans listen to music when angry to match their anger and to feel more

active and inspired” and that heavy metal music reduced heart rate, hostile behaviors, and

anxiety in participants after the trials (Dingle 1). A possible explanation for this is catharsis

theory, which is defined by the Oxford Reference as the “suggestion that pent-up emotions,

anger, and frustrations can be purged by expressing one's feelings through aggression” (Oxford

Reference). When listeners match their own aggression with heavy metal music, they are

releasing their tension and suppressed emotion into a healthy and harm-free activity, making

violent music a method of actually improving general mental health.

While the contents of some music are too violent and explicit for a certain age group, I

believe that adolescents above the age of twelve years will not be as psychologically affected as

popular opinion would suggest. Songs that contain violent lyrics are typically outweighed in
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psychological impact by tone, and aggressive music has the potential to help listeners release

suppressed frustration. Teens who listen to music that contains thematically harmful lyrics have

the same likelihood to grow up and become dangerous individuals as those who listen to songs

deemed prosocial, if not less so. Popular opinion has an unfair stance in opposition to violent

lyrics, and with the recent scientific revelations that have surfaced, this quota should change. A

better community should let musical preferences be as harmless as what someone’s favorite

color is without any further connotation or assumed implications attached to it.

Works cited:

Böhm, Tamara, Nicolas Ruth, and Holger Schraam. “‘Count on Me’—The Influence of Music

With Prosocial Lyrics on Cognitive and Affective Aggression.” Psychomusicology:

Music, Mind, and Brain, vol. 26, Sep. 2016, pp. 279-283. Library Publications, DOI:

10.1037/pmu0000155.

Bravo, Fernando, Ian Cross, Christopher Hopkins, Nadia Gonzalez, and Jorge Docampo.

“Anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex response to systematically controlled

tonal dissonance during passive music listening.” Human Brain Mapping, vol. 41, Jan.

2020, pp. 46-66. Academic Search Complete, DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24786.

Dingle, Genevieve A., and Leah Sharman. “Extreme Metal Music and Anger Processing.”

Frontiers, Cognitive Neuroscience, 21 May 2015,

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00272/full
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Harakeh, Zeena. “The Effect of Rap/Hip-Hop Music on Young Adult Smoking: An

Experimental Study.” Substance Use & Misuse, vol. 53, 2018, pp.1819-1825. Academic

Search Complete, DOI: 10.1080/10826084.2018.1436565.

O’Matz, Megan. On Parkland shooter’s playlist: ‘Pumped Up Kicks,’ a chart-topping

song about school slayings.” Sun-Sentinel.com, Sun-Sentinel, Aug. 31, 2018.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/parkland/florida-school-shooting/fl-florida-

school-shooting-pumped-up-kicks-20180828-story.html

Ralph, Brandon, David Thomson, James Cheyne, and Daniel Smilek. “Media multitasking and

the failures of attention in everyday life.” Psychological Research, vol. 78, Sep. 2014, pp.

661-669. Academic Search Complete, DOI: 10.1007/s00426-013-0523-7.