New Study Says Heavy Metal is the Most ‘Intelligent’ Music Genre
If you’re a heavy metal fan, then this latest music study will likely have you saying “told you so” to the metal haters in your life.
A new study from Prodigy found that heavy metal is “the most intelligent genre” in music. The study bases this on “lexical diversity,” which is just a very fancy way of saying that a lot of metal songs and artists use a diverse vocabulary in their lyrics.
Prodigy explains their study by saying, “We analyzed the lyrics of top Billboard artists and iconic musicians from past decades to uncover patterns in emotion and complexity. Lexical diversity – the variety of unique words used in an artist’s lyrics – helped us determine which artists and genres have the richest vocabulary. We also surveyed music fans to see how their listening habits influence their work performance and how music plays a role in their children’s study routines at home.”
So, which music artists have the “most lexical diversity”? There were seven metal bands in Prodigy’s top 20, and Black Sabbath came in at no. 1. Other metal bands included Slayer (#3), Megadeth (#7), Judas Priest (#11), Iron Maiden (#12), Pantera (#16), and Motorhead (#18). Outside of metal but still in the rock genre that was included on this list were Pink Floyd (#2), Bruce Springsteen (#5), the Eagles (#8), Bob Dylan (#9), Jimi Hendrix (#10), Radiohead (#15), and Lynyrd Skynyrd (#17).
Another Study Found Heavy Metal Fans Spend More on Band Shirts Than Any Other Fan Group
Heavy metal fans are always among music’s most passionate fans, and a new study offers up some statistics supporting that.
According to a data study and survey from Custom Ink, heavy metal fans spend more on band shirts than any other fan genre. On average, heavy metal fans spend about $500 on band shirts in their lifetime. The average metal fan owns 10 band shirts. Of course, there’s a good chance anyone reading this has spent way more on band shirts and owns much more than 10 band shirts.
There was an unfortunate finding from Custom Ink’s study/survey: “Over 30% of Americans think you don’t need to know the artist’s music to wear their merch.”
Now, we’re not saying you have to be an expert in an artist in order to wear their merch, but you shouldn’t be totally clueless either. Either way, this whole statistic feels like a debate for another day.
