The '80s Metal Fans Are The Happiest And Best Adjusted, Study

It's the metalheads that adjust better than those who listen to other kinds of music, according to theguardian

 "Metal health will drive you mad," insisted Quiet Riot on the title track of the first heavy metal album to top the Billboard charts, back in 1983. However, it has now been found that the metalheads in the '80s "were significantly happier in their youth, and better adjusted currently" than others---then and now.

The study was led by Homboldt State University Psychologist Tasha Howe. 'Three Decades Later: The Life Experiences and Mid-Life Functioning of 1980s Heavy Metal Groupies, Musicians and Fans' was published in the journal 'Self and Identity' (via Pacific Standard).

It discovered that even as "metal enthusiasts did often experience traumatic and risky 'sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll' lives, ... the metalhead identity also served as a protective factor against negative outcomes."

While researching 377 adults, it was found that 154 had been metal fans, musicians or groupies in the 80s, 80 who listened to different music at the time, and 153 California college students.

"Social support is a crucial protective factor for troubled youth," the article said. "Fans and musicians alike felt a kinship in the metal community, and a way to experience heightened emotions with like-minded people," according to medicaldaily.

The metalheads "reported higher levels of youthful happiness" than the others and "they were also less likely to have any regrets about things they had done in their youth."

However, there is a catch in this situation. The survey featured only those who were happy to report on their lives, while those who were not in the survey were also those who weren't too happy or eager to participate in the experiment. So how reliable the survey could be isn't too clear.

Happiness is accorded to metal music due to its creation of a famed sense of community. "Social support is a crucial protective factor for troubled youth," the researchers wrote. "Fans and musicians alike felt a kinship in the metal community, and a way to experience heightened emotions with like-minded people."

Ironically, metal was thought to be "corrosive to moral values and social integration" in the 1980s, with some bands such as Tipper Gore's PMRC leading drives against it. Judas Priest was put up in court, even as there were charges that their album, Stained Class, had some subliminal messages that led two youths to commit suicide in 1985.