Deviant club goer TOM DELL takes a more considered look at why popular music is embraced by the masses
A question that I’m sure crosses most of our minds when we enter a club in Nottingham or anywhere for that matter is ‘how do they call this music?’. My parents grew up with prog-rock and if you are unfamiliar with this term (think Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd) then ask your own parents. We, on the other hand, are laboured with constant drivel in the charts, just think back to Crazy Frog a few years ago.
Now, by no stretch of the imagination do I claim to be a music aficionado, however some music does just escape me, and in unfamiliar clubs with pounding music, I do tend to slink away into the corner and avoid dancing at all costs. Finally science can reveal that the popularity of music isn’t so much down to the credibility of the artist but whether other people like it.
A study of brain scans by Emero University in the US revealed that when our music tastes did not match those of our closest peers, our blood pressure increased as our brain reeled in terror at not understanding or appreciating what everyone else did.
In the study, teenagers and young adults were played new tracks without being told who the artist was or how popular they were. They were then asked to score what they thought of the music. They were then given the ‘scores’ devised by the University that ranked them on their popularity. When shown this new information the initial popularity of the songs changed in accordance with the scores given by the University. Three-quarters of the study changed their minds about the songs.
Music aside, the test is interesting because it does however underline a more subconscious reaction, for adapting to others is a basic survival instinct says Murad Ahmed, Technology reporter for The Times: “By adapting in social norms, children learn to avoid teasing and rejection. Later in life, the ability to get on with others improves their life chances.”
With this information it is easy to see how instead of carving a niche for ourselves we find it easier to stick to with the status quo (pun not intended).
Tom Dell
Tags: nottingham, peer pressure, pop, science
