Music: Songs of Stereotypes Music is arguably one of the strongest forms of expression.

It can act as an intangible canvas for an artist to paint with his or her talent. Everybody is influenced by music in some way in their life. It is such a powerful element in human nature and influences everyones life. However music does not always have a positive influence. Often times in ones life, music can actually have a negative effect on the listener. Music is full of many different genres, and in these genres come with stereotypes created by those who dont fully understand the genre. These stereotypes can often cause fans of a specific genre to be marginalized and thrown into uncomfortable situations brought on by their choice of music. They may not follow the specific characteristics suggested by the stereotypes associated with the genre of music, but they are lumped into the idea all the same. Often times ones gender comes into play with musical stereotypes. A male for example may be ridiculed by his peers for listening to Disney music, as Disney music is considered feminine. It is in these reasons why music is inhibiting and negatively impacts its listeners. Shobe, Hunter, and David Banis. "Music Regions And Mental Maps: Teaching Cultural Geography." Journal of Geography 109.2 (2010): 87-96. ERIC. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. In the article, Shobe and Banis look for a different way to teach cultural geography in the United States. Music has grown to have a heavy influence on these cultural geographies, and naturally, the two authors use music as a method to show these different culture regions. As emphasized by the authors, One reason for the increased attention to music relates to its important everyday role in the social construction of places and identities. (87) When considering this, one must think of what defines an individuals everyday role. It has become
Commented [RO2]: Last couple sentences could be merged into one to avoid wordy elaboration. Be concise. Commented [RO1]: Opening statement has grammatical issues, redundancy and is a run on sentence.

evident that the idea of a generalized individuals everyday life is heavily centered in the pop culture of the region, as opposed to the academic setting found there. Musically speaking, it has a very strong role in the way people tend to form their own images and mental maps of different regions where a type of music is most prevalent. Shobe and Banis go on to present an example of an experiment they ran with a class they had one semester. Blank maps were distributed to the class and the students were asked to show where they believed each genre was mainly concentrated. The results from the experiment coincide with the general geographical stereotypes that Americans carry in their minds. The composite results showed the students believed the hip hop scene was in California and New York, Where the indie rock scene was concentrated in Seattle. Country was shown to cover the whole Midwest area, as expected. This article helps show the geographical areas of the country that have the highest concentrated amounts of fans of music genres. It helps to map out the different cultural sections of the country and show where certain types of dedicated fans for various genres reside. Fried, Carrie B., Ph.D. "Stereotypes of Music Fans: Are Rap and Heavy Metal Fans a Danger to Themselves or Others?" Journal of Media Psychology 8.3 (2003): Web. 24 March. 2014 The studys main focus was centered on heavy rock music and rap. Ideally, Dr. Fried wanted to see the correlation between the behavior of the fans of both industries and the stereotypes of those same fans. How accurate are the mental ideas people form about the typical heavy metal or rap fan? They look to show how the effect on music on fans, and the effect the fans have on society in return. Fried mentions that fans are more likely to adopt self-destructive habits such as heavy drinking and drug abuse. She then states that concerns over rap fans shift more towards society. It is believed that rap can cause fans to become a danger to society.
Commented [RO5]: If it has to be in quotations, you probably have to clear up what that actually means. Commented [RO4]: There are various opportunities to clean up this paragraph in terms of grammar and focus Commented [Ma3]: Is this what they are saying or what you are saying?

The study actually dives more into the validity of some preconceived notions of the effects of music on its listeners. The problem with the stereotype on rap causing listeners to become dangerous is that it can be considered reasonable. Many rap songs do contain lyrics referring to gang violence, drug use, and other harmful habits. It is in these lyrics we can see how these stereotypes are born. It is fathomable that kids and young adults who idolize these rappers that spit lyrics centered on violent tendencies would be more prone to try and emulate their heroes. That is not to say that this how it is for all rap and all rap fans, but if that was the case, then this wouldnt be a stereotype. Hovanisyan, Lucy. "Five Music Fan Stereotypes." 34th Street Magazine RSS. 34th Street, 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 02 Apr. 2014
Commented [RO6]: The last sentence is awkward. It is not a necessary sentence if you include the point into the preceding sentence

This source is simply a chart of five different types of music genres. The chart satires the common behaviors that a typical fan of these genres exhibits. It shows Electronic Dance Music, Hip-hop, Techno, Indie Rock, and Good ol American Rock. The stereotypes discussed are: favorite album, cant live without his/her, At a party youll hear him/her say, childhood idol, Spends most of his/her time at., drug of choice, most likely wears.Now obviously all these answers arent completely accurate, but they do provide a good insight to how the country views these fans. For example, the typical EDM fan cant live without his or her glow sticks and has to pop molly at an EDM festival. Is this completely true? No, but it is not completely inaccurate. Unfortunately if I was to tell someone that I had just met that I loved EDM their first impression would probably be that I have to go to these festivals on an ecstasy fueled high, because its a common held idea that taking molly comes with the genre. Indie rock fans have it rough, for in the fact that you listen to non-mainstream music you get branded as a hipster. Hipsters are the butt of many jokes of today. They are all viewed as scarf and flannel wearing individuals with

the men sporting the beard of a lumberjack. Unfortunately hipsters are thought of as individuals who think theyre more enlightened and arrogant than non-hipsters. If I was to say I listened to indie, the person listening might subconsciously label me as arrogant.
Commented [RO7]: Keep the first person perspective out of the essay

Rentfrow, Peter J., Jennifer A. McDonald, and Julien A. Oldmeadow. "You Are What You Listen To: Young Peoples Stereotypes about Music Fans." Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 12.3 (2009): 329-44. Web. 30 Mar. 2014

The article talks about how we use music to communicate to which social groups we belong to. As Rentfrow and McDonald explain, "sharing information on ones music preferences effectively sends a message to others that the person possesses attitudes, values and beliefs that are in line with those of the members that are in that social group (pg 3) By wearing a bands t-shirt, for example, you are broadcasting to those around you that you are identifying with the behaviors and social stigmas associated with the band. You may just like their music but not the lifestyle, but this is where the stereotype plays into the problem. Youre automatically grouped subconsciously by others. It can also give hints about your psychological characteristics. Often, ones social class is often connected to music preference. All these things can be broadcasted simply from what music you prefer to listen to. I can use this source to talk about how easy it is for a fan of a music to be quickly grouped into a musical stereotype that that individual may not necessarily follow. Regardless, that person is now linked to a style with a genre of music than can either positively or negatively affect them. That person may now smoothly fit in with individuals that share the same enthusiasm for that certain band, but if the individual presents him or herself to a group that
Commented [RO8]: Keep the second person perspective out of your writing. It sounds elementary

heavily dislikes the music represented by the individual, the group will, more often than not, develop subconscious negative feelings for the individual

Negut, A, and P Sarbescu. "Problem Music Or Problem Stereotypes? The Dynamics Of Stereotype Activation In Rock And Hip-Hop Music." Musicae Scientiae 18.1 (n.d.): Citation Index. Web. 2 Apr. 2014

3-16. Arts & Humanities

Negut and Sarbescu start off their article by giving a definition of what stereotyping is, as to clear up the difference between stereotyping and just over-generalizing. They mention that stereotypes are, categories that people use to organize their social world. Stereotypes are considered cognitive structures which contain knowledge, beliefs and expectations about a human group. Stereotypes can activate with great ease in an individual. This activation is automatic and subconscious. Often, people use stereotypes when the individual making the stereotype lacks knowledge in the subject theyre creating the stereotype on. If I was to say I was from Mexico, someone who has little knowledge of Mexican culture would fill in the gaps of knowledge with stereotyped beliefs such as I eat burritos and wear a poncho every day. The Media has strong role in the causation of stereotypes. When the media focuses on the negative aspects of music, it results in the formation of negative stereotypes. For example, rock and hip hop are associated with behaviors such as violence, anti-social behavior, drug and alcohol consumption, and sexual promiscuity.

Field Survey conducted by Trey Jensen, survey on opinions and thoughts of different music genres. My survey results were interesting. They, for the most part, resulted pretty much how I expected them to. I surveyed four different genres of music and the ideas generally carried with them. Starting with rap, it was a general idea that most rap nowadays is heavily commercialized and doesnt compare to older rap. The lyrical content has potential to inspire listeners to follow the bad examples set by the mainstream artists. Typical fans are considered to be troublemakers, but no specific look according to the survey. For Metal music, its considered to be loud and can cause an almost violent behavior in its listeners. Fans are thought to be long-haired, rough looking fans who use heavier drugs. EDM was thought to be a music strongly related the recreational usage of amphetamines like molly and ecstasy. The fans are held to be normal in everyday settings, but at EDM festivals extremely rowdy and excited. Indie music was thought to be more laid back. It wasnt thought to have any negative effects on its listeners. The typical listener was considered to be a hipster-like person. I also asked each person participating a more personal question, if they have ever faced a situation where they chose not to disclose a genre of music they listened to in fear of being misjudged or grouped falsely. A couple of the participants answered yes, both were males that secretly loved Disney songs but felt they could not admit so in fear of being labeled as homosexual by their peers. The results garnered from this survey can be used to directly show some of the common held ideas in music today. I can use the data I gathered and compare it to the data in the works of the authors that I have cited. With my data I can directly use it to analyze the stereotypes found music and touch on why these ideas are so commonly believed.