Many people are turned off by the loud nature of heavy metal music, but Trinity Professor Luke O’Neill said it might reduce the climate change crisis.
Citing an Australian article on Show Me the Science, he said the genre could be “a force for good in the world, particularly with regard to climate change”.
“It turns out lots of themes within the songs of heavy metal bands are about climate change,” he said.
“Fans of heavy metal, they're inclined to be anti-establishment, to ‘Rage Against the Machine’.
“One example is a band called Napalm Death – they had a famous song called ‘Brink of Extinction’.
“My own one that I like most of all is The Clash - whether they're classified as heavy metal or not, is a moot point. They were certainly punk.
“They wrote a great song called ‘London Calling’ with the following lyric: ‘The Ice Age is coming, the sun is zooming in, meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin’.
“It’s basically saying, 'We’re wrecking the planet and we've got to do something about this'.
"It speaks to the overall goal of heavy metal - it can be angry, it can be loud, but it's trying to make things better overall... trying to be a force for change."
Headbanging to heavy metal
Heavy metal also has some other scientifically positive features, such as headbanging.
“There have been studies on this that headbanging is actually good for you if you don’t go beyond 90 degrees,” Prof O’Neill said.
“Beyond that, your brain can rattle inside your head.”
The British Medical Journal study Prof O’Neill cited explained improper headbanging causes “a definite risk of mild traumatic brain injury”.
There are obviously risks to listening to music designed to be so loud, Prof O’Neill explained.
“Tinnitus can be a consequence of listening to music that’s too loud, and heavy metal tends to be on the louder end of the spectrum,” he said.
“It can be loud, but not too loud is the advice here.”
Heavy metal first emerged in the 1970s, according to Prof O’Neill, known for “distorted” sounds, strong riffs and “exaggerated vocal sounds”.
