This is safely music related BS and depending upon the course of the reaction could land on the south side of Mudcat.The 2004 IG Noble prize for medicine ("The Ig Nobel awards are arguably the highlight of the scientific calendar." Nature) has been awarded to
Steven Stack of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA and James Gundlach of Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA, for their published report "The Effect of Country Music on Suicide." PUBLISHED IN: Social Forces, vol. 71, no. 1, September 1992, pp. 211-8.
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, 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. (article abstract)
Mudcatters who click on the Ig Nobel homepage may want to pay attention to this years IG Nobel prize for Biology and realise that one winner has already been discussed in Mudcat. This could lead to an interesting reasearch project: Does the discussion of a scientific result in Mudcat predict a later nomination for the IG Nobel prize?
On the serious side: The effect of different types of music on humans is actually an interesting question and it is not at all clear yet whether music forms people in a certain way or whether people already formed choose the music that suits them (or both, of course).
Wolfgan